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Mosul, the relentless slaughter of Iraqi Christians
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Kurds Behind Violence Against Assyrians in Mosul
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Iraq's
Endangered Minorities: Catholic Chaldean, Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian,
Armenian and Protestant Christians; and smaller Yazidi and Mandean
communities
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Statement on KRG expansion plans
[PDF]
(04 April 2009)
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* This webpage is dedicated
to the slaughter of Iraqi Christians in the North of Iraq. Read more
about the fate of Iraqi minorities:
Several of Iraq's minorities risk being wiped out as they face
unprecedented levels of violence, according to a report by
Minority Rights Group International. (27 Feb 2007)
Background:
Some
of Iraq's religious and ethnic minorities have lived in the
region for two millennia. Yet the violence gripping the
country means many now face a terrible choice: convert,
leave or die.
Minority priests,
politicians and civilians are being targeted and killed
simply because of their ethnic or religious affiliations.
For the
Christians, still speaking in Aramaic, the language of the
Bible, the threat comes from the fact that their faith
associates them with the West and with the Multi-National
Force in Iraq.
What about
Mandaeans, followers of John the Baptist, whose faith is
pre-Christian? They are unable to protect themselves as
others in Iraq have been forced to, because their faith
forbids them to take up arms.
Yazidis too are
under attack. Their figure of worship is Maluk Ta'us, the
fallen angel - the Yazidis believe he was forgiven by God.
Their faith has led to them being accused of "devil worship"
and they are being slaughtered for their beliefs. Both the
Mandaeans and Yazidis have had fatwas issued against them.
Other minorities
include Bahá'Ãs, Faili Kurds, Jews, Palestinians, Shabaks
and Turkomans. Together they make up 10 percent of Iraq's
population.
The numbers
leaving Iraq are disproportionately high.
Since 2003, the
United Nations refugee agency has recorded that 44 percent
of Iraqi asylum seekers to Syria are Christian. Christians
were also the largest group of refugees arriving in the
Jordanian capital Amman.
But those who
flee are still at the mercy of international case-by-case
asylum policy. The United States and Britain were quick to
invade Iraq - but are nevertheless remarkably reluctant to
shoulder the refugee burden that has resulted as a
consequence of their actions.
Northern Iraq -
including the autonomous region of Kurdistan - is not safe
for minority groups. One flashpoint will be the future of
the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
The
Turkish-speaking Turkomans - Iraq's third largest ethnic
group - see Kirkuk as their historical home. Like other
minorities in the area they are already coming under
pressure to sign up for Kurdish political parties in order
to strengthen the Kurdish claim to Kirkuk.
With tensions
rising, Kurdish militias have already abducted Turkomens and
reportedly subjected them to torture. It is vitally
important that all groups in Kirkuk can exercise their vote
in the referendum. In previous elections, corruption in the
system has left minorities unable to vote.
Read:
Brookings-University of Bern report
on Iraq’s Minorities
(13 Jan 2009)
Estimates On Iraq’s Minorities:
Christians: 2003: 1-1.4 million, Today, 600,000-800,000
Jews: 2003: a few hundred, Today: 10-15
Mandeans: 2003: 30,000, Today: Fewer than 13,000
Palestinians: 2003: 35,000, Today: 15,000
Turkomen: 2003: 800,000 claimed, Today: as few as 200,000
Yazidis: 2003: No known, Today: around 550,000
Mosul, the
capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.
The original city of
Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite
the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but
the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial
areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two
sides.
Despite having an
amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the
area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
There are different
communities in Mosul like Christians, Shiites and Kurds
along with a Sunni majority.
The city is also a historic
center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians,
containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such
as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum.
Kurdish expansion squeezes northern Iraq's minorities
Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
- 12 Nov 2008
Kurdish forces have detained Murad Kashtu al Asi three times in the isolated
district of Sinjar in Nineveh province. First, they beat him and accused him
of being a terrorist and a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a mostly Sunni
Arab political party. The second time, they detained him for several hours,
he said. The third time, they hit him in the face with the butts of their
guns. "If you leave alive this time, then work with us or we will kill you,"
he said his captors told him. He was held six days and released Sunday after
U.S. forces intervened on his behalf, he said. The Kurds never charged him
with a crime and even called him their "brother." His offense was working
with an Arab party in territory that the Kurds covet....
