Monthly Archives: September 2017

By Yolande Knell BBC News, Northern Iraq Sheikh Mirza, many of whose Yazidi community have been killed or enslaved A slight octogenarian dressed in loose white garments, Sheikh Mirza looks an unlikely warrior against the fighters of so-called Islamic State (IS).…

Ari Khalidi Ari Khalidi | Ankara labels Kurdistan referendum ‘illegitimate, unacceptable’ Turkey’s national security council convened under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sept 22, 2017, Ankara. (Photo: Turkish Presidency) KurdistanReferendum…

By 6 News Web Staff Friends and family view a bus outside the U.S. Detention and Deportation Center in Detroit, Sunday, June 11, 2017. A mass immigration and deportation sweep and arrest of dozens of Chaldeans in southeastern Michigan by U.S. immigration officials prompted the protest outside the detention center. Family members of the Catholics…

Provincial authorities in Basra, southern Iraq, moved a statue of the Virgin last night before its inauguration. BASRA: Provincial authorities in Basra, southern Iraq, moved a statue of the Virgin last night before its inauguration. The five-by-two-metre white sculpture was removed on the request of the Chaldean…

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter (Photo: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)Iraqis attend the first Palm Sunday procession in the burnt out main church of the Christian city of Qaraqosh since Iraqi forces retook it from Islamic States militants, Iraq April 9, 2017.…

Jeff Jacoby · In a landmark referendum next Monday, Iraqi Kurdistan will vote on whether to declare independence. The outcome is not in question. Iraq’s Kurds have been largely self-governing for 25 years, but they yearn to be sovereign in a state of their own, just like…

Reuters/Kirkuk, Iraq Visitors to Kirkuk in northern Iraq are greeted by an imposing statue of a Kurdish Peshmerga fighter with a gun slung over his shoulder, a reminder of tensions building in the hotly-contested city ahead of a referendum on Kurdish independence. Erected in July, the statue has come to symbolise how the Kurds want…

Matt Hadro CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY The United States capitol building. (Credit: Phil Roeder via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).) The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Sept. 19 to advance a bill that seeks to ensure U.S. aid reaches Christian genocide victims in Iraq out of the committee, moving…

Yousif Shameka (Shabilla ) Toronto, Canada. INTRODUCTION This article deals with the Etymology of the word Gurdu and its other forms such as Qurdu ?????, Kurdu, and the various derivatives of Gur such as Khur, ?ur, Hur and Ghur.…

by Washington Examiner Staff Iraqi Christians to Trump: Don’t forget us Michigan’s Middle East Christians helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency. They could help make him a one-term president if he lets them down. By Daniel Allott MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — If you are looking for early clues about whether President…

The Government of Japan has announced emergency funding of $4.5 million dollars to support UNHCR’s humanitarian assistance for families affected by the Mosul crisis. The new funding will be targeted to help improve the daily living conditions of the most vulnerable displaced families for the coming winter. The grant will help provide winter…

Turkey — it sometimes slips out of view since it doesn’t make the Secretary of State’s “Countries of Particular Concern” list for human rights violations. But in the city of Diyarbikir for one, “entire neighborhoods” have disappeared. The Surp Giragos Church has been converted to an army base, the sanctuary desecrated with urine and garbage,…

Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC Damascus (Agenzia Fides) – Christians in Syria are “no guests or migratory birds”. They “are part of the origin of the nation, and without them there is no pluralistic Syria”. This is what Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Sunday, September 17, to a large…

By: David Alton St Theodore, whose feast day is celebrated on September 19th , holds a special place in the hearts of Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans. Born in Syria, he lived between 602 AD and 690 AD and was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 AD until his death.…

By Murcadha O Flaherty SISTERS caring for Syria’s sick and wounded throughout five years of heavy bombardment have received essential medical equipment from a leading Catholic charity. Aid to the Church in Need has provided the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition who…

Bryant Harris A Syriac Christian militiaman stands guard on top of a building during an Easter ceremony at Saint John’s Church (Mar Yohanna) in the nearly deserted predominantly Christian Iraqi town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya), near Mosul, on April 16, 2017.…

Jim Kiertzner (WXYZ) – A hunger strike is underway inside a correctional facility in Youngstown, Ohio where more than 100 detainees are being held since arrested in sweeps this summer in Metro Detroit. An attorney with Code Legal Aid, which is representing the Chaldean and Iraqis in…

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) – While September 25th approaches, date of the referendum announced by the government of the autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan to sanction its independence from Baghdad, there are contrasting signs from the local Christian communities with reference to the referendum, which attracts the attention and also the…

By Tola Mbakwe Around 500 Christian families have celebrated their long-awaited homecoming to Iraq’s Nineveh Plains with ceremonies marking a fresh start in their old towns and villages. According to Catholic humanitarian charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), people…

CBN News Months after lawmakers in the House unanimously passed a resolution promising to help Iraq’s persecuted Christians and other minority communities, members of the Senate have still not acted on the bill. In June, the House passed HR 390, also known as the Iraq and Syria Genocide…