Dale Gavlak
As Christians in Iraq prepare to mark Easter Sunday this weekend, the country's Chaldean Catholic archbishop says religious minorities there deserve for their futures to be secure and their rights to be respected.
In the Christian enclave of Ankawa, in Iraq's northern Kurdish capital of Irbil, the faithful are gearing up for Easter celebrations, following a period of fasting and prayer known as Lent.
Over the weekend, many Iraqi Christians turned out for Palm Sunday observances by gathering in churches and on streets and waving olive branches, a symbol of the peace.
A Catholic government employee who provided only his first name, Sarmeen, described the occasion as a time for Christians to celebrate Jesus, and for children, especially, to recognize their heritage and have hope for the future.
Many Iraqis say this is especially important following the persecution of ethnic Yazidis and other religious minorities by the so-called Islamic State group.
In 2014, IS rampaged through the Yazidi heartland in northern Iraq. In many cases, they forced young women into sex slavery. Many in the Yazidi community, which numbers more than half a million, were displaced and an estimated 5,000 were killed.
Meanwhile, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Irbil, Bashar Warda, told VOA that Iraq's rich mosaic of ethnic and religious minorities, such as the Christians, feels insecure due to a lack of political stability. He noted internal disputes between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Irbil, as well as interference from Iran.
"Our concern as a Church is the lack of a secure future, which most of our families still feel because the whole Middle East is unstable yet," Warda said. "The political process after 20 years is still very fragile in Iraq. From time to time, we have all these political crises between Baghdad and Irbil that affects the economy, the social life and gives concern that all of those political parties have not yet really matured enough to lead this nation towards a prosper[ous] future."
Warda said the rights of all of Iraq's ethnic and religious minorities must be enshrined in the country's constitution. He said action, not just words, must be undertaken by the government to ensure that Iraqis of all backgrounds are recognized and respected.
"In a sectarian society like the one that we have, the voice of the minority will always be weak. So, you need a government program that comes from the voice of the majority ... [to]do something concrete. It's always a call for reconciliation, a call for national identity. But you need an act, not a call, an act for that," Warda said.
Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Christians numbered around 1.5 million. Two decades later, an estimated 250,000 remain in the country, analysts say.
Sectarian violence and attacks on Christian churches and families in the war's aftermath, as well as the attempted genocide by Islamic State of Iraq's religious minorities, led to large numbers of Christians fleeing Iraq.