Read the full article
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www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/55711.html
Crisis Escalates For Christians in Iraq
AINA - 07 Nov 2008
Violence and persecution against minority groups in Iraq continues,
including communities of Christians which have been in existence for over
1500 years. The Assyrian Church of the East, as one of the Churches most
affected, has mobilised itself worldwide to call attention to the crisis,
and seek help where help can be found. Other Churches under extreme duress
are the Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Chaldean.
Full Story -
http://www.aina.org/news/20081107153853.htm
Christians On
the Run in Iraq
Peter Wensierski and Bernhard Zand, Spiegel
- 02 Nov 2008
... Elections to Iraq's provincial
parliaments are scheduled for next spring. But in late September, the
Baghdad parliament revoked a law guaranteeing minorities a fixed number
of seats. The attacks by gangs began when Christians in Mosul protested
the government move (...) When Rami Kamil reached the capital last
Tuesday, having fled Mosul, his already dwindling confidence in the
government had vanished. A few days earlier Prime Minister Maliki had
promised to send additional police brigades to the north to protect
Christians. But Kamil saw no evidence of police on the road from Mosul.
"All I saw were columns of refugees heading to the east or south," he
said...
Read the full article -
www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,587345,00.html
Christians In Mosul Update
Musings on Iraq -
01 Nov 2008
No one has officially been
blamed for the attacks. Security forces have arrested ten suspects, but
nothing about their identities or motivations have been disclosed. That has
opened the door to a plethora of theories. Initially,
most reports focused upon Islamist insurgents that have targeted
Christians before. The Iraqi paper Azzaman however,
reported that an Interior Ministry official denied Al Qaeda in Iraq was
involved, while Iraq’s Alsumaria TV
said that Al Qaeda fighters had in fact been arrested in Mosul preparing
attacks. The TV report also said that gunmen were working with members
of the Iraqi Army to carry out their attacks. Now there are increasing
stories claiming the Kurds as the culprits.
All of the attacks but one, for example, have occurred in the Kurdish
controlled part of Mosul. A leaked government investigation points the
finger at the Kurds, while
a Christian member of a local council in Ninewa province said that Kurds
were the ones arrested for the incidents. Allegedly, Maliki ordered the
Kurdish army units out of the city as a result. The government inquiry into
the attacks supposedly said that the Kurds carried out the attacks to expand
their control over Ninewa, the northern portions of which the Kurds wish to
annex. Weakening the Christian population there would eliminate one opponent
of the Kurds’ plan.
Read the full article -
http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2008/11/christians-in-mosul-update.html
Solidarity with the besieged Christians of Iraq
Adib Kawar, Palestine
Think Tank
– 31 Oct 2008
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.. A group of Iraqi leaders and activists in Lebanon,
representing various Iraqi political parties and movements
representing all of its religious sects met at the Lebanese
Union of the Press house responding to a call from the "The
Iraqi National Accord Movement". The meeting was attended by
Lebanese personalities. The attendants made a point of the
importance of the unity of the different components of the Iraqi
society and the Iraqi homeland... Former Iraqi Minister, Adnan
Ajanaby, accused the occupation of introducing sectarian
partaking and deepening the fragmentation in its social and
political fabric. He added, "those who accepted this sectarian
fragmentation should be held responsible for what we ended with,
and we are not Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Kurds, we are
steadfast Iraqis and shall return to raise Iraq’s name and unity
high and undivided.".. The Reverend Father Suheil Fasha said,
"Iraq was known for its unity, it can never be partitioned and
fragmented. Christians in Iraq were there since the first
century AD."...
Read the full
article
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palestinethinktank.com/2008/10/31/solidarity-with-the-besieged-christians-of-iraq/ |
An appeal to the Christians of the world on behalf of the Christians of Iraq
ICIN -IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN NEED - 31 Oct 2008
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During the past few days, many Christians have been killed in
Mosul, just because they are Christians. Several thousands have
fled their houses and took refuge in Churches in the city and
nearby mountains. ICIN has taken the decision to make a
substantial donation, from its reserve plus what is received
from the "Crisis in Mosul Fund", directly to those in Mosul who
are taking care of the displaced. We urge you to help through
ICIN, or any of the organisations concerned with providing aid
to those displaced...
Read the full
article
–
www.icin.org.uk/pages/Appeals_current.htm |
International Medical Corps delivers emergency supplies to 8,000 displaced
Christians from Mosul
International Medical Corps - 30 Oct 2008
Threats
against Christians living in Mosul intensified in early October, leading to
the displacement of an estimated 11,000 persons. Many of those who left the
city sought refuge in neighboring Tel Kef and Hamdaniya Districts, relying
on community support networks, friends, and relatives for support.
