Who Are Iraqi Christians

Introduction to Iraqi Christians

 
Basic Info about Iraq:
Name: Republic of Iraq
Location: West Asia
Bordering countries: North: Turkey, East: Iran, South: Kuwait and Saudia Arabia, West: Jordan and Syria
Area: 437,072 KM square
Population: ca. 38,146,025 (2016), ca. 40 million (2020)
Capital: Baghdad
Provinces: 18
Currency: Iraqi Dinar IQD
Over 1 million populated cities: Baghdad (8 million), Mosul (2.5), Basrah (2.15)
Religions: Islam, Christianity, Jewish, Ezidi, Mandeans, Zoroastrianism, Kakaies, Bahaies
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish, Syriac (Aramaic), Turkman, Armenian
Rivers: Two main rivers Tigris and Euphrates and many smaller ones: Upper Zab, Lower Zab, etc.
Economic resources: Oil, Agriculture
Political structure and system: Federal state, Parliamentarian

Brief History

Contemporary Iraq, as the rest of the Middle East, was founded after the WWI and the dismantling of the Othman Empire, where the provinces of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul were placed within the framework of one country, Iraq.
Iraq remained under the British mandate until 1932, when it gained its independence in the name of the Iraqi Kingdom and became a member of the League of Nations.
Despite independency, Iraq did not witness political stability, as it remained in the royal era witnessing instability in addition to popular uprisings and demonstrations against the royal family and governments who were driven by and controlled by British policies.
August 1933, a year after independence, the first mass massacres were committed in Iraq by the government and the Iraqi army and with British cover against Christians of Semele area ​​in Dohuk governorate that killed 5,000 people and deported the inhabitants of dozens of villages to Syria where they were settled in Khabour area in northeastern Syria.
In 1936, Iraq witnessed the first military coup in the Middle East.
Likewise, the second coup took place in 1958 against the royal era, and Iraq adopted the republican regime that did not witness a peaceful transfer of power. The coups continued, two coups in 1963, and another coup in 1968 that brought the Baath Party to the power and that Iraq under its rule suffered internal wars and with neighboring countries (the Iran-Iraq war 1980 – 1988), the first Gulf war 1991 after the invasion of Kuwait, the second Gulf war 2003 which aimed to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Since 2003, due the collapse of the state in the 2003 war, the security void, the proliferation of militias and their parties, and Iranian, American and Turkish interventions, Iraq is still not politically and security stable and the resulting economic collapse and the collapse of public structures and facilities.

Iraq is a part of the Holy Land

The geography of the contemporary Iraqi state is part of the historical geography of Mesopotamia mentioned in the Acts (2:9). If the geography currently known to the Holy Land is linked to or defined by the political geography of the existing states, specifically Israel, then in fact, Iraq is part of the Holy Land with its geography and Biblical events.
Uruk in southern Iraq is the mother city of Ibrahim, father of all believers.
Many of the prophets of the Old Testament, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Nahum lived in Iraq for one reason or another for a period or another, and some of them died and their shrines still there.
Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, received Jonah, the prophet who preached her, called her to repentance, and heeded his call.
Hence, the sons of Mesopotamia were aware of the Old Testament and its prophecies, and perhaps this was one of the reasons for their rapid acceptance of Christianity from its first generation.
Also, the Jews remained part of the sons of Mesopotamia, with its historical geography, and thus Iraq, with its contemporary borders.

Religious, ethnic and cultural diversity in Iraq

Iraq is distinguished by its rich ethnic, religious, doctrinal, and cultural pluralism when compared to its area and population.
Perhaps the reason for this richness is its geographical location and its ancient historical roots.
The ethnic diversity in Iraq is represented by an Arab majority in addition to the Kurds, Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs), Turkmen and Armenians.
Each of these components has its own mother tongue, where Arabic is the dominant language, and then Kurdish, both official languages, and Syriac, the mother tongue of Assyrians Syriac Chaldeans, Turkmen and Armenian.
While its religious diversity expands from the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), to older religions than Christianity such as Yezidism, Sabean Mandaeans and Zoroastrianism, in addition to other religions such as Kaka’i and Baha’i.
Muslims represent the vast majority, with nearly 95% two-thirds of them Shiites and the other third of Sunnis.
While Christianity was the second religion in Iraq, where the percentage of Christians was 3% of the Iraqi population, it is because of immigration in terms of civil lifestyle and the rate of family members has become five people. Today it is the third religion in Iraq, and with a population that does not reach 1%, while Yezidism has become the second religion.

