Enschede, Holland -- The Syriac Orthodox church under the leadership of patria! rch Igna tius Zakka Beth Iwaz is in a process of crumble. The church is no longer what it used to be.

During the past years and especially the last month we have seen bishops and the patriarch committing mistakes. On one occasion the patriarch claims we are descendants of the Arabs and that Arabian blood is flowing through our veins. On another occasion he suspends a bishop just because the bishop tried to bring unity to his diocese. The patriarch was aware of the scandals concerning the disappearing of millions of Euros from our community, a scandal known as 'Nigeria-Gate'.

The Patriarch pretended simply he didn't know anything about the scandal and never questioned the bishops responsible for it. What are the reasons for this and other capital blunders which were made under his leadership?

The central question is: has he still any authority in the Syriac Orthodox Church? Or is there a third party which shares the power inside the Syriac Orthodox Church and is he only the puppet of these people?

Removed from his function

Julius Hannah Aydin enjoyed his nomination as bishop for only four month because he was suspended on the first of June this year. According to the patriarch the new bishop of Germany didn't comply with some requests the Patriarch had when nominating him: the bishop had promised to collect some money on behalf of the diocese which he presides over (the monastery St. Jacob of Sarug) in the German town of Warburg. Furthermore he was accused of having initiated several negotiations with some church leaders and priests in Germany with the aim to prevent his diocese from splitting up in three different districts. And this was in contradiction with the aim of the patriarch who had decided to split up Germany in three dioceses and subsequently install three bishops in the same.

Bishop Julius Hanna Aydin is accused of having made a visit to Belgi! um and t he Netherlands without the patriarch's permission. He was also accused of accompanying the archbishop of Turabdin, Timotheus Samuel Aktas, during his visit to Germany. It is scandalous and out of all proportions that a bishop is suspended for these invalid and void reasons.

Scandals

Some facts in review: Some other bishops and priests are allowed to do all that God has forbidden and there is nobody to suspend them. Take for example Augin Kaplan, the bishop of America. By the involvement of this bishop millions of Euros came into the hands of the Nigerian mafia, and up till this day nobody knows exactly through which channels and in which way the money disappeared. Nonetheless it is a matter of fact that the patriarch himself as well as some of his loyal bishops were aware from the beginning and had full knowledge about this so called Nigeria investmentIt was promised to them that they would swim in money. Afterwards it was obvious and clear that they were blackmailed by the Nigerian mafia. Absolutely scandalous!

Unfortunately only bishop Cicek was punished for this. He was dropped because he had lent some money to Bishop Kaplan. Bishop Cicek wasn't able to recover from this blow and died literally because the money he had lent was forever lost.

This has generated a lot of speculations concerning his death. Especially because he had promised to make all of this public, the way the money was lost and the identity of all those who had full knowledge about the disappeared millions.

He died in October 2005 under suspicious circumstances while staying at a hotel in the German Dusseldorf Airport. This whole affair and also the speculations around it are still alive in the Assyrian community around the world.

Another example: A priest of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Germany was sentenced to three years in prison because he had sexually abused several students in h! is distr ict. After serving the sentence he was simply allowed to go back as a priest once again, as if nothing had happened. The patriarch did nothing at all.

Obviously the Patriarch was bribed with a great amount of money. Another example of a great blunder is related to the new bishop of Belgium and France, Hazael Isa Soumi which was ordained bishop on February 12th this year.

During a meeting in Belgium with the well-known advocate for the recognition of the genocide against the Assyrians the new bishop simply denied that this genocide, carried out by the Turks, has ever happened. The patriarch and his accomplices did nothing at all in connection to this, as usually. What is the reason for the patriarch to not to act against these humiliating mistakes which hurt all of our people and make us look ridiculous?

'Mukhabarats'

It is hardly a secret that a number of the so called 'Arabian' bishops (metaphorically speaking) were used by the Syrian Mukhabarat (secret service). It is these bishops which are working for the Syrian dictatorship who have the control over the patriarch. They stranglehold the patriarch and make all decisions in direct contact with the feared Mukhabarats.

One of the reasons for the suspension of bishop Hannah Aydin is that the patriarch together with his 'bishops known as Mukhabarats' have decided that the diocese of Germany must be split up in three different dioceses.

The other two bishops who will be ordained are also well known as accomplices of the Syrian dictatorship. The aim is to have absolute control over the whole Assyrian community in the Diaspora. And of course they are very interested in the money of the community here in Europe. We notice that even some church buildings of the Syriac Orthodox church in Europe are used as polling stations for the elections of the Syrian dictator. This happened during the las! t presid ential elections recently held in Syria. As usual Dictator Assad gained 97 percent of the votes. It is absolutely ridiculous that our own church leaders stimulate their churchgoers by this way to vote for a dictator. Even in the Dish hotel in Enschede (The Netherlands) there was a great number of Assyrians from Syria voted there. By this behaviour they demonstrate very clearly that they are still loyal to the Syrian dictatorship. To the contrary: this has almost never happened among the Assyrians in Turabdin. Nevertheless it demonstrates very clearly that the Syrian Secret Service has strongly infiltrated the Assyrian community in the Netherlands and abroad. We notify that a lot of people act as puppets of the Syrian Secret Service.

Uprising

To get out of the stranglehold of the patriarch and the bishops who are working for the Syrian or for the Turkish Secret Service it is absolutely necessary that our entire community rises up against those who try to sell our people to countries like Turkey and Syria in a treacherous way.

The Assyrian community must also forcefully reject the decision of the patriarch in relation to the case of Bishop Hannah Aydin and at the same time support the bishop. After all: he has made no mistake. The only thing he did was to vote against division in Germany.

The decision of the patriarch has given us an opportunity to settle the score with the traitors inside the Syriac Orthodox Church once and for all. The Assyrian people don't have to tolerate these humiliations done to them by their church leaders any longer and can not longer accept their authority. In the utter consequence the seat of the patriarch must be removed from Syria to a democratic country here in Europe. This way we can eventually save the church from the abyss. I wish a long life to the progressive bishops, priests, church leaders and all others who have a function in any institution of the Assyrian community. ! At the s ame time: let's remove all traitors who sell their own people to a third party.

By Isa Sumer
EasternStar News Agency

Isa Sumer was a member of the city counsel of the social democratic party (PvdA) in Enschede, the Netherlands, from 1998-2006. He is also the author of the book: God's children were forgotten, Reports from Mesopotamia, Assyrians in the Diaspora.