Ankara -- DEM Party MP George Aryo (Turkish surname Aslan) has voiced sharp criticism against what he described as "ongoing discrimination based on religion and belief in Turkey", particularly against Christian, Alevi and Yezidi communities. The Jerusalem MP stressed that constitutional and legal rights regarding freedom of belief and minority protections fail to translate effectively into reality.
At 91, Sami Mousa Barsoum still introduces himself with a sense of responsibility that has defined much of his life. He is the mukhtar, or community representative, of Urishlem's Assyrians. Born on 5 August 1935, near the Assyrian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem's Old City, Barsoum has witnessed nearly a century of transformation in a city where generations of Christians have struggled to...
After safeguarding them for more than half a century, the Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd has returned a collection of historic manuscripts belonging to the former Chaldean Diocese of Akra in northern Iraq to its ecclesiastical authorities.
Can Chaldean Catholics in Iraq still imagine a future in their ancestral homeland? This question lies at the heart of one of the most urgent challenges facing Iraq's Christian community today. Over the past two decades, Iraq's population has fallen dramatically. The European Centre for Law and Justice reports that the Iraqi Christian population in particular has declined from "1.
Tur Abdin, Turkey -- The First Administrative Court in Sirnak has issued a decision suspending the enforcement of an administrative fine and closure order imposed on the annex of the historic Assyrian Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Azakh, known in Assyrian as Beth Zabday (Turkish mandatory name: Idil).
Rami Nouri has been elected Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament in Iraq, representing the Christian quota, after securing 52 votes. He is the first Christian to hold the position in the parliament's history.