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FEBRUARY <strong>2017</strong><br />
PERSECU ION<br />
COOKED!<br />
Turkey’s Islamist President<br />
Puts the Final Nail in<br />
the C<strong>of</strong>fin <strong>of</strong> 100 Years <strong>of</strong><br />
Democracy<br />
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ICC Exclusive<br />
An Uncertain<br />
Future for<br />
Iraq’s Christians<br />
As ISIS is pushed back by coalition forces, many Christians are left<br />
looking towards a complex and uncertain future.<br />
By William Stark<br />
I<br />
was living with my husband and two<br />
sons when ISIS attacked Qeraqosh.<br />
We were lucky as we had sent our<br />
daughter out <strong>of</strong> the village a week<br />
earlier to be with her aunt.”<br />
Sana’a was speaking <strong>of</strong> that fateful<br />
day in 2014 when ISIS militants<br />
began their assault on Christian towns<br />
and villages across the Nineveh Plain,<br />
the homeland <strong>of</strong> Iraq’s Christians, to<br />
establish their caliphate in northern Iraq.<br />
“Our house was far from the center <strong>of</strong> the<br />
city,” Sana’a explained. “That’s why we didn’t<br />
know that ISIS occupied our city and why we<br />
didn’t try to flee right away. After three days,<br />
we realized that ISIS occupied our town. We<br />
tried to hide in our house, but three armed men<br />
broke the lock on the gate and then knocked<br />
down the door when we didn’t reply to their<br />
knocking. That was when the most terrible<br />
period <strong>of</strong> my life started.”<br />
Immediately, the armed men took the<br />
“<br />
Christian family to a local mosque where<br />
other Christian families were also gathered.<br />
The Christian men and women were then<br />
separated by the armed men they soon discovered<br />
were ISIS militants.<br />
“They told us that they would be releasing<br />
the elderly women,” Sana’a continued. “When<br />
they started separating us, I realized that this was<br />
the last time that I would see my husband and<br />
two sons. I wish that they would have left my<br />
youngest son with me at least. But they didn’t.<br />
When they forced [the elderly women] to leave<br />
the mosque, my youngest son waved his hand<br />
at me, telling me not to leave. I can’t forget my<br />
son waving his hand. I didn’t have [a] choice.”<br />
Over 200,000 Christians were forced to<br />
flee their homes, becoming either internally<br />
displaced people (IDPs) in Kurdistan or refugees<br />
abroad.<br />
Since ISIS captured international headlines<br />
over two years ago, many have questioned<br />
what the future holds for Iraq’s Christians.<br />
Often, this gets broken down into a simple<br />
dichotomy. Will the violence unleashed by<br />
ISIS cause Iraqi Christians to fade into the<br />
pages <strong>of</strong> history or will Iraqi Christians, now<br />
more visible on an international level, rebuild<br />
the towns and villages devastated by ISIS?<br />
Unfortunately, both the questions and the<br />
answers surrounding the uncertain future <strong>of</strong><br />
Iraq’s Christians are likely more complex.<br />
Despite its complexity, the future <strong>of</strong> Christianity<br />
in Iraq is one <strong>of</strong> the most important issues that<br />
must be answered for the Church today.<br />
Life as an IDP<br />
Truly, no one will be able to detail the full<br />
suffering endured by Christians during the<br />
initial stages <strong>of</strong> the crisis. Many were faced<br />
with life or death decisions, like Sana’a and<br />
her family, and were forced into IDP camps<br />
spread across northern Iraq.<br />
Those who were displaced were totally<br />
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FEBRUARY <strong>2017</strong><br />
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
Hundreds <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> Iraqis have been displaced by ISIS; many Christian communities were afraid to move into IDP camps because<br />
<strong>of</strong> safety concerns, so they chose to live in tents on church properties or move into half-finished construction sites as seen above.<br />
dependent on aid from both the international<br />
community and local churches. The numbers<br />
<strong>of</strong> internal refugees were massive and little<br />
attention could be given beyond meeting their<br />
needs beyond basic survival.<br />
“After more than two years <strong>of</strong> displacement,<br />
we have noticed a difference in<br />
Christians’ situation,” Rabea Soran, an IDP<br />
camp manager in Erbil, told ICC. “Still, the<br />
situation doesn’t meet the minimum requirement<br />
<strong>of</strong> a suitable life.”<br />
“I can remember how Christians lived here<br />
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN<br />
