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Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Meets German PresidentBerlin (AINA) -- His Holiness Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II visited His Excellency President Joahim Gauck at the Bellevue Presidential Palace in Berlin on Thursday July 7, 2016....According to the German presidential office release, the focus of the conversation with the Patriarch was the exchange of information about the current situation of Christians in Syria and Iraq. The presidential message says further: The [situation] is of great concern to me", states the president. "In this diverse and historicly civilized region, in which Christianity has its home since the early days, the life of Christians, among others, is existentially threatened by war and Islamist terror. Christians are expelled from their homes. kidnapped, murdered; their homes confiscated, their churches and monasteries taken over or destroyed, and their clergy abducted. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled the region or are homeless as IDPs. Christians are also becoming victims of Islamist terror -- similar to Yazidis, Shiites and Sunnis, who do not share the radical views of Islamist terrorists. Last February the European Parliament particularly condemned the persecution of religious minorities as a war crime, crimes against humanity and genocide. "Do not forget the Christians," warned the British Jewish publisher George Weidenfeld shortly before his death earlier this year. We urgently need a political solution to the conflict in Syria and the pacification of the Middle East. The observance of human rights, the right to religious freedom and the security of minorities must be guaranteed. I am grateful for efforts on humanitarian level that already start to take effect. And I am grateful to all the people who work to ensure that many persecuted can find a safe refuge in Germany.Read More At: http://www.aina.org/news/20160710160249.htm
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Topic: Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Meets German President (Read 220 times)
