Z I N D A  M A G A Z I N E

Shvadt  27,
6750
Volume
VII
Issue
1
February 27, 2001

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T H I S   W E E K   I
N   Z I N D A

The
Lighthouse

Did Christianity Thrive in China?

Good
Morning Bet-Nahrain

Joint Condemnation Statement on the Killing of
Hariri
New Patriarch of Antioch
Elected

News
Digest

AUA on the Assassination of Fransu Hariri

Father Abkulut's Trial Delayed Again
An Evening of Assyrian Literature in Austria
Vatican Opposes Latest Bombing of Iraq

Surfs
Up!

"Hariri was not Assyrian!"

Surfers
Corner

Beth Mardutho

Literatus

I Remember Nana!

Bravo

Rev. Yusif Abdulmasih

Assyrian
Surfing Posts

The Arrest and Trial of Father Yusuf Akbulut

Live it. Give it. Wear it. Share it.

Milestones

Tabetha Gabriela Kiraz (born Feb 10)
Natalie Ready Bakal (1921-2001)

Pump
Up the Volume

Fountain & Waterfall

Back
to the Future

Honeymoon & Abracadabra

This
Week in History

Rev. Yacu Diliqu

Calendar
of Events

AAS Dinner & Dance Party in Chicago
Gilgamesh Lectures in Sydney

All blue
links throughout this issue are hyperlinks to other sections on this page or
featured websites

THE LIGHTHOUSE

DID CHRISTIANITY THRIVE IN
CHINA?  Martin Palmer was
covered in bird droppings when he made the discovery of a lifetime. He clambered
up a rickety ladder into the ancient pagoda, picked his way through broken tiles
and wood beams, looked up–and was shocked by what he saw. Above him, shrouded in
dust, was a 10-foot-high clay grotto. The top was classical Tang dynasty
sculpture, but at the bottom were the remains of a figure, one leg cocked and
wearing flowing robes. Palmer recognized it at once: "It was a depiction of the
Virgin Mary, and I was looking at China's first Nativity
scene."

Here, beneath fields of kiwi fruit bushes,
lay what is likely the oldest surviving Christian site in all of China. Dating
back to 638 A.D., the site provides the first evidence that Christianity thrived
throughout China from the seventh to the ninth centuries as the imperially
sanctioned "religion of light." The excavation project was launched last week.
"If they have found any Christian buildings, it would be an earthshaking
discovery," says Jason Sun, associate curator of Asian art at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.

Palmer, who heads the Britain-based
Alliance of Religions and Conservation, became interested in the site while
translating ancient Christian scrolls that describe it. His research turned up a
map, made by Japanese spies posing as archaeologists, who had charted the area
before Japan's invasion of China in 1937. The map showed only religious sites
(and, if soaked in lemon juice, every military post in the county). Palmer
followed it to an area 50 miles southwest of the ancient Chinese capital of
Xi'an, where there stood a leaning pagoda called Da Qin, meaning "To the
West."

Palmer's first clue to the significance of
the site came when he climbed a hill overlooking it. Looking down, he realized
that the site was laid out not on a north-south axis, as Chinese temples are,
but instead pointing toward the east like a proper Christian church. Palmer ran
excitedly down the hill and was immediately confronted by an old Buddhist nun,
who demanded to know why he was shouting. When Palmer told her he thought the
site was Christian, she surprised him by snapping, "Of course it was! This was
the most famous Christian site in all of China!"

Previously, all that scholars knew about
the earliest Christians in China came from the Nestorian Stone, a tablet
discovered in the 17th century that describes the arrival of Christian
missionaries in 635 A.D. Led by a Bishop Alopen, they came from modern-day
Afghanistan and did not recognize the pope. But in the absence of other
documentation, they had long been considered a marginal group that never
penetrated Chinese culture. But Palmer's discovery shows how important these
first Christians really were: Their church sits squarely in the middle of what
was an imperial compound for the study of Taoism, the official religion of the
Tang dynasty.

The finding demonstrates the religion's
powerful influence on Chinese culture. For example, the goddess of mercy,
Guanyin, is the most popular Chinese deity and for centuries was depicted as
male. It was not until the eighth century, when Christianity was at its height
in China, that Guanyin began appearing as a female, wearing robes and carrying a
baby–just like the Virgin Mary. "Here we see a Christian figure passing into
Chinese folk religion," says Palmer.

The discovery also introduces a uniquely
Chinese brand of Christianity. This version, mixed with Taoism and Buddhism,
differed from the Roman church by discarding the idea of original sin and
preaching against slavery and for gender equality and vegetarianism. "At the
time Rome was trying to convert Anglo-Saxons to Christianity," says Palmer, "the
church in China had developed another understanding of Christ that was more
egalitarian, compassionate, and all-encompassing than the one in the
West."

The excavated site is expected to become a
major tourist attraction. Excavation of the sealed underground rooms, beginning
this summer, could turn up liturgical vessels, scripts, and statues of saints.
Palmer is working with Chinese officials on plans for a museum to house the
artifacts. But sometimes he thinks back on the moment of discovery: "We all
stopped suddenly in front of the Nativity scene and realized we would tell the
world, and this was the last time it would be our secret. Then we all bowed and
went out."