Who are the Iraqi Christians?

Excluding the Armenians who are a small ethnic group whose majority fled from their homeland in Anatolia before and during WW1 because of the Ottoman genocide against them and other Christians, the Iraqi Christians are the indigenous people of Iraq and their roots go back thousands of years before Christianity in the lands of Mesopotamia.
In other words, the Iraqi Christians are the descendants and inherit of native people of Iraq from Assyrians.
They are not a new Christian community that was “evangelized” by western missionaries as the case of many African and East Asian Christian communities.
Iraqi Christians and churches go back to the first Christian generations who adopted Christianity through Jesus Christ apostles. Their Christianity and existence in Iraq is prior Islam and Arabs.

The ethnic and cultural identity of Iraqi Christians

The Iraqi Christians belong to various Churches and denominations, but they join in common grounds of ethnicity and culture. They speak eastern dialect of Syriac, which is the local language that descended from Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ.
However, many Iraqi Christians who lived in big cities such as Baghdad, Mosul and Basra for long time abandoned and forgot their mother language and started speaking Arabic due to political pressure and persecution. They nevertheless still believe they are not Arabs and therefore kept their mother tongue Syriac as the main language of their religious rituals.
Syriac, like other living languages, has different dialects. Each dialect has its characters depending on the demography and the surrounding circumstances. It is important here to say that the map of Syriac dialects do not necessarily synchronize with various Churches of Iraqi Christians. This means that followers of different churches may speak a specific dialect while followers of one Church might speak different dialects.
However, speaking and understanding among these people are normal and easy because linguistic differences of various dialects are minor and are of pronouncing nature only.

The Iraqi Christians have in common same customs and social traditions, which reflect their unified identity and Christian principles and values since their embracing Christianity in its very early stages in Mesopotamia at the hands of Mar Thomas, one of the twelve apostles and Mar Adai and Mar Mary (male name), two of the seventy apostles.

Despite the accumulated historical diversity and schism in their theological views and Churches, the Iraqi Christians do exercise intermarriages. And despite the multi names that this cultural and ethnic entity was called they firmly believe in the unity of their ethnicity, culture and destiny.
The Catholics who are united with the Catholic Roman Church were called Chaldeans since they united with Rome in the sixteenth century, while the followers of the Eastern Church (Historically known as Nestorians) are called Assyrians.
The followers of the Syriac Church (Orthodox and Catholic) are called Syriac, which is the Arabic translation of Word “Assyrians”
The common history and existence of Iraqi Christians makes them a unity to confront their destiny and safeguard their heritage, identity, existence and future in their national homeland Mesopotamia, which is called Iraq today.

Iraqi Christians’ Churches

Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Christian community in Iraq, as all other Christian communities all over the world, is composed of many churches’ families, as follows
The following is a diagram of these families

I- Catholic Family: Is the biggest family but not the oldest. The members of the Catholic family are:
1- Chaldean Catholic Church: is the part of the Assyrian Church of the East (Nestorian Church) which split from the mother church and united with the Roman Catholic Church in 16^th century.
Chaldean church is the biggest Iraqi church.
The current Chaldean patriarch is His Beatitude Cardinal Mar Luis Sako. His see is in Baghdad.
Chaldean dioceses in Iraq are in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Erbil, Nineveh, Alqosh, Duhok, Zakho, and Basrah.
Other dioceses are in Middle East countries: Iran, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon.
In Diaspora: USA (two), Canada, Australia and Patriarchal Vicariates for Europe.
2- Syriac Catholic Church: is the part of the Syriac Orthodox Church which split from the mother church and united with the Roman Catholic Church.
The current patriarch is His Beatitude Mar Ignatius Yonan whose see is in Beirut – Lebanon.
In Iraq, the church has two dioceses in Mosul and Baghdad, besides many parishes in Nineveh Plain, Basrah and Kirkuk.
3- Latin Church: The diocese centre is in Baghdad. Before ISIS 2014 there were other parishes in Mosul and Basrah.
4- Armenian Catholic Church has a parish. Before ISIS 2014, it had communities in Baghdad, Mosul and Basrah.

