Migration drains Christian presence in Iraq.. Security, economy and government representation are th

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[size=52]Migration drains Christian presence in Iraq.. Security, economy and government representation are the main reasons[/size]

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2024-09-28
Rita Emmanuel
It did not take long for Ihab (37 years old), a Christian displaced to Dohuk, to realize the nature of the life that awaited him when he returned to his town of “Telskuf” in the Nineveh Plain in the summer of 2017 after its liberation from ISIS. His house, which he had finished building two years before his displacement in 2014, had been reduced to rubble, and his town was surrounded by destruction, without infrastructure, lacking job opportunities, and lacking an administration capable of restoring life to it.[/size]
[size=45]While the country was mired in political conflicts, security problems, corruption and mismanagement, Ihab had no choice but to leave with his wife and two children to Lebanon and try to apply for humanitarian asylum in Australia through the United Nations.[/size]
[size=45]The young man, who was a self-employed person before his migration, says: “After ISIS took control of Telskuf in the summer of 2014, we were forced to flee to Dohuk Governorate in the Kurdistan Region. We waited with great anticipation for three years to regain our town and return to our home, but the situation was shocking…”[/size]
[size=45]He thinks for a moment before continuing: “The liberation battles had destroyed our house, and before that, when we were displaced, the organization’s fighters had stolen everything we owned, so we decided to immigrate to another country and start a new life, as we no longer owned anything in Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]The path of migration for Ihab and his family was not paved with roses. The suffering of waiting in difficult living conditions and amidst the lack of job opportunities extended for three years, “during which we witnessed nothing but anxiety about the outcome, fear of returning with nothing, and crying and pain due to the problems of being abroad and what happened to the family.”[/size]
[size=45]He says this in broken words and trembling lips, then regains his composure and continues: “In 2020, we were granted asylum. It was the best thing that happened to us, and we traveled to Australia to start a new life... a dignified life that guarantees a better future for our children.”[/size]
[size=45]Ihab is one of tens of thousands of Christians who were forced to leave their areas in Nineveh Governorate, especially the towns of the Nineveh Plain, which have a Christian majority, in June 2014 after ISIS took control of them. They were displaced to the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, or emigrated outside the country if they found a way to do so.[/size]
[size=45]The organization, which within days took control of most of the Nineveh Plain areas northeast of Mosul, had imposed three options on Christians: either convert to Islam, pay the jizya tax, or leave and leave everything they own. The overwhelming majority chose the latter option.[/size]
[size=45]In the face of the ongoing migration, fears began to grow that the Christian presence in Iraq would end, and with it, local churches and humanitarian organizations began trying to convince those who remained not to emigrate and encourage them in various ways to stay, including rebuilding their communities, and this is what this investigation will investigate.[/size]
[size=45]Immigration again[/size]
[size=45]Unofficial sources estimate the number of Christians in Iraq before the collapse of the former Iraqi regime in April 2003 at about one and a half million Christians. This is confirmed by Louis Markos Ayoub, a founding member of the Iraqi Minorities Alliance, who says that their numbers have dwindled to only about 400,000 people.[/size]
[size=45]Christians were present in greater numbers in Nineveh Governorate, in their historical towns in the Nineveh Plain, such as Baghdeda (Qaraqosh), the center of Al-Hamdaniya District, Tel Keppe District, and the districts of Bartella and Alqosh, as well as in the city of Mosul, the center of the governorate.[/size]
[size=45]But their numbers were in a continuous and gradual decline due to the attacks of terrorist organizations, most notably Al-Qaeda, whether in Baghdad, the Nineveh Plain, or Mosul, where 20,000 Christians lived, while about 30,000 families lived in the towns of the Nineveh Plain.[/size]
[size=45]Even before ISIS took control of Nineveh in June 2014, Christians were continuing to migrate at high rates, fleeing societal discrimination and terrorist attacks on religious grounds. According to estimates by Christian researchers, there were only 1,000 Christian families in Mosul and 15,000 families in the entire Nineveh Plain before the ISIS invasion, who also fled to the Kurdistan Region within just a few weeks, until Nineveh became empty of Christians.[/size]
[size=45]Bishop Youssef Shamoun, the Bishop of Khor, mentioned that the number of Christians before the terrorist organizations took control of areas in Iraq was 5% of the country’s population, but today it has become only 1% and that they need unity and cohesion to survive, in his opinion.[/size]
