Op-ed: Syrian Christian students in Hungary may be forced to return to Syria to face certain death
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We have received a heavy letter from one of our readers about the Syrian Christian students in Hungary who might be forced to return to Syria under dangerous conditions. Please, read their letter below:
“To those who may not know what has been happening in Syria during the last 14 years, here is a brief summary:
In March 2011, a revolution against the fascist dictator Bashar al-Assad started in Syria. But after just a few days, the revolution for freedom turned into an Islamic revolution aiming to replace the system with an Islamic one, and many jihadist groups began to appear. What initially seemed like a promising revolution toward freedom quickly turned into a civil war.
The criminal regime continued killing citizens in every imaginable way to hold onto power. But the other side was not innocent either—it was composed of jihadist groups cutting off heads and bombing schools.
In this 14-year war, Christians have been the victims of both parties: the regime, which marginalised them, and the jihadist groups, which killed them, bombed their churches, and expelled them from their villages. Civilians who supported the jihadist groups also participated in this persecution, at the very least by verbally harassing Christians whenever they saw one.
In 2017, the SCYP (Scholarship Programme for Christian Young People) was founded in Hungary by the Hungarian government to give persecuted Christians from third countries the chance to come to Hungary to study. This opportunity was one of the few hopes for Syrian Christian students, who faced enormous challenges enrolling in bachelor’s programs at Syrian universities.
At the same time, many Syrian Muslim students were also able to come to Hungary via another scholarship (Stipendium Hungaricum). However, most of them came to study for a master’s degree or PhD, since obtaining undergraduate studies in Syria was somehow easier for them than for Christians.
What happened now?
The jihadist groups won the war, and the former Al-Qaeda leader became the new president of Syria! Now Christians are in an even more dangerous situation—especially as the same people who once killed Christians, bombed their churches and villages, and destroyed Christian heritage have become influential members of the new government. One example is the new defence minister, Morhaf Abo Kasra, who was well known for attacking Christian areas and destroying their churches.
Now, as a Christian male in Syria, you live in fear every day—you might be killed for wearing shorts or humiliated by being filmed while your head is shaved because you were caught walking with a female. As a Christian female, you may be kidnapped and forced into marriage with an Islamist leader.
Religions – creating so much death and destruction in this world. Unbelievable that people kill other people because they do not believe in some imaginary “higher power” or whatever ancient fairy tale.
Since Hungary is so keen on protecting Christian believers, I do hope that these decent people who came to study and graduated and want to work, are not forcefully sent back to be persecuted. At the same time, I hope that any decent person facing certain danger and persecution, no matter what imaginary figure they believe in, should not be forcefully sent into a danger zone.
Real final solution would of course be that all people would start using their brains and stop worshiping any kind of age-old fairy tales and so called gods. Not much hope that happening any time soon though, I guess.