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Fearful Christians flock from Baghdad to
Iraqi Kurdistan's capital, Erbil
24.12.2007
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December
24, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Iraqi Kurdistan's capital, --
By the time he decided he would almost certainly be
killed if he stayed, Rev. Tematius Eshasawa believed
he was the last pastor left in Dora, the biggest
Christian neighborhood in Baghdad. His flock had
fled the area over the previous six months, leaving
homes and lives behind, and he had received numerous
death threats.
''There were seven churches in Dora,'' he said,
soberly recalling the days before he departed. ''The
last church was mine.''
A tall man with a dark beard, wearing the black
robes and white collar of the Assyrian priesthood,
he sits in his new home in the Ainkawa district of
Erbil. Over the past year, thousands of Christians
forced out of Dora and other parts of Baghdad have
settled here in the relatively safe, semiautonomous
Kurdistan region of 'northern Iraq'.
Many were drawn to this traditionally Christian
neighborhood just outside the Kurdish capital of
Erbil, where rents have been driven sky-high by
Christians pouring in from the south; some houses
are crowded with as many as four or five families.
While a few Christians have reportedly tried in
recent weeks to return to Dora, based on hopes that
the security situation has
improved, those in Eshasawa's new neighborhood say
they would not consider it yet.
Today, one church in Ainkawa, St. Elias, has been
set aside by municipal authorities for Christians
from Baghdad. Eshasawa conducts mass from 7:30 a.m.
to 9 a.m., and four other churches from Baghdad hold
services in the building throughout the day.
The municipal government estimates that nearly 2,000
Christian families from Baghdad have settled in
Ainkawa. Iraq's Christian minority - divided into
several ancient sects, the most numerous of which
are the Chaldeans and the Assyrians - numbered
approximately 800,000 before the U.S. invasion in
2003.
While the United Nations estimates that hundreds of
thousands fled the increasingly violent country over
the past few years, and many have sought refuge in
the Kurdish north as well, the thousands from Dora
only began pouring into this neighborhood this year.
''The Christian population in Iraq is facing an
existential crisis. There is a question whether they
will even be able to maintain a presence in Iraq at
this point,'' said Nina Shea, director of the Hudson
Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and a
commissioner with the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom. ''Many went north,
or left the country, and the vast majority are
probably not planning on returning any time soon.''
One church in Dora that had been shuttered a year
ago reopened last month, according to The Associated
Press, which reported that a few Christian families
had returned to the area.
In early December it hosted a special mass given by
the first Iraqi cardinal, Emmanuel III Delly, who
was just ordained by Pope Benedict XVI in November.
But, while the same mass held later in the week in a
predominantly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad
attracted more than 200 worshipers, only a handful
showed up to see the new cardinal at the church in
Dora.
Attacks against the Christian community began in
2004, with militant groups targeting churches and
liquor stores, and Christian professionals were some
of the first refugees to flee the country, according
to aid workers. But residents of Dora,www.ekurd.net
a mixed neighborhood in
southern Baghdad, said that while last year saw
widespread sectarian cleansing of Sunni
neighborhoods by Shiites and Shiite neighborhoods by
Sunnis throughout the city, their neighborhood had
remained largely out of the fray.
Then this spring, a fatwa, or religious edict, was
issued by Sunni insurgents who had taken over a
mosque in Dora. It said Christians had to convert to
Islam or leave their houses within 24 hours, taking
no possessions, or be killed.
Ramsiya Marwan, a round-faced woman wearing a pink
headband, said she decided to flee the neighborhood
with her 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son
when gunmen began asking if any families in the area
had young daughters. Gunmen had already taken over
their house, blown up their church and kidnapped or
killed many of their friends and neighbors, she
said.
Marwan had pulled her children out of school, but
when she started hearing about young girls targeted
for kidnapping, Marwan and her children shared a car
with friends and fled north, leaving her husband
behind in Baghdad.
They now live in a two-bedroom house here with
another family from Baghdad. For $600 a month, high
by Iraqi standards, she and her children share a
small room stuffed with three beds, over which hangs
a carpet depicting the Last Supper.
The couple they share the house with are Zabet
Youniya, a 32-year-old with wavy brown hair, and her
husband, who sit in the dark around a small folding
table covered by a plastic cloth.
The house she left in Baghdad was so huge, Youniya
said, they could have parked their car inside it.
There, she worked for the mobile telephone company
Iraqna, but now the only work she can find is as a
cleaner at an American company.
They miss their old life in Dora, where the
community was close and they didn't have to worry
about money. In Erbil, they cannot take their
monthly food ration from the government because it
is connected to their residence in Baghdad. The
church gives each person 25,000 dinars per month, or
about $20. It used to be more, but when so many
families began arriving the allowances were lowered.
Though the Kurds have generally been welcoming and
the new residents appreciate the refuge, they say
they feel like outsiders. ''They are not our
people,'' said Youniya. ''But still, life may be
hard here, but at least we feel free.''
The two families are part of Eshasawa's parish of
St. Shmoni, which once comprised 350 families in
Dora. When they go to mass on Sundays, they run into
former neighbors from their own and other parishes.
''Most of the families that go to our church are
from Dora,'' said Marwan. ''And there are more
coming every day.''
Eshasawa estimates that by the time he left, there
were only 50 Christian families left in the
neighborhood. American soldiers patrolled the area,
but former residents told stories of masked Iraqi
gunmen coming to the houses that the Americans
visited, asking each family what the Americans asked
and what they answered.www.ekurd.net
One by one, they took
over all the houses, using the roofs as sniper
positions to target American soldiers.
Eshasawa stood last month outside his new church,
St. Elias, next to a Christmas tree with neon stars
behind it. He plans to stay in Ainkawa until Baghdad
becomes safer but does not think that will happen
for another year or two. He blames the Americans for
the situation he and his flock are in.
''Before the end of last year, we thought the
American Army was good for Iraq,'' he said. ''But
after they came inside the country, we lost
everything. We are paying for (the Americans')
mistake with our blood.''
MCT-Mc.Clatchy
Newspaper
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