{"id":24927,"date":"2017-10-03T08:50:49","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T08:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=24927"},"modified":"2017-10-03T08:50:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T08:50:49","slug":"iraq-church-leaders-worried-consequences-christians-kurdish-referendum-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/10\/03\/iraq-church-leaders-worried-consequences-christians-kurdish-referendum-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"IRAQ &#8211; Church leaders worried\u00a0about consequences for Christians after Kurdish referendum &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">IRAQ<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Church leaders worried about the consequences for Christians after<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Kurdish referendum<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Since the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of separation from Iraq last week, tension has been increasing in Iraq. The referendum decision will initiate a process of negotiation between Iraq and Kurdistan, which Kurdish leaders say will lead to the region\u2019s independence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Church leaders are concerned that Kurdistan\u2019s decision to separate from Iraq could lead to more conflict and uncertainty in a region that has already faced immeasurable suffering in recent years. Although there are no signs of hope in Iraq, \u201cthere is still much of uncertainty and danger that threatens the region,\u201d said Patriarch Louis Rapha\u00ebl Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, at ACN\u2019s \u201cBack to the Roots\u201d conference on 28 Sept<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe referendum of Kurdistan, toward independence from Baghdad, is creating an escalation of tension between the two governments and we can almost hear the beats of war drums,\u201d Sako said. \u201cToday, our people are living with the fear of being engaged in another war, which means more chaos, more bloodshed, destruction and refugees. They are concerned about stability, security and worried about going back to live with daily crimes of robberies, gang rapes, torture and murder of Christians that has become so common.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Patriarch Sako fears that if the confrontation between the two sides becomes violent, Christians and minorities, whose full rights are not acknowledged by either government, will be caught in the crossfire and \u201cwill once again pay the highest price.\u201d This will \u201ccertainly result in another exodus of Christians from their homeland,\u201d he added. The displacement and migration of Christians have a hugely negative impact on the country and Christians vanishing from Iraq would be an \u201cirreplaceable\u201d loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sako stated Iraqis must \u201cfind a way of living together.\u201d At the moment \u201cthere is a mentality of violence (and) the people are already tired,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we need to help the people think in a new way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Speaking at the ACN conference, Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin, apostolic nuncio to Iraq and Jordan, also voiced anxiety over the consequences of the referendum and the backlash the vote has received from various international leaders. \u201cThe Baghdad government, as was foreseeable, opposed this initiative by considering it illegal and against the constitution and is now taking countermeasures,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Referring to positions taken by both the United Nations Office for Iraq and its Secretary-General, Ortega highlighted the \u201cinappropriateness\u201d of the referendum in the country\u2019s current political and social climate, and echoed the U.N. office\u2019s desire for both the Kurdish government and the central Iraqi government to \u201cresolve open issues through dialogue and negotiation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Authorities in surrounding countries such as Turkey and Iran have also condemned the vote, threatening to \u201ctake measures\u201d against Kurdistan. Iranian and Iraqi central government forces are to hold joint military exercises near their borders, Iran\u2019s state television reported on Saturday, as part of Tehran\u2019s effort to support Baghdad after the Kurdish independence referendum. State television quoted a military spokesman as saying the decision to hold the war games in the next few days was taken at a meeting of top Iranian military commanders which also \u201cagreed on measures to establish border security and receive Iraqi forces that are to be stationed at border posts\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; IRAQ Church leaders worried about the consequences for Christians after Kurdish referendum &nbsp; Since the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of separation from Iraq last week, tension has been increasing in Iraq. The referendum decision will initiate a process of negotiation between Iraq and Kurdistan, which Kurdish leaders say&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>IRAQ - Church leaders worried\u00a0about consequences for Christians after Kurdish referendum - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/10\/03\/iraq-church-leaders-worried-consequences-christians-kurdish-referendum-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IRAQ - Church leaders worried\u00a0about consequences for Christians after Kurdish referendum - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; IRAQ Church leaders worried about the consequences for Christians after Kurdish referendum &nbsp; Since the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of separation from Iraq last week, tension has been increasing in Iraq. 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