Aid to the Church in Need: Iraq: Threat to Christian homeland

Iraq: Threat to Christian homeland

Posted by Press release on 2/7/2009, 11:36 am
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ACN News, Thursday, 2nd July 2009 – IRAQ

Threat to Christian homeland

By John Newton

HEATED controversy has erupted over a new constitution for Iraqi Kurdistan that could grant Christians a homeland in north Iraq.
The proposed constitution was condemned by 50 MPs in Iraq’s national parliament, ahead of a planned referendum on it in the autonomous Kurdish region on 25th July.
Iraqi MP, Ossama al-Nujaifi hit out at the constitution of Kurdistan as incompatible with the federal one, saying that it would give the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament greater powers than the national one in Baghdad.
However, the charter attacked by Mr al-Nujaifi as promoting Kurdish nationalism could also pave the way for a Christian homeland in the region.
The controversial document formally recognises the “Chaldean Syriac Assyrian” ethnic group, which many Christians belong to, as well as the right of autonomous rule in areas where one ethnic group forms the majority.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need from Iraq, senior priest Fr Bashar Warda said that the proposed constitution “would ensure that the minorities would have full rights – cultural, religious, and so on.
“Self autonomy would be granted – but only if they ask for it, it would not be automatically given.”
Yet the call for a Christian homeland is not universally supported by all Christians in Iraq.
While groups such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement have pushed for a Christian territory in Kurdistan – seeing it as the “last hope” for the country’s persecuted Christians – others have feared that it will lead to isolationism.
Speaking at Aid to the Church in Need’s Westminster Event in 2008 Archbishop Jean Sleiman, leader of Iraq’s 5,000-strong Latin-rite Catholic community, slammed any plan for a Christian enclave in the north, describing it “a ghetto.”
Fr Warda said “It varies from bishop to bishop, place to place, church to church. The attitude of the Syrian Church is different to the attitude of the Chaldean Church.
“You cannot rely on one voice to give you the decision of the Church – you cannot get one point of view that represents all Christians.”
Fr Warda suggested the best way to resolve these differences of opinion was via the political process.
He said: “The best place to discuss this is in the political arena. If the Church says we represent Christians, the politicians would say they are represented through elections, votes, etc. – the polls will decide.”
The new constitution was passed by the Kurdish parliament on 24th June, but has still to be ratified by public referendum later this month.
The constitution also controversially names areas within Nineveh and Diyala provinces – as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk – as part of Kurdistan.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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