 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2025) |
 A group of Iraqi Christians, 1999 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1.5 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Nineveh Plains,Iraqi Kurdistan,Basra | |
 Iraq | 350–400,000[1] |
 United States | 110,807 |
 Canada | 24,270 |
 Jordan | 10,000 |
 Sweden | 6,000 |
| Languages | |
| Syriac,Armenian,Kurdish,Arabic | |
Christians in Iraq are one of the oldest, continuous and significant Christian communities. The vast majority of Iraqi Christians are indigenousAssyrians who descend from the ancientAssyria, followed by Armenians and Arab Christians, and a very small minority ofKurdish,Shabaks andIraqi Turkmen Christians. Christians in Iraq primarily adhere to theSyriac Christian tradition and rites and speakNortheastern Neo-Aramaic dialects, althoughTuroyo is also present on a smaller scale. Some are also known by the name of their religious denomination as well as their ethnic identity, such asChaldean Catholics,Chaldo-Assyrians, orSyriacs. Regardless of religious affiliation (Chaldean Catholic Church,Assyrian Church of the East,Syriac Orthodox Church,Syriac Catholic Church,Assyrian Pentecostal Church, etc.) Assyrians Christians in Iraq and surrounding countries are one geneticallyhomogeneous people and are of different origins than other groups in the country, with a distinct history of their ownharking back to ancient Assyria andMesopotamia.[2]
Christians have inhabited modern-day Iraq for about 2,000 years, tracing their ancestry to ancient Mesopotamia and surrounding lands. The great patriarchAbraham came fromUr (modern-day Nasiriyah), while Isaac's wifeRebecca came from Assyria (in modern-day northwestern Iraq.) Additionally,Daniel lived in Iraq most of his life and the prophetEzekiel was from southern Iraq and his shrine is located there. Shrines of the prophetJonah andSaint George are also located there, and a number of other biblical prophets and saints are said to have been from there as well.Adam and Eve are also widely thought to have hailed from Iraq, as the biblicalGarden of Eden is often believed to have been located in southern Iraq.Syriac Christianity was first established in Mesopotamia, and certain subsets of that tradition (namely theChurch of the East and its successor churches) were established in northern and central-southern Iraq. This would become one of the most popular Christian churches in theMiddle East andFertile Crescent and would spread as far east asIndia andChina.[3]
Prior to theGulf War in 1991, Christians numbered one million in Iraq.[4] This may be an underestimate by half as seen in the 1987 census numbers.Saddam Hussein kept anti-Christian violence under control but Christians were subjected some to "relocation programmes".[4] The predominantly ethnically and linguistically distinctAssyrians were pressured to identify asArabs. The Christian population fell to an estimated 800,000 during theIraq War.[4] During the2013–2017 Iraq War withISIS rapidly sweeping throughwestern lands, Christian fled as they feared thepersecution by the militants, as they were to "execute" any person who did not believe in theirSunni sect. Thousands of Christians fled toBaghdad, where they found refuge and adequate housing, some of whom have chosen to make Baghdad their new permanent home following the full defeat of ISIS in Iraq.[5] Thousands have also fled to other parts of southern Iraq, such as the Shia-majority city ofNajaf which housed thousands of Christians in holy Islamic shrines once they fled from ISIS.[6] A large population have also returned to their homes en masse following the defeat of ISIS and were able to celebrate Christian festivals in safety with the protection of theNineveh Plain Protection Units and its allies.[7][8] The current number of Assyrians is said to be less than 140,000 in 2024, according to the non-profitShlama Foundation.[9][10] Based on broader religious identification, the number of Christians is likely only slightly larger.
Christians in Iraq have been well-integrated and have contributed greatly to Iraq, popularly as scholars, researchers, academics, and economists. Iraqi Christians have also hold high positions in the government, such asThabit AbdulNour andTariq Aziz. There is a large population that are entertainers, artists, actresses and singers.