Read the full article -
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SHIG-7KXCZZ?OpenDocument
Ethnic cleansing of Christians in Mosul
Friendship Across Frontiers - 29 Oct 2008
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...Your feeble report on the plight of the ethnic cleansing of
Christians in Mosul is not only 5 years too late but lacking in
clarity and objectivity. This process has been ongoing since
2003 in Basrah and Baghdad while the MNF allowed the Badr
Brigade and Sadar militia to conduct their atrocities with
impunity as long as they do not point their guns towards the
occupier. Equally the Warlords Talibani and Barazani were
allowed by the MNF to extend their land grabs in order to extend
their de facto separate northern enclave at the expense of
non-Kurds inhabitants of the region particularly in Kirkuk and
Mosul. Surely your reporter could not expect to conduct these
interviews with the fleeing Christian families in the presence
of his security, which undoubtedly was drawn from the Warlords
clan...
Read the full
article
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www.albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=../en_articles_2008/1008/faf_311008.htm |
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The uprooting conspiracy of Iraqi Christians
Adib Kawar and Rafik Abi Younis - 28 Oct 2008
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During the last few days continued protests took place
against the forced displacement and assaults on one of
the components of the Iraqi society, namely Christians
in the Ninawa district and its capital Mosul. (The
second largest city of Iraq). With the development of
this dangerous situation it is of utmost importance to
stress the following recapitulations: 1. It is not
sufficient and persuasive that the counter campaign
against what Christians in Iraq should be limited to is
protests and denunciations, as what is taking place has
exceeded in its size and aims a passing incident against
a major component of the Iraqi society, and in
particular in the city of Mosul where the plan reaches
the extent of complete extermination and expulsion. 2.
What is taking place cannot be committed by an expiatory
group with limited possibilities by itself to commit
such a role throughout Iraq, but it is likely that there
is big support by enemy forces led by Israel whose
outfits are openly operating day and night backed by
U.S. intelligence services. They all aim at destroying
the relations that bring together the various components
of the Iraqi society and its diversity that is reflected
by the Christian presence and their role in the Iraqi
society, and so that there will be no more patriotic or
national unity, and thus have the stage open for
sectarian and denominational conflicts that drives the
country one day after another to destruction and
fragmentation....
Read the
full article
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palestinethinktank.com/2008/10/28/adib-kawar-and-rafik-abi-younis-the-uprooting-conspiracy-of-iraqi-christians/ |
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Prices soar in Mosul as troops mass for new offensive
Jareer Mohammed, Azzaman – 28 Oct 2008
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The government is massing troops in the restive Mosul in
preparation for a large-scale offensive to subdue the
northern city. Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city after
Baghdad with nearly two million inhabitants. Thousands
of troops with heavy military gear have already been
deployed inside the city particularly its western side.
The troops have set up scores of checkpoints and
cordoned off neighborhoods in search of suspects. It
will be the third massive military offensive on the city
in one year. The previous two, in which large numbers of
U.S. occupation troops took part, failed to bring peace
to the city....
Read the
full article
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www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-28\kurd.htm |
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Some Displaced Iraqi Christians Ponder Kurds' Role
Corey Flintoff - 28 Oct 2008
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The religious cleansing in Mosul began with graffiti,
some saying "get out or die," on the walls in Christian
neighborhoods. Young men drove through the streets with
loudspeakers, shouting at people to leave. Then the
killing started. "My brother came home from work that
day," says a 44-year-old Christian man identifying
himself only as Abu Sara. "He went to a nearby shop,
where suddenly gunmen turned up and asked him for his
ID. Then they told his friends to step aside. They shot
him dead and left." He says it's difficult to be certain
why the attacks are taking place now, but the word among
Christians in Mosul is that Kurds may have a hand in it.
Abu Sara says all the attacks on Christians happened on
the side of the city that's dominated by Kurdish troops,
yet the Kurds did nothing to stop them. Um Reyan is a
Christian woman whose family is now taking refuge in an
Assyrian Catholic church. "We heard the people from
another Christian neighborhood describing how these
armed men stormed the houses and shouted at people to
get out," she says. "They were speaking in a kind of
pidgin Arabic, not like a Mosul accent at all, but like
Kurds, trying to speak Arabic."...