Bay Fang
Lou Guan Tai, China
Reporting for US News & World
Report
March 5, 2001
Issue

GOOD MORNING
BET-NAHRAIN

NORTHERN WATCH
Zinda News From Northern Iraq
February

5:  The
Assyrian Students and Youth Union ends its Congress in Nohadra (Dohuk).
The Executive Committee releases a statement on the success of the 4th
Congress.
15:  The new issue of Assyrian Democratic Movement's Bahra
Magazine is published in Arbil.
22:  Nechrivan Barazani's
statement on the assassination of Fransu Hariri:  "Faranso Hariri was a
Christian in his religion, a Barzinji in his course of struggle for freedom, a
KDP follower in his political believes, an Assyrian in his nationality, and a
Kurdistani in his national struggle."

JOINT CONDEMNATION STATEMENT ON THE
KILLING OF HARIRI

"Joint statement of a broad meeting of
Kurdistani and Iraqi political parties"

02/20/2001

We, the Iraqi and Kurdistani political
parties and groups signatories to this statement, met on 19 February 2001 in the
capital Arbil to discuss the assassination of our militant brother Faranso
Hariri, member of the Central Committee and the official in charge of Branch Two
of Kurdistan Democratic Party and the head of Yellow [KDP] Bloc in the Kurdistan
parliament.

Without doubt, the assassination of a
militant like Faranso is a great loss to the Kurdistan national liberation
movement and the democratic experience in Kurdistan. This abhorrent act of
assassination is a direct assault on the democratic experience in Kurdistan and
an attempt to create insecurity and instability in Kurdistan.

We strongly condemn this act of
assassination and stand against it. Meanwhile, we urge the competent authorities
in the Kurdistan regional government to mount a serious investigation into this
incident to find and punish the assassins. Towards this end, we call on the
entire people of Kurdistan to cooperate with the security organs and the
competent authorities in the Kurdistan government, because such a terrorist act
is a threat to us all and it is our duty to make a stand against it. Arbil,
Kurdistan, 19 February 2001.

Signed by the following political parties
and groups:

1. Iraqi Communist Party

2. Kurdistan Islamic Unification
Movement
3. Kurdistan
National Democratic Union
4.
Assyrian Democratic Movement
5. Kurdistan Communist Party of Iraq

6. Kurdistan Islamic League

7. Bayt Nahrayn
Democratic Party
8.
Kurdistan Independent Labour Party
9. Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party
10. Union of Kurdistan Revolutionary
People
11. Iranian Kurdistan
Islamic National Organization
12. The Democratic Movement of Kurdistan People
13. Turkoman Qardashliq Ocaghi

14. Turkoman Cultural Association in
Kurdistan
15. Kurdistan
Oppressed and Farm Workers Movement
16. Iraqi Turkoman Brotherhood Party
17. Iraqi Turkoman Union Party

18. Kurdistan National Islamic
Movement
19. Kurdistan
Liberation Movement
20.
Kurdistan Turkoman Democratic Party
21. Kurdish National Association
22. Turkoman National Liberation Party

23. Kurdistan Democratic Republican
Party
24. Kurdistan
Socialist Democratic Party
25. Kurdistan Independent Party
26. Assyrian National
Party
27. Kurdistan Popular
Movement
28. Organization of
Toilers' Struggle
29.
Kurdistan Democratic Party

NEW PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH
ELECTED

(ZNDA:  Vatican)  According to
the Vatican News Agency, John Paul II has sent his congratulations to His
Beatitude Ignace Pierre VIII, the newly elected Syriac patriarch of
Antioch.  The Patriarch was elected by the Bishops' Synod of the
Syriac-Catholic Church on February 16.   He is replacing His Beatitude
Ignace Moussa I Daoud, recently made a cardinal, who quit his patriarchal post
following his appointment as prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the
Oriental Churches.

H.B. Ignace Pierre VIII will greet John
Paul II when he goes to Syria on pilgrimage in May. On this same trip, the
Pontiff might visit Malta and Athens, Greece, following in the footsteps of the
Apostle Paul.  Ignace Pierre VIII (Pierre Abdel-Ahad) was born in Aleppo,
Syria, on June 28, 1930. After studying in the Syriac-Catholic Patriarchal
Seminary of Jerusalem, he completed his studies in the major seminary of
Charfet, Lebanon. He has been a priest since 1954, and worked for many years in
the minor seminary of Charfet. Later, he was appointed parish priest in
Bethlehem.  During the Middle East wars of 1967 and 1973, he was involved
in the humanitarian assistance and pastoral care of prisoners. In 1979, he was
appointed patriarchal vicar, that is, exarch of Jerusalem.

He established a house for pilgrims in
Bethlehem, and the Church of St. Thomas of Jerusalem, which has a youth center.
Elected bishop by the Syriac-Catholic synod on June 29, 1996, he has kept the
post of patriarchal exarch of Jerusalem.

