Iraqi Parliament approves Christmas as public holiday for all Iraqis

BAGHDAD — During the 29th session of the Iraqi Parliament on Wednesday, Christmas was officially recognized as a public holiday for all Iraqis.

The approval came after a request by Iraqi President Barham Salih to make 25 December a public holiday, a move widely welcomed by Iraqis of all backgrounds.

The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities, Hassan Nazim, confirmed that the Ministry is preparing for an expanded meeting to draft a list of public holidays to be proposed the Council of Ministers.

Previously, Christmas was a recognized holiday for only Christians, but the Parliament’s recent decision makes it a public holiday for all Iraqis.

The Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people are one of the indigenous peoples of Iraq, but the displacement that they have been subjected to since 2003 has diminished their numbers. The displacement of residents of Nineveh Plains during the control of the region by the Islamic State (ISIS) accelerated the decline in the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian population.

In an interview with Radio France International (RFI), Syriac William Warda of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, the number of Christian Chaldeans–Syriacs–Assyrians left in Iraq numbers somewhere between 300–400 thousand, down from 1.5 million in 2003.

Also Read: Sharp decline in the number of Christian Chaldeans–Syriacs–Assyrians, two-thirds of Suraye have left Iraq since 2003