With Each New Upheaval In Iraq, More Minorities Flee
An Iraqi Christian prays inside a shrine on the grounds of the Mazar Mar Eillia Catholic Church in Irbil, in northern Iraq. Irbil has become home to hundreds of Iraqi Christians who fled their homes as the Islamic State advanced earlier this year. Matt Cardy/Getty Images hide caption
An Iraqi Christian prays inside a shrine on the grounds of the Mazar Mar Eillia Catholic Church in Irbil, in northern Iraq. Irbil has become home to hundreds of Iraqi Christians who fled their homes as the Islamic State advanced earlier this year.
Northern Iraq is a lot more diverse than just Arabs and Kurds or Sunni and Shiite. For centuries, it has been home to multiple religious groups with ancient roots in the region.
But more than a decade of turmoil has driven many religious minorities out, with the most recent example being the onslaught of the self-proclaimed Islamic State militants, or ISIS.
The scene recently at the humble Mar Yusef church in the northern city of Dohuk encapsulates the situation. The denominations worship in shifts. Chaldean Christians at 6 p.m., followed by Orthodox an hour later and then the Syriacs.
Their clergy, in distinctive robes and hats particular to their fold, greet the faithful at the modest house of worship on a side street in a predominantly Kurdish town. The wooden pews are rough, space heaters provide warmth and a twinkling Christmas tree marks the season.
But now attendance is sparse because so many Christians have already left Iraq.
Dr. Kamal Yusef is waiting on this rainy night to pray with his family, but he, too, hopes to leave Iraq. His home was in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. But a few months ago, Islamist militants from the Islamic State arrived at his front door with AK-47s and delivered a bleak menu of choices: He could stay and pay a tax, he could convert, or they would kill him.
"You have to change your religion to stay there," he says with a bitter laugh.
ISIS seized Yusef's home and drove the Christian community out of Mosul where Christians have lived for some 2,000 years. He says Christians can no longer feel at home in Iraq.
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With Each New Upheaval In Iraq, More Minorities Flee