As is traditional in this Church, the new
patriarch took the name Ignace, in honor of his predecessor, St. Ignatius of
Antioch.

NEWS DIGEST

AUA ON THE ASSASSINATION OF FRANSU
HARIRI

Assyrian Universal Alliance

Press Release
Re:  Assyrian Governor of
Arbil

Thursday, February 22,
2001
Assyrian Universal Alliance extends its deepest
condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Fransu Hariri, the Assyrian
governor of Arbil in Northern Iraq, and a senior member of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP).

We condemn the barbaric act of those who
have perpetrated this inhumane action against Mr. Fransu Hariri and his
bodyguard. We further demand from the local officials and those world
organizations and governments who are responsible for the safety of all citizens
in the so-called safe haven zone to seek and bring these criminals to
justice.

Acts of violence against Assyrians in Iraq
are continuing and the murder of Mr. Fransu Hariri proves that the certain
elements are actively pursuing their policy of denying human rights to the
Assyrian people.

We demand an immediate investigation of
this matter and proper action instituted against those responsible. The Assyrian
people will monitor the activities of the responsible institutions until justice
is served.

Assyrians are the indigenous people of
Iraq, and our desire is to live in freedom, equality and peace with the people
of Iraq, the land of our forefathers.

Senator John J. Nimrod

Secretary General
Assyrian Universal Alliance

Photo of Mr. Fransu Hariri courtesy of AINA

FATHER ABKULUT'S TRAIL DELAYED
AGAIN

(ZNDA:  Ankara)  The trial of the
Assyrian priest, Father Yusuf Abkulut, accused of speaking up in support of the
Seyfo Genocide in Turkey, was delayed at last week's hearing.  The trial is
now scheduled for April 5th.  Father Abkulut appeared at the Diyarbakir
State Security Court on February 22, where many European, Assyrian, and human
rights groups had come to observe the trial.  Mr. Abkulut's lawyers stated
that the speech for which Abkulut is being accused and was recorded on cassette
tape was made during an informal discussion and was never released to the
press.  It, therefore, did not constitute a crime.  In addition, there
was no need for the cassette to be transcribed by experts, they said, and added
their client was simply availing himself of his individual right to
criticize.  The lawyers also commented that their client was being tried
for freely expressing his personal thoughts on that matter and that the trial
was itself in contradiction to the European Human Rights Convention.
Father Abkulut's lawyers stressed that the place in which their client spoke did
not have a concentrated population of either Assyrian or Armenians, therefore he
could not be in contravention of Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
under which he was being charged.  They then demanded full
acquitted.

The hearing was observed by
Parliamentarians from Germany and Switzerland; the Swiss Consul Sture Theolin;
the Norwegian Consul Haakan Svane; and the representatives of various human
rights organizations.  An Assyrian observer noted that the "Turkish court
was amazed at the international coverage of the trial. They delayed the trial
with the argument that they had to study the case more.  But the main
reason is that they try to diminish the international interest for this
case."

A protest outside of Turkish Consulte in Melbourne,
Australia was held today (Wed, Feb 28) by the Assyrian-Australian activists.
between 11 am and 2 pm.  In an email earlier this week the group commented
that Fr. Yusuf Akbulut was "non-violently exercising his right to not only
express his own beliefs, but for also expressing historically documented fact,
and is detained for expressing his beliefs contrary to the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights."

A full report of the protest will be published in the
next issue.

AN EVENING OF ASSYRIAN LITERATURE IN
AUSTRIA

(ZNDA:  Vienna)  On February 19, some 130 Assyrians
gathered for a two-days meeting of the Mesopotamia Culture and Sports
Association at the Brigittenauer Chapel in Vienna.  The program included
lectures by Dr. Gabriel Afram of Sweden on the role of Assyrian Language and
media in preserving the Assyrian cultural identity.   According to Dr.
Afram, in Sweden Assyrians enjoy three 15-minute radio programs per week in the
Assyrian language.  Mr. Aslan Gueltekin, chairman of the Mesopotamian
Culture and Sports Association, noted that "The literature evenings are an
important contribution for the preservation of our culture and for our youth a
substantial factor for identification."

Courtesy of ORF-Center, Vienna, Austria

VATICAN OPPOSES LATEST BOMBING OF
IRAQ

(ZNDA:  Vatican)  On February 21
the Vatican expressed its disapproval of the latest bombing of Iraq by U.S. and
British warplanes.
Cardinal
Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, also protested the embargo imposed on
Iraq, when he met the press at a reception in the Italian Embassy.  "We
pronounce ourselves again against the embargo," he told Vatican Radio. "As to
the rest, the Holy See is not the only one: Many governments, including the
Italian government, at times have expressed concern over the humanitarian
situation of these youths, patients, deprived of assistance, and have always
appealed for change. We also hope that wisdom will prevail... It is believed
that the method of force will resolve problems; the Holy See thinks
otherwise."