Read the
full article
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www.aina.org/news/20081028180230.htm |
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Chaldean bishop: appeal for Mosul, emptied of Christians
Rabban Al-Qas – 27 Oct 2008
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Through the agency AsiaNews, I wish to call upon all men of good
will, those who respect man, and all believers in God to
forcefully condemn the crimes that are being perpetrated against
the Christians in Iraq, and in particular those taking place in
Mosul in recent days (...) This tragedy - which recalls the
situation of the Christians in the early centuries - began
immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. What is
taking place in these days is the result of a long silence on
the part of the Iraqi prime minister and of the government of
Baghdad, which has been unable to stop the wave of violence
against Christians. What is taking place in these days is their
responsibility, without forgetting the responsibilities of the
American forces and representatives of the United Nations. What
is taking place in Mosul is happening right in front of their
eyes..
Read the full
article
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www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13587&size=A |
Kurds Behind Violence Against Assyrians in Mosul: Iraqi MP
AINA – 28 Oct 2008
|
Iraqi Parliament member Osama Al Najifi said to the Iraq News
Agency on Saturday that Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki has
confirmed that Kurdish political parties are carrying out the
violence against Mosul's Assyrian community. "The prime minister
showed me a document which he said proves the involvement of
Kurdish militias in threats and killings against the Christian
Assyrians in Mosul," stated Al Najifi, and said the prime
minister told him "Your accusations against the Kurds have
proven true." He notified the Iraqi News Agency that the
committee charged with investigating the attacks on Assyrians in
Mosul has clear proof of Kurdish involvement....
Read the full article
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www.aina.org/news/20081025165905.htm |
Iraqi bishops reject annexing Christian areas by Kurds
Azzaman – 24 Oct 2008
|
Iraqi bishops have urged their hard-pressed Christian
communities to reject moves to annex their areas to the Kurdish
autonomous regions. The bishops made the statement following a
meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in which they
expressed their fears for the fate of Christian existence in
Iraq particularly in the northern city of Mosul and it suburbs.
The Province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital,
currently includes the largest remaining concentration of
Christians in Iraq whose numbers have dwindled drastically since
the 2003 U.S. invasion....
Read the full
article
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www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-24\kurd.htm |
Chaldean bishop of Kirkuk: Christians being driven out of Mosul for
political reasons
AsiaNews – 23 Oct 2008
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...This campaign to drive out the Christians could conceal
benefits of a political nature ahead of the upcoming elections
in January of 2009, and the controversy over the approval of the
provincial election law. The current law eliminates the quota
reserved by tradition for Christians (and other minorities).
Intimidating them and driving them out goes hand in hand with
denying them representation. But the hypothesis cannot be
excluded that the violence against the faithful also serves to
reinforce the proposal for a Christian enclave in the plane of
Nineveh....
Read the full
article
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www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13552&size=A |
Baath Party Statement
A statement concerning our people' sons and daughters from amongst the
Christians who are being chased from their homes in Mosul
The Arab Baath Socialist Party – 23 Oct 2008
|
The US occupiers, their allies and their created tools plan to
destroy Iraq as a people, as a land and as a civilization.
Having ferociously attacked its state, raped its soil, declaring
their ill famed decisions such as (uprooting the Baath),
disbanding the heroic Iraqi army, they want now to destroy the
social fabric of the Iraqi people through their evil plan.
Hence, the US occupier undertook mass murder and genocide
against the Iraqi people, exciting sectarian and ethnic strife,
fomenting and encouraging even the inter killing in between the
same community as it happened in Basra, Mayssan, Baghdad, Al
Anbar, Nineveh and other districts of Iraq. This dirty job was
handed to the Occupiers' puppets belonging to the stooges'
political parties (Shia and Sunni) and the two collaborators
Kurdish Parties (the Democratic Kurdistani and the Nationalistic
Kurdistani parties). Today these same filthy tools target
Christians from the sons and daughters of our people in the city
of Mosul through criminal mass murder, forcing thousands of
Christian families to flee their homes and chasing them away
outside the city of Mosul...
Read the full
article
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http://www.al-moharer.net |
UNHCR
starts to help hundreds of Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria
UNHCR
- 22 Oct 2008
Read the full Article -
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-7KNSUN?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635P5D
Iraqi government fails to halt anti-Christian campaign in Mosul
Azzaman – 22 Oct 2008
"Many Christians from Mosul have been systematically
targeted recently and are no longer safe there. We
are ready to provide support for those Iraqis that
seek refuge in neighbouring countries," said Laurens
Jolles, UNHCR's representative in Syria. "We are
grateful that Syria continues to welcome refugees,"
he added of a country that is hosting at least 1.2
million Iraqi refugees.
