Christians in Kurdistan Complain about Land Seizure

He said, “There are more than 60 Christian villages inhabited by non-Christians across the Kurdistan Region, and this is part of the demographic change. We stressed the need to restore those villages and properties, but the KRG measures were not serious, which delayed the issue."

In this vein, Benjamin pointed to the role of “partisan and tribal relations,” saying, “The rights of small groups and minorities will be undoubtedly violated as they are the weakest link and lack any strong partisan, political or tribal support.”

However, Kanna pointed out that “a Christian delegation recently met with Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, who asked for details about the issue and promised to restore the Christian lands.”

Benjamin said, "The ongoing violation of Chaldeo-Assyrian and Christian property rights for nearly 25 years since the founding of the Kurdistan Region is one of the prime reasons that leads indigenous citizens to feel abused and lose confidence in the government, and this forces them to opt for migration.”

Mariwan Naqshbandi, the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) spokesperson in the Kurdistan Region, attributed the crisis to migration. He told Al-Monitor, “When Saddam bombed areas of the region with chemicals in the 1980s, Christian families fled from their villages and homes. While Muslims returned to the devastated areas, Christians traveled abroad.”

Naqshbandi said that even after the change of regime under the US occupation in April 2003 “only few Christians returned, thus allowing Muslim families to cultivate and build homes on Christian lands.”