Last Friday, for the first time in two
years, U.S. and British planes bombed targets near Baghdad, to enforce a
military "no-fly" zone.

Meanwhile, Caritas-Europe has called for an
end to sanctions against Iraq, labeling them "humanly catastrophic, morally
indefensible, and politically ineffective."  Caritas-Europe, a network of
organizations embracing 48 Caritas of 44 European countries, made the appeal
after its delegation visited Iraq at the start of the year.

Julian Filochowski, director of CAFOD, the
English Caritas, said: "We are not trying to apologize to the Iraqi regime, but
we do want to apologize to the Iraqi people."

Iraq's infant mortality rate is among the
highest in the world. One-fourth of the children under age 5 suffer from chronic
malnutrition. Only 41% of the population has access to potable water, and 83% of
the schools need essential repairs, according to
Caritas-Europe.

Denis Viénot, president of Caritas-Europe,
said: "Our recommendation is simple, clear and can be applied rapidly: The
sanctions against Iraq must be suspended immediately."  Caritas'
international network has been supporting humanitarian aid programs in Iraq for
years, through Confrérie de la Charité, Iraq's Caritas.

SURF'S UP!

“In the
name of the Association Assyrophile de France I express our congratulations to
the amount and quality of your work.  We read with great pleasure your
corner titled "Bravo" which featured Adad Joel Warda.  Please extend to him
our sincere congratulations for his successful efforts in keeping up the
language of his forefathers.”

Jean-Paul Sliva
Honorary chairman
France

“Thank
you for the excellent product you produce, keep up the good work!  Just a
quick suggestion, like many others that I know, I print your articles and enjoy
them on my train ride home. However, unless you save the articles in some kind
of text file, the right margins will be chopped off, therefore I highly
recommend either a text version of your articles or printable format available
for such uses.”

Sargon Yalda
Chicago

Next month Zinda Magazine will be featuring its new
printable format for your reading pleasure.  To request our entire magazine
in text version please contact us at [email-masked].

“My name
is Adrianne Alkhas and I am looking for an old friend, Teklad Pavisian.  If
anyone knows his whereabouts or has his email address please contact Zinda
magazine for my e-mailing address.  Thank you!”

Adrianne Alkhas
Spain

On 18th of February Mr. Frances Hariri was
assassinated in the northern region of today's Iraq (Atour) by a terrorist group
as we are being told.

The death of Hariri does not surprise us at
all because it's just another crime of many committed so far in that unstable
region by those who claim they lead a democratic government.  But what
really surprises us is the attention his assassination was given by the Assyrian
political parties and Assyrian media sources, the press releases and headlines
like "Assyrian Governor of Arbil Assassinated."

Yes Hariri was born from Assyrian parents
in northern Atour but was he really an Assyrian?  A famous philosopher once
said: " WHAT YOU THINK IS WHAT YOU ARE".  Did Hariri really think that he
was an Assyrian?

Hariri was a member of the KDP since 1963
and worked actively with Mala Mustafa Barazani and proved his loyalty for his
Kurdish party of KDP till his assassination.  He was the author of two
books, "The Politics of KDP in Kurdistan, Iraq" and the other "The Internal
Conflicts of the Region After 1994".

In the 11th and 12th conferences of KDP he
became member of the central committee of the party and the administrator of the
relations between the national and Kurdish parties, for a certain time.  IN
1992 he was the head of the parliamentarian fraction of KDP in the Kurdish
parliament shortly after he became the governor of Arbil and then the director
of the Kurdish democratic branch of the region's capital.

Hariri had excellent negotiation tactics
and was a well-known personality among the Kurds.  In all his speeches he
used to openly take pride and say "As Kurdim" meaning "I am Kurdish".  He
used to affirm and vow "B'GORA MALA MUSTAFA" or "By the Grave of Mala
Mustafa".  Just like Masa'ud Barazani he utilised multiple names for our
nation and not as one nation, as Assyrian nation, Chaldean nation, and Syriac
nation as if we were not all one, even worse at times, Kurdish
Christians.   You know the trick of DIVIDE AND RULE.  Sorry, I
have to be honest here, he used to call us Assyrians and say, we are all one and
not Kurds, only when it would serve the benefit of his beloved KDP
party.

Hariri was not Assyrian.  An Assyrian
would not say I am Kurdish and instead of Mala Mustafa, an Assyrian would vow by
great Assyrian leaders (the likes of Agha Petrous, Ashur Yousip, Mor Yohanin
Dolabani and Mar Shimon), take then as idols and follow their footsteps not a
Kurdish leader.  Hariri did not think Assyrian.  How can somebody
think Assyrian and give 40 years of his life for a party that wants to make
Kurdistan out of Assyria.  How can somebody think Assyrian and carry the
mentality of a Kurd that wants the extinction of the Assyrian name and unity and
dare call us Christian Kurds.  No, Hariri did not think Assyrian therefore
is not Assyrian.  After all, what you think is what you
are.

