CHRISTIANS in Iraqi Kurdistan are “not just twiddling their thumbs” but “getting on and building things”, the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, has said.
Bishop Baines was speaking shortly after returning from a six-day visit to the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq (KRI), earlier this month.
Bishop Baines was accompanied by the Bishop of Stockport, the Rt Revd Sam Corley, and the Bishop of Tunsberg, in the Church of Norway, the Rt Revd Jan Otto Myrseth.
The group, which also included the international-affairs adviser for the Church of England, Dr Charles Reed, and the Church of Norway’s head of ecumenical, interfaith, and international affairs, the Revd Einar Tjelle, met politicians and church leaders in the KRI, as well as members of the local Christian community.
Iraqi Christians were sometimes asked why they were in the country, as if they were newcomers, Bishop Baines said. The reality — that there had been Christians in the region for 2000 years — was being forgotten because the education system did not teach Iraqis about the Christian heritage in their land, he said.
The Christian population of Iraq has fallen by about 90 per cent since 2003, from 1.5 million to just 140,000; people had left for a more secure life, Bishop Baines said, after decades of instability.
Emigration was among the subjects that arose in conversations with young Christians at meetings in Ankawa and Duhok.
Education and freedom of religion were discussed with members of the Kurdish Regional Government.
It was important, Bishop Baines said, for foreign delegations not to limit their engagement to taking photos with leaders. He pledged to use his position in the House of Lords to raise issues with the UK Government.
There was a line between supporting and meddling, Bishop Baines suggested: “We’ve meddled in Iraq rather a lot in recent decades, and it hasn’t ended well. They have to do it themselves, but we can be supportive.”
Making a visit in person was vital in being able to offer support, he said. “You have to be there to smell it, to understand it, to listen, and learn.”