Iraqi Christians flee to South Kurdistan
Iraqi Christians flee to South Kurdistan
Iraqi Christians are fleeing to South Kurdistan after being target of attacks which left more than 70 dead.
Last Monday two Christian brothers were found dead in their car workshop in Mosul. One week earlier in eastern Mosul, another two Christian men were shot and killed after gunmen broke into their home.
The attacks against Christian minority raised dramatically since last month's massacre at the Our Lady of Salvation church in the capital, which left about 50 worshippers dead.
Thousands of Iraqi Christians have already sought and found refuge in the Kurdish provinces. In Erbil, the Kurds' administrative capital, the flourishing Aynkawa neighbourhood has been built up and populated by Christians, with the support of the Kurdish authorities.
Even outside of Kurd-run areas, in Ninewah province, Kurds have helped to secure the Christian villages to the north and east of Mosul, the provincial capital. That help has not been uncontroversial, with some viewing it as part of a land grab by the Kurds in their long territorial dispute with the country's Arabs.
Yunadam Kanna, head of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) in Iraq and an MP, also said many of Baghdad's Christians were now preparing to move north.
"I have been in touch with Christian doctors, engineers and professors now in Baghdad and they are ready to leave for Kurdistan," he said. "They are sad to leave their city, but at least they can keep their lives."
Mr Kanna said the Kurdish offer of a safe haven was a preferable alternative to Iraq's Christian's leaving the country altogether.
An estimated 800,000 Christians lived in Iraq before the 2003 invasion but their number has shrunk, with tens of thousands moving to Syria and Jordan or gaining asylum overseas.
Last Monday two Christian brothers were found dead in their car workshop in Mosul. One week earlier in eastern Mosul, another two Christian men were shot and killed after gunmen broke into their home.
The attacks against Christian minority raised dramatically since last month's massacre at the Our Lady of Salvation church in the capital, which left about 50 worshippers dead.
Thousands of Iraqi Christians have already sought and found refuge in the Kurdish provinces. In Erbil, the Kurds' administrative capital, the flourishing Aynkawa neighbourhood has been built up and populated by Christians, with the support of the Kurdish authorities.
Even outside of Kurd-run areas, in Ninewah province, Kurds have helped to secure the Christian villages to the north and east of Mosul, the provincial capital. That help has not been uncontroversial, with some viewing it as part of a land grab by the Kurds in their long territorial dispute with the country's Arabs.
Yunadam Kanna, head of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) in Iraq and an MP, also said many of Baghdad's Christians were now preparing to move north.
"I have been in touch with Christian doctors, engineers and professors now in Baghdad and they are ready to leave for Kurdistan," he said. "They are sad to leave their city, but at least they can keep their lives."
Mr Kanna said the Kurdish offer of a safe haven was a preferable alternative to Iraq's Christian's leaving the country altogether.
An estimated 800,000 Christians lived in Iraq before the 2003 invasion but their number has shrunk, with tens of thousands moving to Syria and Jordan or gaining asylum overseas.
