Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christians in Iraq celebrate Christmas in Kurdistan

12/25/2012 Iraq (RFI) – Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities. In the last decade it has also welcomed Christians from the rest of Iraq who were persecuted for their religious beliefs. Christmas in Kurdistan takes on a special meaning for Christians knowing that not all their fellow citizens are free to celebrate the holiday.

You might think that one place you could avoid Christmas music in mid-December would be Iraq. But driving through Erbil, capital of the country’s Kurdistan Region, on a wet December afternoon, the local Babylon FM radio station has a full festive play list. That’s because Kurdistan is very different from the rest of the country as many Iraqi Christian refugees have discovered in recent years.

Since the 2003 Iraq war, the Kurdistan Region has offered a safe haven to Christians fleeing religious persecution in Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and other Southern Iraqi cities. The small suburb of Ainkawa lies on the edge of the region’s capital Erbil and about 90% of its 40,000 strong population is Christian, most of them Assyrians or Chaldeon Catholics.

Ninos Mishu is a priest at the Assyrian Church of the East, St John Baptism Church, in Ainkawa, Erbil.
“We have [on] 24th, Monday, we have a prayer beginning at 7.30 for celebration for  coming of Jesus. And at morning 7.30, Tuesday, 25 December, we have a holy mass.”

“We are free here in Kurdistan to use our church here to pray, to make a holy mass. We are so safe here. We are always celebrating our prayers or holy mass. And there is no problems recorded until now. Thanks for God, and for our government that love the Christian people. And our neighbors, the Muslims, they are always giving their greetings for us, in Christmas or Easter(Source).”

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