Takfirism, Terrorism, Sedition Top Dangers Threatening National Security of All Peoples of the World: Patriarch Yazigi

ATHENS, (ST)- Patriarch Youhanna X Yazigi of Antioch and All East for the Greek Orthodox has stressed that takfirism, terrorism and Sedition are the top dangers threatening the national security of all peoples of the world.

The Patriarch’s remarks were made during the Conference on Cultural and Religious Pluralism and Coexistence in the Middle East which was organized at the initiative of the Greek Foreign Ministry.

 Yazigi said “our people in Syria and other countries of the region were falsely promised a spring, but what they got was a bloodshed and a return to the age of ignorance.”   

“Under the so-called Arab Spring, our archbishops were kidnapped, churches and mosques were destroyed, houses were demolished and people were displaced by foreign-backed takfiri terrorism, he added.

“What is happening in the East in general aims to undermine human civilization and history,” the Patriarch said, reiterating that the disability or rather the unwillingness of the international community to solve the crisis in Syria “indicates the complete failure of the human rights organization and the international law which has regrettably been implemented only to serve special interests and harm the sovereignty of countries.”        

“Peace and terrorism don’t coexist,” Yazigi said, affirming that Christians in Syria, the cradle of civilizations and religions, are adherent to their homeland.

The patriarch called for an end to all forms of conflicts and violence in the Middle East and urged the international community to exert more efforts and pressure concerned parties to immediately release the two archbishops who were kidnapped by terrorist organizations in Aleppo countryside three years ago.

Hamda Mustafa