A Christmas Dialogue with President-Elect Donald Trump

Ardishir Rashidi Kalhur | Exclusive to iKurd.net

In advance of the celebration of Christmas, and your inauguration as the 47^th President of the United States in January of 2025, I wish you positive success for your presidency and for America. To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not of Americans, if you are Democrat or Republican, ask us to support America to lead again and succeed again in these challenging times”.

For that, and as a Kurdish immigrant coming to the United States on student visa, some fifty years ago, I am grateful for what America has done for me and my family. In return, I have always proudly promoted and supported the United States leadership at every level in my leadership capacity and service for America to bring peace, democracy and economic prosperity around the world.

Mr. President,

This is the Holy Season of Holidays that is a time for reflection on life and the values we all cherish as Americans, as eloquently stated by William Tyler Page a government employee in Congress on April 3, 1918 who wrote the following statement about “The American’s Creed” (1):

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies”.

— William Tyler Page, The American’s Creed,

Mr. President-elect Trump,

The deep roots of American’s Values, as stated in the American Constitution and accumulating body of laws since 1776, with future changes to come, toward forming a more perfect Union, is inescapably deep-seated in the Bible. This was in the minds of the well-read, enlightened, courageous and experienced American leaders who knew all about power and corruption of all forms of governments past to their present time, and who decided to overthrow the forces of tyranny and dictatorship which then ruled over the American people. Thus came the Revolution of 1776 to create this new and more democratic form of government, 248 years ago.

Mr. President-elect,

Your election campaign was convincing to many Americans who voted for you because you spoke of being a defender of the spiritual identity of a certain sector of American society with strong Christian faith. At this special time of the year, it is imperative to remind ourselves of these American Values and share with you a perspective about the people and places among whom these cherished values sprouted and grew thousands of years ago.

Values and stories which formed the moral content of the books of the old and the new Testaments. Just like the American Pioneers who found the courage to fight the tyranny of King George III, Jesus was their role model who also fought tyranny, and injustice to liberate people to restore those coveted and sublime values which were reflected in the writing of the American Constitution.

Mr. President,

The purpose of writing this message, long it may be, is to urge you and soon to be formed your new administration to urgently know, that today in Syria, Kurdistan, and in the entire Middle East, and globally, these fundamental values and principles of The American’s Creed and faith, are in danger of being cut off at the roots by the most rootless Turkish supported Jihadists.

America must act and defend the people and the ground where these values were born and gave meaning to “Good vs. Evil”, to Right vs. Wrong, to Justice overcoming Injustice, to the moral core of this great country that is based on the Judeo-Christianity values which are the main pilar of identity of the “Western Values”, as they are true Universal Values.

One of the early stories in the Bible is the concept of “The Tree of Life” (2,3) which has been used by many cultures around the world to symbolize the spiritual connection of life to the environment, and earth to a divine being as the creator of all things in existence under the depthless dome of the heavens.

In no other book of faith, except in the book of Genesis, in the Bible, the image of the “Tree of Life” depicts so profoundly the importance of life itself, and the human’s ability to gain and learn the knowledge of “Good” Verse “Evil”, and subsequently, learn about science, math, philosophy and advances in technologies from the ancient world to the most advanced.

Today, America’s most advanced and prestigious civilian project is the NASA’s Artemis Program. Whether it is by design or sheer fate and coincidence, that in the Temple of Artemis, built over 2500 years ago, the archeologists discovered a plaque with the image of the “Tree of Life” on the floor of the temple (4). Today, by the Artemis Program, NASA is planting a news “Tree of Life in Space” as depicted by the shown image.

The written story of the book of Genesis, may go as far back as 3000 to 4000 years ago, as it started during the time of Moses, who tabulated the concept of “Good” and “Evil” by the Ten Commandments. However, the precursor to the written version of the Bible, has been the oral history and mythological stories of ‘Good and Evil” which had existed long before the written version of the Bible, and still exists among the cultures of the world with particular importance among the people of Northern Mesopotamia where the stories in the book of Genessis take place.