II- Orthodox Family:

1- Syriac Orthodox Church: It is the mother church of Syriac Catholic Church. Syriac Orthodox Church has an important presence in Iraq, particularly in Nineveh plain and Baghdad, and in Mosul before ISIS 2014 where currently onle few families returned to Mosul but none of the churches is conducting regular services.
The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate is in Sayednaya (close by Damascus) – Syria. His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II is the current patriarch.
In Iraq, there are three dioceses: Mosul and Kurdistan, Baghdad and Mar Mattai, besides many parishes in the different Iraqi cities, towns and townships.
The church dioceses exist in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Holy Lands, India, Europe, Australia, North and South America.
2- Armenian Orthodox Church: The diocese centre is in Baghdad. The parishes are in Baghdad, Erbil, Duhok, Zakho, Kirkuk, Basrah and Mosul before ISIS 2014.

III- Church of the East: It was founded by the first generation of Apostles in early first and second Christian centuries. It is the oldest Christian church in Iraq, and the mother church of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Church of the East is the church which was never under Christian governments and rulers throughout its long history. It existed, struggled and survived under Persian, Arab Muslims, Mongolians and Ottomans rulers.
However, the price was too high. The church which was once the biggest church worldwide declined from dozens of millions to dozens of thousands!!
By 1963, the Church of the East split again on the basis of calendar reform; but indeed, on tribal and political backgrounds.

1- Assyrian Church of the East ACOE: The church adopted the new calendar and forms 90% of Church of the East.
His Holiness Mar Awa III is the current patriarch. His see is in Erbil – KRI – Iraq.
Besides the Patriarchal Diocese of Erbil, ACOE has currently three dioceses in Iraq, Nohadra (Duhok), Baghdad and Kirkuk and Diana.
Other dioceses are in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, India (Archdiocese), USA, Australia (Archdiocese), Scandanavia and Germany, Canada, and Europe.
Many other parishes are in Armenia, Russia, and Georgia.
2- Ancient Church of the East: The church keeps, so far, the old calendar.
His Holiness Mar Gewargis Yonan is the elected patriarch whose ordination will take place in Baghdad June 2023.
The patriarchal see is in Baghdad and has one diocese for Iraq and middle east countries.
The Ancient Church of the East has dioceses in USA, Australia, and Canada. Many parishes are in Europe.

IV- Others
There are other Christian churches in Iraq, such as Evangelical, Protestants, Advents, etc.
They are small churches whose members are Christians with Catholic, Orthodox and Church of the East backgrounds and became members of the new churches starting the last decades of 19^th century. These churches exist in the big cities of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, Basrah and, recently, in Dohuk and Erbil.

The Christian Presence And Role In Iraq

The Christians of Iraq, during the two thousand years of their long history, were an added and civilized value to Iraqi and international society.
The theological, literary, and ritual richness characterized Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox church and their role in spreading the Gospel to the far East in Tibet, China and Mongolian (One of the patriarchs of the Church of the East, Patriarch Mar Yabalaha (1281 – 1317), was Mongolian) are considered shiny contributions to the history of Christianity, especially the East.
Dialogue and the ecumenical spirit existed between the churches, despite the doctrine disagreements.
Indeed, Patriarch Mar Yabalaha sent a personal representative to Rome for dialogue with the Roman Catholic church.
Indeed, what is today called the Christian-Islamic Dialogue started in Baghdad in the ninth century between the Patriarch of the Church of the East, Timothy the Great and the Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi.
Also, the churches’ fathers and elites were the bridge of communication between East and West through their translation of Greek philosophical references into Arabic and vice versa.
In addition to the role of them in science and literature throughout history.
The matter continued in modern Iraq, where the presence and the Christian role exceeded their small percentage to the Iraqi population.
This is through government institutions (e.g. The most two famous finance ministers in the history of Iraq were a Jewish and a Christian), Christian educational institutions from kindergarten to university levels, health institutions from hospitals and health centers, public and private banking sector, press and media (the first Iraqi female journalist was a Chaldean Christian from Telkif), Civil society institutions, sport where Christians form the pillars of sports activity in Iraq in the twentieth century, etc.
Community and institutional Christian presence and activity was the most important factor in the modern Iraqi state in the twentieth century.
With the decrease in the Christian demography due to the security situation and the dominance of Islamic organizations, this role has decreased and the civil state has retreated with it.
It might be impossible to restore the Christian demography in Iraq, but it is important and vital to restore the Christian role by establishing and operating active educational and health institutions, humanitarian organizations and civil society institutions that are managed by Christian elites and whose services are directed to all Iraqi society, and this will achieve the revitalization of the role and Christian presence as it will be a positive factor for building bridges and peaceful coexistence between Iraqi societal components, with their various ethnic, religious, and sectarian identities.

