Region | Iraq
Iraqi Christians urge relatives to return home
Iraqi Christians spent the Christmas Day in churches, clubs and at their homes with much optimism challenging the bitter memories of acts of terrorism that they had experienced in previous years.
- By Basil Adas, Correspondent
- Published: 21:07 December 25, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Iraqi Christians gather around a fire during a Christmas Eve mass at The Great Virgin Mariam Church in the Hamdaniya area near Mosul city.
Baghdad: Iraqi Christians spent the Christmas Day in churches, clubs and at their homes with much optimism challenging the bitter memories of acts of terrorism that they had experienced in previous years.
Pastors and other faithful attending church masses called upon their Christian friends and relatives who fled Iraq because of the threat of terrorism to return to their homes.
"Security has improved greatly and extremists who were threatening the lives of Christian families have left. I call upon those who left to come back and start a new life and work to rebuild the churches that were destroyed by terrorism," Ramzi Kourkis, who lives in the Al Doura neighbourhood in southern Baghdad, told Gulf News.
Various Baghdad neighbourhoods are vibrant and alive with children's games, Christmas trees, and Santa Claus - an atmosphere that looks different from last year's.
Some Christians have even put up decorative lights on their houses.
Joy of holidays
"The conditions are conducive for merry-making and family reunions, but what is lacking is the presence of those who have left us. Only when they return will the joy of holidays be restored," said Nadine Bezo, a civil society activist.
The Al Gadeer district in Baghdad, known for being an affluent Christian neighbourhood, was filled with many families who were out celebrating in restaurants and buying toys from shopping malls.
"I wish my children and grandchildren were here with us to celebrate," said 63-year-old Thamir Yousuf. His children had fled Iraq with their families earlier this year.
Many internet cafes were full of Christians who communicated with their relatives and loved ones who had left Iraq.
They exchanged holiday greetings through online messages and emails as well, while others spent hours on their mobile phones, contacting family members who had left Iraq.
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