Christians flee Iraqi city after killings, threats, officials say

[tyovan]

At least 900 Christian families have fled Mosul in the past week, terrified by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists ordering them to convert to Islam or face possible death, officials said Saturday.

The attacks may have been prompted by Christian demonstrations ahead of provincial elections, which are to be held by the end of January, the deputy governor of Nineveh province said.

Deputy Gov. Khasro Goran said 13 Christians have been slain in the past two weeks inMosul, about 260 miles (420 kilometers) north of Baghdad. Fleeing Christians have sought refuge in monasteries and churches and with family members in other towns, an Interior Ministry official said.

The attacks began after hundreds of Christians took to the streets in Mosul and surrounding villages and towns, seeking greater representation on provincial councils, whose members will be chosen in the local elections.

Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, Nineveh's governor, told The Associated Press that the exodus was "a major displacement."

"Of course, al Qaeda elements are behind this campaign against Christians," Kashmoula told AP.

The Interior Ministry official said the homes of three families were destroyed with explosives Saturday after the occupants left. No injuries were reported.

A week ago, leaflets were distributed in several predominantly Christian neighborhoods, threatening families to "either convert to Islam or pay the jizyah or leave the city or face death," said the Interior Ministry official.

Historically, jizyah is a tax paid by non-Muslims in exchange for protection.

Goran said that a few days after the leaflets were passed out, gunmen set up checkpoints in parts of Mosul, stopping vehicles to inspect identification papers, searching for Christian names or other signs of religious affiliation. Many of the Christians killed were targeted in this way, he said.

Bashir Azoz, 45, told AP he fled his Mosul home after gunmen warned a neighbor to leave or be killed.

"Where is the government and its security forces as these crimes take place every day?" asked Azoz, a carpenter who is staying with his wife and three children in a town about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Mosul, according to AP.

The Rev. Bolis Jacob, of Mosul's Mar Afram Church, told AP he couldn't understand the attacks.

"We respect the Islamic religion and the Muslim clerics," he said. "We don't know under what religion's pretexts these terrorists work."

Goran said police have set up security checkpoints in Christian neighborhoods.

In response to the violence, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader al-Obaidi visited Mosul on Saturday morning, conducting meetings with local authorities and military commanders.

His spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari, said that in addition to ordering more checkpoints in Christian neighborhoods, al-Obaidi ordered more troops deployed, additional security patrols and an increase in aerial surveillance of Christian areas.

Al-Obaidi also ordered more guards for Christian clerics, al-Askari said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.violence/index.html

http://www.alexandraint.net/images/ss-3.jpg

You will be in my thoughts tomorrow during Liturgy :(

[LaoSexMachine]

Historically, jizyah is a tax paid by non-Muslims in exchange for protection.

Very sad. .

[Calanen]

Historically, jizyah is a tax paid by non-Muslims in exchange for protection.



"We respect the Islamic religion and the Muslim clerics," he said. "We don't know under what religion's pretexts these terrorists work."


Gee I sure do.

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya [poll tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (9:29)

[gtnskymtyyp]

why doesn`t the news mention about this fact that mosul is populated and governed by kurds? any ideas? oh the beloved kurds!

[AmandlaEwetu]

we should swop them for all the sharia demanding muslims in England-everyones a winner then:)

[eugenlitwin]

why doesn`t the news mention about this fact that mosul is populated and governed by kurds? any ideas? oh the beloved kurds!

1 Despite having an amount of Kurdish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurd) population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Regional_Government).

