New book celebrates Kurdistan’s diversity, peaceful co-existence

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The fighting was intense in western Mosul and Nicodemus Daoud Matti Sharaf, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese, was in his cathedral. The city was on the brink of surrender to several hundred militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the archbishop knew this. He had abandoned the city four times since 2003 and he knew from the gruesome videos of ISIS killing journalists, Muslims and religious minorities across the border in Syria that the militants would have no mercy on his flock.

More than 1,300 of Iraq’s Christians have been killed and 111 churches destroyed in a wave of attacks on the religious minority post-2003. Matti Sharaf hoped that another catastrophe would not befall his people, but his hopes were dashed when around five divisions of Iraqi army, federal police and local police fled Mosul. 

On June 9th, one day before the city fell to ISIS, there was a ping on his mobile phone and when he picked up, the pleading voice on the other side had an urgent message for him. Karim Sinjari, minister of interior in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), informed Matti Sharaf that ISIS would take the city soon and he should leave immediately. The Kurds offered to deploy their Peshmerga to reinforce federal force positions, but Baghdad refused the proposal.

“He warned me that I should leave Mosul immediately because ISIS was approaching the cathedral and the archdiocese house,” Matti Sharaf recalled. He told the minister that he could not abandon his people. “Minister Sinjari insisted and even offered to send somebody to get me out safely,” he said. Eventually, Matti Sharaf and the majority of 160,000 Christians fled the ISIS onslaught and arrived in the Kurdistan Region.

ISIS converted Matti Sharaf’s cathedral into a mosque. The group destroyed 65 churches in Iraq.

This account is presented in a new publication, A Kurdistan For All: Embracing Faith and Diversity, released this month by the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The 207 page publication aims to celebrate the pluralism and peaceful coexistence of the Kurdistan Region where Muslims, Christians, Yazidis, Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha’is, Sabean Mandaeans and Kakais, have lived together in peace for centuries. The publication is a rich tapestry of testimonies by faith leaders, diplomats and ordinary citizens hailing the efforts of the KRG and the Kurdistan people who welcomed nearly two million refugees and internally displaced persons and housed them in Kurdistan.


“Kurdistan, our land of inclusiveness, is home to people of many ethnicities and religions. Respect among all our communities defines our culture,” President Nechirvan Barzani wrote in the Forward of the publication. “We are not only Muslim, we are also Christian, Jewish, Yezidi, Sabean-Mandean, Zoroastrian, Kaka’i, and Baha’i.”

The book describes the Kurdish liberation movement throughout the 20th century where Christians, Kakais, even Jews and other minorities participated in the struggle against the oppression of successive regimes in Baghdad. The KRG, established in 1991, has endeavored to restore the places of worship destroyed by previous regimes and encourage people to return to their villages.

In 2003, the KRG established a special commission to rebuild Christian villages, restoring 50 by 2010. During that time, Kurdistan received around 16,000 Christian families fleeing violence in the rest of the country, according to Bashar Matti Warda, Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil. “Anyone who wants to see a working example of an inclusive, diverse society should come to Kurdistan. Of course, there are occasional incidents, but these are between individuals rather than communities. Kurdistan’s society is synonymous with coexistence,” Warda wrote.

The efforts to create a sense of belonging for all minorities in Kurdistan continued in 2006 when the KRG renamed the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs.

Other minorities including Jews and Bahai’s are also reviving their places of worship thanks to a law passed in 2015 that entitles religious minorities to have representation in the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs. “We live in peace in the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq], and we have never felt threatened. There are no recorded cases of anti-Semitic abuse or threats in the history of the KRI,” Sherko Abdullah Lasok, the Jewish representative at the ministry, told the publication.

There were 25,000 Jews living in the Kurdistan Region prior to the establishment of the state of Israel. Today there are 400 Jewish families, according to the ministry. The world’s first female rabbi Osnat Barzani born in 1590 in Mosul comes from the region.


The KRG appointed a Minister of State for Minority Affairs in 2019, sending a strong message that it was “committed to upholding the rights of minorities,” according to Minister Aydin Maruf Selim, who comes from the Turkmen minority.

For Baha’is, persecuted across the border in Iran, Kurdistan has a symbolic value. Bahaullah, the founder of the faith, lived in what is now the Kurdistan Region from 1854 to 1856 and described his time in Kurdistan as “the happiest of his life.”

“I believe Kurdistan is a model that could inspire the whole region. The extent of multiculturalism that we have here is unique, and fascinates outside observers. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, on the first day that primary schools opened, told the students to love each other regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds,” said Sarmad Kaykasraw, Baha’i representative to the KRG, adding that around 100 Baha’i families reside in Kurdistan. “I believe this is the strongest message that a leader can give to his people, and instilling that attitude in the next generation is very important to the future we want to build.”

The Kakais are a lesser known minority numbering around 120,000 to 200,000 scattered across Kirkuk, Nineveh, Sulaimani and Halabja. They have been at the receiving end of ISIS attacks since 2014, described as apostates. At least 250 Kakais were murdered by ISIS and several of their shrines were destroyed in Nineveh. The minority still experience terror from remnants of ISIS in southern Kirkuk where the militants launch regular raids on their villages.

As for Yazidis, there are still over 200,000 people in camps scattered across the Kurdistan Region and 2,768 people abducted by ISIS are still missing. Eighty-six Yazidi places of worship were destroyed and 83 mass graves have been discovered, according to Hussein Al Qaidi, director of the Yazidi Rescue Office created by the KRG in the aftermath of the genocide inflicted on this ancient minority.

US Ambassador Matthew Tueller, writing in the publication, said that the Kurdistan Region’s recognition of so many faiths is a testament to the its “rich history of religious pluralism” adding that “the IKR has the potential to serve as a beacon for the rest of Iraq as well as the broader region by making religious pluralism a core value.”

“I will never forget Mr. Sinjari’s call and warning. If he hadn’t convinced me to leave Mosul that day, I don't know what would have happened to me or my people,” Matti Sharaf said.