Swedish Christian Democratic party: Syriacs in Iraq need protection and self-government

Member of Parliament Lars Adaktusson of the Christian Democratic party in the Swedish Riksdag submitted parliamentary questions to Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Lind on the troublesome situation of Syriacs in Iraq. The KristDemokraterna MP raised the parliamentary questions after a recent visit, his fifth, together with foreign affairs representative of the European Syriac Union Metin Rhawi to the Nineveh Plain in Iraq. Adaktusson and Rhawi visited Syriac historical hometowns and villages as Baritle, Baghdede, Qeremles, Alqosh, Telesqof and also post-ISIS Mosul. In an interview with Swedish newspaper Dagen on his visit to the Nineveh Plain Adaktusson stated, “Christian Syriacs will survive but the mosaic of Iraqi past is gone”.

In his introductory note “The threat to Christian communities in Iraq” to his questions to Foreign Minister Ann Lind, Adaktusson raised awareness to the fact that the Syriac Christians of Iraq became defenseless victims after ISIS advanced on the Nineveh Plain in 2014 “there was no choice but to leave everything they owned and flee… Cold-blooded, ISIS carried out genocide on Christian population groups and Yazidis.”

On the difficult post-ISIS situation of Assyrians-Syriacs-Chaldeans, “With silent approval from Baghdad what can only be called a targeted demographic change is in progress.” In cities and communities on the Nineveh plain, the population composition is changing – where Christian families have moved out, Muslim families are moving in. In several places where Assyrians-Syriacs-Chaldeans have historically been the majority, Shiite Shabak take over.

The responsibility for stopping this serious development lies with the political leadership in Baghdad. The Iraqi government has the opportunity to take the necessary actions that currently matter most to the Christian population in Iraq. It is about upgrading the Nineveh Plain to the status of province and giving Assyrians-Syriacs-Chaldeans the right to decide on their own future through political self-government within the framework of Iraq’s federal constitution.

“Against this background, I would like to ask Foreign Minister Ann Linde:

1) Is the minister prepared to demand in political and diplomatic contacts that the Iraqi government take responsibility and actively protect its country’s Christian population?

2) Does the Minister support the creation of a province followed by political self-government for the Nineveh Plain of Assyrians-Syriacs-Chaldeans? “