Around the world (Middle East and Europe)

From Oasis journal

The fate of Schengen and the Endurance of the European Pact

The migration crisis put the EU to the test. In order to hold out, the Union must not be perceived as a service provider, but as a dimension of existence of its citizens and residents

Andrea Pin | 21 March 2016

The scenario that seems to be solidifying for some time now in the Mediterranean is disheartening. Hundreds of thousands of people literally adrift at sea; European states are caught in a dilemma between financial sustainability, social stability and the need to save the human beings presenting themselves at their borders; the added difficulty of distinguishing the crowds of desperate people leaving countries in the throes of civil war from economic migrants, while seeking to deter economic migrants from making their way to Europe as every entryway and border have fallen. The European and international regulations distinguish the statuses of those who reach the borders rigorously, assuring them different kinds of mobility: some — normally foreign residents and predominantly workers — can move freely in
Europe (within the Schengen area), while others must remain and benefit from the protection of the country of first asylum.

It is almost superfluous to add that these regulations have currently had a boomerang effect. As the States of arrival are also often the poorest states, those who arrive on the southern coasts of the continent elude their checks and head for the heart of Europe, only officially knocking at the doors of wealthier nations: which therefore become the ones of first arrival and must take care of refugees. This strategy is welcomed by poorer nations which, instead of having to accommodate, only see refugees passing through. The reaction of nations like Austria, Germany and France has been the closing of borders and the de facto suspension of Schengen, despite the fact that some of them had initially opened their doors, essentially urging refugees to make the trip (with the effect of straining all neighboring countries which suddenly became the access routes to those territories against their will).

The European Union appears unprepared to meet the challenge: ... [continue full text]

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Isis and the Threat to the Christian Architectural Heritage

In Syria, the Islamic State causes the exodus of minorities who are under attack, and threatens the existence of ancient sacred places of worship

Christian Lochon | 21 March 2016

We publish lengthy excerpts from an article published on Œuvre d’Orient, n. 781 (October-November-December 2015), pp. 335-343, which not only explain the situation of the Christian communities in Syria threatened by the extremism of the Islamic State, but also the conditions and the threat to sacred sites and Christian architecture in that country.

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In Aleppo, the second most important city of the Ottoman empire after Istanbul, a Christian neighborhood, developed in the sixteenth century, hosted numerous churches. The bombings, which from 2011 and then, more intensely in April and May 2015, especially targeted this part of the city, seriously damaged the Maronite, Melkite, Armenian and Catholic cathedrals, and completely destroyed the Armenian Forty Martyrs Church which preserved beautiful icons. The evangelical church was destroyed by explosives. The numerous kidnappings of Christian citizens have reduced this community to 50,000 people. The Syrian non-chalcedonian and Greek-orthodox bishops were kidnapped two years ago along with hundreds of parishioners. Since then, there has been no further news about the whereabouts or wellbeing.

Homs was for a long time a pilgrimage destination to St. John the Baptist who was dedicated a shrine. In Homs, until the fourth century, non-chalcedonian Syriacs possessed a church where the belt of the Virgin was said to be kept, and at the beginning of the twentieth century the patriarch of this community still resided in Homs, before taking office in Damascus. The Church of the Virgin was rebuilt in the nineteenth century in “Seljuk” style, characterized by the “Ablaq” alternation of black and white stones. Unfortunately, this basilica collapsed under recent bombings.

Jabhat al-Nusra militants occupied Kassab, a small mountain city in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, where Armenian families and descendants of the 1915 genocide had settled. The city’s inhabitants fled to Lattakia. […] ... [continue full text]