Source: SIRPhoto: Ankawa.com
Delegates of Arab, Turkish, Turkoman, Sunni and Shiite political and religious organisations visited the Chaldean bishopric in Kirkuk to express their solidarity with the Christian minority after the Iraqi Parliament had repealed, a few days ago, art. 50 of the electoral law of the Provincial Councils, which gave 15 seats to the minorities in six provinces: 13 to Christians, one to Shabak and one to Yazidi. This was told to SIR by the archbishop of Kirkuk, mgr. Louis Sako: “all the delegation – he states – expressed the firm belief that Christians are a fundamental presence in the country, praising their culture and civilisation. They cannot therefore be cast out of the political life and excluded from the mosaic that the beloved Iraq puts together”. Mgr. Sako thanked them for the visit and expressed his “sincere thanks and real appreciation for the solidarity” shown by the delegation and insisted that “this is an important time for the Iraqi Christians who are called to stay united”.