[size=45]The investigator conducted a survey with 128 Christians from the Nineveh Plains via the Internet and in hard copies distributed in churches and local communities over a period of six weeks, to understand the main motivations behind the migration of Christians despite the return of security stability and the beginning of the implementation of reconstruction plans in their areas.[/size]
[size=45]The questionnaire included ten questions, covering different aspects of the reasons for migration and the challenges facing immigrants. The questions included security, economic opportunities, education, and social services.[/size]
[size=45]Do Christians really want to emigrate?[/size]
[size=45]The questionnaire began with a question regarding the Christian’s desire to emigrate outside the country. The percentage between those who wanted to emigrate, those who did not want to, and those who refused to answer was large in favor of those who wanted to emigrate, as shown in the following chart:[/size]
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62 people (48%) of the participants in the survey expressed their actual desire to emigrate outside Iraq, which is a large percentage in light of the absence of exceptional circumstances currently pushing towards the desire to emigrate as a reaction.[/size]
[size=45]The desire of nearly half of the Christian community to emigrate confirms fears about a serious future threat to the Christian presence in the country.[/size]
[size=45]To further clarify the position of the survey participants on immigration, and when they decided to do so? Which is the focus of the second question in the survey:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It is clear that 32% of those who participated in the survey thought about immigration since 2014, and 20% thought about it in the following years until the current year 2024.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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[size=45]There are many reasons and motives behind migration, some of which arose after the liberation of the Nineveh Plain from ISIS in 2016, such as the tilt of the balance in favor of other minorities at the expense of Christians, such as the Shabak, or the lack of job opportunities, as the economic aspect has a major impact on the decision, or the lack of a sense of security, especially after a fire broke out in an events hall in the town of Qaraqosh on September 26, 2023, which claimed the lives of dozens of Christians, although the security authorities confirmed that it was the result of an accident and not the result of a terrorist act.[/size]
[size=45]Nada (34 years old) was a teacher at a primary school in Qaraqosh, and she was one of those who paid a high price for being in that hall that day. The occasion was a wedding for a relative of hers, and she was with her husband and their three children when everything happened very quickly, and the fire surrounded them from all sides.[/size]
[size=45]“Everything happened so quickly, it was as if it passed faster than light and sound,” she says with anguish as she recalls the scenes of that day. “The fire spread and began to burn our bodies, and the screams grew louder.”[/size]
[size=45]Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued, “I lost my little girl, Nagham. She was a beautiful, wonderful eight-year-old.” She continued, her voice trembling and her words halting, reproaching herself, “I don’t know why I survived. I only suffered burns.”[/size]
[size=45]This tragedy left deep scars on Nada's soul, and she decided to travel with her husband and two children to Jordan and submit a request for humanitarian asylum to the United Nations there, with the aim of going to Australia, where her sister has been living for four years in Melbourne.[/size]
[size=45]“We took this step because we had lost hope that things would improve here, and with the difficult security incidents, chaos and corruption that prevail in my city and Iraq in general,” Nada says. “We survived all the events that we went through, including the bus tragedy in which Christian students were killed in 2010 and the ISIS attack on our city. We spent three years in Erbil, then returned and started our lives from scratch and tried to settle down until we lost our baby girl in that hall, and until now we do not know anything about the investigation conducted by the security authorities to find out the truth of what happened.”[/size]
[size=45]She added, commenting on her wait, which could last for years before she succeeds in emigrating: “Life in Jordan is very difficult. There is some assistance provided by the churches, but it is not enough, as life is very expensive here, but we will endure and wait. We have no other way.”[/size]
[size=45]Reasons for Christian migration[/size]
[size=45]There are many reasons behind the emigration of Christians, and the desire of many of those who remain to emigrate. This is what the survey investigated through two questions: What makes you think about emigration? And what would make you change your mind?