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Christianity in Iraq has its roots in the conception of theChurch of the East in the 5th century AD, predating the existence of Islam in the region of Iraq.[11] Iraqi Christians are predominantly nativeAssyrians belonging to theAncient Church of the East,Assyrian Church of the East,Assyrian Pentecostal Church,Assyrian Evangelical Church,Mar Thoma Church,Chaldean Catholic Church,Syriac Catholic Church andSyriac Orthodox Church.[11][12] In Iraq, there is also a significant population ofArmenian Christians whose ancestors had fled fromTurkey during theArmenian genocide.[11][12] The Christian population increased from 550,000 in 1947 (12% of the population of 4.6 million) to 1.4 million in 1987 (8% of the estimated population of 16.3 million).[13] After the 2003invasion of Iraq, violence against Christians increased, with reports of abduction, torture, bombings, and killings.[14][15][12] TheIraq War (2003-2011) displaced much of theremaining Christian community from their homeland as a result of ethnic and religious persecution at the hands ofIslamic extremists.[16][17][18][19][20]
Christianity was brought to Iraq in the 1st century byThomas the Apostle and Mar Addai (Addai of Edessa) and his pupilsAggai andMari. Thomas was one of the Twelve Apostles while, according to tradition, Addai was one of the first 70 disciples.[21] Iraq'sEastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian communities are believed to be among the oldest in the world.
TheAssyrian people adopted Christianity in the 1st century[4] and modern-day northern Iraq became the centre ofEastern Rite Christianity andSyriac literature from the 1st century until the Middle Ages. Among the Assyrians, Christianity initially co-existed withthe ancient Mesopotamian religion until the latter began to decline in the 4th century.
In the early centuries after the Arab Islamic conquest of the 7th century, Assyria (also known asAthura andAsoristan) was dissolved by the Arabs as a geopolitical entity. However, the indigenous Assyrians (known asAshuriyun by the Arabs) continued to play an influential role in Iraq as scholars and doctors.
According toHirmis Aboona in the period prior to the establishment ofAbbasid rule in 750 AD, pastoralKurds moved into upper Mesopotamia fromPersian Azerbaijan, taking advantage of an unstable situation. Cities in northern and northeastern Assyria were raided and attacked by the Kurds of Persian Azerbaijan, "who killed, looted, and enslaved the indigenous population", and the Kurds were moving into several areas in easternAssyria. The chroniclerIbn Hawqal spoke about the state to which the region ofShahrazoor had been reduced, describing it as a “town, which was overpowered by the Kurds, and whose environs as far as Iraq had been enjoying prosperity”. Another contemporary source described the region ofAdiabene thus: "...the plain of Hadyab was entirely inhabited by theNestorians but the Kurds have occupied it and depopulated it of its inhabitants".[22][neutrality isdisputed]
Later, theSeljuks invaded Mesopotamia with the support of Kurdish chieftains and tribes. They "destroyed whatever they encountered" and captured and enslaved women. The historianIbn Khaldun wrote that the Kurds "spoiled and spread horror everywhere".[22] In time, the demographic change led to Assyria and much ofGreater Armenia effectively becoming Kurdistan.[23]
TheAssyrian Church of the East has its origin in what is now southeasternTurkey andAsoristan (SasanianAssyria). By the end of the 13th century, there were twelve Nestorian dioceses in a strip fromBeijing toSamarkand. Northern Iraq remained predominantlyAssyrian,Eastern Aramaic-speaking andChristian until the destructions of the 14th-century Muslim warlord ofTurco-Mongol descent,Timur (Tamerlane), who conqueredPersia,Mesopotamia andSyria. The civilian population was decimated, and the ancient city ofAssur was finally abandoned by the Assyrians after a 4000-year history. Timur had 70,000 Christian Assyrians beheaded inTikrit and 90,000 more inBaghdad.[24][25] Timur rewarded the Kurds for their support by "settling them in the devastated regions, which until then had been inhabited by the followers of theChurch of the East."[26]
