Posted on 04/24/2008 5:04:26 AM PDT by SJackson
Newsmax.com | The Kurdish regional government in Northern Iraq is providing a safe haven to several thousand Iraqi Christians who have fled persecution in other parts of the country, government officials and local pastors told Newsmax.
Unlike refugee camps set up for some 100,000 Shia Muslims fleeing attacks from Sunnis, which are closely monitored by Kurdish security forces, Christians have been encouraged to live anywhere.
“Christians in Iraq need special attention, because they’ve been suffering because they are Christians,” Deputy Prime Minister Omar Fattah told Newsmax in an exclusive interview in Erbil. “Maybe we give some instructions to others where they can go, but to Christians, never, because we are not afraid they will be terrorists.”
Some have been given government land and building materials to construct a house. Others have rented homes from friends, or are being put up in temporary shelters thanks to local churches and international donors.
“Those people are our citizens, and when they are coming to Kurdistan they are most welcome, and we will provide them with all possible assistance,” the Kurdish deputy premier said.
Since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003, around 2,000 Christian families have moved into Ainkawa, a historic Christian town on the outskirts of the Kurdish capital, Erbil.
“Most people came when the terrorists told them they must pay the jizya or they will be killed,” Ainkawa mayor, Fahmi Mehti Soltaqi, told Newsmax, referring to a "protection tax" levied on non-Muslims according to Shari'a law.
Nice of the Kurdish Regional Govt to be so generous.
I think it also helps that the Sabaen/Chaldee Christians are not exactly bomb throwing types of folks, just people caught up in the times.
Thank God for the Kurds. Although there was also Kurdish (Muslim) against Assyrian Christian violence, the Kurdish Regional Government has proven to be a force of Good and stability in an ocean of violence and Evil.
There's the money line.
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I still support an independent Kurd republic, including a nice chunk of the Kurdish regions of Turkey. Let the Turks get a taste of their own medicine.
And please, none of you sob sisters bleating about how the Turks are moderates and our Allies! They’ve been playing us as suckers for generations.
The Kurds are honorable, as Muslims go. I recall them (their governing folks, anyway) running a “thank you U.S.A.” ad and welcoming Americans to visit and start business relationships.
Give the Kurds their own country, if not Iraq. They seem to be the best people to run one there.
It would seem if anyone deserved independence thereabout it should be Kurdistan.
wonder if the kurds would help the
errant eldorado, tx mormons?
they would fit right into the arab culture.
/s
Yes, they've demonstrated the ability to self-govern. Being pro-US, we should have found a way to support that.
I agree 100%! They are as much our ally as Saudi Arabia! Use and poop on us at a whim but scream outrage when the favor is returned so I say we go to toes for our only true allies in the ME.
You support Kurdish muslim separatists and the creation of a new muslim country? Mohammedan Kurds are moderates, and our allies?
I support the creation of a state where Christians can live safely, unlike those Dhimmi scum who support the Jihadist state of Kosovo. What a bunch of poltroons!
So you dream of a new muslim country where Christians are protected from the “bad muslims” by the “good muslims,” our moderate muslim allies. What a beautiful dream you have. Christians living peacefully and freely under the protection of the practitioners of the religion of peace. That’s beautiful.
As opposed to those scum that like Christian Churches burned to the ground by Jihadist scum, like certain posters who support the Jihadist state of Kosovo.
Unlike some, Chicago Tailgunner, I’m opposed to the destruction of Christian Churches.
Oh wait, you’ve already answered “yes” to that.
Never mind.
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