"This is not more my country" The plight of Iraqi Christians and the "dream" of leaving

Source: SIR

By Daniele Rocchi

Translated by Baghdadhope

They were 1 million and a half during Saddam Hussein’s regime, 400mila today. In 4 years 50 churches were destroyed, three priests were killed, many have lost their government jobs. Many were forced, under death penalty, to cede lands and houses, to leave their native cities and villages, to find refuge in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and in Iraqi Kurdistan. These figures paint the dramatic condition of the Christian communities in Iraq today. We talked to the Latin Archbishop of Baghdad, Mgr. B. Jean Sleiman.
It is said that violence in Baghdad is decreasing. Is it true or is it just propaganda? "The impression is that of a decreased violence but it could also be a deception because the violence changes, the players change and with them the kind of violence. There is not a solution in sight by now, and until it is not found we cannot talk about a future for Iraq. The dream of leaving is great even among those who now lives in safe conditions. Nobody can guarantee the future ".
Not even the government?

"The word “future” in Iraq rhymes with miracle. Problems of Iraq are complex, and I think that up to now nobody worked to solve them. Every faction, every actor in the arena inside the country has its own interests and do not think about the future of the country. Iraq, the country of oil, has no gasoline for his people. Iraq is still neglected."
All this violence was, in some ways, predictable?

"The Iraqi society during Saddam Hussein’s regime was frozen. Once Saddam fell all political, ethnic and confessional conflicts smouldering, but that had never been solved, exploded. Dictatorship through violence had forced everyone to keep silent. Now old wounds are reopening. It is the time of reckoning.

Click on "Leggi tutto" for the translation of the whole interview by SIR
The government speaks of reconciliation and has also enacted a law to reinstate second level officials of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party ...

"There is some talk of political reconciliation but it is only a compromise: you will have 2 ministers, to another one 3 of them will be guaranteed, and so on. The law to reinstate officials of the Baath Party promulgated to reconcile Shiites and Sunnis can help, but we must see how it will be applied. Baathist people will come back and with them also feelings of revenge. It is worth recalling that many were in the party for obligation and not by choice, and that not all of them are guilty of crimes. A collective punishment for former baathists is unjust."
The violence generated by the clash between Shiites and Sunnis and by the lack of security also affects Christians. Are the sufferings of Christians the same of Muslims?

"When a car explodes death makes no distinction. Between Shiites and Sunnis there are fightings and ethnic cleansing. Christians have never seized a person, have never done evil, they only suffer. It is an important difference. Christians, as a minority, are weak and not protected by security forces. We do not want to distinguish between those who suffer more or less, but pain inflicted to minorities is gratuitous."
Is it correct to speak of persecution?

"In some cases it is correct to speak of persecution, in other of pressure. It cannot be said that there are organized plans to persecute Christians, but in certain situations it is necessary to talk about persecution as, for example, speaking of the Christian district of Dora, in Baghdad, where entire Christian families were forced to flee to not give their daughters to Islamic fundamentalists, not to be forcibly converted to Islam, not to pay the fee of protection, not to be killed. Fortunately this is not so in all the country. "
To tackle violence against Christian communities it has been proposed the creation of a Christian enclave in the Nineveh Plain. Do you agree?

"No. The project has been thought for Christians but not in their interest. Christians in Nineveh would form a besieged community, deprived of all means of subsistence. Isolation is serious, especially for Christians who are called to be open to others. They would live in a buffer land among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. "
The exodus of Christians from Iraq into neighbouring countries could facilitate a repositioning of the Christian communities in the Middle East?

"I will answer with an example: Lebanon was once a popular destination for Christians who emigrated there but it is no more so. The spectacle offered by Lebanon is that of a country prey to a political crisis generating violence. I don’t believe, therefore, to a repositioning in the Middle East but rather to a haemorrhage outside the region. "
In your opinion, then, the risk of disappearance of Christians from Iraq is real?

"In Iraqi Christians there is a strong fear of tomorrow. They live a tragedy ending with a self-exile. The risk is real. Someone tries to come back but they are few. There is a psychological suffering in coming back since it means having achieved nothing. To leave many people sold everything, left jobs and it is difficult to find a new one. The more widespread feeling among Christian refugees is to have lost the ties with their own country, with its culture. Many come to say - this is not more my country -".