Assyrian Christians Seek Safety in Iraq

Christians at a mass in Baghdad (epa)

Alas, this is unlikely as the Ninevah Plain, the Assyrian heartland, lies in the Kurdish region, but only God knows. The majority of the 200,000-300,000 Chaldo-Assyrian Christians have fled to Syria, where the minority ruling Alawites are tolerant (as they face a Sunni majority). I recall a feature article in the Int'l Herald Tribune when I was in Europe (1998/9) showing Saddam Hussein visiting numerous churches with Tariq Azziz (a Christian by blood, at least) to show his support (or at least that they were equal under his law).

Iraq: Christian Minority Seeks Haven From Violence
By Heather Maher


A former Iraqi minister seeks to drum up support for the idea of a separate Iraqi province where Christians and other religious minorities can live in safety and peace.


WASHINGTON, October 18, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Bombed churches, a beheaded clergyman, and the massacre of 13 women and girls. In the last month, these are just the most extreme acts of violence carried out against Christians across Iraq.

In Mosul, Father Boulos Iskander Behnam was kidnapped by men seeking retribution for Pope Benedict's comments about Islam. His severed head and limbs were found piled atop his body. In Baghdad, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad was just the most recent Christian church to be hit by a bomb blast. An estimated 30 have been attacked in the past three years.

In the southern city of Al-Basrah, where crowds burned an effigy of the pope last month, Christian women routinely don veils to avoid public attack.

From Mosul to Al-Basrah, segments of the Sunni and Shi'ite communities are seemingly becoming united in their hatred of Christians, who have been in Iraq for nearly 2,000 years. They are considered one of the original Iraqi peoples. Biblical references to sites in Iraq are numerous.

Read the rest here.