Kurdistan: Safe haven for minorities with 7,000 places of worship for different religions

The Kurdistan Region is known to have various cultures, nationalities and religions which shows the freedom of the different components in the area, especially following the 1991 Kurdish uprising and the establishment of a Kurdish Government. 

The Kurdistan Region is currently considered as the most peaceful part of Iraq where followers of different religions find refuge in the Kurdistan Region whenever they flee persecution. For that reason, the Kurdistan Region now has around 7,000 different places of worship where different religious components pray and carryout their religious duties in peace.

According to Law No. 5 of 2015, 7 of Kurdistan parliament, 5 religions are allowed to carry out their religious obligations and have representatives within the KRG's Ministry of Endowment and those are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha'is, Sabian Mandaeans and Yezidis.

Regarding the Islamic religion which is the dominant religion in the Kurdistan Region, Nabaz Ismail, director of the media department of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told the Kurdish Kurdistani Nwe newspaper that there are 5,732 mosques in the Kurdistan Region where about 1 million Muslims visit on Fridays for praying and religious sermons.

To organize the affairs of all different religions in the Kurdistan Region, the Ministry of Endowments has established a directorate under the name of the Directorate of Religious Coexistence.

According to the director of the Directorate of Religious Coexistence Amir Osman, the Kurdistan Region did not have people from the Baha'is and the Sabian Mandaeans religions before but many came during the Baath rule in Iraq and after its fall as well.

"Many of them fled religious persecution from central and southern and found a safe haven in the Kurdistan Region," Osman said.

"The Kurdistan Region defends them in two ways, one of which is by Law No. 5 of 2015 on the protection of components rights, and the second is culturally as the Kurdish community respects all religious and sectarian values," he added.

Religious minorities in Iraq have continuously faced persecution, especially during Saddam Hussein's regime rule in Iraq and the recent years' emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) who took control of one-third of the country until 2017 including major city of Mosul and the main land of the Yazidis, Shingal (Sinjar). Thousands of Yazidis and Christians fled and found refuge in the Kurdistan Region.

Holy places of religions other than Islam in Kurdistan Region

Regarding the religious and holy places of Christians in the Kurdistan Region, Amir Osman said that there are 135 different churches. In addition, there are 400 holy sites and shrines shared by both Muslim and Christian religions in the Kurdistan Region.

As for the Yezidis, they have 315 places of worship and shrines in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and the followers of the Sabian Mandaeans religion have only one place of worship which is in Erbil's Ankawa and also one cultural center.

The Zoroastrianism religion had only one temple which is also located in Erbil city, but because of the temple was sold Khan, they no places of worship in Kurdistan Region, according to Osman

He also revealed that Baha'is only have a Senior Council in the Kurdistan Region.

Regarding the Judaism in the Kurdistan Region, Sherko Osman Lasok, a volunteer representative of Jews  in the Kurdistan Region, says that there is only 200 to 250 Jewish families in the Kurdistan Region who only have one shrine in the Region that belongs to the Prophet Nahum in the town of Al-Qush, which is scheduled to be officially opened soon.

The Kakai's have about 14 temples, holy places, shrines, and shrines in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. There are also 200,000 Kakais in the Kurdistan Region.



PUKmedia