REPORT: Delegation of patriarchs of the East voices support for...

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Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Boutros Rai called Wednesday on the Christians of Iraq not to immigrate and to preserve their place of origin, urging the International Community to fight terrorism and protect the innocents.

In a press conference held to conclude the visit of the patriarchs of the East to Iraq’s Erbil, Rai called on the United Nations to respect the resolutions it issues and work on protecting the region, explaining that he did not invite the Islamic State to hold dialogue, since "they have lost their humanity."

For his part, Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and around the World Raphael Louis Sako stressed the need to overcome the sectarian boundaries and stand as one community for the sake of the East, hoping that the crisis will end soon, and the displaced people will return to their homes.

In turn, President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Masoud Barzani stated that the Christians in Kurdistan will be protected, since “extremist movements do not distinguish one sect or one religion from the other.”

“We live and die together,” he said.

Patriarch Beshara Rai, along with a delegation of patriarchs arrived on Wednesday to Iraq’s Erbil in a show of solidarity with Christians who had fled their villages in the wake of the Islamic State offensive.

The delegation comprised of Patriarch Rai, Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Gregorios III Laham, Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Youssef III Younan, and Mar Ignatius Ephrem II Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Syrian Orthodox Church, as well member of the Bkerke Committee for dialogue with Hezbollah, Hareth Chehab, President of Caritas Lebanon Father Paul Karam, the head of the Catholic Media Center Father Abdo Bou Kassem, and Bkerke spokesman Walid Ghayyad was received at the airport by Karm Snjari, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Interior Minister and Nawzad Hadi the Governor of Erbil.

Before heading to Iraq, Patriarch Rai said from Beirut International Airport that patriarchs are heading to Erbil to stand in solidarity with Christians who are being persecuted by the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.

He also noted that dialogue between Bkerke and Hezbollah is ongoing; stressing that he is ready to hold direct talks with the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Rai also stated that Lebanese factions should unify their positions in order to end the presidential deadlock and tackle pending political and security issues.

The ancient Christian community of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul had all fled, ending a presence stretching back nearly two millennia after radical Islamists set them a deadline to submit to Islamic rule or leave.

The ultimatum by the Islamic State drove out the few hundred Christians who had stayed on when the group's hardline Sunni Muslim fighters overran Mosul, threatening Christians and the diverse city's other religious communities.

The Islamic State gave any remaining Christians a final choice: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face the sword.

A Catholic bishop from Mosul said that 150 Christian families had left and church leaders had advised the few families who wanted to negotiate with militants that they should also flee for their own safety.

The Christians described their flight as a historic loss.

The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, relayed its ultimatum from mosque loudspeakers and spray-painted Christian properties with the letter "N" for Nasrani, or Christian.

Religious leaders have expressed alarm at the order. "It is forbidden for Christians to be rejected, expelled or wiped out," said Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako in a statement published on his official website.

LBCI/REUTERS

For more details, watch the full report in the video above