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[size=45]Political conditions are at the forefront of the reasons behind the migration of Christians from Iraq, as many of them link their stay in the country to its improvement as the only solution to stop migration. But why is the political situation so important to Christians?[/size]
[size=45]Many of those contacted by the investigator agreed in their answers that the political situation constitutes a system to which administrative stability, service, security and economic development are linked, and its improvement means ensuring all of that.[/size]
[size=45]“A.J.” (29 years old) from Qaraqosh says that he has been hearing the term “political conditions” since he was a child and up until now, so he believes that everything in Iraq is closely linked to this aspect and when it improves and stabilizes, the conditions of Iraqis in general improve.[/size]
[size=45]Former Iraqi parliament member Joseph Saliwa comments on the political situation of Christians in particular, saying: “There is no representation of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian Christians in Iraq and in the region, despite the existence of a quota for them, but it does not truly represent Christians, but rather represents the ruling parties in the governments in Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan alike.”[/size]
[size=45]He added: “They bring characters who are just puppets, their names are Christian, and their religion is Christian, but their agendas follow the agendas of those authoritarian parties,” he said.[/size]
[size=45]He continues: “The strange thing is that the symbols of the authorities today were suffering from the equation of formal representation when they were in the opposition before 2003, but today they are treating Christians in the same way, by bringing people to make them tools to strike at the very existence of the Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac Christian, and to be the striking hand in the hands of the holders of the two authorities in Baghdad and the region, in the name of the Christian quota seats.”[/size]
[size=45]He expresses his conviction that this policy has resulted in the absence of true Christian representation, “and there is no protection for the quota that was established as positive discrimination. We have proposed mechanisms to address this, but they have not been accepted until this moment.”[/size]
[size=45]What Salwa said is almost repeated in any dialogue on this subject with Christians in the Nineveh Plain, according to a Christian blogger and activist who preferred to be referred to as (B.F.). He says that the Christian community is “concerned about the weak implementation of the law and the emergence of non-civil religious tendencies of the ruling powers in the state.”[/size]
[size=45]He added: “Christians are afraid of political and security conflicts in light of the weakness of the state apparatus and the lack of weapons to protect Christians like the rest of the components. They also complain about not obtaining equal rights with the rest of the components in the country as the constitution requires.”[/size]
[size=45]The questionnaire included two other questions to understand whether the current situation affects the existence of religious minorities, including Christians, as well as the government’s measures to protect them:[/size]
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[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The answers showed that 65 participants in the survey believe that the government is not making enough efforts and is not protecting the Christian cultural and religious heritage, including historical and archaeological sites, as there are attempts to expand the basic design of the city of Mosul at the expense of the Shabak and Christian towns in the Nineveh Plain.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/size]
[size=45]Christian political leaders are expressing their concern about a demographic change that will be at their expense in some areas of Nineveh, which means marginalizing them based on their small numbers in the region, and erasing their cultural identity in the future.[/size]
[size=45]Any expansion of Mosul's borders at the expense of the areas of the small components will increase their security concerns, especially in light of the ongoing sectarian tensions, as the expansion may facilitate the entry of armed or extremist groups into their areas.[/size]
[size=45]Although the government worked to establish stability and security in all areas of Nineveh and prevent the return of terrorist factions by maintaining security operations after the liberation of Mosul and its surroundings from ISIS, a large number of Christians believe that these efforts are insufficient and that their areas are not completely stable.[/size]
[size=45]Louis Marcos Ayoub, a founding member of the Iraqi Minorities Alliance, confirms that the fears of the Christians of Mosul who left the city as displaced persons or immigrants are greater than the fears of the Christians in the Nineveh Plain, “because they witnessed the extremism and enslavement of ISIS and the theft of their money, and all of this caused a reaction in them to lose confidence in the authorities.”[/size]
[size=45]The second reason he gives is: “The lack of laws that protect the Christian component and give its members the right to be first-class citizens like other citizens. Minorities in Iraq are second-class citizens and there is discrimination practiced against them and they are not given rights to jobs and special grades in the center of Nineveh Governorate.”[/size]
[size=45]He gives an example of this: “The administrative structure in Nineveh Governorate consists of a governor, two deputies, and a number of advisors and assistants, but we do not find any Christian figure in this structure.”[/size]
[size=45]As for reconstruction, it is believed that the government’s role in this area is small, and that the efforts made to build and rebuild homes and shops that were destroyed by ISIS or were destroyed during the liberation war were mostly made by charitable organizations, institutions and associations. He continues, “Therefore, many Christians see that government support for the Christian component is weak and does not go beyond slogans.”[/size]
