Prayers for Peacemakers, 27 September 2017

Prayers for Peacemakers, 27 September 2017

Prayer for an end of the
neighboring countries’ hostilities following Kurdistan’s referendum on
independence and for increased solidarity with the oppressed peoples’
struggles around the world.

“Iraqi government is threatening, Turkish
government is threatening, Iranian government is threatening and the
entire international community is threatening. What is it? I have
never had so much problems with my identity, who I am and where I
come from. I did not vote for the referendum because I believe that
these Kurdish leaders (…) have done nothing regarding human rights,
women rights, LGBTQ rights and minority rights. They have not been
able to create a democratic system that we all have wanted and lastly
I do not believe in nation states.” These are the words and
a perspective of someone close to CPT on presumably the biggest event
of this week: the Kurdistan’s referendum on independence from Iraq.

The sharing continues: “Of course that is
not the case at the moment, is it? A group of people have decided to
hold a referendum after going though hundreds of years of oppression.
And guess what: the whole world is threatening and the three
neighboring countries such as Iran, Iraq and Turkey have warned that
they would invade and put sanctions on the region. I really do
not understand why everyone is against it? If really they all believe
in human rights and democracy then why do they threaten? Why do they
bomb? Why do they kill? Only in the past 6 days both Turkey and Iran
have been bombing farmers in the mountains. 7 people dead and 4
wounded. Houses destroyed and farms burnt. And already fights and
curfews in some small towns around Kirkuk because of the referendum.
Why is that? Why has it become so easy to start wars and to kill
people?”

On
the day of the referendum Iranian military bombarded fiercely Kurdistan’s border communities including CPT partners

This
week, let us carry in our prayers the indigenous and diverse peoples
of Kurdistan, Palestine, Turtle Island and other numerous regions of
the world who struggle for freedom, self-determination, respect,
justice and peace. Let us pray for the end of hostilities and
discrimination of the Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian governments against
the Kurdish people. This oppression and organized annihilation has
been going on for a hundred years! Let us pray and work together for
a world free of artificial borders drawn by architects of wars and
patrons of colonization. Which next step can we take as we build a
world of communities that together embrace the diversity of the human
family and live justly and peaceably with all creation?