and there and everywhere in parks for several<br />
months,” Soran recalled. “Some <strong>of</strong> them were<br />
able to move to caravans, others to unfinished<br />
buildings during the first year.”<br />
Despite sheltering in Erbil for two years,<br />
many Christians still struggled to meet basic<br />
needs. “Christians couldn’t find good jobs in<br />
Kurdistan to support their families because the<br />
government was already overloaded because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the war,” Soran explained. “Also, the <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
language here is Kurdish and no one speaks it,<br />
so it’s hard for Christian IDPs to communicate.”<br />
“Most Christian IDPs are completely<br />
dependent on the aid they get from churches<br />
and non-pr<strong>of</strong>its,” Soran continued. While<br />
that’s painful, their most haunting question<br />
is when and how they can get back to their<br />
homes and what life will be like after ISIS.<br />
A Fighter’s Perspective<br />
As many Christian IDPs look with uncertainty<br />
towards the future, there are some among<br />
them who are taking action in order to secure<br />
3
The entrance to a church ransacked by ISIS in Qeraqosh.<br />
their own vision <strong>of</strong> that uncertain future.<br />
Last October, the long anticipated operation<br />
to liberate Mosul and the other areas occupied<br />
by ISIS began. Christian militants among<br />
the IDPs participated in the operations that<br />
ultimately recaptured many <strong>of</strong> the homes and<br />
businesses formally seized by ISIS.<br />
“We attacked Qeraqsoh with the Iraqi army<br />
and Christian [militia] NPU,” Habib, a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Nineveh Plains Protection Units<br />
(NPU), told ICC. “ISIS didn’t put up much<br />
resistance and everyone thought that Qeraqosh<br />
had been recaptured.”<br />
“An experienced general commanded us to<br />
withdraw from part <strong>of</strong> Qeraqosh and saved<br />
many lives because ISIS started a heavy attack<br />
that night,” Habib said. “At 10:00 p.m., ISIS<br />
fighters started attacking from tunnels we<br />
discovered. These tunnels lead to Mosul. ISIS<br />
must have asked for support from Mosul and<br />
that’s why they didn’t resist at the beginning.<br />
The length <strong>of</strong> tunnel was 27 kilometers.”<br />
When the operation to liberate Mosul and<br />
the surrounding areas began, Christian militias<br />
insisted on participating in the fight, Habib<br />
explained to ICC. “After what happened in<br />
2003, both the Shia and Sunni Muslims and<br />
even the Kurds created their own militias. The<br />
Christians didn’t though. They had neither<br />
the arms or the political vision. There was<br />
no Christian militia until ISIS devastated the<br />
Christian villages, and then the Christian militias<br />
formed,” Habib said.<br />
Early in the morning <strong>of</strong> May 3, 2016, ISIS<br />
fighters launched a heavy attack on Telskuf,<br />
a Christian village near Alqosh, where Habib<br />
and other Christian militias were stationed.<br />
Similar to other Christian villages in the<br />
Nineveh Plain, Telskuf residents had deserted<br />
the village in the summer <strong>of</strong> 2014 when ISIS<br />
swept through the region. In late 2014, ISIS<br />
forces withdrew from the village, which was<br />
recaptured by the Kurdish Peshmerga and,<br />
more recently, guarded by Christian militias.<br />
“We were able to prove ourselves as<br />
Christian forces when ISIS attacked Telskuf,”<br />
Habib told ICC. “I saw that Christian women<br />
were kidnapped and no one hurried to help.<br />
“Most Christian<br />
IDPs are completely<br />
dependent on the<br />
aid they get from<br />
churches and nonpr<strong>of</strong>its.”<br />
– RABEA SORAN, IDP CAMP MANAGER<br />
IN ERBIL<br />
ISIS took everything and no one was able<br />
to push them back far from our families,<br />
region and belongings. That’s why I joined the<br />
Christian forces.”<br />
When asked about what the future holds for<br />
Iraq’s Christians, Habib explained that there is<br />
wide disagreement over what’s next. “Many<br />
say they will not go back without guarantees<br />
and restitution,” Habib said. “More than 60<br />
percent <strong>of</strong> homes are destroyed and burnt. My<br />
parents had nine homes; seven <strong>of</strong> them are<br />
destroyed.”<br />
For Habib, who has already risked his life to<br />
push back ISIS, the future is much clearer. “As<br />
soon as the government provides clean water<br />
and electricity in Qeraqosh, I will be living<br />
there again,” Habib stated with confidence.<br />
“Most people will not be doing the same.”<br />
A Community Destroyed<br />
Weeks after Qeraqosh was secured in<br />
October 2016, many displaced Christians<br />
