(AINA) -- The following statement was issued by a group of international scholars. It addresses the the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and its genocide campaign against Assyrians, Yazidis and other non-Muslim minorities in Iraq.

99 years ago this year, a genocide was perpetrated upon the Christians of the Middle East, including the Aramaic-speaking Assyrians, Chaldeans and Aramaeans (Suryoye). Now in the 21st century we see history repeating itself. Christian towns and villages, such as Qaraqosh, Telkepe and Alqosh, which had largely escaped the violence of recent decades, are now emptied of their populations. These towns, with their ancient monasteries, are of huge historical and cultural significance. In this area, furthermore, Aramaic has been spoken uninterrupted for thousands of years.

Wave upon wave of refugees of all communities, amounting to hundreds of thousands of people, are now crowded into the small Kurdish region, itself gravely threatened by ISIS. People are sleeping in parks and in the streets. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Yazidis have been in the mountains without shelter or water. Urgent humanitarian aid is needed, but longer term the refugees cannot stay in Erbil.

As scholars engaged in the study of their language and cultural heritage, we call upon the governments of the European Union, the United States, and the wider international community to do everything in their power to allow the refugees back to their homes in the plain of Mosul and to institute an internationally protected safe haven in northern Iraq of the kind that, twenty years ago, protected the Kurds from genocide and which has enabled this region up till now to enjoy a stability and prosperity that we would wish for all Iraqis.

Dr Eleanor Coghill
University of Konstanz
Dr Alessandro Mengozzi
University of Turin
Professor Geoffrey Khan
University of Cambridge
Profesor Dr Werner Arnold
University of Heidelberg
University Professor Dr Shabo Talay
Free University of Berlin
Professor Yona Sabar
University of California, Los Angeles
Professor Dr Heleen Murre-van den Berg
Leiden University of Leiden
Professor Fabrizio Pennacchietti
University of Turin
Professor Dr Otto Jastrow
Tallinn University
Professor Steven Fassberg
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Hezy Mutzafi
Tel Aviv University
Dr Samuel Ethan Fox
University of Chicago
Dr Sergey Loesov
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
Dr Pablo Kirtchuk
Institut National de Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris
Dr Maciej Tomal
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Dr George Anton Kiraz
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Nineb Lamassu
University of Cambridge
Zeki Bilgic
University of Konstanz
Georges Toro
University of Konstanz
Dr Charles G. Häberl
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Dr Roberta Borghero
University of Cambridge
Dr Michael Waltisberg
University of Marburg
Dr Alinda Damsma
Leo Baeck College, London
Dr Na'ama Pat-El
University of Texas at Austin
Dr Johanna Rubba
Cal Poly State University, California
Rev Kristine Jensen
Aramaic Bible Translation, Peoria, Arizona
Dr Lidia Napiorkowska
University of Cambridge
Kathrin Göransson
University of Cambridge
Ariel Gutman
University of Konstanz
Michael Wingert
University of California, Los Angeles
Timothy Hogue
University of California, Los Angeles
Kristine Mole
University of Cambridge
Dr Jasmin Sinha
Aubange, Belgium
Fabio Gasparini
University of Tutin
Demsin Lachin
Aramaic Bible Translation, Turlock, California
Dr Margaretha Folmer
Leiden University
Professor Dr Estiphan Panoussi
University of Gothenburg
Professor Emeritus Olga Kapeliuk
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr Jean Sibille
University of Toulouse
Joseph Alichoran
Institut National de Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris
Professor Eran Cohen
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Robin Bet Shmuel
Oriental Cultural Centre, Duhok, Iraq
Dr Alexey Lyavdansky
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
Martin Luther Chan
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr M. David Hanna
Los Angeles
Dr Laura Kalin
University of Connecticut
Illan Gonen
University of Cambridge
Dr Francesco Zanella
University of Bonn
D. Robert Paulissian
Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies

See Timeline of ISIS in North Iraq.