Demographic Distribution Of Iraqi Christians

Basing on the above-mentioned historical fact that the Iraqi Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Christians are the indigenous people of Iraq, it is notable that their primary residences are the country plains around the historical capital of the Assyrian Empire of Ninevah (now Mosul)
The surrounding plains of Mosul that stretch east to Erbil and north to southern parts of Turkey are of Christian origin.
Due to the influence of the colonialism and expansion of Islam: Arabs coming from south and Kurds from north and northeast, the whole region was prevailed by Muslims enforcing Christians to become a religious minority striving to survive.
Many Christian towns in the region such as Alqoush, Telkef, Bartila, Zakho, Mangesh, etc. still exist and there is historical existence of Churches as well as Christian communities in big cities in North Iraq such as Mosul (before ISIS) and Iraqi Kurdistan such as Erbil.
Christians do exist also in other big cities such as Baghdad, Kirkuk and Basrah. The roots of this existence go back to earlier Assyrian and Christian existence and it is a natural aspect of social and economic factors that Christians moved to reside in these cities seeking for better life.
The Iraqi Christians lived in Baghdad and Kirkuk since the times of Abbassites, Mongolians and Ottomans.
Other political and security reasons played important roles to encourage the emigration to large cities.
In the second half of last century, emigration to the large Iraqi cities especially Baghdad has significantly increased because their historical inhabitancies and villages in Iraqi Kurdistan, particularly in the regions of Duhok and Erbil, became scenes of military battles between the Kurdish revolution and Central government troops.
The pace of immigration escalated particularly after the Baath regime that took power in Iraq in 1968 and started adopting the policy of burning the land. The policy that aimed on destroying the Assyrian and Kurdish villages in the north and lasted from 1974 to 1988 resulted in obliterating 4000 villages among them some 150 Assyrian Christian villages and destruction of more than 60 ancient Churches.
The regime also practiced the policy of ethnic cleansing by deporting thousands of Assyrians and Kurds to other places and replace Arabs in their homes and villages.
However, starting 1991 and the liberation of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, a significant movement started to return and rebuild the life in the destroyed villages.
This movement increased following the fall of the ex-regime in 2003 where the Christians and other minorities, e.g., Yezidis and Mandeans, became the soft target of the systematic terror campaign against them in the Iraqi territories controlled by Iraqi Federal Government which failed to protect them from the fundamental groups who took advantage of the vacuum of power and law.
Regular and systematic terrorist attacks targeted the churches in Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk and Basrah.
Many clergy were slaughtered and over 1500 Christians were murdered for no reason just because of their religion.
This forced Christians to flee the regions under federal government seeking security and stability in Iraqi Kurdistan and Nineveh Plains which was controlled by Kurdistan security forces.
Dozens of thousands of families choose to flee the country and be settled in Diaspora.
The internal displacement and migration to neighboring countries significantly increased when ISIS controlled Mosul and Nineveh Plain (summer 2014).

We may introduce the Christian Demography in Iraq as follows:

I- The geopolitics demography, in terms of population and lands (towns, townships, villages) exists in two regions:
1- Iraqi Kurdistan region: particularly in the governorates of Dohuk and Erbil where around 120 Christian towns, townships and villages exist.
2- Nineveh plain: i.e. the regions of Telkaif, Qaraqosh and Shekhan (East and North East of Mosul). These regions attach Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
II- Population demography in terms of population existence in big mixed cities of Baghdad, Basrah, Mosul (before ISIS), Kirkuk and Sulaymaniya.
The Christian community in Mosul (More than 20.000 before ISIS 2014) is to disappear after two millenniums of existence, as the Christian families are hesitating to return back to Mosul despite been recontroled from ISIS since 2017. The fears from fundamental Islamic groups, cultural and social life are real. Less than 40 families retuned after five years of retaking Mosul by Iraqi army. Dozens of churches of different denominations were active for centuries in Mosul, but Christmas bells last time rang was in 2013. A clear indicator.
This existence in Basrah and Baghdad is decreasing due to the instability of the political and security situation, and the failures in the governmental public services, e.g. health, education, infra-structure, etc.
The families are moving towards Kurdistan or fleeing the country.

