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IRAQI INFLUENCE
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1927; she graduated in 1939.
However, Dr. Suleiman Ghazala,
born in 1853, is known as the first Iraqi
doctor to practice in the modern sense.
He came from Mosul and studied in
Paris.
Dr. Anna Sttian, born in Baghdad in
1914, is one of the first Iraqi female doctors
appointed by the Ministry of Health.
An Armenian Christian, she was the
daughter of the lawyer Kirub Sttian.
Dr. Siranush Al-Rayhani completed
her primary education in Mosul
and entered the Faculty of Medicine
at the University of Baghdad in 1945,
graduating in 1950. She is considered
the first Iraqi female doctor to graduate
from the Faculty of Medicine in
Baghdad because Anna Sttian, an
Armenian who graduated before her,
was from from Beirut. Al-Rayhani was
a gynecologist who is still remembered
by many Iraqis for her work promoting
women’s health and education.
Dr. Suad Yousif Mary was born in
1933 and graduated from Baghdad
University College of Medicine in 1959.
She served in Erbil, Kirkuk, and Baghdad.
More Firsts
Josephine Sema’an Ibrahim Haddad
is known as the first Iraqi woman to
obtain a pilot’s license in 1949 and
is generally considered the first Iraqi
woman to fly a plane in Iraq. Another
Josephine, Josephine Ghazaleh, is reportedly
the first Iraqi female engineer
from Mosul.
Beatrice Ohanessian was an Iraqi
Armenian pianist, noted as Iraq’s first
concert pianist and first female composer.
Dr. Abdullah Kassir, the first
Iraqi doctor to obtain a specialty from
London, was a Christian from Mosul.
Jerjees Aziza was the owner of the first
printing and publishing company in
Baghdad in 1938.
Faraj Basmachi was a professor,
archeologist, and director of the Iraqi
Museum. Yousif Yacqoub Miskoni was
a Chaldean historian and researcher.
Abd al-Masih Wazir excelled in literature
and translation and was distinguished
as a pioneer in the development
of the Arab military dictionary,
which remains to this day. The king of
Iraq’s photographers were Aboush &
Aboush.
The Minister of Finance, Youssef
Rizq-Allah Ghanima, his wife, the activist
Victoria Andrea, and their son
Harith Ghanima, lawyer, writer, and
trade activist, were three blazing suns
that illuminated the paths of knowledge
and culture and were known for
their integrity and dedication to Iraq.
Rani Bashir Sarsam is recorded as
the first Iraqi female to obtain a master’s
degree in mathematics from the
University of Michigan in the United
States. She worked as a teacher at
Queen Alia College in Baghdad.
Notable
Dr. Margaret Bashir Sarsam was a leading
gynecologist in Iraq, born in 1926.
In Kirkuk, she established a hall for
gynecology and a hall for childbirth,
when her father, Dr. Bashir Sarsam,
was the head of the health department
there.
Among the well-known doctors
is Dr. Krikor Astarjian, who has published
books in Arabic on Armenian
history and culture. Dr. Hagop Ghobanian
was a dermatologist and cofounder
of the Red Crescent. He also
helped found the College of Medicine
in Iraq and was awarded the Iraqi Royal
Medal (Mesopotamia Order of the
Second Class) in 1954 in recognition
of his services in the field of medicine.
Other notables include Dr. Karnik Hovhannisyan,
Dr. Gara-Beit, and Dr. Moses
from Mosul.
Dicko Andreos Al-Asfandiar was a
famous and distinguished dentist in
Baghdad. His private clinic was in the
police tunnel area.
Iraqi Armenians
Armenian Christians played an important
role in Iraqi society, and they
were distinguished by their vitality,
industrious skills, and efforts, through
which they rendered great services to
society over a long period of history.
The ancient relations of Armenia
and Iraq extends to the fifth century
BC. Iraq, with its rivers, the Tigris and
Euphrates, was distinguished by its
moderate climate and important geography.
The entry of Christianity into
Iraq in the first and second centuries
AD came to characterize its religious
diversity, rarely found in other countries.
The Armenians used to transport
goods across the Euphrates River by
boat to Babylon, where they were sold.
Many of these merchants and other
Armenians settled in Babylon forming
a large Armenian community. Thereafter,
waves of Armenians came to Iraq
through Iran. They settled in southern
Iraq at first, and an Armenian Diocese
was established in Basra in 1222 AD.