In the 16th century, theOttomans reinforced their eastern frontier with what they considered loyalSunni Kurd tribes. They settledKurdish tribes in these regions and in 1583,Sultan Murad III "gave huge provinces to the Kurdish tribe of Mokri". According to Aboona, "many regions with numerous Assyrian and Armenian monuments and monasteries became completely populated by the Kurds afterChaldiran," and Kurdish historians wrote that "the land was cleared at this time, its indigenous inhabitants driven out by force". The Kurdish historian Ali al Qurani affirmed thatSarsing had "been an Assyrian town and that the Kurds who settled there were immigrants fromPersian Azerbaijan." Phebe Marr noted that "in the north too, many of the Kurdish tribes of Persia migrated to Iraq". British traveler James Rich observed in northern Iraq the "rapid influx of Kurds from Persia... and that their advance never ceased". He noted that "some ten thousand families, comprising seventy thousand souls, were constantly moving across the border". Southgate also observed the "rapid advance and settlement of the Kurds fromPersia into northern Iraq" around that time.[27] Dr. Grant shared an eyewitness account, stating: "Beth Garrnae (the region of Arbil-Kirkuk) once contained a large population of Nestorian Christians, they are now reduced to a few scattered villages... Within the last six years the Koords of Ravandoos and Amadia have successively swept over it.."[28] In the 17th century, a new epoch began when Emir Afrasiyab of Basra allowed the Portuguese to build a church outside of the city of Basra.
DuringWorld War I, the Assyrians of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran suffered theAssyrian genocide, which accounted for the deaths of up to 65% of the entire Assyrian population.[4]
In the early 1930s, the Iraqi Arab ministries disseminated leaflets among theKurds calling them to join the Arabs in massacring Assyrians.[29] This call appealed to Islamic convictions and united Arabs and Kurds against the "infidel" Christians.[29] Just before the Simele massacre of August 11, 1933, Kurds began a campaign of looting against Assyrian settlements.[29] The Assyrians fled to Simele, where they were also persecuted. Just after Iraq formally gained independence in 1933, theIraqi military led by Kurdish generalBakr Sidqi carried outlarge-scale massacres against the Assyrians in the city ofSimele which had beforehand supported the British colonial administration.[4] According to some studies, many eyewitness accounts attested of the many atrocities that Arabs and Kurds perpetrated against Assyrian women.[29]
Until the 1950s, theNineveh Plains (also known as Mosul Plains) had always been the cultural heartland for Chaldeans.[30] Many Christians moved to the southwards after 1933.[30] In 1832, 70% of Christians lived in and around Mosul.[30] By 1957 only 47 per cent remained there.[30] In 1958, the Kingdom of Iraq was toppled by a group of army officers led by Abdul Karim Qasim.[30] Iraqi Christians supported Qasim.[30] However, the population of Christians in the region reduced further during the 1963 coup, as many pro-Qasim and pro-Communist Christians fled Ba'ath reprisals.[30] By 1979, half of Iraqi Christians lived in Baghdad, comprising 14% of the city's population.[30]
Under the Ba'ath Party rule, Christians prospered.[30] However, dispute regarding the ethnic identity of Christians, who have predominantly identified as Assyrian.[30] In 1972, the government recognized the cultural rights of Assyrians, by allowing them to use Syriac language in media, education, and communications. However, this decree was not enforced. To consolidate power, the government launched a crackdown on minorities including Christians. According to several reports, Christians were forced to register themselves as either Arab or Kurd. However, according to many, government protection allowed Assyrian Christians to preserve their language and culture as they were not in a sensitive political arena.
