“The idea of the Nineveh Plain is harmful”. The patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, mgr. Shlemon Warduni, does not mince his words as he rejects the proposal of setting up a Christian enclave in Nineveh, under Kurdistan’s administration. A proposal that was revived in the run-up to the referendum of July 25th on the plan of a new Constitution for Kurdistan. “It would be a harmful choice for all Christians – he says to SIR –. Christians may not be locked up in a ghetto, Christians are all for openness”. According to the vicar, “there is just one Iraq, one Iraqi population, that is composed of multiple ethnic groups and religions. Iraq must remain one, and everyone must enjoy its wealth. We will be the richer when the Arab, Chaldean, Assyrian, Kurdish, Turkish cultures will be able to live together. This makes the wealth of a nation. I cannot accept a divided Iraq. As Christians, we must work for unity, cooperation and solidarity. We must get out of small circles and partisan interests”. This opinion is shared by mgr. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, who, no more than a few weeks ago, stated, also to SIR, that “asking for an enclave for Christians is a dangerous political game: a ghetto would result in sectarian, religious and political riots; our freedom would be diminished. Asking for the creation of a ghetto is against the Christian message, that wants us to be salt and leaven amidst the dough of mankind”.

© SIR - august 28 2009