ASIA/IRAQ - Citizens of the Christian village of Alqosh protest against the mayor's removal from office

Thursday, 20 July 2017 oriental churches   middle east   kurds   geopolitics  

ankawa.com

Alqosh (Agenzia Fides) - Hundreds of citizens in Alqosh, a Christian majority city of the Nineveh Plain, participated in the protest march that this morning Thursday, July 20, crossed the central streets of the town center to show their dissent regarding the sudden removal from office of the local mayor, ordered in recent days by the Council of the Nineveh Province. The demonstration was jointly convened by the militants of the Iraqi Communist Party and the local leader of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa). The crowd of demonstrators, as illustrated by photos released by ankawa.com, shouted protest slogans, carrying flags of Iraq and banners with Arabic and English writings. A delegation of demonstrators had a meeting with the chairman of the local council, who reported that the reason of the removal of the mayor and other members of the same council are to do with the accusation of corruption. Some believe that these accusations are instrumental, and many of them (see Fides 19/7/2017) interpret this move as a confirmation of the plans nurtured on the Nineveh Plain and across the Province by the government of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, that has called for a referendum on independence on September 25, with the intent of proclaiming the unilateral secession from Iraq. The independence prospect of Kurdistan is rejected by the central government in Baghdad
The Christian inhabitants in Alqosh are still far from their homes and hosted as refugees in Kurdistan and other Middle Eastern areas after being forced to flee in August 2014 in front of the advance of the jihadist militias of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Daesh). (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 20/7/2017)


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