(AINA) -- The Assyrian Universal Alliance, an umbrella body for Assyrian organizations, has sent a letter to Iraq's prime minister regarding the latest church bombings in Baghdad, where 7 churches where bombed and four killed. The bombings occurred despite the fact that warnings had been received five days in advance and the US forces and the Iraqi authorities were notified of the threats.

2009-07-15

The Honorable Nuri al-Maliki
Prime Minister
Federal Republic of Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq

Dear Prime Minister al-Maliki,

I am in great distress over the latest attacks perpetrated against our churches in Iraq. This contemptible action is clearly ethnocide and is intended to intimidate and dishearten the Assyrians and drive them out of our ancestral lands.

We are extremely concerned that attacks like these will continue to plague Iraq unless your government takes firm and immediate action to secure and protect this helpless segment of Iraq?s population. We demand that the Iraqi government convene an emergency assembly to discuss and unanimously approve and ratify the Assyrian right to autonomy and grant us the requested autonomous region on our ancestral lands in North Iraq. As you know and have agreed in principle to its formation, this autonomous region is essential for the protection and survival of our people.

We further reiterate our demands as outlined in the petition we submitted to Your Honor during your visit to Australia in March of 2009. We appeal to you and Iraq?s federal government to establish, train, arm and further support an Assyrian security force as part of Iraq?s national security and/or local police force to serve as a defense for Assyrian towns and villages.

The recent recognition of autonomy rights for Assyrians by the parliament of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and these vicious, inhumane attacks on innocent church-goers have now redirected the eyes of the world back to Iraq and the actions of its government. We urge you to lead the government of Iraq in taking immediate and conclusive actions in creating an Assyrian autonomous region in North Iraq. This is a decision that will be an outstanding model to the world not only of the strict enforcement of human rights in the new Federal Republic of Iraq, but also of the high value Iraq places on its ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples.

I look forward to your immediate response in the swift execution of the demands listed above, and I thank you on behalf of Assyrians worldwide for your continuing championship and support.

Respectfully,
Yonathan Betkolia
Secretary General
Assyrian Universal Alliance

CC: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations
United Nations Security Council
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Department of State
Secretary General Marino Busdachin, UNPO