Christians were tolerated under thesecular regime ofSaddam Hussein. Being a highly educated community, Christians were useful as effective administrators, civil officers, and bureaucrats.[31] Saddam made one of them,Tariq Aziz, his deputy and foreign minister.[31] Aziz was known as one of the most pioneering diplomats in the history or Iraq.[31] Churches and cathedrals were protected by the government.[31] Aside from Aziz, some well-known Christians in the military were Georges Sada,Kamel Hana Gegeo, and Malko Hana.[31] Christians were also offered positions in security, presidential, and mayoral sectors of the government. The 1987 Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians.[31]
As of 21 June 2007, theUNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[32] Some of those refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) were Christians.[33][34] A 25 May 2007 article noted that in the previous seven months only 69 people from Iraq had been grantedrefugee status in theUnited States.[35] After the2003 invasion of Iraq, violence against Christians rose, with reports of abduction, torture, bombings, and killings.[36] Some Christians were pressured to convert toIslam under threat of death or expulsion, and women were ordered to wear Islamic dress.[36][37]
In August 2004,International Christian Concern protested anattack by Islamists on Iraqi Christian churches that killed 11 people.[38] In 2006, an Orthodox Christian priest,Boulos Iskander, was beheaded and mutilated despite payment of a ransom, and in 2008, theAssyrian clergymanArchbishopPaulos Faraj Rahho of theChaldean Catholic Church inMosul was killed after being abducted.[36] In January 2008, bombs exploded outside nine churches.[36]
In 2007,Chaldean Catholic priest Fr.Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were all killed in Mosul.[39] Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and were ordered to convert to Islam; when they refused, they were shot.[39] Ganni was the pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul and a graduate from thePontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas,Angelicum in Rome in 2003 with a licentiate inecumenical theology. Six months later, the body ofPaulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried nearMosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed.[40]
In 2010, reports emerged in Mosul of people being stopped in the streets, asked for their identity cards, and shot if they had a first or last name indicatingAssyrian orChristian origin.[41] On 31 October 2010, 58 people, including 41 hostages and priests, were killed after anattack on an AssyrianSyriac Catholic church in Baghdad.[42] A group affiliated withAl-Qaeda, theIslamic State of Iraq, stated that Iraq's indigenous Christians were a "legitimate target."[43] In November, a series of bombings and mortar attacks targeted Christian Assyrian-majority areas of Baghdad.[43]
During the2014 Northern Iraq offensive, theIslamic State issued a decree in July that all Christians in the area of its control should either pay aspecial tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Islam, or die.[44] Many of them took refuge in nearbyKurdish-controlled regions of Iraq and the Shi'a holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.[45][46][47][48][49] Christian homes were painted with theArabic letter ن (nūn) forNassarah (an Arabic word that means "Christian" or literally "Nazarene") as well as a declaration that they were property of the Islamic State.[50] On 18 July, jihadists reversed course and announced that all Christians would need to leave or be killed.[51][52] Most Christians who fled had their valuable possessions stolen.[53][45]
Numerous Christian militias were created and joined thePopular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that helped in the liberation of territories taken by ISIS.[54] According toChaldean Catholic PatriarchLouis Raphaël I Sako, there were no Christians remaining in Mosul in 2015, for the first time in the nation's history.[55] But after Mosul's liberation in 2017, Christian families began to return.[56]
After theinvasion of Iraq by theU.S. andits allies in 2003, Christians were targeted by Islamist extremists.[57] Many of them fled from Baghdad and other areas to the Kurdistan region.[58] Christians who were too poor or unwilling to leave their ancient homeland fled mainly toErbil's Christian suburb ofAnkawa.[41] Around 10,000 Iraqi Christians live in theUnited Kingdom, led by ArchbishopAthanasios Dawood, who has called on the government to accept more refugees.[59] Apart fromemigration, the Christian share of the population is also declining due to lower birth rates and higher death rates compared to that of the Muslim population.[60] The war has caused the majority of Christians to leave Iraq.[61]
Today, an estimated 150,000 to 400,000 Christians remain in Iraq, down from 1.1 million in 2003.[61] Though the war has ended, fear and tensions persist.[62] Many Christians have returned to their historic homeland, while few families have returned to Mosul.[63][64] In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, in 2014, ten years after the invasion of Mosul by ISIS, ChaldeanArchbishop Bashar Warda, of Erbil, said that of the 13,200 families that had fled Mosul and Nineveh to Iraqi Kurdistan, around 9000 had returned, but that the Christian community still required international aid to avoid a new exodus.[65]
As per the constitution, Christians are one of the recognized religious groups in Iraq.[66] The constitution recognizes Aramaic as an official language in the Christian region.[66] The Council of Christian Church Leaders is the official body for Christians.[67] Christians participate in the political life of Iraq,[68] although their political influence is limited due to their reduced population.[68] According to Article 3 in the Constitution, all Iraqi communities and sects must be represented in the cabinet.[66] Christians have five reserved seats in the Parliament from the constituencies of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk and Duhok.[68] There are several Christian political parties and organizations in Iraq, such as theChaldean Democratic Party,Assyrian Democratic Movement,Chaldean National Congress,Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party, andBabylon Movement.[68] Some of these parties have seats in the parliament, while others were unable to win a seat. Christian militias that formed in Iraq are either affiliated with political parties, the PMF or the Kurdish government. Many still operate and protect Christian areas in Iraq, either within the KurdishPeshmerga or the PMF.
