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The Persecution
of Chaldeans, Assyrians and Copts by ISIL refers to the persecution of Christian
minorities, within its region of control in Iraq, Syria and Libya by the Islamic
extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL). Persecution of Christian minorities climax following its takeover of parts of Northern
Iraq in June 2014.
According
to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez,
"While the majority of victims in the conflict raging in Syria and Iraq
have been Muslims, Christians have borne a heavy burden given their small
numbers."
Background
The
mass flight and expulsion of ethnic Chaldeans
from Iraq is a process which initiated from the beginning of Iraq War in
2003 and continues to this day. Leaders of Iraq's Assyrian
community estimate that over two-thirds of the Iraqi Assyrian population may
have fled the country or been internally displaced since the U.S.-led invasion
in 2003 until 2011. Reports suggest that whole neighborhoods of Assyrians have
cleared out in the cities of Baghdad and Basra, and that both Sunni and Shiite insurgent groups and
militias have threatened Assyrian Christians. Following the campaign of the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant in northern Iraq in August 2014, one quarter of the remaining Iraqi
Assyrians fled the Jihadists, finding refuge in Turkey and Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Timeline:
Fall
of Mosul and the Ninewa Plain
After
the fall of Mosul, ISIS demanded
Chaldean Christians in the city to convert
to Islam, pay tribute, or face execution, by July 19, 2014. This resulted
in a complete Assyrian Christian exodus from Mosul, marking the end of 1600
years of continuous Christian presence. A church mass was not held in Mosul for
the first time in 1,800 years.
ISIS
had also been seen marking Christian homes with the letter nūn
for Nassarah ("Christian"). Several religious buildings were seized
and subsequently demolished, most notably Mar Behnam Monastery.
By
August 7, ISIS captured the primarily Chaldean towns of Qaraqosh, Tel Keppe,
Bartella,
and Karamlish,
prompting the residents to flee. More than 100,000 Iraqi Christians were forced
to flee their homes and leave all their property behind after ISIS invaded Qaraqosh and
surrounding towns in the Nineveh Plains Province of Iraq.
In
early November 2014, a horrifying "price list" for Yazidi and
Christian females surfaced online. While human rights NGO Defend International immediately verified the
document's authenticity, UN official Zainab
Bangura didn't confirm it to be genuine before August 2015.
Beheading
of Copts
On
February 12, 2015, the ISIL released a report in their online magazine Dabiq showing photos of 21 Egyptian Copts
migrant workers that they had kidnapped in the city of Sirte, Libya, and
whom they threatened to kill to "avenge the [alleged] kidnapping of Muslim
women by the Egyptian Coptic Church". The men, who came from different
villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya
Governorate, were kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on December
27, 2014, and in January 2015.
Khabur
valley offensive
On
23 February 2015, in response to a major Kurdish offensive in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, ISIL abducted 150 Chaldeans
from villages near near Tell Tamer in northeastern Syria, after launching a
large offensive in the region.
According
to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez, of the 232 of the Assyrians kidnapped in
the ISIS attack on the Assyrian Christian farming villages on the banks of the
Khabur River in Northeast Syria, 51 were children and 84 women. "Most of
them remain in captivity with one account claiming that ISIS is demanding $22
million (or roughly $100,000 per person) for their release."
On 8
October, ISIL released a video showing three of the Assyrian men kidnapped in
Khabur being executed. It was reported that 202 of the 253 kidnapped Assyrians
were still in captivity, each one with a demanded ransom of $100,000.
Reactions
On 2
and 3 August 2014, thousands of Chaldeans/Nestorian Assyrians/Syriacs of the diaspora protested the
persecution of their fellow Assyrians within Iraq and Syria, demanding a United
Nations-led creation of a safe haven for minorities in the Nineveh Plains.
In
October 2014, Kurdish-Danish human rights activist Widad
Akrawi dedicated her 2014 International Pfeffer Peace
Award "to all victims of persecution, particularly the Yazidis,
Christians, and all residents of Kobanê region."