The measures the government has taken so far have failed to put
an end to the exodus of Christians from the northern city of
Mosul. Thousands of Christian families have fled the city
following threats from unidentified groups. So far 14 Christians
have been killed in the city. Some Iraqi politicians and media
have raised questions on the timing and scale of the
anti-Christian campaign in a city traditionally known for its
tolerance... There are no clear answers to who is behind the
campaign to force the Christians to flee. Some local media
reports, quoting government officials, blame Kurdish militias
which control Mosul’s left bank which has been emptied of its
Christian population...
Read the full
article
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www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-22\kurd.htm
Who persecutes Christians in Iraq?
Azzaman – 20 Oct 2008
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The current plight of Christians in the northern city of Mosul
is a reminder of how precarious conditions in Iraq as whole are.
At least 2,500 families have been forced to leave the city, a
dozen killed and many of their houses destroyed. Christians are
not the only minority under persecution but their fleeing is
being highlighted because it comes at a crucial moment for Iraq
and particularly its northern region....
Read the full
article
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http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2008-10-20\kurd.htm
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Kurdish Involvement Suspected in Attacks on Assyrians in Mosul
AINA - 18 Oct 2008
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The continuing attacks on Assyrians in Mosul have been followed
by a string of accusations from different sources claiming
Kurdish involvement in the events that has forced 15000
Assyrians to flee the city of Mosul. Iraqi MP Osama Al Najifi, a
native of the Mosul area, was the first high ranking official to
point to Kurdish involvement in the attacks (AINA 10-12-2008).
More recently a spokesman from Iraq's interior ministry said
there is no evidence of Al Qaeda involvement (AINA 10-16-2008),
and a high ranking Assyrian leader, Mr Yonadam Kanna, also a
member of parliament, confirmed to reporters the assailants were
wearing army uniforms. Adding to the suspicion, five known Sunni
insurgent groups, including Al Qaeda, issued statements
denouncing the attacks and denying involvement in them...
Read the full
article
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www.aina.org/releases/20081017000537.htm |
A Cry from an Iraqi Christian woman
God is the Greatest! Where are you our beloved Saddam Hussein!
Christian woman - Al Moharer
- 18 Oct 2008
|
I am an Iraqi Christian woman from Mosul. We the Christians are
the sons and daughters of this very soil of Iraq. In our beloved
Iraq, were born our children, our fathers and our forefathers.
We are a part of this sacred land of Iraq. We participated into
building and defending Iraq. I couldn't help but to write to
you, dear fellow Iraqis at Al-Basra network. For I know you will
not divulge my name and I would like you to publish my message
in your site and on every honorable and dignified Islamic and
patriotic site. The bloodthirsty Kurdish Peshmergas are
persecuting us, we the Iraqi Christians: They are burning our
millennia churches.. They are the ones who murdered the
Archbishop of Mosul the martyr Paulos Faraj Rahho for he was a
real patriot. . He loathed the US occupation, didn't want to
leave Mosul and defied the bloodthirsty Kurdish Peshmergas. The
Zionist Media in the West represent the peshmergas as the angels
and the wonderful...
Read the full
article
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http://www.al-moharer.net |
Kurdish suspects arrested for attacks on Assyrians in Mosul
AINA – 17 Oct 2008
|
A spokesman for Iraq's defense ministry confirmed on Friday the
capture of six men suspected of perpetrating attacks on the
Assyrians in Mosul. Sources have told AINA that four suspects
are residents of the Kurdish region and are affiliated with the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (headed by Massoud Barazani) in
northern Iraq, as shown by their ID cards. The affiliations of
the two other suspected is not yet known. American forces in
Mosul declined to comment on the arrests...
Read the full
article
-
turkmenelinews.blogspot.com/2008/10/kurdish-suspects-arrested-for-attacks.html |
Christians continue to flee northern Iraq
DPA – 16 Oct 2008
|
The deportation of Iraqi Christians from their homes in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been all too familiar over the
past week after several were murdered.
...'More than one million Christians have migrated from Iraq
after being harassed. More than 40 percent of all Iraqis who
fled abroad during the past five years are minorities,’ said
Warda, a mother of two....
