Last Tuesday, the European Parliament hosted the conference “The Future of Christians in Syria: Religious Freedom, Political Representation, a Shared Future.” The two-hour event brought together European politicians, church leaders, and representatives of Syria’s Christian communities (Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans) to discuss Syria’s future and the situation of Christians following the overthrow of the Assad regime.
Miriam Lexmann, a Slovak Member of the European Parliament from the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH, a member of the EPP) and co-chair of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion, Belief, and Conscience, presided over the event organized jointly by the European Syriac Union (ESU), the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ), Syriac Cross Belgium, the Sallux ECPP Foundation, and Jubilee Campaign Netherlands. The event called for equal citizenship for Syrian Christians and a constitutional framework that guarantees their religious freedom and political participation. According to representatives of the Christian communities, such representation cannot be based on seats allocated through specific quotas.
Syrian Christians “did not want the rallying cry to be ‘protect the Christians.’ They wanted it to be ‘equal citizenship.’ They did not want to be favored – but they also did not want to be marginalized”, recalled Nadine Maenza, Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, referring to when she met with Christian leaders in February 2025. However, despite President al-Sharaa’s promises to Christian leaders that he would form an inclusive government, this has not happened. “Only with religious freedom and equal citizenship will Christians, Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, Kurds, and other communities be able to remain in Syria. And only then can all Syrians have the lasting peace and stability they deserve,” pointed Maenza.
The speech of Sanharib Barsom, President of the Syriac Union Party in Syria, also emphasised the need for a state that truly recognises individual and collective rights, and guarantees the rights of all communities: “The marginalization of Christians is systematic. Their presence in state institutions has been reduced to a minimum, both in number and influence. Although the current constitutional framework speaks of equality and human rights, these principles are not respected in practice. Moreover, making Islamic jurisprudence a basis for legislation is incompatible with a religiously diverse country such as Syria.” Otherwise, the pressure being exerted on Christians could lead to further emigration, “Syria risks losing an original people and a living language connected to the heritage of Jesus Christ,” stated Barsom.
Archbishop Georghes Masri, Archbishop of Aleppo of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, emphasised Syria’s importance in the origins of Christianity, recalling that, from its very beginnings, the Church has faced hardships: “When Christ sent His disciples, He did not promise them an easy life or an easy mission. He told them: ‘Whoever wishes to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’ But He did not send them without support. He also promised to support them.” Christians have suffered all manner of persecution, but “the challenge facing Christians in Syria, and in the East more broadly, is an existential challenge, and we do not have the luxury of much time to confront it.” This challenge requires a response which, unfortunately, is taking far too long to materialise, “it is better to arrive late than never to arrive at all,” said the archbishop, but it takes determination to get there.
On how this determination to help Syria should be channelled, Johannes de Jong, director of the Sallux ECPP Foundation (European Christian Political Party Think Tank), who has had a deep understanding of the situation in Syria since 2014, stated that he had ample evidence that Iran and Turkey are responsible for the current situation, as are the EU and its member states, due to all the support they have provided to those countries over the years: “The EU and EU Member States helped to direct tens of billions to Iran that Iran used to keep Assad in power. This policy continued while the civil war in Syria was ongoing and while it was well known that it continued thanks to Iran. At the same time the EU and EU Member States supported the groups in Syria that Turkey wanted to support which were extremists.” As a result, Europe took in millions of refugees and is now supporting extremists in Damascus, believing that this will encourage the refugees to return. For de Jong, this is yet another illusion, since the regime has already been responsible for massacres of Alawites, Druze, and Kurds, as well as for increased persecution of Christians.
“We need to become very explicit and clear that our foreign policy must end this massive and systemic support for extremist regimes that not only lead to persecution of Christians but also to more refugee streams later on and more extremism in Europe itself,” concluded de Jong.
The director of the Sallux ECPP Foundation speaks from a rational perspective and, above all, from experience. Support for extremism only leads to greater persecution of Christians and ultimately to that persecution taking place in our own backyard as well. Europe must listen to and support Syrian Christians.