Christians are well-integrated in Christian-majority districts, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Shi'a-majority governorates in southeastern Iraq.[62][69] They can take government jobs, access education, and use other facilities, all while facing no political discrimination.[70] In Basra, Christians hold a quota seat on the provincial council, the highest local legislative and oversight authority.[62] The council, which consists of 35 members, is more favored than theMandaeans.[62] Dozens of Christians also work as employees in various government institutions, and doctors among them enjoy a distinguished professional reputation.[62] They have their own personal status law and Syriac is recognized as an official language of Iraq.[68] From 5 to 8 March 2021,Pope Francis paid Iraq an apostolicvisit, during which he visited the cities ofNajaf,Baghdad,Ur,Mosul,Qaraqosh andErbil.[71] He met with AyatollahAli al-Sistani and delivered a message of coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Iraq.
In an online conference hosted by pontifical charityAid to the Church in Need, in 2024, Nizar Semaan, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop ofAdiabene, in Northern Iraq, said that there is still danger of social fragmentation. "The problem with Iraq is that we are trying to create isolated islands for each community, with no common life. This is dangerous. You can live wherever you want, you can be proud of your identity, but don’t close your island to other people." He further stated that Christians would remain in the region, because "the people here are like olive trees. You can cut them, burn them, but after 10 or 20 years they will continue to give fruit. They tried everything, but we remain, and as a Church we do everything to give a sign of hope”.[72]
Although Christians are divided into many different groups and confessions, intermarriage is common and these differences are often neglected at a grassroots level. At an institutional level, ecumenical relations have improved since the persecutions carried out by the Islamic State, with a high point being the yearly joint celebration of theExaltation of the Holy Cross, in September. Speaking to International Catholic charityAid to the Church in Need,Chaldean CatholicArchbishop Bashar Warda explained that "young people from all Churches planned the festival together – organising prayers, sports, marathons, concerts, children’s games, and cultural events. Their collaboration became a visible sign of a new future. Older generations watched with admiration as the youth discovered that what unites them – their faith in Christ – is far greater than what divides them. In their hands, the dream of Christian unity in Iraq is already becoming a lived reality."[73]
From the late 13th century through to the present time, Christian Assyrians have suffered both religious and ethnic persecution, including a number of massacres and genocides.[41]
In 2010, PresidentJalal Talabani did not sign the death sentence order for former Iraqi Foreign MinisterTariq Aziz as he "sympathise[d] with Tariq Aziz because he is an Iraqi Christian."[74] This also came after appeals from the Holy See not to carry out the sentence.[75] On 5 June 2015, Aziz died at al-Hussein hospital in Nasiriyah after suffering from depression, diabetes, heart disease, and ulcers.[76][77]
Iraqi Christians have been victim of executions, forced displacement campaigns, torture, and violence, especially at the hands of Sunni fundamentalist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. Since the 2003 Iraq War, Iraqi Christians have fled from the country and their population has collapsed under the democratic government.[78] The majority of Christians have either fled to Iraqi Kurdistan or abroad. A population project by theShlama Foundation has estimated that, as of July 2020, 150,000 Christian Assyrians remain in Iraq,[79] down from approximately 1.5 million in 2003.[80]
In 2003, Iraqi Christians were the primary target of extremist Sunni Islamists. Many kidnapped Christians were forced to forsake Christianity or be tortured.