Read the full
article -
www.sindhtoday.net/world/28922.htm |
Bad Times For Iraq’s Christians
Musings on Iraq - 15 Oct 2008
Iraq’s
Christians have been one of the most vulnerable groups in the country since
the U.S. invasion. The recent attacks on them couldn’t have come at a worst
time as they were already feeling rejected by parliament due to Article 50
being dropped from the provincial election law. Since so many Iraqis have
voiced support for it however, it is likely that it will be re-instated. The
attacks in Mosul, however, may taper off, but they have served their purpose.
They have instilled fear in the Christian community and driven many out.
It’s unknown when or if they will return, as Mosul remains one of the most
violent cities in the country.
Read the
full article -
http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2008/10/bad-times-for-iraqs-christians.html
UN envoy
condemns attacks against minorities in Iraq
UN Radio
- 13 Oct 2008
The head of
the UN mission in Iraq has strongly condemned the targeting of Christians
and other minority groups in Iraq. Staffan de Mistura says recent violent
attacks targeting Christian communities, particularly in and around the
northern city of Mosul, are aimed at fueling tensions.
Read the
full article -
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/10912.html
Iraqi Christians' murders condemned
AlJazeera.net - 14 Oct 2008
|
Muslim scholars have spoken out against a spate of attacks
against Christians in northern Iraq, after more than 12 members
of the community were killed in recent weeks. The condemnation
from the Organistation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) came on
Tuesday, as Iraq's government pledged to send officials to the
ethnically mixed city of Mosul to investigate the attacks (...)
Kanna, like other Christians, said he hinted that there might be
government involvement. "I don't want to accuse anyone, but I am
saying that [those carrying out attacks] are wearing police
uniforms," he said....
Read the full
article
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english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081014153936955903.html |
KURDISH GROUPS BEHIND ATTACKS ON ASSYRIANS IN MOSUL: IRAQI MP
Assyrian International News Agency – 12 Oct 2008
|
Osama Al Najifi, a member of Iraq's parliament, told the Iraqi
Independent Press Agency on Sunday he holds the Iraqi government
responsible for what is happening to the Assyrian Christians in
Mosul, and accused the "Kurdish militias" for carrying out the
acts of ethnic cleansing. Al Najifi, a native of Mosul, claimed
the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Kurdish Asayesh
intelligence service are carrying out the attacks under the
cover of the Iraqi military. He pointed out the military forces
in Mosul are completely infiltrated by the Kurdish militia. Al
Najifi said the Kurds carry out the attacks against the minority
groups in order to Kurdify the city and change its demographic
balance. Osama Al Najifi is a Sunni Arab and has a long record
of defending the rights of the minorities in the Iraqi
parliament...
Read the full
article
-
turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/2008/10/kurdish-groups-behind-attacks-on.html |
Iraq pours police into Mosul to protect Christians
AFP - 12 Oct 2008
|
Iraq ordered nearly 1,000 police to patrol Christian areas of
Mosul on Sunday as thousands of members of the minority group
fled the worst violence against them in five years. The action
came as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an immediate
investigation into the murders of Christians in the restive
northern city, and pledged to take all steps necessary to
protect the threatened community...
Read the full
article -
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gTTe9VyH570H0AHOz1OHeAiVfpsg |
Kurdish militias behind the massacres of the Christians in Mosul
Roads to Iraq – 12 Oct 2008
|
Few minutes ago, Aljazeera quoted a statement by the so called
"Al-Qaeda" denies any involvement in the bloody campaign against
the Christians in Mosul saying. Al-Qaeda has evidence that
the Kurdish militia’s involvement in displacing and killing
campaign of the Christians in order to control certain parts of
the province. You can see Iraqi newspaper Azzaman’s
confirmation in its headline today "Militias gunmen of powerful
government parties roam the streets of Mosul chanting threat
slogans". Iraqi MP Al-Najafi from the "Iraqi List" confirms this
information saying: Kurdish Peshmerga militias are behind the
forced displacement of Christians in the Mosul. The military
forces in Mosul are infiltrated by the Kurdish militia using
military vehicles to threat the Christians...
Read the full
article
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www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/10/12/kurdish-militias-behind-the-massacres-of-the-christians-in-mosul/ |
Iraqi Archbishop: Christians Face 'Liquidation'
Michelle A. Vu - 11 Oct 2008
|
The most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq warned that Christians
in his country face "liquidation" if the Iraqi government and
the U.S. military do not step-up protection for religious
minorities in Iraq. "We are the target of a campaign of
liquidation, a campaign of violence," said Chaldean Archbishop
Louis Sako, reported Agence France-Presse on Friday. "The
objective is political."... He called on Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led government to act on repeated
promises to protect Iraq’s minorities. "We have heard many words
from Prime Minister Maliki, but unfortunately this has not
translated into reality," he said. "We continue to be targeted.