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_fight_for_northern_iraq
Unlike in March, a new actor in Ninewa is ready to exploit Arab-Kurdish tensions: al-Qaeda. U.S. military commanders have recently observed a spike in violence in the disputed cities, particularly in Mosul, and attributed it to insurgents and foreign terrorists driven north to escape the surge forces. "We have seen some migration of al-Qaeda," Colonel Steph Twitty, who commanded U.S. forces in Mosul when I was there, told (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/world/middleeast/06mosul.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) The New York Times. al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents portray themselves as "the defenders of Sunni interests against Kurdish expansionism," the paper reported, making a conflagration all the more likely. Unlike Sunnis in Anbar, Sunnis in Ninewa have not felt al-Qaeda's social repression and so may have little disincentive to embracing al-Qaeda in the face of a perceived Kurdish threat. What's true of Mosul is doubly so in Kirkuk, which has hovered on the precipice of violent collapse for years.

+ don´t forget about one neighbouring country (not Iran) which tries hard to destabilize this region

[4X4Driver]

1 Despite having an amount of Kurdish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurd) population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Regional_Government).

Actually, that's not the case any longer. New developments taking place on the ground recently.

Strip of Iraq 'on the Verge of Exploding'Kurds Extend Role Beyond Autonomous Borders, Angering Arabs


By Amit R. Paley (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/amit+r.+paley/)
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 13, 2008; Page A01


JALAWLA, Iraq (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iraq.html?nav=el) -- Kurdish leaders have expanded their authority over a roughly 300-mile-long swath of territory beyond the borders of their autonomous region in northern Iraq, stationing thousands of soldiers in ethnically mixed areas in what Iraqi Arabs see as an encroachment on their homelands.

The assertion of greater Kurdish control, which has taken hold gradually since the war began and caused tens of thousands of Arabs to flee their homes, is viewed by Iraqi Arab and U.S. officials as a provocative and potentially destabilizing action.

"Quickly moving into those areas to try and change the population and flying KRG flags in areas that are specifically not under the KRG control right now -- that is counterproductive and increases tensions," said Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, referring to the Kurdistan Regional Government (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Kurdistan+Regional+Government?tid=informline), which administers the autonomous region.

The long-cherished dream of many of the world's 25 million ethnic Kurds is an independent state that encompasses parts of Iran (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/iran.html?nav=el), Iraq, Syria and Turkey. All but Iraq adamantly oppose Kurdish autonomy, much less a Kurdish state. Iraqi Kurds continue to insist they are not seeking independence, even as they unilaterally expand the territory they control in Iraq.

The predominantly Arab-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Nouri+al-Maliki?tid=informline) in recent weeks has sent the Iraqi army to drive Kurdish forces out of some of the lands, ordering Kurdish troops, known as pesh merga, to retreat north of the boundary of the Kurdish autonomous region.

The face-off between the Iraqi army and pesh merga has stoked fears of Arab-Kurdish strife just as Iraqis begin to recover from years of sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis.


...Yet far-reaching compromises seem remote from places such as Sinjar, a ramshackle city on the border with Syria that is ringed by Arab villages but controlled by Kurds. After a coordinated bombing there last year killed hundreds of Yazidis, a religious minority that some consider Kurdish, pesh merga forces tightened their control of the area, according to Arab and Christian residents.

Rest of the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091203584.html?hpid=moreheadlines




+ don´t forget about one neighbouring country (not Iran) which tries hard to destabilize this region

..and this article is to expose your continious disinformation campaign againt Turkey in this forum.

Turkey to reach out to Barzani for joint operation against PKK

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Barçin YİNANÇ

The Turkish government will seek to improve its dialogue with the Kurds in N. Iraq despite the fact that Massoud Barzani has become the target of criticism in the wake of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party attack on the Aktütün border post leaving 17 soldiers dead.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=117272

[Kradder]

Such terrorist tactics could be avoided if the Kurdish security force where allowed to intervene in Mosul. But the failure from the Iraqi government is showing its fruits now.

Here is more about Mosuls anti-Kurd terrorist campaign:



More than 3,000 Kurds have been killed since November 2004 in Mosul, and 60,000 have fled Mosul," he said. "These attacks are to scare people not to support the Kurdistan regional government in case of a referendum. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mosul5apr05,0,4538449.story?page=2




In and around Mosul, the third-largest Iraqi city, some 70,000 Kurds have fled their homes so far this year. Many have run away after receiving an envelope with a bullet inside and a note telling them to get out in 72 hours.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kurds-and-arabs-vie-for-control-of-mosul-417693.html




nearly 1,600 Kurds in this area alone have been killed since 2003 and an estimated 100,000 have been forced to flee to the neighboring semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0312/p01s09-woiq.html?page=2



It was recently estimated to be about a quarter Kurdish, but Sunni Arabs have already driven out at least 70,000 Kurds and virtually erased the Kurdish presence from the city’s western half, said Khasro Goran, the deputy governor of surrounding Nineveh Province and a Kurd. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/world/middleeast/30mosul.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all


The western half is Arab-dominated, while the eastern half, right banks of the Tigris river, is Kurdish dominated.
The Kurds have been erased from the city, now its the Christians turn.
Many thanks to this failed state called Iraq. Good luck for them if they wish to live under Al-Qaeda's governance.

[saladin]

1 [I]

+ don´t forget about one neighbouring country (not Iran) which tries hard to destabilize this region

care to explain your comment?

[Ordie]

The Christian (Assyrians?) will most likely flee to Syria or Kurdistan.

[Wrangel]

Well,since Americans like to lecture Russians moral lessons about South Ossetian war,here is nice example of ethnic cleansing,that is happening in front of their eyes.Since US occupy Iraq,they have responsibility of what is happening there.



Not the mention that Christians there are one of oldest communities in the region.

[eugenlitwin]

Protect their village with help of Kurdish fighters
Christian Iraqi militia fight back against Qaeda

"We used to pay "jezya" (protection money) and they would leave us alone," Nataq said in reference to a tax levied on the Christian community by al-Qaeda in exchange for peace.

The term harks back to the seventh century, a period of great expansion in Islam when Christians and Jews were forced to pay taxes to the majority Muslims.
Kurdish help
But Tel Asquf's villagers rebelled against the payments and called on the help of the Kurdish forces of Arbil, the nearby capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, after judging that its own provincial capital, Mosul, had too large a Sunni population.

"I prefer the help of Kurdistan, of the Peshmerga," Nataq said. The Kurdish fighters now controlled the roads leading to the village and claimed large swathes of the region, much to the fury of Mosul's Arab population, he added.

The Peshmerga provide Kalashnikov rifles and radios to the 200 Christian militiamen who receive around 200 dollars (140 euros) a month from the Arbil administration to protect the 8,000 inhabitants of the village.

Since the arrangement was introduced around 10 months ago, the Christian militiamen have never had to use their weapons, "because the Peshmerga form the first line of defense," Nataq said.

http://www.alarabiya.tv/articles/2008/09/08/56187.html

[eugenlitwin]

The Christian (Assyrians?) will most likely flee to Syria or Kurdistan.

yes that´s right

Christians have had an easier time moving into Iraqi Kurdistan than Muslims, the report said. “Christians going to Dohuk receive financial assistance from the Kurdistan regional government of $85 per month, as well as land in their villages of origin and assistance to build houses,” the report said. The region’s finance minister is a Christian.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/world/middleeast/22iraq.html

[Ngati Tumatauenga]

Well,since Americans like to lecture Russians moral lessons about South Ossetian war,here is nice example of ethnic cleansing,that is happening in front of their eyes.Since US occupy Iraq,they have responsibility of what is happening there.

No, they don't. The democratically elected government of Iraq has the primary responsibility for the security of it's citizens.

Get your facts straight before attempting to grind your anti-American axe. You won't look as ignorant that way.


Not the mention that Christians there are one of oldest communities in the region.

Which is apropos of nothing in the context of this thread.

[4X4Driver]

The Christian (Assyrians?) will most likely flee to Syria or Kurdistan.

Not quite right about "kurdistan"

From the Christians of Iraq site...in other words, from the victims themselves.



On the surface Kurds allow christians some minimal rights but are oppressing them in other ways.
Recently they prevented the inhabitants of the Assyrian villages in northern Iraq from voting.

