H.B. Patriarch Cardinal Sako sent a Letter today 19 September 20018 the New Iraqi Parliament
Ladies and Gentlemen, Peace be with you all,
First: I extend my sincere congratulations and blessings to the Presidency of the new Parliament and to the new deputies. I wish you the best of your hard work at this difficult stage.
Second: I found it appropriate to remind you of the frustration and disappointment of Iraqis due to: the failure of the successive Governments, since 2003 to establish a sound foundations for this country; security problems; the wide-spread corruption; increase of illiteracy up to %8.3; extremism and sectarianism; struggles and divison among different Iraqi ethnic groups; The unemployment rate is % 22.6, and the deterioration of health, education, and service institutions.
Third: In light of such painful reality, I think you must work in one spirit for the “New Iraq”, so that the current problems enlighten your way to bear the responsibility of overcoming the differences as well as building the future by having a firm determination and thoughtful stances. All this can be achieved through activating dialogue and building bridges to serve reconciliation, harmony and stability, and not for revenge, relics and deviousness.
First: I extend my sincere congratulations and blessings to the Presidency of the new Parliament and to the new deputies. I wish you the best of your hard work at this difficult stage.
Second: I found it appropriate to remind you of the frustration and disappointment of Iraqis due to: the failure of the successive Governments, since 2003 to establish a sound foundations for this country; security problems; the wide-spread corruption; increase of illiteracy up to %8.3; extremism and sectarianism; struggles and divison among different Iraqi ethnic groups; The unemployment rate is % 22.6, and the deterioration of health, education, and service institutions.
Third: In light of such painful reality, I think you must work in one spirit for the “New Iraq”, so that the current problems enlighten your way to bear the responsibility of overcoming the differences as well as building the future by having a firm determination and thoughtful stances. All this can be achieved through activating dialogue and building bridges to serve reconciliation, harmony and stability, and not for revenge, relics and deviousness.
In reality,
we are one family and Iraq is the “homeland we share”, so we should get
rid of all the barriers and preserve our diversity to maintain the
“unique” Iraqi beautiful national, humanitarian and religious fabric.
Fourth: This kind of development will be achieved when each one of you will work closely with his/her colleague, sharing with him/her the homeland and citizens’ concerns, so as to heal the wounded hearts. This can be accomplished by realizing community reform that is able to afford a healthy educational environment, openness and pluralism, rather than darkness and exclusion.
I also call upon Christian representatives to unite and cooperate among themselves as well as with their colleagues for the benefit of all Iraqis. They must make every single effort to legislate laws that explicitly recognize our existence and guarantee our full rights, especially that we have suffered a lot.
Fourth: This kind of development will be achieved when each one of you will work closely with his/her colleague, sharing with him/her the homeland and citizens’ concerns, so as to heal the wounded hearts. This can be accomplished by realizing community reform that is able to afford a healthy educational environment, openness and pluralism, rather than darkness and exclusion.
I also call upon Christian representatives to unite and cooperate among themselves as well as with their colleagues for the benefit of all Iraqis. They must make every single effort to legislate laws that explicitly recognize our existence and guarantee our full rights, especially that we have suffered a lot.
Finally, we
ask God to enlighten your way to choose the path of love, justice, truth
and peace, and to give the priority to our beloved country and its’
nation. This is the only way that helps our people to regain some
confidence and hope to keep up their aspirations.