Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Sunday, 10 October 2021
Iraq: Ankawa, home of the Christians, comes of age

John Pontifex/ churchinneed.org :

The creation of "the biggest district of Christians in the Middle East" has been warmly welcomed by a bishop from the area who sees the development as critical for securing the future of the Church in the country.

 

Syriac Catholic Archbishop Nathaniel Nizar Semaan of Adiabene told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he is “delighted” that the government in Kurdish northern Iraq is making the Erbil suburb of Ankawa an administrative district in its own right.

 

The announcement by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government, will mean that people in Ankawa –home to 60,000 Christians—have the authority to elect civil leaders such as a mayor, and powers over security and welfare support. Until now, Ankawa, which is 80 percent Christian, has been a sub-district of Erbil.

 

Ankawa’s Christian population dramatically increased overnight in August 2014 after up to 120,000 faithful fled following the ISIS invasion of the nearby Nineveh Plains in Iraq proper. Although large numbers have returned following the military defeat of ISIS, many Christians have stayed in Ankawa.

 

Prime Minister Barzani’s announcement this week that “Ankawa will be the biggest district of Christians in the Middle East” came shortly after a meeting with Archbishop Semaan and other bishops, including Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Nicodemus Sharaf. The bishops presented Mr. Barzani with a written request to grant what Archbishop Semaan called “special status” to Ankawa on grounds of its increased population.

 

Stressing that district status would not turn Ankawa into a Christian ghetto, Archbishop Semaan spoke of the area forming part of a triangle of Christian centers including the towns of Qaraqosh and Alqosh, both on the Nineveh Plains. He added: “Ankawa becoming a separate district will help us witness to our faith to the whole of Iraq, showing that there are still Christians here. “We are not inviting the people of Nineveh to come and live here [in Ankawa] but if they want to come, they are welcome. It is better if they come [to Ankawa] than leave Iraq.”

 

Praising the decision to make Ankawa a district, Nadine Maenza, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) stated: “Encouraging to see Masrour Barzani’s announcement that they will put Ankawa under administrative control of its Christian residents with the ability to ‘directly shape their destinies’.”