When many Westerners hear the word “Iraq” today, they may think that it has always been a predominantly Muslim country. Yet the Middle East region, including modern-day Iraq, has a pre-Islamic history spanning more than millennia. This region is also the ancient land of the indigenous Assyrian people and an extremely important place for Christianity.
In fact, the land today known as Iraq is often mentioned as the cradle of the Bible. This land – also called the “cradle of civilization” – is where Christianity was discovered in the first century. This was thanks to the work of the Apostle Thomas and Mar Addai (Addai of Edessa) and his students Aggai and Mari.
Iraq is where the Assyrians, one of the oldest Christian communities, have lived for millennia. Since the Islamic invasion of the region in the 7th century, Christian communities have been persecuted by Muslims. This persecution peaked in 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) invaded Iraq’s Christian towns and villages in an attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate.
On August 6, 2014, Iraqi Christians faced unimaginable persecution and fled their homes during ISIS’s invasion of Iraq. This day, also known as “Black Day”, is when innocent lives were uprooted, families torn apart and ancient Christian communities displaced from their ancestral lands.
As ISIS advanced into northern Iraq, home to a large indigenous Christian population, many received an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a heavy religious tax (jizya) or face death.
After ISIS captured Qaraqosh in 2014, Iraq’s largest Christian city, Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod of the Syriac Orthodox Church said:
“Now we see this as genocide – ethnic cleansing. They kill our people in the name of Allah and tell people that anyone who kills a Christian will go straight to heaven: that is their message. They burned churches; they burned very old books. They damaged our crosses and our statues of the Virgin Mary. They occupy our churches and transform them into mosques.
A 2014 report submitted by the European Center for Law and Justice to the United Nations Human Rights Council describe some of the atrocities committed by ISIS:
“Torture, the intentional targeting of civilians, the killing of soldiers in custody and unable to defend themselves, the desecration of corpses, genocide, etc. are commonplace within the Islamic State. They all constitute war crimes.
“In Mosul, Christians faced death if they did not convert or pay a fine, called Jizya, in accordance with Sharia law. In Mosul, ISIS militants marked Christian homes with the letter “N” for Nassara, a term commonly used for Christians in the Quran, so that jihadist terrorists could attack them.
“Nearly 50,000 Christians have been displaced from Qaraqosh, including those who fled neighboring Mosul. »
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, attorney and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response, also Remarks Mass ISIS atrocities against Christians and other observers:
“During these two years (from 2014 to 2016), Daesh (ISIS) committed murders, slavery, deportations and forced transfers of populations, imprisonments, torture, kidnappings of women and children, exploitation, abuse, rape, sexual violence, forced marriages – relentlessly. During this period, many areas of the Nineveh Plains were destroyed by Daesh fighters who looted homes, shops, schools and churches. Daesh fighters confiscated all valuables and property and burned down houses. The destruction of villages sent a clear message that the looting was not just about financial gain. ISIS wanted to destroy all signs of the religious communities that had inhabited the region for centuries and eradicate evidence of their existence.”
Yet nine years later, these displaced Iraqi Christians – many of whom live in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – still need help and face many challenges, including extreme poverty.
Even though much of the international community has forgotten the victims of the ISIS genocide, some American organizations have never stopped supporting them. Among them are the American Foundation for Middle East Relief and Reconciliation (American FRRME) and the Iraq Christian Relief Council.
Due to the massive influx of Iraqi refugees into Madaba, Jordan, for example, US FRRME opened the Olive Tree Center in 2019 to assist Iraqi Christian refugees in Jordan.
Max Wood, retired U.S. Air Force colonel and president of American FRRME, said the most urgent need of Iraqi Christian refugees is access to quality medical care.
“We simply never had the funds to make such arrangements on their behalf. Additionally, the freedom to work in Jordan would be a great help, as currently Christian refugees are not allowed to work in Jordan.
Woods said the US government should pay more attention to the needs of Iraqi Christians:
“Unfortunately, U.S. government policy rarely views Iraqi Christians as a unique humanitarian crisis. There are so many problems in Iraq that the problems of Christians there are simply lumped in with those of other groups. US policy should include financial aid for the Iraqi province of Nineveh. This is the only way to ensure that aid actually reaches Christians in a region rife with corruption. Personally, I would like to see more engagement from the US Ambassador for Religious Liberty on this issue. I believe a visit to Iraq by this ambassador would draw attention to their plight and generate tangible benefits, including but not limited to increased funding for the recovery of Nineveh province.
“And to further target American political efforts to facilitate the return to Iraq.
“Countries that have offered temporary refugee status often make it difficult to leave that country. We learned that we work in Jordan and are convinced that similar obstacles exist in other countries. Better treatment for Iraqi Christians should be a mandatory goal of U.S. aid to these recipient countries. »
Juliana Taimoorazy, founding president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, said:
“As Iraqi Christians struggle with displacement and an unknown future, their most urgent need, in many cases, is medical assistance. Refugees suffer from heart disease, diabetes and, in many cases, battle cancer. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is not widely accessible to many of these families and their loved ones in the diaspora, which is why organizations such as the Iraq Christian Relief Council must take over the responsibility of paying monthly for the medical needs of ‘a lot of these families. in the countries where they reside.
As for what Western foreign policy towards Iraq should be, Taimoorazy said:
“The US invasion of Iraq destroyed the beautiful tapestry of this ancient community in Iraq; therefore, the United States has a moral obligation to join this and other vulnerable communities in Iraq. The question arises here; Does American foreign policy really care about the fate of Iraqi Christians? I’m not sure, that’s the tragic reality of the matter.
“But if I have to answer that question, then I would say that what this community in Iraq immediately needs is a path that allows them to practice their religion safely and freely attest to their membership in an Assyrian ethnic group and to be respected for it. This should happen in an inclusive Iraq. They must be able to protect their own communities; It is therefore about empowering young men and women willing to serve their communities in uniform and providing them with training that will equip them in the defense of their towns and villages. Career development and job creation are extremely important, as the repeated plea of Iraqi Christians is to be able to become self-reliant again.
“However, the problem is much larger and begins beyond the Iraqi border. There is geopolitical uncertainty that has plagued the region for decades. The neo-Ottoman attempt to extend the Turkish border into Iraq, as well as the infiltration of Iraq by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its influence on Baghdad are important subjects which seriously concern the population there as well as the diaspora community.”
However, for the Iraqi Christian community to have a stable future in Iraq, Taimoorazy said:
“Our repeated human rights violations, our massacres and our suffering must be recognized and honored by the powers that be in Iraq. Our sacrifices and sufferings must be given a name and must be commemorated and taught in educational institutions as part of the history of the country. The community should be considered an indigenous people who lived there before Christianity, the Assyrians. This is our ancestral land, with a long and rich history that should be honored and not altered. To our dismay, the distortion of our history is unfolding before our eyes and very little is being done to stop it. We must be considered equal citizens of the country and have equal opportunities not only to participate but also to lead government agencies, educational institutions, cultural entities; fundamentally, to be included in all fibers of society in a respectful and honorable manner.