NINEVEH PLAINS: Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian Minister of Immigration Evan Jabro visits Bartella

BARTELLA, Iraq —   The Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian Minister of Immigration and Displacement in the Iraqi government Evan Jabro over the weekend visited the Bartella Syriac Orthodox Church in Iraq.

The visiting delegation included the Governor of Nineveh Najm al-Jubouri, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to Iraq Ghulam Muhammad, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Components Affairs Nofal Baha and advisor to the President of the Republic of Iraq Muhammed Amin.

The delegation was received by the Syriac Orthodox Chorepiscopus Kuryakos Taraji, Fr Yaqub Saadi, priest Aphrem Khoury, former MP Raed Ishaq and head of the Bartella Syriac Council Salem Matti.

Jabro toured the church and discussed with the priests the situation of the ethnic components present in the region in general and the situation of the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people in particular. The need to provide all the basic services to the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people in Bartella and in the Nineveh Plain were also discussed.

The minister was informed about the most pressing challenges with which the Christian presence is confronted in Iraq, and which work should be done to ensure that Christian survive as a native component in Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia). Before the terrorist organization Islamic State took over the Nineveh Plains in 2015, there were 3,200 Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian families in Bartella. Now there are only 1,723 families.

Evan Jabro is a Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and was born in Basra in 1981. She was appointed as Minister of Immigration and Displaced in the government of Mustapha al-Kadhimi in 2020.