February 2017 Persecution Magazine (2 of 4)

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ICC Exclusive
An Uncertain
Future for
Iraq’s Christians
As ISIS is pushed back by coalition forces, many Christians are left
looking towards a complex and uncertain future.
By William Stark
I
was living with my husband and two
sons when ISIS attacked Qeraqosh.
We were lucky as we had sent our
daughter out of the village a week
earlier to be with her aunt.”
Sana’a was speaking of that fateful
day in 2014 when ISIS militants
began their assault on Christian towns
and villages across the Nineveh Plain,
the homeland of Iraq’s Christians, to
establish their caliphate in northern Iraq.
“Our house was far from the center of the
city,” Sana’a explained. “That’s why we didn’t
know that ISIS occupied our city and why we
didn’t try to flee right away. After three days,
we realized that ISIS occupied our town. We
tried to hide in our house, but three armed men
broke the lock on the gate and then knocked
down the door when we didn’t reply to their
knocking. That was when the most terrible
period of my life started.”
Immediately, the armed men took the
“
Christian family to a local mosque where
other Christian families were also gathered.
The Christian men and women were then
separated by the armed men they soon discovered
were ISIS militants.
“They told us that they would be releasing
the elderly women,” Sana’a continued. “When
they started separating us, I realized that this was
the last time that I would see my husband and
two sons. I wish that they would have left my
youngest son with me at least. But they didn’t.
When they forced [the elderly women] to leave
the mosque, my youngest son waved his hand
at me, telling me not to leave. I can’t forget my
son waving his hand. I didn’t have [a] choice.”
Over 200,000 Christians were forced to
flee their homes, becoming either internally
displaced people (IDPs) in Kurdistan or refugees
abroad.
Since ISIS captured international headlines
over two years ago, many have questioned
what the future holds for Iraq’s Christians.
Often, this gets broken down into a simple
dichotomy. Will the violence unleashed by
ISIS cause Iraqi Christians to fade into the
pages of history or will Iraqi Christians, now
more visible on an international level, rebuild
the towns and villages devastated by ISIS?
Unfortunately, both the questions and the
answers surrounding the uncertain future of
Iraq’s Christians are likely more complex.
Despite its complexity, the future of Christianity
in Iraq is one of the most important issues that
must be answered for the Church today.
Life as an IDP
Truly, no one will be able to detail the full
suffering endured by Christians during the
initial stages of the crisis. Many were faced
with life or death decisions, like Sana’a and
her family, and were forced into IDP camps
spread across northern Iraq.
Those who were displaced were totally
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Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced by ISIS; many Christian communities were afraid to move into IDP camps because
of safety concerns, so they chose to live in tents on church properties or move into half-finished construction sites as seen above.
dependent on aid from both the international
community and local churches. The numbers
of internal refugees were massive and little
attention could be given beyond meeting their
needs beyond basic survival.
“After more than two years of displacement,
we have noticed a difference in
Christians’ situation,” Rabea Soran, an IDP
camp manager in Erbil, told ICC. “Still, the
situation doesn’t meet the minimum requirement
of a suitable life.”
“I can remember how Christians lived here
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and there and everywhere in parks for several
months,” Soran recalled. “Some of them were
able to move to caravans, others to unfinished
buildings during the first year.”
Despite sheltering in Erbil for two years,
many Christians still struggled to meet basic
needs. “Christians couldn’t find good jobs in
Kurdistan to support their families because the
government was already overloaded because
of the war,” Soran explained. “Also, the official
language here is Kurdish and no one speaks it,
so it’s hard for Christian IDPs to communicate.”
“Most Christian IDPs are completely
dependent on the aid they get from churches
and non-profits,” Soran continued. While
that’s painful, their most haunting question
is when and how they can get back to their
homes and what life will be like after ISIS.
A Fighter’s Perspective
As many Christian IDPs look with uncertainty
towards the future, there are some among
them who are taking action in order to secure
3

