By Al Monitor
Touma Youssef, an Iraqi Christian
known as Abu Finan, stood for the first time in 2½ years before the
front door of his house in the town of Karemlash, east of Mosul.
Sadness filled his eyes as he looked at what was left. Abu Finan,
after retiring from the Department of Agriculture in Ninevah province,
had spent his time enjoying his own garden, planting various types of
flowers and trees.
Now his garden is gone. Islamic State (IS)
fighters destroyed it when they took control of the area in mid-2014
and turned his house into a military base. They wrecked the furniture
and looted the family's belongings. When the Iraqi army liberated
the town on Oct. 24, all that was left in Abu Finan's house was a mess,
and walls filled with slogans inciting violence against Christians.
“I returned home with my wife to clean it and try to repair the
damages. I brought along several workers to clean the garden. We are
getting ready to return home now. … We insist on coming back despite
everything and despite all the circumstances,” he told Al-Monitor.
His wife, Amira Mubarak, was picking up remnants of clothes strewn
around on the floor to burn them. She told Al-Monitor it is imperative
that the state provide protection for Christians in Ninevah Valley. “We
are ready to return, but we need the state to give us protection guarantees so that we don’t face the same tragedy of the past two years,” she said.
The couple has been luckier than some other families in the town, as IS did not burn down their house or otherwise destroy it, as was the case with 70% of the houses.
As Christian families are preparing to return to the liberated areas,
Al-Monitor saw groups of young Christian volunteers cleaning homes and
other buildings, and clearing roads.
“We, as volunteers, are working on a daily basis in Karemlash to
clean houses, churches and streets in coordination with the town’s
citizens," Valentine, a Christian youth who was lighting a candle in St.
Addai Church in the center of Karemlash, told Al-Monitor. "We are eager
to return to our liberated areas."
The Rev. Thabet Habib of the church in Karemlash told Al-Monitor,
“The time has come for Christians to return to the liberated areas in
Ninevah Valley, now that the military operations have ended. This return
will be gradual.”
Habib said 80% of the infrastructure is
destroyed in Hamdaniya district, where Karemlash is located. About half
of the displaced people have expressed their willingness to return
right away and the rest will come gradually, he said. However, Habib
noted some obstacles that might delay the return.
“Some people are afraid of a [lingering] presence of IS members or
individuals accused of being loyal to IS in the remote town," he said.
"Other people have lost faith in the neighbors who partook in the
looting and burning of houses. These are the same people who used to
visit our areas and live with us before IS controlled them."
Habib stressed that the security situation needs to be
carefully clarified and resolved. He said that people accused of
belonging to terrorist groups should be held accountable and that
Christians should be given guarantees that their areas will be
protected. “Christians must feel that they are the decision-makers in
their own areas,” he added.
Now that it has been liberated, the district falls under the control of the local police in addition to two Christian factions, the Ninevah Plain Protection Units and the Babylon Brigades, which fought with the Popular Mobilization Units to oust IS.
Despite the passage of nearly three months since the liberation of
Hamdaniya, the area is not ready for all the residents to
return. District Commissioner Nissan Kurumi said the first task at hand
is to rebuild infrastructure and restore main services.
Kurumi told Al-Monitor, “The Iraqi government, the international
community and the concerned organizations have not taken any step for
reconstruction.”
Sara Bahnam, a displaced Karemlash villager, has been staying in
Ankawa. Many have taken refuge in the Erbil suburb. She told Al-Monitor,
“We are sick and tired of being displaced and paying rent in recent
years. I will be the first to return to Hamdaniya and to my house,
whatever the obstacles. The areas are now liberated from the clutches of
IS.”
The population of Hamdaniya
district, which is mostly Christian, was 175,000 in 2009, according to
the Statistics Directorate of Ninevah, and is estimated to have reached
about 200,000 before IS attacked in 2014.