"Those who are in power should put an end to the persecution of the Christians, so that Muslims and Christians may be part of one family. It is high time the Christians were recognised their rights". A powerful speech was the one that on May 6th the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Mar Emmanuel III Delly, gave in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, in northern Iraq, where thousands of Christians from the centre and the south are seeking safety in flight. Mar Delly’s speech has been relayed today by the blog Baghdadhope. It is the first time the Patriarch has used the word ‘persecution’. And it did it in front of dramatic news. In the district of Dora, in Baghdad, a "religious cleansing" is under way. Local sources speak of "Christians forced to leave their homes without taking anything with themselves and paying a sort of ‘exit toll’ of 250,000 dinars per person and 500,000 per car. The houses that are not taken away are legally sold by the relatives of those people who have been arrested and will be given back to their families only after registering the transfer of property. The Christians of Dora can stay only if they accept to let a daughter or sister marry a Muslim man, thereby laying the ground for a progressive conversion of the whole family to Islam". (continued)” ” ” “
