In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians.[10] They were tolerated under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, who even made one of them, Tariq Aziz his deputy. However persecution by Saddam Hussein continued against the Christians on an ethnic, cultural and racial level, as the vast majority are Mesopotamian Aramaic speaking Ethnic Assyrians (a.k.a. Chaldo-Assyrians). The Assyrian -Aramaic language and written script was repressed, the giving of Syriac Christian names or Akkadian/Assyro-Babylonian names forbidden (Tariq Aziz real name is Mikhail Yuhanna, for example), and Saddam exploited religious differences between Assyrian denominations such as the Chaldean Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Orthodox and the Ancient Church of the East. Over 2,000 Assyrians were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages under the al Anfal Campaign of 1988. Prior to the Gulf War in 1991, Christians numbered one million in Iraq.[5] The Baathist rule under Saddam Hussein kept anti-Christian violence under control but subjected some to relocation programmes.[5] Under this regime, the predominantly ethnically and linguistically distinct Assyrians were pressured to identify as Arabs. The Christian population fell to an estimated 800,000 during the 2003 Iraq War.[5] In 2010, reports emerged in Mosul of people being stopped in the streets, asked for their identity cards, and shot if they had a first or last name indicating Assyrian or Christian origin.[7] On 31 October 2010, 58 people, including 41 hostages and priests, were killed after an attack on an Assyrian Catholic church in Baghdad.[18] See October 2010 Baghdad church attack. A group affiliated to Al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq, stated that Iraqs indigenous Christians were a legitimate target.[19] In November, a series of bombings and mortar attacks targeted Assyrian Christian-majority areas of Baghdad.[19] Half the Christian population has fled, with an estimated 330,000 to Syria and smaller numbers to Jordan.[14] Some fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq and to neighboring countries, such as Iran. Christians who are too poor or unwilling to leave their ancient homeland have fled mainly to Arbil, particularly its Christian suburb of Ainkawa.[7] 10,000 mainly Assyrian Iraqi Christians live in the UK led by Archbishop Athanasios Dawood, who has called on the government to accept more refugees.[20] During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq issued a decree in July that all Christians in the area of its control must leave, pay a special tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Islam, or leave. Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish-controlled regions of Iraq.[22] Christian homes have been painted with the Arabic letter ن (nūn) for Nassarah (an Arabic word Christian) and a declaration that they are the property of the Islamic State. On 18 July, the Jihadists seemed to have changed their minds and announced that all Christians would need to leave or be killed. Most of those who left had their valuable possessions stolen.[23] According to Patriarch Louis Sako, there are no Christians remaining in Mosul for the first time in the nations history.[22]
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:54:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015