By Rudaw
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday inaugurated a new church in Erbil's Christian-majority Ankawa district. A gift from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the church is part of Erbil’s broader effort to foster a culture of tolerance, religious freedom, and peaceful coexistence, Premier Barzani asserted.
The Kurdistan Region Prime Minister cut the ribbon for the Um al-Nour - "Mother of Light" - Church during an official ceremony attended by two topmost leaders of Levantine Christians: Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and the World and Ignatius Aphrem II, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, alongside a number of dignitaries.
Addressing the crowd at the church, Premier Barzani emphasized the spiritual significance of the name, stating, “The church's name, Um al-Nour, is a title of the Virgin Mary, peace be upon her, who holds a revered status in both the Christian and Islamic religions, in addition to being a common name in Kurdish society.”
He further confirmed that “this church is a gift from the Kurdistan Regional Government to the displaced and expelled [Christians]” from their historic heartland, the Nineveh Plains, “whose unstable security conditions have not allowed them to return to their regions.”
Cardinal Sako said he was “in awe of the magnitude of the venue,” which he noted reflects Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani’s commendable “love and care for his people,” describing the Um al-Nour Church as living proof of the latter. He stressed that the church is not only a house of worship for Christians but for all, including Kurds, adding, “God is for everyone.”
Safe haven for the persecuted
Prime Minister Barzani on Sunday recounted how the Kurdistan Region opened its doors to the “tens of thousands of Christian families who were forcibly displaced from Mosul and the Nineveh Plains after the attacks by [the Islamic State (ISIS)] Daesh terrorists, where they found a safe haven to live in peace and harmony under the wing of the Region.”
In 2014, ISIS launched a blitz offensive, seizing large swathes of territory in Iraq’s north and west. The group’s persecution of minority groups - including Christians, Turkmen, Shabak, and Yazidis - prompted hundreds of thousands to flee, with many settling in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Duhok provinces.
As of mid-2025, the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) report that some 103,000 to 109,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in camps within the Kurdistan Region. Meanwhile, the majority of IDPs in the Region live outside camps, having settled in urban areas.
Speaking at the inauguration as well, Mor Nicodemus Daoud Matti Sharaf, the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Nineveh’s provincial capital, Mosul, expressed “deep gratitude for the respected” KRG and Prime Minister Barzani, whose leadership, he said, is inspired from “the path of the Barzani family led by President Masoud Barzani.”
“When we came from Mosul [in 2014], carrying our wounds and pains after we were expelled by [ISIS],” Sharaf recalled, he remembered the “lasting words” of President Barzani, who then told them, “Do not be saddened. You are not our guests [in the Kurdistan Region]; you are in your own home and land. And whatever happens to you, happens to us. Whether we live together or die together, we will be together.”
“If the words of the father [Masoud Barzani] are as such, then it is no surprise that the son [Masrour Barzani] follows in his father’s footsteps,” the Archbishop affirmed.
Since 2003, prior to the 2014 ISIS onslaught, the Kurdistan Region has served as a sanctuary for many of Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities due to its relative stability and security amid broader violence and sectarian conflict in Iraq.
The Region’s political system has also made institutional efforts to include minorities - most notably through a quota system in the Kurdish legislature. This system reserves a specific number of seats for minority groups, including Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christians, along with Turkmen and Armenians, to ensure their political voice is heard.
Prime Minister Barzani on Sunday reaffirmed the KRG's commitment to all faiths, mentioning the recent inauguration of a vital road near the Lalish Temple for Yazidis, and plans to lay the foundation stone for the al-Azhar Religious Institute in Erbil.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government will continue to support the principles of peace, coexistence, and respect for all religions,” he concluded.
