ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of Erbil’s Christian-majority district of Ankawa are preparing to protest with renewed anger over “immoral behavior” that has gripped the town, stemming from the “unprecedented” number of brothels and nightclubs that its people say have ruined its tranquility.
Ankawa, home to the second-largest Christian community in Iraq, has had its social fabric devastated and its sense of community uprooted by the dramatic spread of prostitution and nightclubs, a phenomenon widely condemned and unfamiliar to its native Christian community.
This has frequently triggered vast outrage from its community, who are recently calling for renewed efforts to resolve the “distortions and negative practices” that Ankawa suffers from. Residents say they are fed up, and are calling for protests against the unprecedented number of brothels, nightclubs, and hotels in the town.
The renewed campaign was started by Muna Yaku, a Christian scholar and head of the Kurdistan Region’s Independent Human Rights Commission, who on Monday took to the popular Hand in Hand for Ankawa Facebook page to express her dissatisfaction with the town’s situation.
She noted several problems, such as “the prevalence of immoral behavior in the streets of Ankawa, particularly after midnight on a daily basis, by people strangers to the area,” and slammed “the unprecedented increase in the number of hotels, disproportionate to the needs of the district … especially when some of these hotels are being exploited for immoral purposes.”
Yaqu further lamented “the abnormal spread of liquor stores, massage parlors, and nightclubs, especially within residential areas, which disturbs the residents and makes their children feel unsafe,” also voicing concern over the loud noise from nightclubs and hotels in residential areas that deprives Ankawa’s people of sleep.
“All of this is unacceptable, and serious steps must be taken to reframe the situation in a way that serves the people of Ankawa,” she said.
The social media post rallied Ankawa’s residents and sparked calls for protests against the situation, with the last major demonstration - held nearly a decade ago - having yielded no results.
A well-informed local source told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday that protests in Ankawa are expected “in the coming weeks.”
Another popular Facebook page in Ankawa stressed that demonstrations are “the only remaining option to save Ankawa from the dirty hands trying to distort it.”
Ramy Noori Syawish, a Kurdistan parliament lawmaker for Erbil’s sole Christian quota seat and the former district mayor of Ankawa, told Rudaw English on Tuesday that a solution for the issue must include removing the places of concern from residential areas, but regretted that a lack of expansion opportunity complicates the solution.
“The solution … is to gradually phase these areas outside of Ankawa within a specified amount of time,” Syawish said, adding that the remaining hotels must be placed under extra supervision to prevent the spread of “immoral behavior.”
There are a total of 53 hotels in Ankawa, according to Syawish, a number he called “excessive.”
Rudaw English reached out to the Ankawa district mayor’s office, but they refused to comment on the matter.
Situated at the northern edge of Erbil city, Ankawa was elevated to a district in October 2021 through a decision by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. It is home to a large Christian population, several churches, and a Catholic university.
But its people regret that its ascension to a district has done little to address pressing problems threatening its tightly-knit community.
“Over the last 15 years, prostitution has destroyed the social fabric of Ankawa, a town with a history dating back thousands of years,” Dilan Adamat, a 35-year-old Ankawa resident and active civil society member, told Rudaw English. “The activity itself is degrading for residents, but the collateral effects are even worse.”
Adamat urged for immediate action, stressing that Ankawa’s current situation “is making life hell for the inhabitants.”
He also slammed the presence of nightclubs and hotels in residential areas as attracting a negative, unsafe environment, making the town particularly dangerous for women.
“Both expatriate and local women report cases of physical assault to me daily,” Adamat said.
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 the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard.
When ISIS launched its onslaught in northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, thousands of Iraqi Christians fled their homes. Churches in Ankawa took in many of their brethren before they were resettled in camps or emigrated abroad.
Fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Iraq, a staggering fall from the nearly 1.5 million before 2003, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda in February. However, the actual number is expected to be even lower.