On 1 August, 2004, a series of car bombattacks took place during the Sunday evening Mass in churches of two Iraqi cities, Baghdad and Mosul, killing and wounding numerous Christians. Jordanian-Iraqi Sunni ArabAbu Musab al-Zarqawi was blamed for the attacks.
In 2006, an Orthodox priest, Boulos Iskander, was snatched off the streets of the Sunni city of Mosul by a Sunni group that demanded a ransom. His corpse was later found with its arms and legs cut off.
In 2007, reports emerged regarding an operation to drive Christians out of the historically Christian suburb of Dora in southern Baghdad, with some Muslim Arabs accusing the Christians of being allies of the Americans. Between 2007 and 2009, 239 similar cases were registered by police.[81]
In 2008, a priest namedRagheed Ganni, was shot dead in his church along with three of his companions. That same year, reports came out that many Christian students were harassed.
In 2008, the charity Barnabas Aid conducted research into 250 Iraqi Christian IDPs who had fled to Iraqi Kurdistan to seek refugee status and found nearly half had witnessed attacks on churches or Christians or had been personally targeted by violence.
In 2009, theKurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reported that more than 40,000 Christians had moved from Baghdad, Basra and Mosul into Iraqi Kurdistan's cities. Reports state that the number of Christian families moving to Iraqi Kurdistan is increasing. 11,000 of those families were reportedly given financial assistance and support, often in the form of employment, by the KRG.[82]
On 31 October 2010, Sunni Islamist groupsattacked a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad during Sunday evening Mass, killing more than 60 Iraqi Christians and wounding another 78.[83]
In 2011, Sunni extremists assassinated a Christian randomly using sniper rifles.[citation needed] Two months before the incident, two other Christians had been shot by a Sunni jihadist in Mosul while another two were shot for unknown reasons in Baghdad.[citation needed]
On 30 May 2011, a Christian man was beheaded by a Sunni man in Mosul.[84]
On 2 August 2011, a Catholic church was bombed by Sunni extremists in the Turkmen area ofKirkuk, wounding more than 23 Christians.
On 15 August 2011, a church was bombed by al-Qaeda in Kirkuk center.[85]
On 24 November 2013, a Christian journalist was gunned down in a targeted attack in Mosul.
On 25 December 2013, in Baghdad, Sunni extremistsdetonated two bombs targeting Christians observing Christmas in theAl-Dora area of theAl-Rashid district of Baghdad. First, a bomb was detonated in the mainly Christian Athorien (Hay Al-Athoriyeen) neighborhood market, killing at least eleven and injuring 40. Then, a bomb was detonated outside St. John's Roman Catholic Church targeting Christmas service worshippers, killing 27 and injuring 56.[86]
In 2014, during the2014 Northern Iraq offensive, ISIS ordered all Christians in the area of its control, where the Iraqi Army collapsed, to pay a special tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Sunni Islam, or die. Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish and Shia-majority areas of Iraq.
