Monthly Archives: December 2009

Ankawa.com – Mosul – Exclusive Unknown gunmen opened fire this morning, the 30th of December 2009, on one of our people in Mosul while he was in his place of work and shot him, he was seriously injured.…

Diyarbakır: Radikal The municipal assembly of Diyarbakır’s Sur district has decided to change the names of three streets to honor Armenian and Syriac authors who used to live on those routes.…

The white Syriac type over the blue area reads Molada or: Birth. ON the left the wise men are bringing gifts. Assyrian or Syriac [Assyrian language] traditions trace the establishment of…

Baghdad – Some 1,960 Iraqi Christians have been killed by violence in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003, a local religious group said Saturday.…

Ankawa.com – Exclusive According to the information received from the town of Bartella, large groups of Shiaa Shabak who live in the neighboring villages started this morning, the first day of Christmas, a sudden mass demonstration in the streets of the town.…

By Sammy Ketz (AFP) BAGHDAD — A senior Iraqi priest in his Christmas sermon on Friday urged Christians not to be intimidated by a string of deadly attacks against the minority community but warned they should not linger near churches.…

“The government has deployed security forces at the entrance of all churches and closed all access roads. Moreover, every area of the city has been allotted a security chief but the last days’ events and the recent attacks against some places of worship…

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI reappeared in public Friday urging tolerance for migrants in his Christmas message, hours after falling when a woman lunged at him in St Peter’s Basilica the night before.…

Azzaman, December 24, 2009 There has been a notable increase in attacks targeting Iraqi Christians, particularly in the northern restive city of Mosul. Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, used to be a main center of Christianity in Iraq prior to the 2003-U.S. invasion.…

Ankawa.com – Mosul – Exclusive An unknown armed group assassinates one of the sons of our people in front of his house in Altahrer quarter in Mosul.   Our sources reported that the armed group assassinates the young Basil Icho…

ankawa.com /Mosul – Exclusive According to the information provided to us from Mosul, an explosion struck Saint Thomas Church for Syriac Orthodox in Alsaa quarter – Mosul. The terrorists were…

By Mujahid Mohammed (AFP) – MOSUL, Iraq — A pre-Christmas attack on a church killed two people in the Iraqi city of Mosul Wednesday while a Sunni Arab candidate died in a bombing in Fallujah, the first such murder ahead of March polls.…

By Timothy Williams in Baghdad AS A priest led prayers for a few dozen worshippers inside Baghdad’s St Joseph Chaldean Church last Sunday, police officers stood guard outside.…

Christmas this year coincides with the religious festival Ashoura, one of Islam’s most solemn holidays. Christians in Iraq are choosing to mark their holiday in silence, to show respect for the annual Shiite period of mourning.…

Arbil, Iraq — At the height of Iraq’s sectarian war, Hana Hormoz’s Baghdad neighborhood of Dora became a Sunni Muslim stronghold hostile to him and his fellow Christians. Women were forced to wear hijab; priests were kidnapped for ransom. Their local church was bombed.…

BASRA (Iraq) – The Chaldean Bishop (Catholic) of the southern city of Basra has asked Christians not to organize public celebrations for Christmas because it coincides this year with the Shiite mourning of Ashura.…

It’s Been a Difficult Year for Christians /By Father John Flynn, LC ROME, DEC. 20, 2009 (Zenit.org).- It’s been another difficult year for Christians in Turkey and it is finishing just as it began, with problems. Early in December, three Muslims entered the Meryem Ana Church, a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir,…

Rima, whose sister was murdered by Saddam Hussein’s officers, is going to America. Hani, another Christian, is off to Sweden after being kidnapped by a Baghdad militia. Michael Marody, whose cousin was likewise abducted but did not come back alive, is heading for Australia.…

Friday, 18 December 2009, 09:19 EST By KRG The people and government of the Kurdistan Region understand the suffering of the Christians and other minorities in Iraq and are committed to their protection and to peaceful coexistence, said Ms Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Region’s High…

“In a climate of insecurity and lawlessness in Iraq, the Christian community is suffering. To all Christians around the world we say: Do not abandon us.” This is the heartfelt appeal made by Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of…