For whatever reason, the media has exaggerated his role; particularly in light of the church objecting to him being addressed as “sheikh,” since there are no sheikhs in the Christian faith. In addition, the church to which his father belongs sent two communiques to the government renouncing him and declaring that he did not represent it.
Yet the government ignored the issue and some continued to view him as a Christian fighter who represents the rest of the Christians, while the truth of the matter is much different.
Al-Monitor: Do you have a military wing? Will it be part of the National Guard project?
Kanna: Yes, we do have the Ninevah Plains Protection Units, the first 600-men regiment that was established eight months ago. But the constant disputes between the Baghdad and Erbil governments have prevented it from taking up positions to protect certain areas.
Following the coordinating efforts that we undertook, the regiment now has barracks being readied in the Alqosh region of Ninevah governorate. The regiment needs modern weaponry, as its current armament is composed of light and medium weapons because neither the peshmerga nor the Iraqi Ministry of Defense have supplied us with any weapons. With proper support, the force’s numbers would swell to 5,000 fighters.
Al-Monitor: What is your stance vis-a-vis the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil? Has it affected you as Christians?
Kanna: We regret seeing the disputes continuing between Baghdad and Erbil, as well as their inability to reach effective solutions leading to the rebuilding of the country. These disputes have greatly affected the situation in the country and created a void exploited by terrorism and corruption.
All Iraqis have been harmed by these disputes, but we are the ones who suffered the greatest harm, particularly in the Ninevah Plains region. We have been under the protection of the peshmerga since the days of the [US] civil administrator, Paul Bremer.
But, unfortunately, the peshmerga was unable to protect us and IS overran the area. Since then, we have been prevented from forming armed forces to protect our areas, and as such, those problems were the main repercussions arising from disputes between the Baghdad and Erbil governments.
Al-Monitor: Do Iraqi Christians receive financial or advisory support from the Vatican?
Kanna: The Vatican’s support for Iraqi Christians is intangible because its capabilities are extremely limited. Yet through its affiliated institutions and civil society organizations, it did offer positive support to displaced Christians when they faced the dire consequences of IS’ occupation of their lands.
It is well known that the Iraqi government offered refugees 1 million dinars [$891] per family, only to later abandon them. In any case, the Vatican’s work is purely humanitarian.
Al-Monitor: What are your expectations concerning the future of Iraq’s Christians?
Kanna: Our fate is tied to the strategies and agendas of the Iraqi state. It will be a positive future if Iraq heads toward becoming a secular civil state. But if it becomes a radicalized religious state, then we — as all Iraqis — shall face imminent doom, for any religious state must be based on discriminatory racial principles.
We hope that the international community would exercise pressure on neighboring countries to unite their efforts against terrorism, instead of causing added discord among Iraqis leading to increased religious extremism that would greatly obscure the future prospects of Iraq as a nation.
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