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Minorities reserve equal rights in
Kurdistan (Part 3)
29.3.2010
By Baqi Barzani, a longtime contributing writer for ekurd.net |
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March
29, 2010
In response to an article entitled “The Plight of
Christians in Iraq” edited by Eden Naby, the Project
Director of Immigration and Adjustment, Peter W.
Galbraith, a well-respected academic, a noted policy
advisor and a US diplomat retorts as follows:
[6] “Since the creation of a de facto independent
Kurdistan in 1992, the Kurdistan government has
taken steps to encourage the reconstruction of
Christian villages, and has helped finance the
rebuilding of churches. Today, the Kurdistan
government provides free land for building churches
(a benefit not available for the construction of
mosques) and is providing financial assistance to
encourage Christians now living in Baghdad and Mosul
to return to Kurdistan. These programs are managed
by Kurdistan's finance minister, who is a
Christian”.
“Persecution is not the only factor in the decline
of Kurdistan's Christian population. Christians had
more opportunities than Muslims to emigrate to the
West, including the United States. Kurds have taken
over many abandoned (or emptied) Christian villages,
and there are enduring land disputes that will have
to be settled. Of course, Christians were not the
only Kurdistan community to suffer under Iraqi rule.
Its once-thriving Jewish community has been
completely eliminated (interestingly,www.ekurd.netKurdish
Jews in Israel generally have warm feelings toward
their former Kurdish homeland, which is not the case
for those who came from Arab countries). Iraqi
regimes also persecuted Kurdistan's Yezidis, a
pre-Islamic religion that considers Satan to be
among God's creations”.
“Kurdish leaders are considering giving grants of
extensive autonomy to minority communities,
including the possibility that they might be able to
form their own provinces (or governorates) within
Kurdistan in areas where they are a local majority”.
“Elsewhere in Iraq, the plight of minorities,
including Christians, is grim. Christians live in
disproportionately greater numbers in Baghdad and
therefore have been more severely affected during
2006 by the acceleration of Iraq's civil war, which
has empowered Sunni and Shiite extremists. The
violence and extremism are forcing Christians to
leave Arab Iraq, some for Kurdistan but most for
Jordan, Syria, and other countries”.
Baqi Barzani is a
Kurdish citizen of Sought Kurdistan [Iraq]. He
advocates the notion of " establishing an
independent Kurdish state". He contributes to
various Kurdish media outlets, especially ekurd.net.
Copyright © 2010 ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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