The largest waves of Armenian
immigration to Iraq were in the early
twentieth century, after massacres
committed against them in Armenia
and Turkey forced them out.
The Late Renaissance
The Islamic and Christian cultures coexisted
in Iraq for centuries.
The city of Mosul, Iraq is the home
of Eastern Christianity and the center
of Eastern theology. The historic
presence of bishoprics and churches
of several denominations of Eastern
Christians, whether they are Jacobite,
Syriac Orthodox, Chaldean, or Assyrian,
is evidence of its importance.
Many Iraqi metropolitans known
worldwide who were highly educated
in ecclesiastical and theological sciences
came from Mosul, among them
Bishops: Andrawis Hanna, Timothous
Avram Abboudi, Julius Girges Qandala,
Nasser Estephan Doiy, Thomas Rayis,
Suleiman Al-Sayegh and Raphael Bidawid;
plus Patriarch Zakka Iwaz, Patriarch
Ignatius Aphrem I, and Cardinal
Ignatius Gabriel, who was considered a
main reference for Eastern Christians.
When the national government
was established in 1921 in Iraq under
King Faisal I, monarchy was established.
Iraqi Christians were enjoying
their rights and their participation in
the state, so there were several representatives,
ministers, directors, army
officers, lawyers, and even judges.
Historical Lessons
Iraqi Christians have a rich history of
traditions, contributions, and services
in contemporary Iraq. They remain the
true sons of Iraq, among the original
inhabitants of Mesopotamia — whether
they are Orthodox, Catholic, Chaldean,
Syriac, Assyrian, Jacobite, or
Armenian.
This long history of Arab Christianity,
before and after Islam, leaves no
room for doubt about the Christian’s
authenticity, capacity, and special
place in the Arab identity system that
makes up the nation.
The Muslims in Iraq should be
proud of Iraqi’s Christians. The archdioceses,
churches, monasteries, and
hermitages of Iraqi Christianity are
among the wealth of the ancient treasures
that must be preserved. Iraqi society
and laws must ensure and protect
the peaceful characteristics, customs
and traditions of all communities and
not face the tidal waves of violence
that threaten the future of Iraq.
Author Faris Kamal Nadhmi stated
that, “The Christian minority played
the role of the civilized majority in Iraq
and the Christians have always been
the most civilized majority with their
actual practices of values, reason,
tolerance, and freedom, in contrast to
other societal groups that remained
fond to one degree or another of unseen
values, monopolizing the truth
and guardianship over people’s wills
and freedoms.”
Despite all these virtues, Christians
of Iraq spent the past twenty years systematically
paying the bloody, violent
price of the US invasion in 2003 that
resulted in the cross-radicalization of
two irrationals: colonial capitalism,
and Islamic fundamentalism.
The Christians of Iraq—whether
they like it or not—are positioned at
the heart of this raging conflict alongside
their peers of rationalists and the
enlightened. What is happening today
in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq is a
struggle between the values of progress
and civilization and the values
of fanaticism and pre-civilization. It
is a struggle between two cultures,
between two social philosophical perspectives,
and therefore a cultural and
value conflict between two ways of life.
Uncertain Future
The Christians in Iraq have suffered
massively from ongoing Western invasions
of the region. Ironically, many of
these US/UK inspired invasions were
strongly supported by Christian Zionists
and evangelicals who have done
more to displace Christianity, including
the native Iraqi Christian community,
from its historic birthplace than
anyone else.
Clearly what is happening is wrong
and the only reason it is being tacitly
allowed is people feel it is far away
and ‘over there.’ However, hate travels
faster than ever in these connected
times so nothing stays in one region
and ‘over there’ will be ‘everywhere’ at
any point.
Until the world wakes up from its
politically correct coma, looks to the
root cause of ISIS/ISIL, and comes to
grip with the facts, violence will continue
and likely lead to the end of
Christianity in Iraq.
His Beatitude Cardinal Louis
Raphaël Sako summed it up well when
he addressed Iraqi officials in November
2022 about the transgressions
against Iraqi Christians and deliberate
exclusion since 2003.
“The list is long,” said Cardinal
Sako. “These immoral behaviors will
remain in the memory unless they
are addressed. In the Nineveh Plain,
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40 CHALDEAN NEWS FEBRUARY 2024