Kurdistan Region MPs Condemn Ethnic Exclusion in Iraqi Police Application Process

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Two members of the Kurdistan Region Parliament on Tuesday issued a strong statement condemning what they describe as the marginalization and forced Arabization of Iraq’s indigenous Christian communities in a recent Iraqi police recruitment process.

MPs James Hassado Haido and Ramy Noori Syawish raised concerns following a social media post by the Babylon Movement that invited members of the Chaldean, Syriac, Assyrian, and Armenian communities to apply for the Higher Institute for Security and Administrative Development and the Police Commissioners’ Training Institute. The condition: applicants must declare their ethnicity as "Arab."

Upon reviewing the application form, the lawmakers noted that it failed to offer any recognition of Iraq’s diverse national and ethnic identities, particularly those explicitly protected under Articles 3 and 125 of the Iraqi Constitution. The form reportedly limits applicants to just three ethnicity options—none of which reflect the identities of Iraq’s Christian minorities.

In a joint statement, Haido and Syawish called this “a blatant transgression” and part of a broader effort to erase the cultural and national identity of Iraq’s indigenous Christian populations. “Such exclusion sends a clear message: that those who do not conform are not welcome in their own homeland,” they warned.

The lawmakers also directed sharp criticism at the Babylon Movement and its leader, Rayan al-Kildani, accusing them of collaborating in efforts to Arabize Christian communities. They cited past incidents, including attacks on Church leadership, attempts to replace native languages with Arabic, and threats to residents of the Nineveh Plain.

“This latest imposition of an ‘Arab’ identity in official forms is part of a dangerous campaign to uproot our people from their historical roots,” the statement read.

Despite the challenges, the MPs affirmed that Iraq’s Chaldean, Syriac, Assyrian, and Armenian communities will remain resilient. “No enemy and no collaborator can erase our identity,” they stated. “Our people will remain on their land, proud of who they are.”

The statement was addressed to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the Minister of Interior, the Director General of Police, and the broader Iraqi public.

The MPs called for immediate rectification of the recruitment forms and urged all state institutions to uphold constitutional guarantees for Iraq’s ethnic and religious diversity.