The entrance to a church ransacked by ISIS in Qeraqosh.
their own vision of that uncertain future.
Last October, the long anticipated operation
to liberate Mosul and the other areas occupied
by ISIS began. Christian militants among
the IDPs participated in the operations that
ultimately recaptured many of the homes and
businesses formally seized by ISIS.
“We attacked Qeraqsoh with the Iraqi army
and Christian [militia] NPU,” Habib, a member
of the Nineveh Plains Protection Units
(NPU), told ICC. “ISIS didn’t put up much
resistance and everyone thought that Qeraqosh
had been recaptured.”
“An experienced general commanded us to
withdraw from part of Qeraqosh and saved
many lives because ISIS started a heavy attack
that night,” Habib said. “At 10:00 p.m., ISIS
fighters started attacking from tunnels we
discovered. These tunnels lead to Mosul. ISIS
must have asked for support from Mosul and
that’s why they didn’t resist at the beginning.
The length of tunnel was 27 kilometers.”
When the operation to liberate Mosul and
the surrounding areas began, Christian militias
insisted on participating in the fight, Habib
explained to ICC. “After what happened in
2003, both the Shia and Sunni Muslims and
even the Kurds created their own militias. The
Christians didn’t though. They had neither
the arms or the political vision. There was
no Christian militia until ISIS devastated the
Christian villages, and then the Christian militias
formed,” Habib said.
Early in the morning of May 3, 2016, ISIS
fighters launched a heavy attack on Telskuf,
a Christian village near Alqosh, where Habib
and other Christian militias were stationed.
Similar to other Christian villages in the
Nineveh Plain, Telskuf residents had deserted
the village in the summer of 2014 when ISIS
swept through the region. In late 2014, ISIS
forces withdrew from the village, which was
recaptured by the Kurdish Peshmerga and,
more recently, guarded by Christian militias.
“We were able to prove ourselves as
Christian forces when ISIS attacked Telskuf,”
Habib told ICC. “I saw that Christian women
were kidnapped and no one hurried to help.
“Most Christian
IDPs are completely
dependent on the
aid they get from
churches and nonprofits.”
– RABEA SORAN, IDP CAMP MANAGER
IN ERBIL
ISIS took everything and no one was able
to push them back far from our families,
region and belongings. That’s why I joined the
Christian forces.”
When asked about what the future holds for
Iraq’s Christians, Habib explained that there is
wide disagreement over what’s next. “Many
say they will not go back without guarantees
and restitution,” Habib said. “More than 60
percent of homes are destroyed and burnt. My
parents had nine homes; seven of them are
destroyed.”
For Habib, who has already risked his life to
push back ISIS, the future is much clearer. “As
soon as the government provides clean water
and electricity in Qeraqosh, I will be living
there again,” Habib stated with confidence.
“Most people will not be doing the same.”
A Community Destroyed
Weeks after Qeraqosh was secured in
October 2016, many displaced Christians
began visiting the area once considered Iraq’s
largest Christian town. Curious to see what
remained, many were devastated to discover
that they had lost everything. From homes,
to places of worship, to vehicles, everything
in Qeraqosh has been marred by ISIS and the
battle to drive them out.
For many Christian IDPs, the prospect of
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“Our country is like
this for Christians...
It’s hard to live, it’s
hard to leave and you
don’t have any other
comfortable choice.”
– RAMI HEKMAT, CHRISTIAN RESIDENT
OF QERAQOSH
returning to these homes and trying to rebuild
their communities in Iraq looks to be a daunting
task. Furthermore, the Christian community of
many villages will forever be changed by the
fact that many Christians fled Iraq as refugees.
“I am happy that my two brothers arrived in
Germany with their families because they went
through the sea,” Rami Hekmat, a 28-year-old
Christian from Qeraqosh, told ICC. “But at
the same time, life will not be the same if my
family goes back to Qeraqosh. I used to work
with my brothers for many years, but because
of ISIS they left. Moving back to Qeraqosh
will never be the same.”
“Our country is like this for Christians,”
Hekmat concluded to ICC. “It’s hard to live,
it’s hard to leave and you don’t have any other
comfortable choice.”
An Uncertain Leadership
Even among the Christian leadership of
Iraq, there is uncertainty over what the future
holds for their community.
“Sure, we don’t want Christians to leave
the country,” Archbishop Nicodemus, the
Syriac-Orthodox Bishop of Mosul, told ICC.
“Because immigration is another type of
death. It’s an unknown fate.”
“We want Christians to stay, but only if they
are given dignity.” Nicodemus continued. “In
many ways, we are strangers in our homeland.
We are minorities in this country, we have
been killed and we have been robbed here.”
“No one is sure what the future for
Christians in Iraq is,” Pastor Malath of
Alliance International Church in Erbil simply
told ICC.
As Iraq’s Christians face this complex
and uncertain future, ICC is committed to
supporting this devastated community. To
date, ICC has spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars providing relief for those displaced
and affected by ISIS. Looking forward, ICC
will remain committed to helping rebuild
the Christian communities of northern Iraq.
Whether it be rebuilding homes, repairing
churches, or restarting businesses, ICC is
prepared to stand as one body with these
Christian brothers and sisters.
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Top: These Christians displaced by ISIS violence chose to live outside of IDP camps in a
construction site that became an unofficial Christian IDP camp.
Middle: ICC staff follows a member of the liberation militia into one of the many tunnels
ISIS dug throughout Qeraqosh.
Bottom: Shops and businesses along a main street in Qeraqosh were burned by ISIS as they
pulled out of the city. ISIS has left scars that will take many years to heal and rebuild.
5

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Black scorch marks
cover a door of what
was once a church
in Qeraqosh, Iraq
that ISIS burned as
they were forced out.
Keep Iraqi Christians
in prayer during and
after the battle for
Mosul, Iraq.
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