Parliament’s Presidency remembers victims of Surya village massacre on 50th anniversary

The Presidency of the Kurdistan Parliament on 16 September issued the following statement on the 50th anniversary of the massacre in Surya village in the Bahdinan area of Kurdistan:

Fifty years ago in 1969, Iraq’s Ba’ath regime massacred thousands of innocent Assyrian, Chaldean, Kurdish and Muslim men, women and children in the village of Surya. The first victim of the tragedy was the priest Hana Qasha, who was executed by the Iraqi officer Abdul Karim Al-Jihayshi.

We the Kurdistan Parliament remember the victims of the Surya massacre, and we pledge to defend peaceful coexistence between all religious and ethnic communities in Kurdistan. On this day of remembrance 50 years after the massacre, we express our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims.  

Kurdistan Parliament Presidency

16 September 2019