Christian charity and Kurdistan officials discuss IDPs, minorities

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation from a Christian charity organization on Sunday met with Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) Masrour Barzani and lawmakers from the region's parliament to discuss living conditions of families displaced by the war against the Islamic State (IS).

According to separate statements, the delegation of Samaritan's Purse, headed by its CEO Franklin Graham, met with Barzani earlier in the day and later moved to participate in a gathering with the head of Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) faction in the regional parliament, Hemin Hawramy. Also present were lawmakers from Armenian, Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian parties.

During the meeting with Barzani, both "discussed the situation in territories liberated from ISIL, with a particular emphasis on the Nineveh Plains," and reviewed "stabilization efforts and security requirements for persecuted religious communities returning to their ancestral homes," according to a KRSC statement.

Graham's charity "has close ties with the Trump administration in the US and [provide] aid to improve the living conditions of Christians across the world," Hawramy said in a statement.

Samaritan’s Purse, a US-based evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization, has been aiding Christian communities in Syria and Iraq for the past decade. Some of the organization's projects such as its "Operation Christmas Child" have been the cause of controversy, with critics charging that they serve to proselytize to needy non-Christian recipients.

Graham, the son of the well-known evangelist Billy Graham, is a frequent visitor to the Kurdistan Region and has hailed the Kurds as "true friends" of the US.

"Barzani thanked Graham for the humanitarian aid delivered to displaced families during the war on ISIL, and his lifelong friendship with the Kurdistani peoples," the KRSC statement continued.

During both meetings, the topics of the Kurdistan Region's enduring model for coexistence and ways to protect it were discussed at length.

Editing by John J. Catherine