They are gradually invading the Assyrian towns and villages which have served as a refuge for the christians where they have lived for thousands of years.

Kurds have been historically responsible for the oppression and the exile of the christians form their homeland.
Presently they have established military presence in some Assyrian towns and villages only to intimidate the inhabitants and drive them out.

The best way to protect the christians of Iraq from the institutional oppression is to allow them to have a security zone where they can administer their affairs without interference from the Kurds or Arabs.

They should be provided their fair share of economic benefits as the other Iraqis. They should be able to teach their own schools and language without being forced to promote Kurdish political propaganda.

An official international fact-finding mission should investigate the christian situation in northern Iraq.

http://www.christiansofiraq.com/krg.html



Democracy in Iraq or Ethnic Cleansing of the Assyrians?
William Warda

(AINA)Assyrian International News Agency

For the last 100 years, the Kurds, through wars and rebellions against their neighbors, have driven the Christian Assyrians out of their land and have occupied it. The Christian Assyrian history is replete with massacres inflicted on them by the Kurds who lived primarily in the Zagros mountains north of Mosul, bordering between Iran and Turkey...

...
Recent report by the United Nations' High Commission for Refugees reveals that almost half of the 500,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria who have asked for temporary asylum through the UN refugee agency are Christian Assyrians, even though christians constitute an estimated 5% of the population in Iraq. Tens of Thousands of Iraqi Christians are stranded in Jordan also.

...
It is obvious that Kurds will continue their predatory practices to dominate northern Iraq and drive out non-kurds from the region by any means possible. If there is any hope for the historically oppressed and dispossessed Christians of Iraq to continue to live in their historic homeland their voices need to be heard in the Iraqi parliament. Kurds so far have done everything in their power to prevent them from doing so. To overcome such oppressions, Christians should be assigned a specific number of seats in the Iraqi Parliament, otherwise how can they be assured of their rights in their homeland? Even in the Islamic Republic of Iran Assyrians are allowed a seat in the parliament though their population is less than 20,000.[quote]

William Warda is an Assyrian from Iran. He attended Roosevelt University in Chicago and has written various articles about Assyrian history and their present situation for the Assyrian Star, Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society, and other publications. He is the webmaster of Christians of Iraq (http://www.christiansofiraq.com/) website.

http://www.aina.org/guesteds/20051225130652.htm

[Kradder]

christiansofIraq.com and AINA are Turkish funded websites and another one of those so called 'Christian' websites has been set up by an umbrella organization for Baathists.


Instead you could have just looked for any other credible news agency.
Just do a search in google "christians flee to kurdistan" :

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=uk&q=christians+flee+to+kurdistan

Here's one of the 57.000 results you get from all international news agencies




Christians seek safe haven in Iraq's Kurdish region
According to the Chaldean bishop of Arbil and Amadiyah, Monsignor Rabban al-Qas, "more than 70,000 Christians have fled to Iraqi Kurdistan," settling in villages abandoned or destroyed in the late 1980s, during attacks on Kurds by the regime of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/23990




Anyway, why I am not srprsed this is turning into a blame-the-Kurds topic again. I don't think this topic will last too long as well.

[Bringer of Greater Things]

We need to do something to stop the violence in Iraq.

...Oh wait...

[Kradder]

Here this is also interesting:





Iraq's Kurdish Jews Cautiously Return to Homeland

by Ivan Watson (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101326)

December 8, 2007 · Lana was a teenager when her family made a clandestine journey from Kurdistan to Israel.

A Cautious Return
In the former Jewish quarter of Suleymaniyah, Haji Abdullah Salah, an old Kurdish shopkeeper, says it was a sad day when almost all the Jews left town.


Ziad Aga says he doesn't see any problem in allowing Kurdish Jews to come back to Kurdistan, but the subject is extremely sensitive for the Kurdish authorities, who are frequently accused by Arab media and Iraqi insurgent groups of collaborating with Israel. The Kurdish leadership denies the charges.