With advances in Archelogy and the studies of “The People and the Places of The Bible” the roots of these stories are becoming more real and visible, and as has been excavated by the late German archeologist professor Klause Schmidt who had unearthed the Girê Mirazan (aka as Xerabreşkê) a temple site in Northern Kurdistan, titled by the Smithsonian as “The World’s First Temple”.

The word “Xerabreşkê”, as pronounced in Kalhur-Kurdish, as “Khair-Besh-Ke”, means to share or spread the “Fortune and the Goodness” by intents, deeds and by charitable giving, which also, make the place to be known as “The World’s First Temple of Charitable Generosity”. It can also be used as a form of greeting, “Khair-Besh-Ke”, simply means Share the Gift of Goodness and Grace within you. So Mr. President Trump, this Christmas, let us greet America by saying “Khair-Besh- Ke”.

The cultural practice of “Khair-Bash-Ke” remains today among the Yaresan and the Yazidi, people in whose religious ceremonies, especially during the Feast of the Creator (in Yaresan called Jezhne-Kawenkar) and on special occasions, when tens of hundreds of people gather where a blessed meal of thin bread (called tyrii), rice, meat, fruits and natural beverages are offered and shared and distributed to the attendees, whomever they may be, and wherever they may come from.

It is interesting that the highest form of offering (sacrifice) is when a bull is sacrificed with a blessed knife when its entire body is treated sacred and protected until it is fully prepared, cooked, blessed by a Yaresan priest and is served as offering from God to the attendees. This ceremony is a direct cultural link to the practice of Mithraism, and Mithraic religion founded around 1500 BC.

In Western Iran, Northern Mesopotamia among the people of the Greater Kurdistan. Mithraism, perhaps as an outgrowth of what was practiced at “Khair-Bash-Ke” Temple, was also a religion based on Love, Kindness, and Truthfulness, also values emphasized in the Bible. After the Roman expansion into the Middle East, they brought back with them the belief and practices of Mithraism, which was replaced by Christianity in 4th C.AD. After Mithraism, other faiths such as Yazdan-Parassi, Magianism and later around 600 BC to Zoroastrianism developed in the now known as the Greater Kurdistan.

Other branches of faith and religious practices which most certainly grew out of the belief and practices of the World’s First Temple, are the well-known stories of Sumerian Gilgamesh,

Babylonian book of the creation and the book of Genesis, and the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the location of which could be the “Khair-Besh-Ke” Temple in Northern Kurdish region South-West of Mount Ararat and Lake Van.

Mr. President,

Abraham, in whose honor you initiated the Abraham Accord, was from the Kurdish region with a Kurdish name, pronounced as Ur-Ayyam, which simply means “Adam from Ur”, from the City of Ur which is believed to be the modern city of Urfa in Northern Kurdistan, near which the Temple of “Khair-Besh-Ka” was unearthed. It was there in the solitude of the Zagros and the Taurus mountains where Patriarch Abraham found his God of solace, Yahweh, a word which is derived from the Kurdish word Ya-Khoy, or Ya-Khoda which translate into “Oh’ God, Thy Self” to whom one appeals at the time of despair and loneliness. This city, and other Kurdish cities are now under Turkish occupation.

With the rise of the Jihadists in Syria, and global Al-Qaeda, which are in reality under Turkish control, not only these ancient biblical sites, people, and culture are under existential threat by Turkey under Erdogan, but the survival of the entire Western Civilization is under threat by the actions and ideology developed under Erdogan’s control.

Mr. President,

I urge you to open your Bible, and refer to the book of Ezekiel, 38:2, there, it speaks of the clash between the tribe of Gog and Magog with Israel. The Gog and Magog of today, are no one else, but the modern Jihadists, ISIS, and Al Qaeda who in Quran, the holy book of Islam are referred to as the tribe of “Jajooj and Majooj”, who are semi human and will cause great suffering to humanity.