Should we take pride in Hariri?  Why
should we be proud of Hariri because he was a Kurdish activist?  Or because
he was an Assyrian traitor who wasted 40 years of his life for the Kurdish and
not the Assyrian question and because his coffin was covered with the Kurdish
flag (not our Assyrian flag) and counted as a Kurdish martyr.  Can we call
Michael Aflaq (one of the founders of Ba'ath Party) or Tarq Aziz,
Assyrians?  Then why are we calling Hariri an Assyrian?

The economic crisis were finally
progressing for the better in the northern region of Iraq (Atour) and the
Assyrians of the region had less reason to migrate from their ancestral
homeland.  The assassination of Hariri is another strategic move taken by
the Kurds and KDP to encourage the Assyrians to migrate and evacuate from the
land of their forefathers.  By installing the thought of "THE REGION IS NO
LONGER STABLE, ITS GOING FROM WORSE TO WORSE.  WE ASSYRIANS NO LONGER HAVE
ANY ROON IN THIS LAND.  IF THEY ASSASSINATED HARIRI, WHO WAS THEIR SHEEP
DOG, THEN WHAT ABOUT US?" the same strategy that the PKK used against the
Assyrians of Atour in Turkey.

The assassination of Hariri should be a
lesson for every Assyrian that believes that the salvation of our nation depends
on the fate of the Kurds and to those who follow his
footsteps.

The conclusion is lets all think Assyrian
for the sake of the Assyrian nation and Assyria.  There is no virtue in
calling Hariri and his likes Assyrians.  Remember that Napoleon the Great
did not shake hands of a traitor.

Let's all be conscious of the strategic
moves of our enemies who are utilising every form of tactic to steal the dreams
of our nation that stood and still stands strong facing death directed on our
immortal nation by our enemies.

Anuiel Ursin Lamasu
Germany

SURFERS CORNER

BETH MARDUTHO

The Syriac Institute (formerly The Syriac Computing Institute)
has launched its new web site at http://www.bethmardutho.org/. The site
contains the latest information about the Institute and its
activities.

The launching of the site follows a reorganization of the
Institute, and a broadening of its goals. The Institute aims to globalize Syriac
studies, bringing it to every university, classroom, library, and home through
the Internet.

Among the activities of the Institute are the publication since
1998 of Hugoye, a semiannual
peer-reviewed eJournal, and the compilation of an encyclopedia of the Syriac
heritage. Since 1995, the Institute held three one-day forums on Syriac
computing, in association with international Syriac-studies conferences. In the
past three years, the Institute was instrumental in the inclusion of Syriac in
the Unicode standard, and provided consultation to Microsoft for the
implementation of Syriac support in Windows 2000™, Internet Explorer 6.0™, and
the forthcoming version of Office™ 10.0. With the Institute's suite of free
Syriac fonts, users can compose documents in Syriac, Sooreth, Turoyo, Garshuni,
and Palestinian Aramaic using Windows 2000™. With Internet Explorer 6.0™, users
are able to view documents and web pages in these languages under Windows
95/98/ME. The Beth Mardutho web contains a brief outline of the history of the
Syriac language. The site is the official home of the Symposium Syriacum web
site, and maintains the directory of the North-American Syriac
Symposium.

About Beth Mardutho:

Beth Mardutho seeks to promote the study and preservation of
the Syriac heritage and language, and to facilitate opportunities for people to
pursue the study of this ancient legacy globally. The Institute aims to serve
the academic community, and the heirs of the heritage – the Syriac Orthodox,
Assyrians, Maronites, Chaldeans, Syriac Catholics, St. Thomas Christians, and
the Antiocheans and Melkites, transcending denominational diversity. Its
Academic Committee consists of the most prominent scholars in the
field.

Beth Mardutho
New Jersey

THE ART IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT SOME HISTORY
BEHIND IT IS NOT

The Portland Art Museum's current exhibit, "Empire of the
Sultans," promises to open our eyes to "the splendors of an artistic tradition
with which few of us are familiar."

Unfortunately, this lack of familiarity extends to the history
of the Ottoman Empire and of the current Turkish government as well. The
lavishly funded exhibit attempts to equate the genuine beauty of the artifacts
with a disingenuous and painfully misrepresentative image of the culture that
amassed them.

In short, the exhibit functions as propaganda for a Turkish
government that is desperately attempting to rewrite its history, both of the
distant past and of the present. After all, if beautiful objects can obscure
subjugation and genocide in the past, they can help to falsify the image of a
violent and repressive culture today, as well.

The art works, from the private collection of Nasser D.
Khalili, are accompanied by a rich catalog that opens with a curious five- page
"political outline," setting the tone for the exhibit. In it, the Ottoman Turks,
who held sway in much of the area surrounding the Mediterranean from 1280 to
1922, are represented as tolerant lords of a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic society
whose "legacy is still apparent" and whose "positive contribution has come to be
steadily appreciated."

Multi-ethnic has a comfortable ring today, one of those
buzzwords like diversity and multiculturalism that project images of harmony and
peace.