We want solutions, not promises."...
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article
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www.christianpost.com/article/20081011/iraqi-archbishop-christians-face-liquidation.htm |
Official: 3,000 Christians flee Iraq's Mosul
BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, AP – 11 Oct 2008
|
Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to
escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of
U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi
city, political and religious officials said Saturday. Some
3,000 Christians have fled the city over the past week alone in
a "major displacement," said Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, the
governor of northern Iraq's Ninevah province. He said most have
left for churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in
nearby Christian villages and towns...
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article
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ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD93OK7600 |
Houses blown up as Christians flee Iraq's Mosul
Reuters – 11 Oct 2008
|
Militants blew up three empty Christian homes on Saturday in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where more than 800 Christian
families have fled in the past two days, a Christian member of
parliament said. "I have been informed that three houses have
been blown up. In two of them, the families were already
displaced. The third, they evacuated the family and then blew up
the house," parliamentarian Unadim Kanna told Iraqiya state
television...
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article
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www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49A36220081011?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews |
AMSI Condemns threatening of the Christians
Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) – 07 Oct 2008
|
After dropping some leaflets threatening Christians Iraqis in
Mosul City, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI)
condemned this insidious action and distanced itself from those
who stand behind this in any pretext. In the press statement
numbered 581 General Secretariat of AMSI clarified that these
actions are not approved by Islam and its tolerant teachings as
it is also incompatible with national unity. The Association of
Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) asserted that those suspicious
publications made Iraqis in certain times to be cautious on the
parties and others who want to create chaos and disrupt the
conditions for influential parties in the region associated with
the occupation, its presence.,,
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article
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www.heyetnet.org/eng/mansetler/3283-amsi-condemns-threatening-of-the-christians.html |
Islamic fundamentalists: "expel Christians from Mosul"
Aaia News – 09 Oct 2008
|
...There is no end to the bloodshed in Mosul: in less than a
week, nine people have died because they were Christians. From
the town in the province of Nineveh come dramatic appeals,
pleading "that silence not fall" over the continuing slaughter.
"A campaign is underway to drive the Christians out of the
area," a source reveals to AsiaNews, "and yesterday, a car with
a loudspeaker went around the streets in the neighborhood of
Sukkar, ordering the Christians to leave." "Christians out of
the city," the people on board were shouting, "otherwise you
will be victims of more attacks." (...) The violence in Mosul in
recent weeks has driven an increasing number of people to leave
the city. According to estimates by local Christians, "every
week more than 20 families decide to flee." This exodus has
"emptied entire neighborhoods" of Christians, "to the
indifference of the media and of Western governments." ...
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article
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www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13442&size=A |
Attacks on Christians in Iraqi city raise concern
KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer – 08 Oct 2008
|
An Iraqi archbishop expressed concern Wednesday over what he
called a "campaign of killings and deportations" against
Christians in the northern city of Mosul after police reported
seven Christians killed in separate attacks this month. A female
suicide bomber also blew herself up near government offices in
Baqouba, northeast of the capital, killing 11 people, Iraqi
officials said. The violence in both cities occurred despite
U.S.-Iraqi operations launched over the summer aimed at routing
al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents from remaining strongholds
north of the capital...
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article
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www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/07/international/i023426D81.DTL |
3 Christians killed in Ninewa
Ninewa, 07 October 2008 ( Voices of Iraq )
Three Christians were killed on Tuesday in two separate incidents in the
city of Mosul, a police source said. “A Christian citizen and his son
were killed by unknown gunmen in al-Sedeeq neighborhood in northern
Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
“Unknown gunmen killed a third Christian working as a pharmacist in
al-Tahrir neighborhood in eastern Mosul,” he added.