On 1 April 2025, an axe-wielding attacker struck a procession ofAssyrian Christians celebrating their new year inDohuk, Iraq, wounding three people. The assailant, who shouted Islamic slogans and identified with theIslamic State, injured a 17-year-old boy, a 75-year-old woman, and a local security officer. The attack occurred during the annualAkitu festival, which draws Assyrians from Iraq and the diaspora. Despite the violence, the Assyrian community continued the celebrations, displaying resilience. Local leaders condemned the attack and called for a review of educational curricula to address extremism.[87]
ManyAssyrians activists claim they have suffered not only fromArabization, but alsoKurdification inIraqi Kurdistan, mainly inKDP-controlled areas. Assyrian activists have claimed that the number of Christians live in Iraqi Kurdistan has declined.[note 1] Iraqi Kurdistan accepted more than 200,000 Christians refugees andIDPs who had fled from other areas of Iraq between 2012 and 2016.[91]
Many Assyrian organizations have also claimed that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has hindered international aid from reaching Christian Assyrians and at times attempted to prevent Assyrian Aramaic schools.[92] However, the KRG's annual report stated that the government rebuilt and renovated over 20 Christian churches in the region and reconstructed more than 105 Christian villages.[93]
Assyrians who have arrived as IDPs to Iraqi Kurdistan have demanded more rights from the KRG which has led to serious disputes. In 2014, Assyrian International News Agency stated:
Institutions and government agencies in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region use both languages. The Constitution also stipulates that Turkmen and Syriac are official languages in the administrative units where native speakers of these languages comprise a significant proportion of the population (a law has also included the Armenian language alongside Turkmen and Syriac). The Constitution notes that any region or province can adopt an additional language as a "local official language" if the majority of the region or province's residents agree to this in a general referendum.
Some have also complained that adults have to join the KDP in the KDP-majority areas of Iraqi Kurdistan in order to be granted employment and that KDP representatives are allowed to settle in Assyrian villages.[92] Some Christian IDPs had claimed that Arabs, Kurds and Islamists are fully aware that Assyrians have no means of protection in the face of attacks. In 2005, the U.S. Department of State's 2005 Human Rights Country Report for Iraq shared reports that many of the mostly non-Muslim residents of theNineveh Plains were unable to vote in the January election and incidents of voter fraud and intimidation occurred during theIraq War. It was reported that Kurdish security forces also prevented ballot boxes from arriving in some Christian villages, fearing that Christians would favor the central Iraqi government.[94] Some cases of illegal land and property seizures of Christian Assyrian lands by KDP members were also claimed.[94]
Michael Youash, an Assyrian expert, had stated in a report that the KRG was unable to provide safe haven for all Christians. He claimed that the KDP publicizes that tens of thousands of Christian Assyrian families are coming to the safety of Iraqi Kurdistan from Arab areas, but "hundreds of thousands" of Christians are leaving the country (Iraq) entirely. He claims that this is directly connected to the problems of "illegal land seizures".[94]
There have been reports that Kurdish security forces have also committed abuses against some Christians in northern Iraq during theIraq War of 2003. These included threats and intimidation to detentions and torture.[95] In 1992, Assyrians who supported Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein published a communiqué, which warned against the continuous process of Kurdification in northern Iraq, stating: "The Kurdish leadership, and in a well-planned program, had begun to settle Kurds and in large numbers around Assyrian regions likeSarsank,Barwari Bala and others. They claimed that Kurdish housing project was natural to change the demographic, economic, and civic structure of the Christian regions in only few short years; a process that forced the Christians to emigrate as the vacant homes were overtaken by 'the Kurds'."[96] Francis Yusuf Shabo was a Christian Assyrian politician who dealt with complaints by Christian Assyrians regarding their forced eviction from their villages during the Arabization and those same villages' later resettlement by Arabs and Kurds.[96]
Human Rights Watch reported that some Kurds and minorities, including Christians, have gone into dispute over land. Saddam Hussein's genocidal campaign targeting Kurds, many of whom have returned to their villages, have had deep issues with local people (including Christian Assyrians) whom they have accused of supporting Saddam's genocidal campaign against them during theAl-Anfal campaign. According to the HRW, minorities in those disputed villages have been victimized by Kurdish authorities’ heavy handed tactics, "including arbitrary arrests and detentions, and intimidation, directed at anyone resistant to Kurdish expansionist plans". These disputes have created an opening for Sunni Arab extremists, who continue their campaign of killing minorities, especially religious Christian minorities.
HRW reported that for the Kurds to politically incorporateNineveh Plains into Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish authorities in that area have embarked on a two-pronged approach: they have offered minorities of the Nineveh Plains inducements while simultaneously wielding repression in order to keep them in tow. Some argue that this approach intends to pushShabak andYazidi communities into identifying as ethnic Kurds and to induce Christians into siding with the Kurdish government's stance on any referendum concerning the future of the disputed territories.
