“We have nothing here anymore. We are homeless and penniless. Iraq is over for us. We do not trust this country,” said a man outside of St. Joseph’s church in Erbil, Iraq, according to the Global Post. Displaced Christians have been finding refuge at churches in Erbil such as this one. However, what many of the people expressed is that they no longer simply want humanitarian aid and temporary havens.
“We are tired of repeated migration. We just want to settle. We want stability. If that means leaving then we will all leave,” said Aziz Yousef, one of the Christian refugees who had been staying in Erbil.
Indeed, many of these Christian families have had to migrate several times as a result of threats from the Islamic State, often known as ISIS or ISIL. Recently in July, ISIS invaded Mosul, one of the cities with the largest Christian population in Iraq, and a city that was home to many historic and memorial Christian properties. Christians were forced to pay an expensive tax, convert to Islam, flee the city, or die. When most of these Christian families fled to Qaraqosh, another city known for its large Christian population, it, too, was taken over by ISIS.
“The people are angry because the [Iraqi] government just gave up on them,” Rami Wakim, the secretary to Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham told the Catholic Herald. “They told us that, in Mosul, where there had normally been a presence of 60,000 soldiers, after the onslaught of ISIS, in only a matter of hours, these soldiers abandoned them, laying down their weapons,” he added.
Similarly, they feel that the international community has also abandoned them. The Post report stated that Britain, Germany, and France have been opening borders for Israeli or Palestinian refugees, but that have not yet given the same opportunity for Iraqi refugees.
The U.S., in contrast, has been emphasizing that creating a stable Iraqi government is a more sustainable solution, rather than the evacuation that Iraqis may be demanding at present.
Josh Earnest, the Press Secretary for the White House, stated,
“What’s needed is a more comprehensive solution, and that comprehensive solution certainly includes the use of American military force, but what’s also required is the engagement of, first and foremost, an inclusive Iraqi government that can rally the country and unite the country in the face of his existential threat that they face … Members of their security force can know that they’re fighting on behalf of and in support of and in defense of a united country.”
Earnest added that there are seven different Western countries “who are providing urgently needed arms and equipment to the Kurds,” and that countries around the world “have made pledges of humanitarian support.”
