Christians, Yazidis, and Mandaeans in Iraq: A Survival Issue (original) (raw)

introduction Iraq is a home for some of the oldest minority communities in the Middle East, such as the Christians, the Yazidis, and the Mandaeans. Their number in Iraq has been decreasing since April 2003. They have been the target of extreme Islamist groups—whether Sunni or Shiite— to eliminate them physically or to destroy their places of worship, shops, and even their homes. Most of Iraq's minorities have left their homes for safer areas or for exile. Their situation is deteriorating greatly, despite the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and conscious. In my paper, I am examining the current conditions of the religious minorities in Iraq since the fall of the former regime in April 2003. Most of these people were the early people to inhabit Mesopotamia. Losing them through physical elimination, intimidation, and immigration will deprive Iraq of its mosaic composition. I am studying the surge of violence against such religious minorities in Iraq, exploring why such offenses are committed, and what motivates the perpetua-tors to commit such acts. I will pay special attention to the minorities' recent exodus from Iraq to neighboring countries. Data is collected by examining minorities' literature, current political history, news of current events, and interviews with some of these minorities living abroad. This study will shed light on the plight of ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq who are confronted with harsh conditions since law and order was shattered in Iraq. The study will investigate the major causes of the Iraqi minority's recent exodus from Iraq to neighboring countries of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and elsewhere. Are minorities leaving Iraq because of economic, social, religious, ethnic, or security reasons or a combination of some, or all of these factors? It is important in the time of reconstruction and building a civil society in Iraq to solve the minorities' issues in a free, plural, and federal Iraq. After concluding my research, I will offer some policy recommendations to the Iraqi authorities or to other concerned parties, to maintain a culturally diverse society, whether the solution will be resettlement out