Five years have passed since one of the Assyrians’ most loyal allies in Sweden, Margareta Viklund, left us. As a member of the Riksdag for the Christian Democrats and chair of the Swedish Committee for the Assyrians, she carried our people’s struggle in her heart.
It was 2003, and I was nine years old. Assyriska FF made it all the way to the historic Swedish Cup final, and outside the gates of Råsunda, the atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation. I stood in the middle of the huge crowd with my dad, filled with excitement for the match. Suddenly, my dad noticed who was standing right behind us in the dense crowd. He turned around, greeted the woman warmly, and then said loudly to me, “Ninos, do you know who this is? Margareta Viklund, chair of the Swedish Committee for Assyrians.”
Margareta always stood by our side, no matter what the struggle. She carried that commitment with her all the way to the Swedish Parliament. As a member of Parliament for the Christian Democrats in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she became the Assyrians’ most steadfast voice in Swedish politics. We remember how she confronted Prime Minister Göran Persson from the podium when Turkey was approved as an EU candidate. She demanded that the spotlight be turned on the Christian Assyrians in Turk Abdin and urged the government to take action so that the Assyrians would not be forgotten.
Her dedication went beyond mere words. She personally traveled to the villages on the Nineveh Plains to support vulnerable women and meet people in their daily lives. Back home in Sweden, she never shied away from criticizing the political naivety surrounding Christians in the Middle East. She often spoke of the need to establish a safe zone so that the Assyrians could live in safety.
In her parliamentary motions, she articulated what few other Swedish politicians dared or understood at the time. She wrote openly about the ethnic cleansing of our people, about how Assyrian villages were systematically emptied, and how our cultural heritage was confiscated. She fought tirelessly for human rights, for the right to our language, and for the international community to recognize what the Assyrians had been forced to endure.
Viklund also pressed the government on the need for state funding for academic research on the Assyrian genocide. She argued forcefully that the source material collected from European archives must be made available to the public and emphasized that a broader scientific understanding of the causes and effects of the genocide was absolutely essential.
For the Swedish-Assyrian people, Margareta was a champion who understood that our history is about the right to our identity, our cultural heritage, and our future. Five years have now passed since her passing, but her legacy lives on. After her trip to the Nineveh Plains, Margareta wrote in Hujådå: “I saw, heard, and felt. The Assyrians are under threat from all sides. But they are brave.” We must continue to be brave, to keep alive the struggle for survival to which so many before us have dedicated their lives.
Thank you for everything, Margareta.
