At a press conference organised by Aid to the Church in Need, the Archbishop of Erbil recalled that there are Europeans enrolling with ISIS and Europe can therefore not remain indifferent
The “cancer” of the self-proclaimed Islamic State needs to be combatted with a “military intervention”. This is according to Mgr. Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, who also says the international community should “increase military support and political pressure” against ISIS.
Speaking at a press conference in Rome, organised by the Pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, the prelate said three steps need to be taken: Firstly, “military action is needed in order to stop ISIS. It is a cancer that needs to be stopped, just like this illness.” Secondly, “political reconciliation is needed in order to put an end to all disputes and rebuild trust” between Iraqis. Finally, “humanitarian aid needs to continue in order to deal with the growing number of refugees who are arriving in Kurdistan”. According to Wanda, this is a “package” of initiatives that should be taken together, “single initiatives cannot be taken without the others”. “I know it may seem strange that a bishop should put military intervention first,” Wanda pointed out, “but sometimes unfortunate measures need to be taken, as in this case, because we are faced with a cancer, there is no chance of a dialogue with these people.” The way the Archbishop of Erbil sees it, the so-called Caliphate “is a threat not only to Christians in the region but also to Sunnis, Yazidis and to the whole world. When asked to clarify what he meant exactly by military intervention, the prelate seemed to exclude solutions such as the deployment of land troops as there would be too high a loss of life. He underlined, however, that “everyone is responsible: there are people from European countries such as the United Kingdom, France etc. joining ISIS so Europe cannot say: your problem. They need to bring them back. They cannot ignore their responsibility. There needs to be an increase in economic support and political pressure.” While in the past, the prelate claims, the West was not fully aware of the problem of persecuted Middle Eastern Christians, following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris “there is a greater awareness that ISIS is a problem, not only for the Middle East”.
Warda underlined that the border between Kurdistan and ISIS territory is160-kilometres long and it was therefore impossible for peshmergas to defend the entire Christian population that fled the jihadists. He praised the collaboration with the government of Kurdistan , particularly in the city of Ankawa, where thanks in part to the help of Aid to the Church in Need and other humanitarian contributions, many families were given stable housing and schools and sports centres were built.
When asked whether ISIS receives international military and political support, Warda replied that “politicians say yes, we should ask them who is giving this support” to the self-proclaimed Islamic State. But ISIS is also partly “supported” by the local community and “there still needs to be pressure against financing, military aid or those who do business” with ISIS.
Warda recalled that there were 1,300,000 Iraqi Christians in 2013, now there are only 400,000. 7,000 Christians have fled to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey and 30,000 to Erbil.
Regarding the possibility of the Pope visiting Iraq, the archbishop, who will not be meeting Francis this time, said that in his meeting with the Pope last November, Francis had assured him : “I want to come.” “We are all waiting for him, he would be welcomed with great joy but naturally we understand that we have to wait because a journey such as this takes a great deal of preparation.”
Right from the very start of the advance of the Islamic State, Aid to the Church in Need informs, the organisation “has given support to Christian communities in Iraq for a total of 7 million euros. In Warda’s diocese, where 120,000 Christians who fled Mosul and the Nineveh Plane have been offered shelter, the pontifical foundation has funded a 4 million euro programme. Among the most important donations are eight prefabricated schools and 150 prefabricated structures that provided dignified housing for more than 200 families.”
A number of others a part from Warda spoke at the press conference held in the foreign newsroom in Rome: the director of the Italian branch of Aid to the Church in Need, Alessandro Monteduro, the advisor of the foreign press association, Paddy Agnew, the spokesperson for the Italian branch of Aid to the Church in Need, Marta Petrosillo and the branch’s President, Alfredo Mantovano. “Being kept up to date on what is happening in areas where Christians are undergoing persecution is very important because we sometimes get the impression that public interest is intermittent, when tragically there is continuity in these events,” said the former deputy minister of the interior, who underlined that the help Aid to the Church in Need gives to Iraqi Christians accounts for 60% of the total aid received, along with AsiaNews, which provides 12% and the Italian Episcopal Conference 10% of the total aid.
