Assyrian Christians face violence in Iraq, may flee

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Some observers say many of Iraq’s more than 1 million Assyrian Christians may be forced to flee the country because of growing sectarian violence.

The office of the U.N. high commissioner for refugees says Assyrian Christians, who made up 5 percent of Iraq’s total population before the U.S. invasion in 2003, now comprise "upwards of 40 percent of (Iraqi) refugees," most fleeing to Jordan and Syria. Pascale Warda, former Iraqi minister of displacement and migration, said Oct. 18 that the country’s Assyrian Christians — also known as Chaldeans — are being targeted by hard-line Sunni and Shiite Muslims. In addition, Kurds are seizing land owned by some Assyrian Christians and denying them access to water, according to the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project, which focuses on issues affecting Iraq’s minorities. "This is a dark phase for us," said Warda, an Assyrian Christian. "The situation is turning more and more (violent)."

Advocates for Assyrian Christians are pushing for a multiethnic, self-governing region in northern Iraq that would be a safe haven for them and for other Iraqi minorities. The Assyrians can be traced back to 2400 B.C. They became Christians early in the Christian era.