Despite the difficult history for Kurdish Jews, Lana says she's proud of her mixed heritage. "Above all, I consider myself a Kurd," she says. "An Israeli Kurd."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16980428

[Ulytau]

In Iraq many people under danger and many people change their location or flee

Especially Smugglin ''Especially weapon and drugs'' still continue too our border police catch many Glock weapons 1-1,5 months ago if i remember true.

And Turkish funded? If you click ''DONATE'' you can see who fundin em..

http://www.assyrianfoundation.org/

[Kradder]

It has more to do with the inflow of terrorists from Fallujah to Mosul who are still significant in Mosul, especially in western Mosul. The CPA north did not react well to their inflow and ever since then in 2005 the Kurds and Christians have been subject to targeted killings, bullet letters, car bomb attacks and kidnappings.

If the US army allowed the Peshmerga to clean up the city then things would not get as dirty as now.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/caff8938-990f-11dd-9d48-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Maliki steps up protection for Iraqi Christians

[4X4Driver]

christiansofIraq.com and AINA are Turkish funded websites and another one of those so called 'Christian' websites has been set up by an umbrella organization for Baathists.

Not very nice to stamp these Christians as Baathist..don't you think so?

How about an write up by Edward Leigh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Leigh)

The average Iraqi faces many risks but Christians are exposed to even more: they have to deal with the additional threat of attacks from Islamic extremists, who want to drive them out of Iraq, kill them or force them to convert to Islam; attacks by insurgents who mistakenly view the Christians as close allies of the "Christian" West; abduction by kidnappers who think that the generally well-educated Christians are more wealthy than other Iraqis; and having large areas of their land - and many of their houses - misappropriated by neighbouring Kurds in in what appears to be a systematic attempt to take over Christian-owned land and drive Christians out of the Kurdish region. At least 58 Christian villages have been partially or wholly misappropriated by Kurds.

I visited many during my stay and was told by the Christians how their land and houses and sometimes even their sources of water had been taken by the Kurds. In every case the Kurdish authorities failed to ensure that the misappropriated property was returned. In some cases it has even been the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which had seized it. For example the KDP office at the Christian village of Kany Masy was built on Christian-owned land without the owner's permission. In the area under Kurdish Regional Government control an environment of impunity prevails, where Christian-owned property is viewed as "up for grabs". The KDP is even encouraging Kurds from abroad to come and settle in the region as part of their systematic attempt to Kurdify the entire area and squeeze out the Chaldo-Assyrians.

http://www.northerniraq.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3222

It sure seems like kurds are the ones who benefits most from the fleeing of the Christians from their lands...are you sure there is no connection here ;)

[deli_dumrul]

They fn stone their own girls to death... What kind of treatment for Christians can you expect from these...

[Kradder]

It sure seems like kurds are the ones who benefits most from the fleeing of the Christians from their lands...are you sure there is no connection here

And the same Kurds are being driven out of Mosul by the tens of thousands, so you are contradicting yourself.
Mosul is home to an approx. 350.000 Kurds, so there is nothing to benefit when the city has a Kurdish heritage itself.
Mind you that siding with Iraqi terrorists is not the best choice for the Iraqi Christians, and that's why seek help from the Peshmerga.

[4X4Driver]

And the same Kurds are being driven out of Mosul by the tens of thousands, so you are contradicting yourself.
Mosul is home to an approx. 350.000 Kurds, so there is nothing to benefit when the city has a Kurdish heritage itself.
Mind you that siding with Iraqi terrorists is not the best choice for the Iraqi Christians, and that's why seek help from the Peshmerga.


The KDP is even encouraging Kurds from abroad to come and settle in the region as part of their systematic attempt to Kurdify the entire area and squeeze out the Chaldo-Assyrians.

http://www.northerniraq.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3222

But it is known that they're importing kurds from Iran, Syria and Turkey in order to populate the whole area to win the referandums. I guess they need place to put these ppl.