US Congressman, KRSC Chancellor discuss protecting religious minorities

On Sunday, Rep. Thomas Garrett (R, VA) met with Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), and the two discussed how best to...

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan24) –  On Sunday, Rep. Thomas Garrett (R, VA) met with Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), and the two discussed how best to support those from persecuted religious minorities that have fled for safety to the Kurdistan Region.

Their exchange included “the situation in the Nineveh Plains” and “the importance of facilitating the return of religious communities to their ancestral homes in a way that guarantees their safety and security,” a KRSC readout of the meeting explained.

US Rep. Thomas Garrett met with Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) in Erbil, Nov. 18, 2018. (Photo: KRSC)
US Rep. Thomas Garrett met with Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) in Erbil, Nov. 18, 2018. (Photo: KRSC)

Garrett is an Army veteran and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as its subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

The subcommittee held a hearing on Wednesday, and its most senior members grilled the administration witness, Nathan Sales, the State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, about the strength and influence of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and what the committee members regarded as the failure of the administration—and the US embassy in particular—to confront them.

The issue of religious freedom is particularly important for the Trump administration. In July, the State Department hosted the first-ever Ministerial conference on International Religious Freedom.

The US is keen to restore security and basic services to those areas of northern Iraq where religious minorities have lived for centuries, so those who fled the rampages of the Islamic State (IS) can return home and begin rebuilding their communities.

Thus, at the Ministerial conference on International Religious Freedom, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the department would provide “an additional $17 million” of “demining efforts in the Nineveh region in Iraq,” in addition to “the $90 million we have provided countrywide” this year.

At the White House, Vice-President Mike Pence has assumed responsibility for the issue. Last December he met with the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, as Warda visited Washington.

When, six months later, Pence learned that Warda and other Christian leaders seeking US help to rebuild their communities, had received no support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), he issued an unusual public rebuke, prompting USAID to take up the matter with alacrity.

Senior members of the Trump administration are aware of the culture of tolerance in the Kurdistan Region, to where a very high proportion of Iraq’s persecuted religious minorities have taken refuge.

Amb. Sam Brownback was a senator from Kansas and then governor of the state, before becoming, early this year, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and head of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.

In May, Brownback’s office issued its annual report on International Religious Freedom. In its section on Iraq, the report noted, “In many regions [of Iraq], except for the IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region], minority groups of any religious adherence said they continued to experience violence and harassment from the majority group in the region.”

Kurdistan 24 spoke with Brownback after the report came out, and he hailed the Kurdistan Region for its religious tolerance.

 

“The Kurds have been particularly good about protecting people of minority faiths and much more supportive of basic religious freedom,” he said.

Friday was International Tolerance Day. On that occasion, Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and former President of the Kurdistan Region, issued a statement, emphasizing the importance of pluralism and tolerance.

“The main factor of the Kurdistan Region’s success and development is the sense of coexistence and tolerance that exists here, which has given beautiful and civilized characteristics to the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said.

“The Kurdistan Region will always be a center of coexistence for all ethnic and religious groups,” he affirmed.

Editing by Nadia Riva