In the long history of the Ottomans, however, it more often
denoted slavery, terror and the repression of subjected peoples, overrun by the
military expansionism and conquest that fed wealth -- and art -- into the
sultans' coffers. Armenian, Greek and Arab Christians paid a head tax, under
which families were forced to give sons into slavery. Slaves were frequently
eunuched, and although some were used in the military and even in government,
most wound up in forced labor, from the harem to the galley (the sultan was
still purchasing slaves in the 20th century).

To label such a culture multi-ethnic is a bit like saying the
same of an early American culture, because it imported and enslaved Africans and
conquered Native Americans, enslaving some of the latter as well. Image is
all.

Of course, such things happened in Western Europe, too, but our
history recognizes them. Imagine, say, an exhibit of the art of the Borgias that
represented them as a nice, extended Italian family.

What is false about this exhibit and its contextualization is
what it ignores. Virtually all of the art is Islamic, most of it Arabic rather
than Turkish, though the catalog makes it look the other way around.

Islam is given lavish and due praise for its artistic
productivity. But this is ironic today, as the militantly secularist government
of Turkey arrests members of its own parliament simply for wearing the Islamic
head scarf.

Christian art, which flourished in the Greek, Armenian and
Assyrian enclaves of the empire, goes unacknowledged in both the exhibit and the
text.

So, too, does the suffering of these peoples at the hands of
the Ottomans. World War I, which ended the empire in a haze of blood and the
genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, as well as the wholesale slaughter of other
minorities, is passed over in a sentence about Ottoman survival.

The exhibit and the speakers and events surrounding it are
supported by deep pockets: Fred Meyer, Mentor Graphics, etc., as well as the
American Turkish Council, the American Friends of Turkey and Portland State's
Turkish studies program, funded directly by the Turkish government.

In fact, Portland State has signed a contract with the Ataturk
Research Center, a Turkish propaganda organ, to provide a repository for its
publication in the United States. The exhibit, and the interpretations
surrounding it, further their work.

Turkey's record is one of denial -- of the Armenian genocide,
of the invasion of Greek Cyprus, of the ongoing slaughter of the Kurds and of
religious and political repression.

Human rights violations in Turkey are among the worst in the
world. "The Empire of the Sultans" exhibits beautiful work, but we should
understand that it is dyed in minority blood.

Prof. Gregory Goekjian

Portland State University

ASSYRIAN SURFING
POSTS

The Arrest and Trial of Father Yusuf
Akbulut

Live it.
Give it. Wear it. Share it.

LITERATUS

I REMEMBER NANA!

I can remember many different things as an American-Assyrian
growing up in Chicago. There was this one time in particular when I was around
nine or ten years old and I was in the alley with a group of friends. Well, Nana
(my grandmother) had called out to me, yelling something or other in Assyrian,
to which one of the girls asked me, "Is she speaking Spanish?" This was my first
real recollection of feeling embarrassed about her speaking Assyrian to me in
front of others. I can remember saying to her later, "Please! Please do not
speak to me like that in front of other people!"

That embarrassment remained a "good lesson" for me, one that I
would carry into my adult life. And it was because of this lesson, that I would
take all three of my sons to a preschool that was less convenient, being further
from my home. The first school I had visited was very close to my home. I had
taken with me, my second son Ashour. During this visit, one of the children
asked what the baby's name was. I responded with, "Ashour." The little girl
said, very strangely, and yet, very comfortably, "What kind of name is that?!" I
recognized right off that this type of attitude would cause my children an
embarrassment to speak their own language. And so, with this reality, I would
need to find a school that had a mix of different children who spoke different
languages. I wanted my children to recognize that there were other languages in
the world and to respect, not only their own language, but others as well. For
the most part, it worked!

Nana had died a few months short of my wedding. She never saw
my children and they never saw her. But, in a way, she played a very important
part in their lives, because if it were not for her, I would never have had the
foundation I had to have learned to speak Assyrian as an adult. I learned to
speak Assyrian with Adad, my first-born son. There have been so many times that
I had wished she could have been here to see them. She would have loved them and
they too, would have loved her. She would have been able to communicate with
them and they with her in their own language, Assyrian. I was the link in the
chain that would connect them. Through me she gave her great grand children a
gift, a language. And so, we need to recognize the importance to to remain
connected and to pass down the love of our language and of our culture. We need
to remember to be proud, our children are not only watching us, but they are
learning from us. More importantly, we need to remember, that they will not
forget.

Susan Warda
California

Mrs. Warda is a mother and a college student in
California, and has joined our Crew this year.  Zinda Magazine will be
featuring more of Mrs. Warda's articles in
future.

Do you have similar memories that you wish to share with
other readers?  Please email them to us at [email-masked].
Our address and fax number appear at the end of this issue.

BRAVO

REV. YOUSIF ABDULMASIH

Courtesy of Springfield State Journal-Register; February
21
Based on an rticle by Steven
Sprearie

The Rev. Yousif Abdulmasih, a Catholic Assyrian priest from
Iraq, spoke to the Dominican Sisters of Springfield last Tuesday about the
economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations on the Iraqi
people.

