Political intrigues against Christians

Complex persecution

Despite political intrigues against Christians, the enduring peace between Muslims and Christians is hard to snuff out, observes Nermeen Al-Mufti

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Ever since the invasion started, things have been tense in the oil-rich city of Mosul in northern Iraq, which the Kurds want to declare part of the northern region they now control. The Kurdish administration has placed towns close to Mosul on the list of so-called disputed areas. These towns are inhabited by minority groups such as the Turkomen (500,000 of them live in Talaafar, Al-Rashidiya and surrounding areas), Yazidis, Shabaks, and Christians.

Political manoeuvres have succeeded in breaking many of the minority communities apart. A section of Shabaks now call themselves Kurds, so does a section of the Yazidis. Other sections, such as the Shabak Party led by parliamentarian Honein Qadou, and the Yazidi Party led by Anwar Moawiya, want to be recognised as separate ethnic groups.

Christians have inhabited Mosul for centuries. They include Assyrians, Chaldeans, Armenians, and Arab Christians who trace their ancestry to the mighty pre-Muslim tribe of the Ghasanids. But some Christian parties have been lured into collaborating with the Kurdish administration of the north and consequently demand self-rule in Nineveh.

Things took a turn for the worst when the Iraqi parliament, while ratifying the law for electing governorate councils in September 2007, decided to abrogate Article 50 of the law, which gave Kuta to the Christians and other minorities, including Shabaks, Yazidis and Zoroastrians. The parliament also amended Article 24, thus postponing local elections in Kirkuk, a city that the northern administration wishes to annex.

Since then, minorities staged demonstrations demanding control over Kuta. It was about that time that something more sinister happened. Christians living in the Mosul area began receiving death threats, and 12 have been killed so far. As a result, 2,650 Christian families fled from Mosul.

Kirkuk Archbishop Luis Sakou told Al-Ahram Weekly that the families that fled the town now live in eight predominantly-Christian villages close to Mosul, where they receive regular supplies of food and other necessities from their Muslim friends.

"Despite the ordeal, the Islamic-Christian solidarity we all believe in has survived. The Christians who received the refugees in their homes and churches have also restored my confidence in human nature. But there is no way out of this ordeal except through their return to their homes, so that children can go to school and adults can go to their work. We need a government decision to send them back and we need to see law and order restored in the city," Sakou said.

Asked whether the Christians were being bullied so that they let their seats in the local councils election go to another ethnic group, the archbishop told the Weekly that he wasn't interested in making charges without adequate evidence.

"I suspect that there are agencies involved in these acts, because the targets were well-planned. For example, when a father and son are both killed, it is clear that the intention is to bully and intimidate. Immigrants say that cars roamed their areas with loudspeakers telling them to leave. There are invisible hands and foreign hands involved, as well as interference from neighbouring countries. Also, I cannot absolve the Iraqi situation and the role of the US occupation forces from blame. All parties have their reasons and their interests. Perhaps the cancellation of Article 50 motivated some people to pressure minorities and make them vote for larger groups... It may all be a plan to get Christians out of Iraq, or to portray Islam as an intolerant religion. There are many possibilities and assumptions, but I cannot make accusations without proof."

Sakou said that the government has to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice, so as to reassure the country. He scoffed at a recent government statement saying that a man was executed in Hodeithah (western Iraq) after pleading guilty to the killing of Bishop Paul Faraj Rahou and three of his escorts in May 2008. Eyewitnesses, the archbishop noted, saw three vehicles attacking and abducting the bishop. "Without releasing the findings of the investigation, the execution doesn't make sense."

Most Islamic groups in the country have denounced the bullying and killing of Christians. The Islamic Army, the Islamic State of Iraq, and like-minded groups have all issued statements to this effect.

So who is involved in the killings? A Christian eyewitness told Al-Sharqiya television that the man who killed his brother was dressed as a policeman. Another eyewitness said he feared for his life if he were to reveal the identity of those who forced him to flee his home.

Christians of all sects lived in Iraq along their Muslim brothers for centuries. The Iraqi church in Mosul was actually instrumental in making Mosul a part of Iraq in 1927.

Caption: Several people were killed and nine others injured after a car bomb exploded in Baquba, 60km from Baghdad

C a p t i o n 2: Several people were killed and nine others injured after a car bomb exploded in Baquba, 60km from Baghdad




Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/921/re9.htm