Complex persecution of Iraq's Christians Al-Ahram Weekly Nov. 10, 08 Despite political intrigues against Christians, the enduring peace between Muslims and Christians is hard to snuff out, observes Nermeen Al-Mufti Several people were killed and nine others injured after a car bomb exploded in Baquba, 60km from Baghdad 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. Several people were killed and nine others injured after a car bomb exploded in Baquba, 60km from Baghdad 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. Christiansofiraq Webmaster's note: • There is no Arab Christians in Iraq, The Christians of Iraq trace their ancestry to the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians. In fact the early and medieval christian documents attest to this fact. The so called Arab Christians are Assyrian Christians who either because of persecution or isolation have adopted the Arabic language as their primary tongue. The Ghasanids tribes lived primarily in Syria and not in northern Iraq. It is true that some Christian parties have been lured into collaboration with the Kurdish administration simply because since establishment of new Iraq Christian Assyrians have been treated as unwanted guests in their own land. In 1933 after serving ten years as levies to protect Iraq from internal an external enemies they were massacred. During the Kurdish rebellion starting in 1960s their villages along with those of the Kurds were indeterminately bombed and their inhabitants were forced to take refuge in neighboring countries or in large cities of Iraq. Since 2003 they have been subjected to ethnic cleansing by their Muslim neighbors. Half a million of their people have been forced to take refuge in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The Kurds on the other hand have treated them with far more kindness by allowing them to live in greater security. They have done this to shrewdly convince the Christians that they will fare far better by associating themselves with the Kurds rather than central government. Perhaps Iraq's central government can learn to treat all of its citi zens kindly and fairly if it seeks their loyalty. Given the fact that Christians for such a long time have been persecuted throughout Iraq it is reasonable that they would wish to have a self administrative region linked to the central government where they can administrate their affairs and protect themselves from further attacks, especially since the central Iraqi government has shown so little interest in providing them equal rights and protecting them from further attacks. Self adminstration is allowed by the New Iraqi constitution, which Kurds and Arab factions intend to take advantage of, why should it be denied to the Christians? They have been the most loyal citizens of Iraq despite so often being persecuted, primarily because of religious intolerance. How Mosul ended up as part of Iraq After World War One establishment of the state of Iraq by the British Turkey was determent to reclaim mosul as part of its territory. A commission was formed by the League of Nations to reconcile the conflicting claims of Turkey which demanded to take back the Mosul Vilayat, and the British who wished to annex it to Iraq. The British representative on september 3, 1925 argued if the region is handed over to the Turks: "... from the racial point of view and the wishes of the inhabitants any such partition would involve the very maximum of hardship and injustice to all parities concerned. It would exclude from Iraq the great Arab center of Mosul as well as the bulk of the Assyrian population which wishes to remain in Iraq.." He later stated that if Mosul is given to Turkey : "there would be an immediate panic and flight into Iraq of the Assyrian population". (Bet Nahrain Democratic party, "Assyrian Case for Autonomy", Chicago, USA 1982 as cited by the Progressive Assyrian, June 1988, vol. 5 no.7 p. 7.) To make matters worst about the same time Turkish soldiers, under the command of officers, occupied the few Assyrian villages north of Mosul which were still part of Turkey's territory. They obtained delivery of all the arms; then imposed very heavy fines and demanded women; they then pillaged the houses and subjected the inhabitants to atrocious acts of violence, going as far as massacre; (2) the deportations were en masse... During the Deportations several persons fell ill on the way were abandoned; others died of starvation and cold, for when leaving their homes , they had to abandon every thing and were unable to carry with them either food or clothing... " (Progressive Assyrian, june 1998, p. 7) Before these deportations some members of the council were inclined to divide the disputed territory between Turkey and Iraq but due to Turkey's behavior they decided otherwise. According to Toynbee, This incident "[h]ad decisive effect upon the mind of Unden, the council's rapportour, who previously had been having been in favor of a compromised solution ..If the Chaldeans who are Assyrians religiously united with Rome, were being persecuted by Turks, it was conceivable that Assyrians living in northern portions of Mosul vilayet would share similar fate if the council were to adopt a compromise by granting part of Mosul to Turkey.(Progressive Assyrian, june 1998, p. 7)