[size=45]He continues: “They base this on facts, including the compensation allocated to returnees after the liberation of their areas. It has not been granted to some for more than seven years since their return, and even those who received it were disappointing to them, as it did not match their great material losses.”[/size]
[size=45]The Church's Position on Immigration[/size]
[size=45]Maryam (35 years old) is a mother of three children. She used to live in Mosul before being displaced with them to Dohuk Governorate after ISIS took control of Nineveh. For a period, she was thinking of emigrating to Australia, where a number of her relatives live. However, with the intervention of the local church, which provided her family with the necessary support and assistance, Maryam decided to stay in Iraq, according to what she says.[/size]
[size=45]The church provided her with temporary housing and helped her children enroll in school. After Mosul was fully liberated in 2017, she returned to Mosul and began participating in church activities to rebuild the community and encourage Christians to remain in their areas.[/size]
[size=45]The questionnaire asked a specific question about the role of the church in migration, and the results showed a diversity of opinions and positions:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 52 people, or 40.6% (the majority of participants), believe that the church does not encourage migration. For several reasons, such as preserving religious and cultural identity, as Nineveh is a historical home for Christians and includes important religious and archaeological sites that have been visible for centuries.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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[size=45]Christian churches, in general, see it as their duty to encourage Christians to cling to their land and oppose their migration. They provide whatever services they can to ensure their survival, as they view migration as a threat to the Christian presence in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45](Th. M.) (66 years old), who asked to be referred to by these two letters, and is the project manager of a humanitarian organization in the Al-Hamdaniya district, says that the church does not encourage migration, but rather “trying with all its might to provide services and assistance to preserve the presence of Christians in this region.”[/size]
[size=45]He believes that the Church’s encouragement of Christians to stay contributes to “strengthening social ties and solidarity among members of society, which helps in building strong and stable societies.” He says that to this end, the Church seeks to provide humanitarian aid and offer development projects that help improve the economic and social conditions of Christians.[/size]
[size=45]He added: “In addition to this role, it provides spiritual and psychological support to Christians to help them overcome the difficulties and challenges they face, which enhances their ability to remain in their homeland by instilling in them hope for a better future for the Christian community.”[/size]
[size=45]Other Christians close to Christian clerics spoke about the church’s position on condition of anonymity. One of them, an employee in his sixties, said that the church encourages Christians to stay “to maintain the demographic balance.” Migration means leaving their lands, which could become the property of other groups when they leave their areas. Therefore, the church refuses to “buy and sell Christian lands in Nineveh.”[/size]
[size=45]Through its position, the Church plays a role in preventing the opening of the door to widespread Christian immigration and warns of the danger of that. On the other hand, it invests its relations and influence to increase international support in the form of humanitarian aid and others, in a direction that encourages Christians to remain in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]But there is another aspect related to the Church itself benefiting from stopping the migration of Christians in the Nineveh Plain and the rest of their areas of spread, as this means the continuation of the strength of its religious presence, while migration means a decrease in the number of people present in the churches during religious activities and celebrations, and thus a decrease in the need for priests and bishops, which has a negative impact on the management of the Church’s affairs, and its religious and social influence declines.[/size]
[size=45]“S.K.”, a 45-year-old Christian from Qaraqosh, is fully convinced that the church’s position on migration is based on an attempt to preserve its resources from declining, which will happen if “the number of believers decreases.” The more they increase, the more donations will be made, “and their decrease means affecting its ability to provide services, maintain religious buildings, and expand its activities and development projects.”[/size]
[size=45]Father (A.S.), a 44-year-old Christian cleric from Al-Hamdaniya, who asked to be identified by his first two letters only, believes that “the church does not encourage all forms of migration because it means its collapse.” He is silent for a moment, then continues: “We must care for people before we care about the quarantine.”[/size]
[size=45]Returning to the results of the questionnaire in this regard, we find that 45 people answered that they do not know the Church’s position on immigration, which indicates the latter’s need to enhance awareness regarding its position and procedures to support local communities. There are those who confirmed their knowledge of its role but refrained from answering. This shows a hesitation or caution in discussing the subject due to its sensitivity, given the presence of those who believe that the Church, by rejecting immigration, is standing against the choice of many Christians.[/size]
[size=45]While nine of those who answered the question said that the church encourages immigration, this small group may reflect individual experiences.[/size]
[size=45]As for the Church, its official position is clear: it rejects immigration. Patriarch Mar Louis Sako warned of what he described as a “wave of Christian immigration” due to the escalation of crises and the random and worrying intensification of conflicts.[/size]