Turkish-backed Syrian fighters in the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin — Turkish-backed Syrian mercenary Islamist militias in the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), March 2018. Photo: AFP

These semi-humans are created, supported, and armed by Turkey, under the banner and ideology of the Turkistan Islamic Party run and operated by Turkey’s AK Party of Muslim Brotherhood along with the state of Qatar. Against them have stood the Kurds and by the Kurds has stood the United States. The book of Ezekiel prophecies Israel to be the ultimate target of the Gog and Magog (Turkish Jihadists).

However, today, knowing and fearing this scenario, and out of desperation Israel, too, is committing unacceptable attack on innocent civilians. In reality Israel and America must focus on the real enemy who are the empowered Jihadists backed by and acting in the interest of Turkey.

Mr. President,

I urgently ask you to stand by America’s friends who are under attack. Please pay attention to the long-term geopolitical aim of Turkey under Erdogan and its AK party. Should the West allow the

Turkish presence in Syria to continue and expand their territorial occupation in the region, they will only grow to cause more suffering to people everywhere as they have done so for centuries. The long-term policies of Turkey can be summarized as follows:

To stabilize Syria first, and change the image of the Turkish Jihadists from barbarian wolves to appear in sheep clothing, and speak of empty promises and meaningless words about freedom and democracy for the Syrian people.
To fool the West, to provide financial support for the Turkish Jihadists in Syria, and elsewhere, in the name of reconstruction where the country was destroyed by them and Turkey in the first place.

Bring countless more Jihadists to Syria and amass a great army of Gog and Magog at the door steps of Israel. This will be done in the name of Islam, to recapture Jerusalem, and the Dome of the Rock Mosque for a future Sultan or Caliph Erdogan.
After the defeat of Israel, and from the Middle East onward, mobilize more millions of army of Jihadist to invade Europe once more as they did in 1529 and again in 1683 try to capture Europe and put an end to the Western Civilization and values, to be replaced only by the barbarians. America will be the next target, if not already infiltrated by the Turks at the top! (5)
Turkey is already preparing for the 1000 year anniversary of the battle of Manzikert, when the Seljuk Turks entered Byzantine in 1071, and defeated the East Christian Church under Roman Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes.

Mr. President,

Turkey-backed Syrian radical Islamic mercenary fighters, northern Syria, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Since the rise of ISIS and Erdogan’s formation of the AK Party of Turkey, Turkey’s policies have consistently shown ill intent towards Israel, Europe, America and the Kurds. Kurdistan has become the confrontational battleground (6) between the values of humanity and Western democratic civilizations, and the regressive forces of repression and tyranny currently led by Erdogan in Turkey and the Jihadists as their standard bearer.

As the protectorate of the American’s Creed, The Constitution, and fundamental moral values and principles of the United States derived from the Bible and the virtues of the Greco-Roman values, you are called on to protect the roots of the Western Civilization. There are allies you can call on to help you to strengthen these good values, the unbreakable strength and virtues represented by America. The Kurds and many good people in Syria are a natural extension of the fabric of

American Democracy. They have fought alongside of the Americans, they have defeated ISIS, and in the core of their being they are brave, honest, kind, and generous, descendants of Biblical past.

They are the supporters of the American values; with America’s unwavering support they are changing the face of the middle East as the region has been overwhelmed by the regressive forces of old colonialism and Jihadism. The Kurds are progressive, with forward thinking culture who have set up a new form of governance and socio-economic system unique in the world, where women are equal to men, where in their heart beat resides the message of peace, love, joy and prosperity for all.

May God bless America and help you to guide humanity on a righteous path. Sincerely,

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur President,

Kurdish American Education Society

1. The American’s Creed: https://www.usconstitution.net/creed-html/What is the Tree of Life? Bible Meaning and Significance
2. Sacred Trees in Kurdish Culture & Mythology – The Kurdish Center for Studies
3. Temple of Artemis: Destruction of the Temple – Ephesian
4. Behind the Veil of Turkey’s ‘Zero Problem’ Policy – A Kurdish Perspective
5. National Geographic, August 1992.