The Christian existence which survived for long centuries might be finished if the circumstances are not changed.

Important Remarks on Iraqi Christian Demography

• The current Iraqi administrative structure is composed of 18 governorates (or provinces), each composed of districts (the governorate center is always a district center as well) which, in turn, are composed of a couple of sub-districts, to which the townships and villages belong.
• The difference between the two aforementioned demographic types (i.e. in KRI and the Nineveh Plain, and other parts of Iraq) is that in both KRI and the Nineveh Plain there is a demographic existence of people and land.
  This enables Christians to preserve, practice and improve their collective identity and to have a political and administrative role to participate in the planning and decision making of these territories. In addition, there is the potential and environment to have and operate social and cultural entities/services, adding value to the community, whereas in other parts of Iraq the demographic existence is in terms of a tiny population existence within the roughly seven-million population of Baghdad, or the couple of thousands of Christians scattered amongst the million-plus populations of Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk.

• Speaking in terms of Christian demographic existence in KRI and the Nineveh Plain, we can make an important distinction. The existence in KRI is mostly in rural villages (over 100) and in the big cities like Duhok, Ankawa (the sub-district in Erbil), Zakho and others; the absolute majority of those villages is not mixed, i.e. all their people are Christian, while only a couple of them are mixed with Yazidis and/or Muslims, such as Sorka, Sorya and others.
  The size of the villages ranges from the small (up to 15 families) to the large (less than 100 families) and even to the largest of them, where the quantity reaches 250 families.The Christian villages in KRI are very exceptional ones in the history of the region.The Christians have never returned to the villages and regions from which they were forced to flee, e.g. Hakari, Tur Abdin (in modern Turkey), Urmia (in North Iran) and in Khabour (Syria). Only in Iraqi Kurdistan have the deported Christians gone back to their home villages and rebuilt their lives.

• The existence in the Nineveh Plain is mainly in terms of semi-large populated townships and towns. In many cases, Christian towns in the Nineveh Plain are district centers (e.g. Hamdaniya) or sub-districts (Bartilla, Alqosh).
• There are no Christian towns or villages in Iraq south of the Nineveh Plain to the Saudi and Kuwaiti borders, nor to the eastern and western Iraqi borders. This fact illustrates the importance of current and future matters concerning Iraqi Christians amid geopolitical circumstances. It also poses new questions on the structure and future of Iraq and neighboring countries.

• The Christian Assyrian demography in KRI and Nineveh Plain is a continuity of the same demography in Northeast Syria and Southeast Turkey (Tur Abdin), similar to the Kurdish demography in KRI which is a continuation of the Kurdish demography in Iran, Turkey and Syria. This is another important factor to be considered in the long-term geopolitical strategy and borders of the region.

Figures for Christian Demography in Iraq

Iraq, as all other Arabic and Islamic states where many ethnic and religious minorities exist, lacks the transparency regarding the statistics and figures about these minorities and their political, religious, social and cultural conditions.
However, with the fall of the ex-regime, many of the secret documents, statistics and reports were released and became available for the researchers.
A very important report that was written by the Political Department in the General Security Directorate and introduced to the high offices of the ex-regime about the Iraqi religious minorities according to Iraqi census 1977 says: “The results of the latest census of 1977 show Muslims in Iraq are the most majority of the population. Their number is 11 474 293 persons; This is around 97% of Iraqi population which is 11 862 620. Therefore, the other four religious groups (Christians, Yezedians, Mandeans, Jews) are religious minorities in Iraq. Their numbers are as follows: Christians 253 478 i.e. 2,14% of Iraqi population, Yezedians 102 191 i.e. 0.86%, Mandeans 15 937 i.e. 0.14% and Jews 381 i.e. 0.01%”
The most dangerous indicator in the study is the continuous decrease in the annual population growth of Iraqi Christians. The paragraph titled “Population growth indicators between religious groups in Iraq 1947 – 1977” says: “The population growth average between Christians was very close to that of Muslims for the period 1947 – 1957. The average was more than 3% per year. We notice this growth started to decrease rapidly to 1.6% between 1957 and 1965. Despite this is a very small average, but it continued to decrease rapidly to reach 0.73% per year between 1965 and 1977. This is a very low average and is close to the population growth average in developed countries.” 
Operation World based in UK says the Christian annual growth in Iraq was – 0.9% by 2002!!!

