The Common Ills: Iraqi Christians continue to flee, Turkey and the PKK get closer?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Iraqi Christians continue to flee, Turkey and the PKK get closer?

Last week, Trina wrote about Iraqi Christians, "Like other religious minorities in Iraq, the Christian population has just been targeted over and over. The Jewish population? You can count it on one hand and have fingers left over. The Jewish population has been run out of the country. I want the Iraqi Christians to be safe so I will not say, 'I hope they are not run out of their own country.' I would prefer that to them being killed in Iraq." Tengri News expresses similar concern today:

After 10 years of attacks on Iraqi Christians, Monsignor Pios Cacha wonders if the ancient community's days are numbered, AFP reports.
"Maybe we will follow in the steps of our Jewish brothers," he says.
The priest's reference to Iraq's Jewish population -- once a thriving community numbering in the tens of thousands but now practically non-existent -- neatly sums up the possible fate of Iraq's Christians.

Salam Faraj (AFP) explains, "Estimates of the number of Christians living in Iraq before 2003 vary from more than one million to around 1.5 million. But repeated attacks by Islamist groups pushed many to leave, and now they are estimated at less than 500,000." At the end of last month, MidEast Christian News reported:

A Christian leader has stated that Iraqi Christians are deserting the region due to harassment from numerous bodies in the Middle East country.

Archbishop Mar Youhanna Boutros Moshe of Mosul for Syriac Catholics said the reasons for the migration of Iraqi Christians include their exposure to harassment by many bodies, security instability and a lack of job opportunities.

Though a minority within Iraq, Iraqi Christians make up a large portion of the international Iraqi refugee population.

They still make up a large portion of the international Iraqi refugee population. Which still exists. Even if organizations that took money to 'address' the situation and to 'help' -- organizations like Human Rights First -- can no longer even be bothered pretending to care about their plight.

Another long running issue is the decades long conflict between the government of Turkey and the PKK. Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."

Monday came news that the PKK was planning to release "10 Turkish officials [they had] kidnapped." From yesterday's snapshot:

Hurriyet adds today, "A delegation from Turkey arrived in northern Iraq on Tuesday to oversee the handover of eight Turkish officials kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)." World Bulletin offers, "The officials the PKK is now holding were kidnapped on various dates in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Diyarbakır, Van, Mus, Bingol and Sırnak."

Middle East Online reports this morning, "The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Tuesday freed eight Turkish prisoners held for two years in northern Iraq, as part of a new peace push by Ankara to end a 29-year-old insurgency." Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz (CNN) quote Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party's MP Adil Kurt stating, "This is a very important step. ... This shows that there can be a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue. It is a show of goodwill that they were released without any preconditions." Hurriyet Daily News notes that the Peace and Democracy Party had representatives at the exchange and "The group, accompanied by Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials, headed to an undefined meeting point in northern Iraq, Anatolia news agency reported. It was composed of BDP Hakkari Deputy Adil Kurt and BDP Bitlis Deputy Husamettin Zenderlioglu, Head of the Human Rights Association (IHD) Ozturk Turkdogan, İHD Diyarbakır Provincial Chairman Raci Bilici, Head of Mazlum-Der Faruk Unsal and Deputy Head of Mazlum-Der Selahattin Coban."

Omar al-Saleh (Al Jazeera) offers this judgment, "Now this takes us to the more important step we could see by next week, this is according to Ocalan, we could see calling for the PKK to announce a ceasefire."

The following community sites -- plus Media Channel, The Diane Rehm Show, Jody Watley, Cindy Sheehan, Pacifica Evening News, Chocolate City, Ms. magazine blog, C-Span and Antiwar.com -- updated last night and this morning:

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