ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, arrived in Erbil late Friday and was warmly welcomed by Kurdish authorities following his tensions with the Iraqi Presidency over the recent revocation of a decree crucial to his official status.
Tensions have surged in Iraq between the government and the Christian community after President Abdul Latif Rashid earlier this month cited constitutional grounds to revoke a special presidential decree formally recognizing Cardinal Sako and granting him powers over Christian endowment affairs. This angered the religious leader and his community.
Cardinal Sako, who visited Turkey days after the tensions began, arrived at the Erbil International Airport on Friday and was warmly welcomed by the Kurdistan Region’s governmental, partisan and religious officials.
“Religious symbols are respected in the Kurdistan Region,” he told reporters after his arrival in the Kurdish capital. “The evidence is this warm welcome and respect. This is the return of dignity for us.”
He added that he will stay in the Region until Baghdad restores the special presidential decree which was revoked by President Rashid.
Rashid’s decision came amid mounting pressure from Rayan al-Kildani, leader of the Christian Babylon Movement, a party and militia affiliated with the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic).
“A limit has to be put for these militia groups and they should be taught how to respect [others]. Clergymen should be respected and the interference with the church affairs should be ended. Also, [Militia groups] should stop making nonsense accusations and ridiculous complaints,” Cardinal Sako listed his conditions to return to Baghdad.
“If these demands are met I will return to Baghdad, otherwise I will stay in the Kurdistan Region which is part of Iraq,” he noted.
Ano Abdoka, a Christian politican and the Kurdistan Regional Government's Minister of Transport and Communication, was among the Region's team who welcomed Cardinal Sako.
He celebrated Cardinal Sako's arrival in Erbil on Twitter as well.
#Kurdistan_embraces_Patriarch_Sako
— Ano Abdoka ܐܢܘ 𒀭آنو (@AnoAbdoka) July 21, 2023
كوردستان تحتضن البطريرك ساكو
کوردستان پاتریەرک کاردینال ساکۆ لە ئامێز دەگرێت pic.twitter.com/sowRiaWkf0
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a press briefing on Tuesday that they were “disturbed by the harassment of Cardinal Sako… and troubled by the news that he has left Baghdad.”
Iraq later condemned the US for Miller’s comments, summoning the American ambassador to Baghdad.
Sako and Kildani have long been involved in a war of words, with the patriarch condemning the militia leader as an individual who does not represent the interests of Christians despite his party winning four of the five quota seats assigned for Christians in the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary election. His candidates were extensively and openly backed by Shiite political forces affiliated with Iran.
Kildani has accused Sako of getting involved in politics and damaging the reputation of the Chaldean Church.
Earlier this month, Christians in Ainkawa, a Christian-majority district situated at the northern edge of Erbil city, protested the president’s move against Cardinal Sako, which they dubbed a “clear and utter violation” against their community.
Iraq’s Christian community has been devastated in the past two decades. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee, and attacks by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard.
Unlike the federal government, Kurdistan Region has often been commended by the international community for being a safe haven for Christians and maintaining a religious coexistence which has existed for decades.
Fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Iraq today, a staggering fall from over 1.5 million who used to call Iraq home before the 2003 American invasion.
Pishtiwan Sadiq, the Region’s minister of endowment, said at the joint press conference with Cardinal Sako that “we are delighted that Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako has chosen the Kurdistan Region as his home… Kurdistan is your home.”