Kurdish authorities have tried to win favor with the minority communities by spending millions of Iraqi dinars to build a pro-Kurdish system of patronage by helping make minority communities wealthier, financing alternative civil society organizations to compete with, undermine, and challenge the authority of established groups, many of which oppose Kurdish rule. The KRG also funds private militias created to protect minority communities from outside violence, in which Iraqi authorities have failed, but which mainly serve to entrench Kurdish influence. Finally, the Kurdish leadership has enriched the coffers of Christian and Yazidi religious leaders and paid for expensive new places of worship in order to win over minority religious establishments.
In 2009, during the Iraq War, HRW stated that "KRG authorities have relied on intimidation, threats, and arbitrary arrests and detentions, more than actual violence, in their efforts to secure support of minority communities for their agenda regarding the disputed territories. A Chaldo-Assyrian leader described the Kurdish campaign to Human Rights Watch as “the overarching, omnipresent reach of a highly effective and authoritarian regime that has much of the population under control through fear.”[97]
During the2011 Dohuk riots, a group of Kurdish radical Islamists attacked properties of Christian Assyrians, Yazidis and non-Muslim Kurds. Attackers were instigated by Friday prayer sermons of radical clerics who had come from other parts of Iraq.[98][99][100][101][102][103]
According to Youash Michael,Peshmerga forces oversaw security in the Nineveh Plains in 2008, allowing the KDP to deny the minorities of the Nineveh Plains a chance to express their will electorally. He also claimed that Kurds had seized the lands of two refugees and the KRG would not enforce any decree requiring the return of land to "original Assyrian inhabitants".[94]
In 2023, the country was scored 1 out of 4 for religious freedom.[104] In the same year, it was ranked as the 18th worst place in the world to be a Christian.[105]
In 2022, Christian leaders report that the number of Christians has dropped from a pre-2003 estimate of fewer than 1.5 million to 150,000.[106] However, due to a lack of an official census, the number is difficult to estimate.[107] According to the Directorate of Christian Affairs in the Ministry of Endowments, around 350,000–400,000 Christians live in Iraq.[1]
80% of Iraqi Christians belong to theChaldean Catholic Church which, despite the name "Chaldean", consists mostly of ethnic Assyrians just as the Assyrian and Syriac churches do.[108] The Chaldean Catholic Church is a 17th-century offshoot of theAssyrian Church of the East, which maintains some followers to this day.[109] Before the advent of Islam, most people living in what is now Iraq followed Syriac Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Judaism, or ancient Mesopotamian religions. There are about 60,000Iraqi Armenians who follow either theArmenian Apostolic Church or theArmenian Catholic Church. Several thousand Arab Christians who are eitherGreek Orthodox orMelkite Catholic are largely concentrated inBaghdad.[110] Other Christians live primarily inBasra,Mosul,Erbil, andKirkuk, as well as in theAssyrian homeland regions ofNineveh Plains,Duhok, andZakho in the north.[4]
| Christian Group | Christian Denominations | % of Christian population[111] |
|---|---|---|
| Chaldeans (80%) | Chaldean Catholic Church | 80% |
| Syriacs (10%) | Syriac Catholic Church | 8% |
| Syriac Orthodox Church | 2% | |
| Assyrians (5%) | Assyrian Church of the East | 5% |
| Ancient Assyrian Church of the East | ||
| Armenians (3%) | Armenian Orthodox Church | 3% |
| Armenian Catholic Church | ||
| Arabs (2%) | Various | 2% |
The majority ofIraqi Christians belong to branches ofSyriac Christianity, whose followers are mostly ethnicAssyrians adhering to both theEast Syriac Rite andWest Syriac Rite:
Followers of these churches are almost exclusively ethnicArmenians, using theArmenian Rite:
Followers of these churches are an ethnic mix known asMelkites:
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title= (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Sovereign states |
|
|---|---|
| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