[size=45]Sako said in an article published by the Patriarchate’s media office on its official website (Mar Addi) that there are currently 1,200 Christian immigrant families in Turkey, 1,000 in Jordan and 2,500 in Lebanon. He explained: “Migration is not arrogance, but it is sometimes necessary to save life in the face of a terrifying threat and imminent danger. I mean here the phenomenon of mass migration.”[/size]
[size=45]The Patriarch stated that “immigration used to happen within one country, but now it has become a global phenomenon that makes a person leave his original homeland, uprooting himself, and departing to another country that he does not know and does not belong to. The immigrant abandons his nationality, his loved ones (sometimes his elderly parents), and his memories, impoverishing and weakening those who remain, so he begins to reformulate and reorganize his life, and adapt to his new situation that is different from what he is used to, not to mention the distance from family and the harsh feeling of alienation, the long waiting period in neighboring countries, the absence of job opportunities, and the exorbitant costs he bears to secure the minimum necessities of life.”[/size]
[size=45]He made it clear in a decisive manner that “the decision to stay or leave is a personal, familial, historical and fateful decision that must be carefully considered from all sides. The immigrant must realize that he is not on a journey to heaven, but that he will face several challenges and difficulties of a different kind, perhaps more severe, especially the disruption of freedom.”[/size]
[size=45]He added that the presence of Christians in Iraq is historical, as they are its original inhabitants, but despite “all the suffering, distress and accumulated crises, the difficult circumstances should not push Christians to surrender or emigrate. On the contrary, they should cling to their land, history and faith, following the example of their ancestors, fathers and saints. As pastors, we understand their circumstances, their anxiety and their fear of the future, but this includes all Iraqis. We will do everything in our power to stand by them, serve them and defend and protect their rights.”[/size]
[size=45]Sako called on the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay attention to the towns of the Nineveh Plain and the Christian towns of the Kurdistan Region by “establishing citizenship, applying the law and justice, providing equal civil rights for all, providing services and job opportunities, and compensating for what they lost due to ISIS and other sectarian wars. They are migrating in search of a better standard of living in safety, dignity and freedom. Therefore, they need government reassurances that encourage them to stay and communicate with their fellow citizens.”[/size]
[size=45]Where is the migration to? And is there a return?[/size]
[size=45]If the choice for about half of Iraq's Christians is to emigrate, where do they prefer to emigrate to? The survey asked this question:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The majority of respondents prefer to emigrate to Australia, and consider it the best option. This is due to several reasons, as one of the participants stated: “The great stability and security in the presence of a state that believes in human rights, freedoms and the rule of law, and the opportunity for rapid integration since society is by nature an immigrant society, in addition to the economic strength and availability of job opportunities, which is a major reason for thinking about that country.”[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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[size=45]He also adds, “The presence of a large Iraqi Christian community is an encouraging factor, as it will make them feel less alienated.”[/size]
[size=45]A number of the survey participants did not find any difference in the place to which they would migrate, as long as the conditions there were different from those in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Regarding a question directed to the participants about their thoughts of returning after the migration, the results were as follows:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 67 people (52.3%) answered that they did not know, which reflects “the state of hesitation and doubt about the possibility of improving the country’s situation in the future in light of the political conflicts, chaos and corruption prevailing in it,” says Nabil Bassem, a Christian displaced from Nineveh to Erbil.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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[size=45]In response to his vision of ways to stop Christian migration abroad, the cleric (A.S.) from Al-Hamdaniya says, “Security stability is the most prominent factor in preventing migration,” and that this is achieved by the existence of a strong, stable state in which the law prevails.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, he believes that rebuilding the infrastructure, providing services, strengthening the economy, securing job opportunities for young people, and granting them loans and scholarships to open small projects “will all enhance the presence of the Christian component in Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]The cleric, who has lived through years of poverty under international sanctions and then the deterioration of security caused by internal conflict and widespread killings by terrorist groups, acknowledges the difficult situation in Iraq and that there are real concerns about “the future of the Christian presence there,” but he agrees with the church that staying is a “personal and spiritual” decision. “Our roots, our churches, are here, and I feel it is my duty to be a contributing part of rebuilding society after all it has been through,” he says.[/size]
[size=45]He is silent for a moment before adding: “In my personal opinion, migration is a loss of identity, because we then leave the land of our fathers and grandfathers, who went through the same circumstances as us but overcame them with their love for their land.”[/size]
[size=45]*The majority of those who testified requested that their real names be concealed, for personal reasons.[/size]
[size=45]*The investigation was completed under the supervision of the NIRIJ Investigative Reporting Network, as part of the “Investigative Journalism for Detection and Follow-up” project.[/size]
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