He has seen his native Iraq decimated by a decadelong war with
neighboring Iran and economic sanctions from before the Gulf War, imposed as a
response to the invasion of Kuwait.

He has seen families and children die and a culture literally
brought to its knees.

But since his 1995 appointment to minister to the Assyrian
Catholic community, first in Newark, N.J., and then the Chicago suburb of
Techny, his vantage point has been from 3,000 miles away.

"It's very hard and difficult to be far away from my native
land," said Abdulmasih, who was visiting at Sacred Heart Convent in Springfield
Tuesday.

Abdulmasih was here in part to lend moral support to a
Springfield Dominican nun, Sister Beth Murphy, who will be traveling with nine
others to Iraq March 5-19. The trip, illegal under U.S. law, is the third such
undertaking by the Dominican community in support of its own nuns and priests
there and others victimized by the economic sanctions, Murphy said.

Abdulmasih, who ministers to about 80 families in the Chicago
area, said that because of the sanctions and posturing of governments, the Iraqi
people are caught "between two rivers of fire," an allusion to the region of
Iraq, including Baghdad, that is bordered by the ancient Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.

"I know people are suffering and dying, and nobody cares," he
said. "Nobody defends the rights of dying people.

"You see (President George W.) Bush and Saddam (Hussein)
laughing on the TV, and they don't care. It's not fair to forget dying people.
It's not fair to forget children and women who are suffering."

From 1982 to 1992, Abdulmasih served as pastor of Sacred Heart
of Jesus Church in Basra, a city in southern Iraq. The church was bombed three
times and destroyed during the conflict with Iran. The church, eventually
rebuilt, sheltered Muslims and Christians of Basra.

Abdulmasih's visit to Springfield comes just days after U.S.
and British warplanes attacked targets around Baghdad. Authorities said the
mission was to safeguard allied air patrols over the southern no- fly
zone.

"I wasn't expecting it, especially not from Bush," Abdulmasih
said. "It seems like a continuation of the term (of former President George
Bush.) He lost a wonderful chance to be a leader of peace and the nation to be a
builder of peace."

Abdulmasih rebuked the United Nations as "a weak umbrella for
crimes (committed) against Iraqi people."

"Under the name of the U.N., our children are dying, and we
have lost everything," he said.

According to UNICEF, 5,000 to 6,000 children die monthly in
Iraq from preventable diseases or malnutrition directly linked to the
sanctions.  There are over one million Christians living in Iraq of whom a
majority are of Chaldean Catholic faith.

Abdulmasih said he deplores the fact that Saddam's image is
part and parcel with that of Iraq. For that, he says, there is another
enemy.

"You are victims of your media," Abdulmasih said. "... It's
like (the Iraqis) are nothing. There is no mention of suffering."

Murphy said her religious community has passed a resolution
calling for the end of economic sanctions against Iraq and the advancement of
"creative diplomatic solutions" in dealing with the country.

"Most of all, (I want to give people) an opportunity to hear
the truth," she said. "Most everywhere else, support for the sanctions is
eroding. People need to hear that."

Murphy's trip, which begins with a sendoff March 4 at Dominican
University in River Forest, has Abdulmasih's approval.

In Iraq, "she will see lovely people," he said. "She will be
very welcome."

MILESTONES

TABETHA GABRIELA KIRAZ

Tabetha was born on February 10th at 3:35
AM at St. Peter's Hospital in Piscataway, New Jersey.  The baby girl is the
first child of Dr. George and Christine Kiraz.

NATALIE READY BAKAL

(1921-2001)

Mrs. Bakal, 80, of Port Richey, Flordia., formerly of
Bergenfield, died Sunday.  She had been a bookkeeper for Duro-Test Corp.,
North Bergen.  She was also member of the Assyrian Church of the Virgin
Mary, Paramus, where she was past president of the Mr. and Mrs. Club.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

ENGLISH

MODERN
ASSYRIAN

GENDER

Fountain

ei/na (d' meey/ya)  'Eye of the Water"

Feminine

Waterfall

shor/shora

Feminine

BACK TO THE FUTURE

BC (2000)

It was the accepted practice in Babylon that for a month after
the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all

the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because the
Babylonian calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or
what is known today as the "honeymoon".

AD (1903)

Why is it that magicians utter the word "abracadabra"? What is
the origin of this word? Bischoff in his Kabbalah of 1903 derives the formula
for this word from Syriac words "Abbada Ke Dabra". Because it was a mysterious
word and was said to possess magic power, over the centuries it became connected
with necromancy - the art of communicating with the dead.

World Reporter (TM); February 23, 2001

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

March 1, 1898  :  Rev. Yacu Diliqu's funeral is held in northern
Manchuria.  Born in the village of Qarajalu of the Urmie region, Rev. Yacu
was a prolific writer and a missionary of the Church of the East in Central Asia
and China.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Sat,

Mar 17

CHICAGO

DINNER & DANCE PARTY

The Assyrian Academic Society invites you to attend a
dinner and dance party in honor of the newly elected Executive Officers.
Bring your family and friends and dance the night away!

