Why Iraqi Christians are against the establishment of their own autonomous region
The secretary-general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement and member of the Iraqi parliament, Yonadam Kanna, speaks to Al-Monitor about the Christians’ status in Iraq, while he denied claims that they are demanding an autonomous region of their own, saying these claims are racist.
BAGHDAD — The secretary-general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement and member of the Iraqi parliament, Yonadam Kanna, spoke to Al-Monitor about the unwillingness of Iraqi Christians to establish an autonomous region of their own or call for an administrative or geographic split from Iraq.
Kanna said that the Council of Minister’s decision to make the Ninevah Plains a governorate on demographic grounds did not equate with the establishment of an autonomous region, describing any step toward that end — which is based on religious or sectarian motivations — to be “racist” and incompatible with the values of Iraqi Christians.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Kanna called for the need to “protect the Christian constituency of Iraq.”
The text of the interview follows:
