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Iraq's Kurdistan region is now home to
thousands of Christian families
14.6.2007
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Iraq:
Violence Now Corners Christians
June
14, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- For Janet
Petros's family it all started when the al-Mahdi
militia of the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
took control of their mixed neighbourhood Hay
Muwasalat in Baghdad last year.
That was after long fighting between Shia and Sunni
armed groups for dominance in the area.
One summer morning, Janet's younger daughter Maha
Faiq, 26, was hit in the leg by a bullet as she
slept. She was lucky it was no worse.
It was not an accidental shot. Janet's family, the
only Christian family in that district, had been
harassed and threatened by the militias on both
sides for long to follow their imposed Sharia rules.
"It was a very bad situation in Baghdad," said Sahar
Faiq, 28, Janet's elder daughter. "We couldn't mix
with the neighbours any more and were so afraid."
Sahar quit her job with a British security company
after being threatened by militias.
Last February, Janet's family decided to move to
Erbil, in the relatively safe Kurdistan region in
the north. "After what happened, I was afraid that
someone will come in and do something bad to my
daughters," Janet, 55, told IPS in her two -room
house in Erbil's Christian district Ainkawa.
Christians, who have lived in peace with their
Muslim neighbours for years are today badly hit by
the rising tide of religious extremism.
In his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in
the Vatican last week, the Pope expressed concern
that "the society that is evolving (in Iraq) would
not tolerate the Christian religion."
That is already happening. Hundreds of Christians
have been killed, their churches bombed and a
ferocious campaign is under way to intimidate them,
particularly in the insecure parts of the country.
Iraq's Christians are divided into a number of sects
like the Chaldeans, who form the majority,
Assyrians, who are descendants of the ancient
Assyrian empire, Armenians and Syriacs.
During Saddam Hussein's reign, Christians lived in a
largely secular atmosphere and were protected from
extremism.
But many did face discrimination and attempts to get
them to conform to Arab cultural ways.
A small minority, many Christians have either left
the volatile parts of the country for safer areas,
or moved outside Iraq.
The Kurdish region is now home to thousands of
Christian families who have escaped violence in
cities like Baghdad and the northern city Mosul. The
recent killing of several Christian clergymen in
Mosul could push many others to leave.
About 2,800 Christian families have moved to Erbil,
and another 1,550 to Zakho on the Iraqi-Turkish
border, according to the Hizel Cultural Centre, a
Christian group that offers aid to displaced
families.
Life in the north is safer but not easy. The huge
influx of tens of thousands of refugees has led to a
sharp increase in rents and prices. Inflation is
rising and job opportunities are decreasing. Janet's
family pays 600 dollars a month for their two-room
house.
Father Sabri al-Maqdasi, a priest in Ainkawa's
largest church Saint Joseph believes that given the
continuous flow of refugees, accommodation will be
extremely hard to find. The group Hadyab Financial
Aid for Refugees offers 100 dollars a month to each
Christian family coming to Erbil, but that money
does not go far.
With attacks and pressure rising, there are attempts
by some leaders to create a Christian zone in the
historically Christian populated areas of Nineveh
and Duhok provinces in the north.
But there is no agreement on this. Some are asking
for an autonomous territory within Kurdistan region
where Christians will have their own regional
government and parliament. Others demand a self-rule
arrangement where Christians control the local
administration and police force in the areas they
constitute the majority.
Father al-Maqdasi says a separated homeland will
isolate Christians from the rest of Iraq and would
"destroy our mission of building bridges and
relations with other religions." Instead, he
encourages a plan for Christians to have self -rule
in effect as in Ainkawa in Erbil, where the local
administration is run by Christians.
The wounds caused by the ongoing violence against
Christians are not going to be healed easily. The
suffering has given rise to a sense of alienation
and detachment among many.
"The only dream we now have is to leave Iraq," Janet
told IPS. "We don't feel that we belong to this
country any more."
IPS
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