It is estimated there was more than one million Christian in Iraq by 2003 out of ca. 26 million.
Indeed, it is doubtful figure.
Currently, the estimated number for Christians in Iraq is ca. 300,000 out of ca. 40 million Iraqis. 

Iraqi Christian Population Annual Growth

Iraqi Christians Pre-ISIS (2003 – 2014)

The collapse of Saddam regime in April 2003 was not just a regime change in its literal meaning only similar to other coup case scenario that took place in Middle East countries and elsewhere.
Saddam regime had been a totalitarian one which held an iron firm grip on the individuals and families of Iraqi community, and hence forward on all of the Iraqi state institutions which resulted in collapsing of the state itself, not the regime. The resulted vacuum of this downfall especially the spread of weapons, the absence of the rule of law, the accumulated conflict among the Iraqi community, the various affiliates to political organizations which existed before toppling the regime or those which were established within and after it fell, having the neighboring countries’ fingers in these political parties, added to that the failure of the educational and economic situation under the then regime which generated organized crime. As a consequence, Iraq after 2003 was transformed into a territory of political parties influence along with their loyal militias which each one by itself imposed their own rule of law in areas they thrived.
On the other side, the minorities who have been weak and scattered demographically due to lack of influential political and military establishments, their differences in ethnic and religious identity, added to that the situation in which Christians and Mandeans had a well financial status made them an easy target in the mid-south Iraq area by jihadist doctrinal militias, Sunni and Shia, as well as by organized crime gangs.
Shlomo Documentation Organization published a statistic stated that 1174 Christians among which 14 clergymen have been killed between 2003 and 2014 (pre-ISIS) in territories under the Iraqi central government. In the terrorist assault on The Lady of Survival Church in Baghdad alone on 31 October 2010, 53 faithful were martyred while attending church service. Whereas 114 attacks targeted churches in Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, Anbar, some of which have been targeted more than once. In addition to targeting their income resources, kidnapping cases for ransom, legislations and Islamic pressure.
All of these systematic assaults based on religious identity left the Christians with no choice but to flee to harmless areas domestically to Nineveh plain and Kurdistan region, or applying for resettlement visas to western countries. Some cities have become completely Christians free such as Ramadi, Khalidiya and Habaniya, whereas their presence has considerably decreased in other key cities of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. It had been estimated that in Baghdad alone quarter a million Christians lived there before 2003, this number have been decreased to approximately 40 thousand. Around 16 churches have been shut down in Baghdad alone.
Therefore, IDPs headed to Kurdistan which had been safe, stable and free from terrorist groups and violence; and Nineveh plain as a safe territory as well because of being been under the command of Peshmarga forces and Kurdistan Asayesh (security personnel) and other social and economic reasons.

Indeed, there had been multiple displacement waves to Kurdistan and Nineveh plain started from the early days after April 2003, where there has been individual displacement; to massive displacement waves should the Christian have been targeted in larger cities. For instance: in 2004, 2006 and 2010. The same case applied to Yazidi community who had been fleeing the larger cities, especially Mosul city in which no Yazidi person remained in just before ISIS took control, to Kurdistan and Nineveh plain where the Yazidi community complexes.
According to a survey conducted by Christian Aid Program – Nohadra – Iraq CAPNI in October 2006, for every three Christian families in Nineveh Plain, the fourth was a displaced family.
The ration was even more in the governorate of Duhok.
This ration increased significantly in later years, mainly under and post ISIS.

Iraqi Christians under ISIS

June 2014, ISIS controlled the city of Mosul, the Nineveh Plain, along with the governorates of Iraqi Kurdistan, turned into a safe haven for Mosul Christians and other non-Muslim and non-Sunni communities fleeing from ISIS.
August 3^rd ISIS advanced to the Yazidi-dominated Sinjar region where, with its control, it committed the worst crimes of genocide, sexual slavery and captivity, as well as the destruction of public and private properties.
August 6^th ISIS headed to Nineveh Plain who had gained three days’ break in which its inhabitants were able to escape to the governorates of Duhok and Erbil.
 
