Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kirkuk (Agenzia Fides) - The project still cherished by acronyms and political leaders who want to create an autonomous enclave in the future reserved for Christians in the Nineveh Plain, currently in the hands of the jihadists of the Islamic Caliphate, is "an unrealistic and unwise dream" with which a division of the Country on sectarian basis foments that "can only harm the good and the future condition of Christians in Iraq". This is what His Exc. Mgr. Yousif Thoma Mirkis OP, Archbishop of Kirkuk of the Chaldeans declares to Agenzia Fides.
The jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) conquered Mosul on June 9 and then extended their control over the predominantly Christian villages and towns of the Nineveh Plain, forcing tens of thousands of Christian Chaldeans, Syrians and Assyrians to flee. Military operations against the Islamic Caliphate, also supported by a US-led coalition aim at reconquering and liberating Mosul and the entire region, in the hands of Sunni jihadists.
In recent days, there have been leaflets circulating in Mosul inciting the local population to rebel to militiamen of the Caliphate, announcing the imminent offensive for the release of the second Iraqi city. In this context, some political activists of acronyms and Christian parties return to claim that the future structure of the region, after the eventual defeat of the jihadists, will have to provide for the establishment of a "Christian" autonomous province in the Nineveh Plain.
A perspective that the Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk considers a harbinger of new problems for the indigenous Christian communities. "For 35 years - explains to Fides Mgr. Yousif Thoma - any discussion and political project in Iraq were cancelled by the dictatorship of the Baath regime. When the regime collapsed, with the intervention of the US Army, we entered a period of turmoil in which political plans surfaced which were not based on a thorough analysis".
In this context – explains the Chaldean Archbishop - "anyone who speaks of an autonomous region for the Christians alligns themselves with the plan that aims at the division of Iraq on a sectarian basis, on the model of what happened in the former Yugoslavia. And this is very dangerous, especially for all small and minority groups, which include also the Christian communities".
The offensive launched in northern Iraq by Sunni jihadists confirm, according to Mgr. Yousif Thoma, that "when claims for control of areas on sectarian basis are triggered, no one is saved, starting from Christians". The only realistic prospective that can favor the permanence of the indigenous Christian community in Iraq is, accordng to the Chaldean Archbishop, in promoting the maturation of a national political consciousness in the Sunnis and Shiites majority groups. "Everyone wants to get his piece of cake, and small sectarian states always fighting with their neighbors will be created, and this is against our own good, and against our future". (GV) (Agenzia Fides 27/11/2014)
