FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE- December 29th, 2013
The ethnic Greek
community of Lebanon is in shock today, as reports continue to surface about
Saturday night’s assassination attempt of Rodrigue “Dimitri” Khoury, the
President of the Antiochian Greek, Levant Party. According to reports, the
attack took place around 10 pm in the al-Mina region of Tripoli. Mr. Khoury and
his entourage were attack by seven bearded men, who attempt to hijack Mr.
Khoury from the car he was traveling in.
An official
statement was released Sunday; by the Levant Party Press Office stated that Mr.
Khoury had sustained injuries to his head and neck in the attack. The assailants
had stabbed Mr. Khoury in the neck, after intercepting his car. Those wounded
in the attack were transported to a nearby hospital to receive medical
treatment, and are alive and well at this time. No one has claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Soon after the story broke, a
huge outpouring of support flooded Mr. Khoury’s facebook page, with messages
coming from Greece, Russia, Sweden, the United States, and even as far as South
Africa. The Levant Party was founded in 2012, gaining official recognition by
the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior on November 10th. The party
was founded in hopes of saving the Roum community’s historical
‘Byzantine-Hellenic’ identity. It was hoped
that such a party could strengthen the Greek Orthodox political presence, not
only in Lebanon, but also in Syria and Jordan. In Lebanon, each ethno-religious community has its own political parties. Maronites, Sunnis, Shiits, Druze, even Armenians have their own parties. Until the founding of the Levant Party, the Greek Orthodox Community (7% of the nation’s population) was without its own. Thus, the Roum population was without its own united political voice. Antiochian Greeks are promised 22 seats within the Lebanese Parliament, 14 going to Greek Orthodox and 8 to Greek Catholics.