It is a painful coincidence that on the night of August 6, 81 years ago (1933), the Semile massacre began against the Christian Assyrians and its memory remains stuck in the collective memory of the people, and the wound is renewed again on 6 August 2014.

 
Thus, the Nineveh Plain was displaced for the first time in its history, where the Plain was completely emptied from its Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Shabaks.
It is estimated that around 120,000 Christians were displaced because of ISIS. They took refuge in all-over Kurdistan, mainly in Duhok governorate in the big cities and dozens of Christian villages, and in Ankawa – Erbil where six camps were installed to host them.
Caravan churches and schools were installed as well.
The occupation of the Nineveh Plain has caused tremendous damage to personal and public properties, in addition to religious and archaeological sites and buildings, as well as infrastructure, shops, agricultural and industrial facilities and others.
30 churches or church properties in Mosul and 46 in Nineveh Plains had been subjected to total or partial harm as a result of ISIS occupation of Mosul and Nineveh Plains.
Thousands of Christians families’ houses, shops and assets were destroyed, burnt and looted.
The short and long-term effects of ISIS control of the Nineveh Plain have gone beyond the enormous physical and economic destruction that requires decades to rehabilitate. However, it also directly and seriously affected the position and vision of Christians, individuals and families and community collectively, to the reality and future of their existence in their historic places even after its retaking. Demolition transcends physical boundaries to moral and psychological effects and harms of individual and collective human dignity.
It also affected the links between the community components, especially among Christians and Yazidis, on the one hand, and Muslims, specifically the Sunnis, on the other.
These, among other things, are the challenges of post-ISIS and post-return to the Nineveh Plain.

