Letter to Donald Trump, President of the United States - Religious Minorities in the Middle East

Letter

Mr. President:

Congratulations on your election and recent assumption of office.

We write to you today to express our strong support for the promotion and aid of religious minorities in the Middle East currently facing extinction, namely Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria. In a historic vote in March 2016, the House of Representatives voted unanimously that these indigenous communities were facing genocide.

In present day Iraq, Christians have been inhabitants for almost 2,000 years, tracing back their roots to ancient Mesopotamia, "the cradle of civilization." They are one of the longest lasting communities in the world, and some still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. Chaldeans and Assyrians are no strangers to the United States. They fought with us, shoulder to shoulder, in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

To the northwest in Syria, the Mar Elian Monastery was captured and bulldozed by ISIS, leaving nothing but rubble. ISIS' religious persecution knows no borders. In Iraq, ISIS destroyed one of the oldest Christian sites in the world-St. Elijah's Monastery. A monastery that stood in Iraq for over 1,400 years has been reduced to a distant memory.

Due to a myriad of foreign policy decisions and deeply rooted sectarianism from their native governments, these indigenous people now face complete expulsion from their ancestral homelands. Descendants of the same people that invented the wheel and the yearly calendar, these ancient communities have not only contributed to the history of the Middle East, but the modernization of the world.

Since the inception of our great Republic, America, a beacon of light, has stood with the world's most vulnerable people. The United States' diplomatic leadership has long played a meaningful and material role to the aid of religious minorities. These embattled groups, no strangers to persecution, are now facing an existential threat, exacerbated by the rise of ISIS and other militant groups. With reports of material aid not reaching the intended recipients, bureaucratic red tape creating various hurdles, and the repeated failure of international bodies to provide a timely and adequate response, we hope your administration will take the lead in advancing the interests and preserving the rights of these embattled people.

As staunch supporters of religious minorities in the Middle East, we stand ready to cooperate with you as your administration begins to formulate and implement its foreign policy objectives.