PM Barzani announces Ainkawa will be made its own district
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is taking steps to make the pre-dominantly Christian town of Ainkawa its own district, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced on Monday.
“We have come here as the government to tell you we will task the minister of interior, Erbil governor, and the Erbil provincial council to declare Ainkawa a district so we can serve this area more,” Barzani said during a visit to the town.
Ainkawa currently is considered a suburb of Erbil, falling under the capital’s mayoral authority. Becoming a district, it will have its own mayor “under the direct authority of the governor,” head of Erbil’s provincial council Ali Rasheed told Rudaw English.
The town is home to a large Christian population, several churches, and a Catholic university.
When the Islamic State group (ISIS) seized control of vast swathes of northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, thousands of Iraqi Christians fled their homes, seeking shelter in the Kurdistan Region. Churches in Ainkawa took in thousands of their brethren before they were resettled in camps or emigrated abroad.
Barzani praised it as a home for “religious and social coexistence and a place for peace. It has become a center for many of our Christian brothers and sisters who have not been able to stay in other places and regions of Iraq for whatever reason.”
Rasheed said the necessary procedures to formalize Ainkawa as a district will be implemented after the October 10 Iraqi parliamentary election.
Additional reporting by Layal Shakir
“We have come here as the government to tell you we will task the minister of interior, Erbil governor, and the Erbil provincial council to declare Ainkawa a district so we can serve this area more,” Barzani said during a visit to the town.
Ainkawa currently is considered a suburb of Erbil, falling under the capital’s mayoral authority. Becoming a district, it will have its own mayor “under the direct authority of the governor,” head of Erbil’s provincial council Ali Rasheed told Rudaw English.
The town is home to a large Christian population, several churches, and a Catholic university.
When the Islamic State group (ISIS) seized control of vast swathes of northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, thousands of Iraqi Christians fled their homes, seeking shelter in the Kurdistan Region. Churches in Ainkawa took in thousands of their brethren before they were resettled in camps or emigrated abroad.
Barzani praised it as a home for “religious and social coexistence and a place for peace. It has become a center for many of our Christian brothers and sisters who have not been able to stay in other places and regions of Iraq for whatever reason.”
Rasheed said the necessary procedures to formalize Ainkawa as a district will be implemented after the October 10 Iraqi parliamentary election.
Additional reporting by Layal Shakir