Entertainment by Ogin
7:00
PM
Ticket Price: $30.00
Edens Banquet Hall
6313 N. Pulaski
Rd.

Limited seating- call now to reserve your tickets: (773)
461-6633

AAS Email: [email-masked]

Sun,

Mar 25

SYDNEY

GILGAMESH CULTURAL CENTRE LECTURE NIGHT

"The Aramaic Language, its origin and history"

Miss Ruth Lewin, Univesity of Sydney

"Father Abraham, Isaac and Ismail"
*Rabbi Woolstone

6:00 PM
Nineveh Club

Smithfield Rd

For more info contact Alfred Mansour at
(00612) 9832-9888 or Mobile 0410461755.

Sat,

Mar 31

TORONTO

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY PANEL DISCUSSION

"Writing Syriac:  From Stone to Bytes"

Chair:  Prof. Amir Harrak, University of
Toronto

1:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

1.  Marica Cassis, University of
Toronto
The bema in the West and East
Syriac Churches

2. Amir Harrak, University of Toronto

Patriarchal Tombstones at the Monastery of Rabban
Hormizd: Types and Origins

3. Wolfhart Heinrichs, Harvard University

Turkish Karshuni

(Break)

4. George Kiraz, Syriac Computing Institute

From Parchment to Open Type: The Development of
Syriac Digital Types

5. Wassilios Klein, Bonn University

Writing Syriac and Speaking Turkic in Light of
Central Asian Tombstone Inscriptions

6. Eden Naby, Harvard University

The Cultural Context for Writing Syriac During the
19th and 20th Centuries

Panel to be held at the 211th Meeting of the American
Oriental Society
Toronto Colony Hotel

89 Chestnut Street

Thurs,

Mar 29

TORONTO

CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR SYRIAC STUDIES
LECTURE

"Syriac Heritage at the Northern Silk Road: The
Archaological & Epigraphic Evidence of Christianity in
Kirghizia"
by Dr. Vassilios Klein, Bonn
University
8:00 PM
Auditorium, Earth Sciences Centre, Room 1050
5 Bancroft Avenue
University of Toronto,
St. George Campus

Since the 1890s Kirghizia has attracted the attention of scholars in
the field of Syriac epigraphy, when Daniel Chwolson published about 600
Syriac funerary inscriptions found there.  The discovery of these
inscriptions came as a surprise since there was little literary evidence
that Christianity had played any important role in the lands located to
the north of the Tianshan Mountains.  In recent years archaeological
excavations in the Middle Age capital revealed a church with three naves
and the grave of a holy man.  Taking into consideration these
excavations, the other religions coexisting with Christianity in Central
Asia, and the political history of that region at that time, we shall
describe the role played by East Syriac (so called Nestorian)
Christianity  and the Syriac language in the daily life of the
Sogdian and Turkish people.

Sun,

Apr 1

FAIRFIELD,
AUSTRALIA
AKITU ASSYRIAN
FESTIVAL

Organized by a network of Assyrian youth, the Assyrian
community and the wider Australian multi-cultural community

AKITU ASSYRIAN NEW YEAR 6751
Fairfield Showground
Smithfield
Road

9:00 AM
Parade 12:00
PM

Games, rides, shows, drama, & Fireworks

Information and international food booths

Assyrian and English musical bands and DJ music.

For more info:  Nina @ 0416041432 or
[email-masked]

Maji @ 0404124930

Until

May 6

DETROIT

TREASURES FROM THE ROYAL TOMBS OF UR
Objects from one of the most
important archaeological finds

The Detroit
Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward
Avenue

Adults $8, Children $5:  includes audio tour and
museum admission

May 24

KALU SULAQA :  Bride of
the Ascension Festival

This year marks the 600th anniversary
of the remembrance of the men and women who died in 1401 A.D. when
Timurlane attacked the Assyrian villages near Nineveh.  Each year
children dress-up as brides and grooms and go to homes in the neighborhood
to collect sweets.

Nakosha "Assyrian
Holidays" Calendar

M-F,

Jul 2-6

FINLAND

XLVIIe RENCONTRE ASSYRIOLOGIQUE
INTERNATIONALE

International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern
Archaeology
"Sex and Gender in the Ancient
Near East"
University of Helsinki

Registration Form:  clickhere

Jul 22

NOOSARDEL

A festival celebrating the descent of
the god Tammuz to the Underworld and the end of spring in
Bet-Nahrain.  It is customary to sprinkle water on friends and family
members, wishing for Tammuz' safe return to his beloved
Ishtar.

Aug 7

MARTYRS DAY

A day to commemorate the Assyrian
martyrs throughout history.

Thank
You!

Shukri Aziz
(Holland).............Sharokin Betgevargiz (Chicago).........Ramin Daniels (San
Jose).......Nadia Joseph (Chicago)...........Nina Tooma (Australia)

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