On July 11 and 12, 2009, six churches were targeted in Baghdad, another church was bombed in the northern city of Mosul on July 13, leaving five dead and more than 32 injured. Iraqi Christians began fleeing the country once more.
The “orchestrated” campaign “is aimed at terrorizing vulnerable groups and preventing the peaceful coexistence of different religious groups in what is one of the world’s cradles of religious and ethnic diversity,” said Ad Melkert, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq. Iraq’s small Christian community has been vulnerable to violence in Iraq because it does not have militia or tribal structures to protect itself and does not receive enough official protection.
Since the US-UK invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi Christians have come under attack. Church leaders estimate that 250,000 of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled Iraq for safer surroundings. Armenians were among those who left Iraq to Syria, Jordan, Armenia, European Countries and the United States.
It is noteworthy that in January 2008, six churches in Mosul and Baghdad were bombed in coordinated attacks on Epiphany and Orthodox Christmas Eve. Christian leaders, including the Archbishop of Mosul, have also been targeted by kidnappings and killings. Christian leaders have warned the result of this flight may be the end of Christianity in Iraq.
On the end of the month at least 29 people died in Baghdad Shiite Mosque bombing. Such attacks aim at driving the country to internal fighting and chaos after the withdrawal of the US troops from Iraqi cities and the increasing tension between the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad over Kirkuk and other issues.
Ara S. Ashjian
Yerevan, Armenia
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The hope that we have is in Christ, and therefore we Christians know that, no matter what the world does to us, we will carry on. Christians in the beginning of the church did not have a militia or official protection, and yet Christianity continued to grow, not despite the punishment, but because of the punishment. I believe it will continue to grow, at least true Christianity will, in Iraq as well.
ReplyDeleteI know I write this from my cozy desk in America, knowing that I am not at risk as I share my faith, but I believe Christianity, again I mean true Christianity, will continue to thrive in Iraq.