Read the full article -
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php?refid=WH-S-13-10-2008&article=37570
Letter to British MP Mr. Edward Leigh re: Iraq's minorities
Merry Fitzgerald, EUROPEAN TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPS – 07 Oct 2008
|
I read your article in the Catholic Herald about your recent
visit to the north of Iraq and I would like to make some
comments: The war of aggression launched on Iraq by the US and
the UK in March 2003 and the illegal occupation of this country
by the US-UK forces have brought complete chaos in Iraq and
great sufferings to Iraq’s entire population, causing the death
of over 1,270.000 Iraqis. This illegal war followed 12 years of
criminal sanctions - imposed on the Iraqi people by the UN at
the instigation of the US and the UK- which caused the death of
more than one million innocent Iraqi civilians.This war has
caused the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure and the
displacement of over 4.5 million Iraqis inside and outside the
country. The US-UK occupiers in order to impose their occupation
policy on the Iraqis have dismantled Iraq’s existing
institutions, disbanded its army and police leaving the country
without defence forces, its borders without surveillance and its
population without any protection...
Read the full
article
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turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/2008/10/letter-to-british-mp-mr-edward-leigh-re.html |
Mosul, the relentless slaughter of Iraqi Christians
AsiaNews - 05 Oct 2008
|
Two new attacks yesterday against the Christian community: the
owner of a clothing store and a 15-year-old boy were killed. A
source for AsiaNews denounces the climate of "panic" that fills
the city, and the "indifference of the media," which have passed
over the slaughter "in silence."...
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article
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www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13397&size=A# |
More than 10,000 Iraqi Christians protest in Iraq's Dahuk
Middle East News – 03 Oct 2008
The
Marginalization of Iraq's Minorities Was Expected
AINA
- 30 Sept 2008
There is no
doubt that Christians and other minorities are being overrepresented among
Iraqi refugees. The persecution of minorities is well known and has been
subject to intense debates.
Read the
full article -
http://www.aina.org/guesteds/20080930141149.htm
As Iraq
Moves Towards Provincial Elections, Minority Sects Further Marginalized
Alternet
- 29 Sept 2008
A
new decision by the Iraqi parliament leaves Iraqi minorities
with no representation in the country's provincial councils as
well as the legislature. By an overwhelming majority, the
parliament early this week revoked paragraph 50 from the
constitution, under which Iraqi minorities were assigned a set
of seats in legislative and municipal councils. The revocation
has sparked mass demonstrations in areas where these minorities
live, particularly in the northern Province of Nineveh, of which
Mosul is the capital. Not only non-Muslim minorities are
affected. The Shebeks, who are Muslim Shiites, have lost this
privilege as well as the Yazidis who still pursue their
secretive and traditional faith. The decision has been a blow to
the minorities who make up at least 10 per cent of the Iraqi
population. With paragraph 50 of the constitution revoked, these
minorities will have no means left to air their voice.
Christians, Yazidis, and Sabeans have almost lost the religious
freedom they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein in most parts of the
country. Today, these minorities make up a disproportionately
high percentage of Iraqi refugees fleeing their country.
Read the full
article -
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/100777/as_iraq_moves_towards_provincial_elections,_minority_sects_further_marginalized/
A Political Coup Against Iraq's Minorities
Assyria Council of Europe – 28 Sept 2008
|
Despite talks about the importance of securing rights of its
minorities, Iraq is moving in the direction of minimizing the
minorities' role in the political process. The new provincial
elections law passed on the 24 September saw the elimination of
the quota seats designated for minorities in the provincial
councils in what could be best described as a political coup.
Assyrians and other minorities see the passing of the new
provincial elections law as a serious threat to their future
presence in Iraq...
Read the full
article -
www.aina.org/news/20080928175840.htm |
Iraqi Christians protest new election law
Associated Press – 28 Sept 2008
|
Iraq's prime minister Sunday sought safeguards for minorities in
the mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament's
decision to end quotas for small religious communities in ruling
regional councils. Parliament last week approved a new law
mandating elections in most of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the law
removed a system that guaranteed seats on provincial councils
for Christians and other religious minorities...
Read the full
article
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www.pr-inside.com/print832824.htm |
Thousands of Iraqi Christians find refuge in Lebanon
Families face tough times after fleeing their homeland
Raphael Thelen, Special to The Daily Star – 25 Sept 2008
|
Hundred of thousand of Chaldean Christians have fled Iraq
because of violent threats against their community, and
thousands of those refugees have arrived in Lebanon during the
last few years, searching for a better life or resettlement in
other countries. "The situation of the Chaldean community in
Iraq is very difficult. Many receive threats by Muslim
fundamentalists and criminal gangs via telephone, get kidnapped
or killed," Michel Kasdano , coordinator of the Chaldean church,
told The Daily Star. The Chaldean community has lived in Iraq
since the time of Christ...
Read the full
article
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www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=96324 |