began visiting the area once considered Iraq’s<br />
largest Christian town. Curious to see what<br />
remained, many were devastated to discover<br />
that they had lost everything. From homes,<br />
to places <strong>of</strong> worship, to vehicles, everything<br />
in Qeraqosh has been marred by ISIS and the<br />
battle to drive them out.<br />
For many Christian IDPs, the prospect <strong>of</strong><br />
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FEBRUARY <strong>2017</strong><br />
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“Our country is like<br />
this for Christians...<br />
It’s hard to live, it’s<br />
hard to leave and you<br />
don’t have any other<br />
comfortable choice.”<br />
– RAMI HEKMAT, CHRISTIAN RESIDENT<br />
OF QERAQOSH<br />
returning to these homes and trying to rebuild<br />
their communities in Iraq looks to be a daunting<br />
task. Furthermore, the Christian community <strong>of</strong><br />
many villages will forever be changed by the<br />
fact that many Christians fled Iraq as refugees.<br />
“I am happy that my two brothers arrived in<br />
Germany with their families because they went<br />
through the sea,” Rami Hekmat, a 28-year-old<br />
Christian from Qeraqosh, told ICC. “But at<br />
the same time, life will not be the same if my<br />
family goes back to Qeraqosh. I used to work<br />
with my brothers for many years, but because<br />
<strong>of</strong> ISIS they left. Moving back to Qeraqosh<br />
will never be the same.”<br />
“Our country is like this for Christians,”<br />
Hekmat concluded to ICC. “It’s hard to live,<br />
it’s hard to leave and you don’t have any other<br />
comfortable choice.”<br />
An Uncertain Leadership<br />
Even among the Christian leadership <strong>of</strong><br />
Iraq, there is uncertainty over what the future<br />
holds for their community.<br />
“Sure, we don’t want Christians to leave<br />
the country,” Archbishop Nicodemus, the<br />
Syriac-Orthodox Bishop <strong>of</strong> Mosul, told ICC.<br />
“Because immigration is another type <strong>of</strong><br />
death. It’s an unknown fate.”<br />
“We want Christians to stay, but only if they<br />
are given dignity.” Nicodemus continued. “In<br />
many ways, we are strangers in our homeland.<br />
We are minorities in this country, we have<br />
been killed and we have been robbed here.”<br />
“No one is sure what the future for<br />
Christians in Iraq is,” Pastor Malath <strong>of</strong><br />
Alliance International Church in Erbil simply<br />
told ICC.<br />
As Iraq’s Christians face this complex<br />
and uncertain future, ICC is committed to<br />
supporting this devastated community. To<br />
date, ICC has spent hundreds <strong>of</strong> thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> dollars providing relief for those displaced<br />
and affected by ISIS. Looking forward, ICC<br />
will remain committed to helping rebuild<br />
the Christian communities <strong>of</strong> northern Iraq.<br />
Whether it be rebuilding homes, repairing<br />
churches, or restarting businesses, ICC is<br />
prepared to stand as one body with these<br />
Christian brothers and sisters.<br />
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Top: These Christians displaced by ISIS violence chose to live outside <strong>of</strong> IDP camps in a<br />
construction site that became an un<strong>of</strong>ficial Christian IDP camp.<br />
Middle: ICC staff follows a member <strong>of</strong> the liberation militia into one <strong>of</strong> the many tunnels<br />
ISIS dug throughout Qeraqosh.<br />
Bottom: Shops and businesses along a main street in Qeraqosh were burned by ISIS as they<br />
pulled out <strong>of</strong> the city. ISIS has left scars that will take many years to heal and rebuild.<br />
5
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THE CHURCH, GOVERNMENT LEADERS, & NGOS<br />
UNITING TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF THE PERSECUTED<br />
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Breaking the Chains <strong>of</strong><br />
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The Word tells us that the Lord commands a blessing<br />
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<strong>of</strong> us could do separately. Together, we will tear<br />
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Jeff King<br />
President<br />
ICC<br />
The Bridge is an annual<br />
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Black scorch marks<br />
cover a door <strong>of</strong> what<br />
was once a church<br />
in Qeraqosh, Iraq<br />
that ISIS burned as<br />
they were forced out.<br />
Keep Iraqi Christians<br />
in prayer during and<br />
after the battle for<br />
Mosul, Iraq.<br />
© Copyright <strong>2017</strong> ICC, Washington, D.C., USA.<br />
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