ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Saturday said the return of Christians who left the country due to years of conflict and instability is a national priority, pledging government support to encourage Christian families and investors to return to their hometowns in Iraq.
"The return of Christians who were forced to leave the country due to the difficult circumstances Iraq endured is a national and government priority," Zaidi said during a meeting with Patriarch Mar Paulus III Nona, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and worldwide, and an accompanying delegation in Baghdad, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
The Chaldean patriarch welcomed the government's pledges, saying they sent "an important message" that could encourage Christians in the diaspora to return to Iraq and strengthen their confidence in the country's future, according to the statement.
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 Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard, with fewer than 300,000 Christians remaining in Iraq today.
Zaidi also called on “Iraqi Christian business leaders and investors abroad to return and contribute to the reconstruction process and take advantage of available investment opportunities across various development sectors, particularly healthcare and education,” read the statement.
He also said that the government will provide all forms of support “to ensure the success of their projects, strengthen their contribution to economic development, and create employment opportunities.”
He also said Christian business leaders are ready to contribute to investment projects and reconstruction efforts that benefit all Iraqis.
Successive waves of violence, including attacks by al-Qaeda militants after 2003 and the ISIS takeover of Mosul and the Nineveh plains in 2014, forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to flee their homes.
Many sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region before emigrating abroad, leaving only a few hundred thousand Christians in Iraq, according to estimates by church officials cited by the AP in 2021.
