Rome (NEV / chiesavaldese.org), October 26, 2019 – Following the recent military aggression of the Turkish Republic to northern Syria – in particular, but not only, against the Kurdish people -, the Waldensian Board expressed “deep grief for the already numerous victims and apprehension about the rapid spread of the conflict in a country already brutalized by eight years of war “.
In emphasizing its conviction that stable peace and security can only come “from the patient weaving of relationships based on justice, starting from the recognition of equal dignity, rights and duties of all peoples and all human beings”, the Waldensian Board considers this intervention “not only contrary to every law of God and of the international community, but also unjustifiable on the basis of any reason of state”.
In the statement, the Board also expresses concern about the “increasingly dangerous resignation of the international community to the triumphs of a single law, that of the strongest”, asking all governments, the Italian and the European ones in the first place, to “insistently work for cessation of hostilities”.
The Waldensian Board, highest decision-making body of the Methodist and Waldensian churches, joins the prayers and the appeals of many believers – Muslims, Christians, Jews and others – for a just peace and invites all nations, starting “from our Italy and from our Europe”, to “convert their myopic policies, concentrated almost exclusively on the defense of particular interests, into more far-sighted policies, even if more expensive in the short term”.
The appeal is addressed to all nations and to all conflicts and concludes with the invitation “to boycott rather than forage the most authoritarian, discriminatory and aggressive regimes, in particular by not providing them with more weapons and defusing their blackmail attempts to reopen uncontrolled flows of refugees and migrants to our continent in the only possible way: opening themselves up to reception through the organization of humanitarian corridors”.
The Waldensian Church of Turin intervenes following the military aggression of Turkey to northern Syria with an agenda unanimously voted by the assembly that met on October 13 last.
“In the face of yet another conflict in the Middle East, triggered by the aggression of the Turkish army against the Kurdish and Syrian populations – the text reads – the Waldensian Church of Turin expresses its opposition and concern. It calls on all governments, the Italian and the European ones in the first place, to work for the cessation of hostilities. It also expresses solidarity with the victims and the refugees of the war and commits its members to work in all areas for the end of the conflict.”
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