Current Challenges Faced By Iraqi Christians

The Christians of Iraq, like all Iraqis, face great challenges arising from and after the ISIS stage and add to the challenges that Iraq has experienced since its collapse as a country in 2003.
Perhaps the most important common challenges facing Christians today in Iraq are:
First: Political instability in Iraq, which is not a direct result of ISIS stage, but rather exists and continues since the collapse of the Iraqi state and its institutions in 2003 with the end of the previous regime.
However, instability has increased after ISIS in terms of the complete domination of Shiite political parties over the political decision of the federal government and the marginalization of Sunni role, in addition to the decline in the Kurdish political and security role, especially after its loss of lands and areas that it was managing in Sinjar, Kirkuk and the Nineveh Plain.
The political hegemony of Shiite parties supported by Iranian Shiite has turned Iraq into an arena of political and military conflict between Iran and the United States.
As a result, the lack of a clear vision for a stable Iraq with functioning legislative and executive institutions is one of the major challenges facing everyone.
But the Iraqi national and religious minorities are the most fearful and concerned about this challenge. This fear is reflected in their search for another country for stability. Hence, instability leads to more immigration.
For example, the general percentage of Christians returning to the Nineveh Plain in the areas that were under the control of ISIS has not yet reached the 50%, despite the fact that this percentage exceeded 70% in a few areas (such as the Teliskuf) and others (such as Telkeif) still until today did not reach 8%.
Second: Security instability is the latest result of the collapse of the Iraqi state and its military and security institutions after 2003, but it has multiplied with the proliferation of weapons outside the state’s control, especially in the form of militia organizations of Shiite Islamist political parties loyal to Iran.
It can even be said that these militias, especially after their participation in the fight against ISIS, have turned into an army parallel to the Iraqi army and possess heavy weapons and more than one hundred thousand members are affiliated with them.
And if it is formally considered to be one of the official military formations, it is actually outside the control of the Iraqi state and subject to the decisions of its orthodox parties.
Third: With political and security instability on the one hand, and corruption prevails in the state’s apparatus, the collapse of public services and infrastructure, and the economic decline of Iraq and its transformation into a poor country despite the large sources that it possesses, it almost makes it a failed state. (According to UN estimates, in 2020 the poverty rate in Iraq will reach 40%).
All of these factors, especially political and security instability, have been identified from any opportunities for foreign investment and services and development programs, which have increased the economic contraction and blockage of the horizon before the emerging Iraqi generations. As the increase in unemployment rates, lack of job opportunities, and deteriorating economic conditions in the Nineveh Plain is one of the strong pressure factors.
The popular demonstrations that have continued since October 2019 are a reaction to the political, security, and economic conditions.
Here again, religious and national minorities are the most affected, and this is again reflected in the increase in immigration.
Fourth: The lack of a citizenship state, even though Iraq is historically a homeland of many religions, sects, and nationalities, and although Iraqi religious and national minorities are the oldest and they are the original citizens of Iraq and belong to it before the current Muslim and Arab majority, but the Iraqi state, especially the current one, is not a citizen-state that guarantees equality, justice, and dignity for its children, regardless of their identity and religious or national privacy.
The Iraqi constitution, and formal and societal daily practices and legislation that establish and reflect religious and national discrimination.
Current Iraq is a religious state that adopts Islamic law in various fields, which in daily life also creates a single religious and cultural character that imposes itself on non-Muslim minorities.
This grows a sense of discrimination among the people of these minorities and reinforces the feeling of alienation for home.
Fifth: The rise and legitimacy of the religious state in the constitution, legislation, and practice have weakened social cohesion among the components of Iraq. It also created a community environment that embraced radical Islamic terrorist organizations.
With the crimes committed by ISIS against non-Muslim minorities and the participation of the Sunni community incubating ISIS thinking and organization in these crimes, this fabric is torn as there is a lack of confidence between these components, especially among the non-Muslim minorities towards the Muslim majority.
The crisis of mistrust increased with the failure of the Iraqi government to give messages and reassurances to these minorities to their future at home and that they are partners in it and in its future, as the government’s commitment to non-Muslim minorities exceeded only some statements and words without translating into programs and plans of action, whether at the level of legislation to address memory and the achievement of transitional justice or reconstruction and development programs in the areas of these minorities.
This neglect and marginalization of ISIS victims by the Iraqi government has deepened wounds, a sense of discrimination, and doubts about the future.
Sixth: One of the most important challenges that Christians face on the ground is the threat of a programmed demographic change in the Nineveh Plain, whether from the Sunni Arabs as well as in Telkeif district (less than 30 of the total of hundreds of Christian families who lived in this Chaldean Christian city did not return to the city of Telkeif. Or from the Shabaks Shiites in the center of the Bartilla area today and with a future extension to Qaraqosh, which is the largest Christian city in Iraq.
Demographic change is practiced daily, whether at the administration level in terms of administrative appointments in government departments or at the level of the economy where Iranian funding supports the Shabak Shiites economy or in terms of the urban expansion allocated to the network, all with protection and security and military cover from  Shiites militias, and with cover and political support from the government federalism in Baghdad, in addition to creating pressure and cultural community.
The Christians of the Nineveh Plain in Telkeif, Bartilla, and Hamdaniya (Qaraqosh) are losing the lands.
With the attempt to control the volumetric institutions and change the management in them to confiscate decisions in favor of a specific class and to serve the agendas of these parties (the Head Officer of Hamdaniya University changed, the department officials changed from Christians and Yezidis with less efficient employees from Shabak, Muslims, and others).

Iraqi Christians’ Hope

We might be helpless but we are never hopeless

Christian Assyrians, regardless of their ethnic nomenclature and church affiliation, are indigenous people of Mesopotamia, the Iraq of today, and they had, throughout history, a distinguished role that surpassed the country’s borders to have a significant share to serve various aspects of humanity among which would be extending bridges, communication, and dialogue on ideology, culture, and science between East and West.
Their existence is threatened today because of what they were and still are subjected to of well-planned campaign aimed to eradicate their existence from the Iraqi national memory and physically remove them from the land of their ancestors utilizing different means starting with the constitution to legislation to curricula to religious bigotry and not ending in systematic individual and collective physical removal.
Today, the requirement to protect their existence in their homeland surpasses their capacity, therefore that protection becomes a collective national and governmental responsibility at the level of the state of Iraq, as well as the international responsibility because what they are subjected to is a violation of international treaties set forth to protect human, social, and minority rights.
Today, the Assyrian Christians, after becoming a marginalized minority in their homeland, live on the hope of a future that will guarantee justice and dignity, for they, regardless of what they went through, still believe in that hope.
We, Mesopotamians Assyrian Christians in Mesopotamia might be helpless but never hopeless.
However, it is a conditional hope.
Let us keep our moral commitment in supporting and practicing the actions on the ground to:

Keep The Hope Alive.

Duhok, 01^st April 2020

Assyrian New Year 6769