Barzani on Christmas: No force, ideology can destroy coexistence in Kurdistan

Former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Monday wished Christians a Merry Christmas and said it was unfortunate they were forcibly displaced once again after October’s offensive by the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias in the Nineveh Plains.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Monday wished Christians a Merry Christmas and said it was unfortunate they were forcibly displaced once again after October’s offensive by the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias in the Nineveh Plains.

In an official statement, Barzani said that after the rise of the Islamic State (IS), most of the Christians in northern Iraq moved to areas under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

He mentioned that after the Kurdish Peshmerga defeated the extremist group and liberated Christian-populated areas in Nineveh Province, many of the displaced people returned to their homes.

“But, unfortunately, after Oct. 16, once again Christian people faced displacement due to the attacks by Hashd al-Shaabi forces,” the statement read.

On Oct. 16, Iraqi forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi militias attacked and took control of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and other disputed territories, including some of the Christian populated areas which are known as the Nineveh Plains that were under the protection of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

“The existence of any radical ideologies under any title is a serious threat to coexistence, security, and stability,” Barzani said.

“The presence of an enormous number of displaced Iraqi people from all ethnic and religious groups in the Kurdistan Region is solid evidence which shows a high value of coexistence among our people,” the former President added.

He mentioned that Peshmerga defended all the ethnic and religious groups “with their blood,” and the Kurdistan Region would continue to be a haven for Christians and all other components.

“We assure our Christian brothers in Kurdistan that terror, religious discrimination, and sectarian ideology has no future [in Kurdistan],” Barzani affirmed. “We are all brothers, and no force or violent ideologies can destroy our brotherhood and coexistence.”

Following the 2014 emergence of IS in Iraq, most Christians in the country moved to the Kurdistan Region for security purposes while others moved abroad.

The Kurdistan Region is home to almost 300,000 Christians, according to the Director-General of Christian Affairs in the KRG, Khalid Jamal Talia.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany