RRT ERBIL: NEA-I DIRECTOR DISCUSSES MINORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001830 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR KIRF VT IZ SUBJECT: RRT ERBIL: NEA-I DIRECTOR DISCUSSES MINORITY RIGHTS DURING KRG VISIT REF: BAGHDAD 1564 Classified By: RRT Erbil Regional Coordinator Jess Baily for Reasons 1. 4 (b,d) This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team message. Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Special Representative on Minorities in Iraq, NEA-I Director Richard Schmierer met June 11 and 12 Iraq with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials, Christian leaders, and other minority communities that have taken refuge in the KRG. Clear themes emerged, demonstrating the opportunities and challenges faced by these communities. They have found security and limited financial support from the KRG, yet still face systematic discrimination and economic woes. While Christian leaders, such as KRG Minister of Finance Sarkis Agjahan and Assyrian Democratic Movement Secretary General Yonadem Kanna support an autonomous zone for Christians, members of the Christian community remained skeptical, noting it would become "like Israel," surrounded by enemies on all sides. ¶2. (C) Summary, cont.: Christians IDPs who have taken refuge in the region expressed uncertainty about the future, and bitterness toward the past. None planned to return to the communities they had fled in Baghdad and Basra, noting their children have no futures in those cities. While no easy solutions to ensure the survival of the Christian community in Iraq are apparent, discussions with Father Bashar Warda, St. Peter Seminary Rector did delve into possible actions the U.S. could take to mediate the disagreements between the various religious factions, and encourage them to work as a united front to ensure the rights for minority communities in Iraq. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani offered to set up a committee to explore ways for the KRG to improve its assistance for religious minorities. End Summary. Autonomous Zone: Popular among leadership, but doubts in the community -------------- ¶3. (C) In a meeting June 11 with NEA-I Director, KRG Minister of Finance Sarkis Aghajan strongly advocated an autonomous zone, noting that if Christians had been granted their own areas previously they would have been able to retain their lands and their communities instead of the mass emigration now underway (Reftel). He noted others speak out against an autonomous zone, but are motivated by personal �00A;conflicts instead of working to save Christians in Iraq. A referendum must be held, Sarkis explained, as it would allow the Christian community to determine its fate in Iraq. Yonadem Kanna, Secretary General of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM),on the other hand, advocated providing local administrative control to religious minority communities per Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution in a meeting June 12, rather than an autonomous zone based in the Ninewa Plains as Sarkis urged. For example, Kanna said that parts of Baghdad could serve as key areas in which to allocate increased local administrative control, with what he numbered to be 27,000 strong Christian families living in Baghdad. ¶4. (C) Christian IDPs expressed great skepticism about an autonomous zone in a dinner meeting with NEA-I Director June 11, noting it would become like Israel, surrounded by enemies. They said it would isolate Christians from their Iraqi heritage and homeland, and that the communities they now live in would push them to live with their own brethren in the autonomous zone. They asked what would we do, stuck in small villages in the Ninewa Plain? Many Christian IDPs are professionals, engineers and medical doctors, reluctant to build up their lives in small villages, where agriculture would likely be the primary occupation. Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) member Bayzar Ohan, an Armenian member of the Chaldean Democratic Party, told NEA-I Director June 12 that an autonomous zone would not work, as Christians are not located in a contiguous area. The key, she said, is to ensure minority rights as enshrined in Article 121 of the Iraqi constitution are respected, and that authority at the sub-district level should be increased, to allow Christians to have an active voice in politics, as their communities are too small for significant representation at the district level. ¶5. (C) Father Bashar Warda, Rector of St. Peter's Seminary, which relocated from Baghdad to Erbil in 2006, told NEA-I Director June 12 that church leadership remains neutral on the proposed autonomous zone, preferring to remain out of what is ultimately a political decision. (Note: Sarkis told BAGHDAD 00001830 002 OF 003 NEA-I Director that the Chaldean Patriarch has consented to an autonomous zone, yet has not made his opinion public. However, UNAMI SRSG Staffan de Mistura told NEA/I Director Schmierer on June 16 that the Patriarch told de Mistura that he did not support an autonomous zone because he believed that such a zone would cause Christians living outside that zone to be intimidated or threatened to leave their areas. End Note.) Although Warda believes an autonomous zone would be a bad idea, he explained that the two key Christian political leaders in Iraq, Yonadem Kanna and Sarkis, are promoting the autonomous zone idea. He said the key would be to bring the two men together, to form a united front for Christian issues, as the community would unite behind them, and perhaps achieve the strength necessary to push forward the Christian agenda with the Government of Iraq. KRG offers refuge, but discrimination exists -------------- ¶6. (C) Christian IDPs told NEA-I Director that while the are grateful for the security and limited financial support they receive in the KRG, systemic discrimination prohibits them from integrating into the community. Bashar Moneer Beeney, an internist who fled to the KRG in February 2008, said he receives only three hundred dollars per month for his work at a KRG health clinic, and is not compensated based on his experience and expertise. Kurdish doctors with similar skills are paid much more, he said, and claimed discrepancies in pay between Kurds and Christian IDPs can be found in several fields. ¶7. (C) KNA member Ohan described how Arabic was previously taught to the Christian community in Zakho (a district in Dohuk Province),but after the 1991 uprising, all teaching shifted to Kurdish only. Today Christian students have difficulty achieving the grades necessary to attend universities, she explained, as they are taught in Kurdish, and not their native tongue. According to Father Warda, church leadership has brought the teaching of Christians in Kurdish to the attention of President Massoud Barzani, who expressed concern and took notes. However, nothing has changed, Father Warda said, and despite rhetoric in support of Christian rights among KRG leadership, district level administrators and leaders continue to push a Kurdish nationalistic agenda and refuse to allow Christians to be taught in Arabic. (Note: The KRG has increased Arabic teaching for Christian IDPs living in urban areas such as An Kawa in Erbil, however, the benefit does not appear to be extended to non-IDP Christians in the KRG. End Note.) ¶8. (C) Yonadem Kanna told NEA-I Director that the KRG has systematically seized Christian land over several years, and simply uses the Christian cause as a proxy to further Kurdish control of land in Iraq. He said that the KRG leadership had threatened Christians interested in joining the Mosul police recruitment drive, resulting in low numbers of Christians being trained to protect their communities. ¶9. (C) Another economic challenge faced by the Christian IDP community in the KRG is the corruption affecting activity in the private sector. One interlocutor, a construction engineer from Basra named Laith Alqa, commented that he refused to reopen his construction business, despite considerable potential contract work, due to the amount of bribes and kickbacks he would have to pay. Future Uncertain for Many -------------- ¶10. (C) The Christian IDPs expressed gratefulness to Minister Sarkis and the KRG, as they have offered protection for Christians, and recognized their plight while the Government of Iraq offers nothing. Embittered and traumatized, all expressed deep reservations about returning to Baghdad or Basra. Maysoon Majeed, an engineer from Basra, noted that there is no point in returning south, as the Christian community no longer exists. How would she find husbands for her three daughters in such an environment, she asked. Several IDPs also expressed a strong distrust of Muslims in general, saying that they simply could no longer live peacefully with Muslims, given what has happened since ¶2003. They said that although the KRG, under Nechirvan Barzani's patronage, provides protection, no long term guarantees can be found for minorities in Iraq. ¶11. (C) The spiritual leader of the Sabean Mandean community, Sheikh Sattar Al Zahrony, expressed similar doubts to A/DAS. He said Sabean Mandeans numbered around 35,000 people before 2003, and now are reduced to less than 6,000. He believes their permanent departure from Iraq is imminent, given the continued threats against the community and rampant discrimination, such as the belief among Muslims that Sabean BAGHDAD 00001830 003 OF 003 Mandeans are unclean. He gave the example of a Sabean Mandean woman who was raped and told by her rapists that she was now clean and would be allowed to enter heaven. Al Zahrony said extremism and intolerance had swept through Iraq from Saudi Arabia and Iran, and said he expects that less than ten percent of Sabean Mandeans who have fled Iraq would ever return. U.S. and KRG options to help -------------- ¶12. (C) Father Warda said that the U.S. could play a powerful role by mediating between the two Christian leaders, Sarkis and Kanna, and work to unify the various Christian factions, so they work together to preserve Iraq's Christian community. He cited the U.S. role in resolving the Kurdish civil war as an example of U.S. ability to bring groups together to ensure they achieve their mutual objectives. KNA Member Ohan Bayzar said that job opportunities and education also remain key to supporting Christian communities in Iraq. Father Warda has spent much of his time visiting Christian villages. Noting the poor infrastructure, lack of roads, schools, and health clinics, and lack of agricultural equipment, he said that even basic community planning would help and could be used to solicit funds from European donors. ¶13. (C) In a June 12 breakfast meeting, NEA/I Director pressed KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to do more to not only protect religious minorities but to increase their quality of life, particularly be creating economic opportunities. "We want to help," said Nechirvan, offering to set up a committee to explore ways in which the KRG could improve its assistance to religious minorities. Comment: The RRT will follow up with PM Nechirvan and his offer to set up a committee and efforts determine how best to promote minority rights in the KRG. End Comment. ¶14. (U) NEA-I Director Schmierer cleared this message. BUTENIS