Are there Christian schools and churches in northern Iraq?
There are Christian schools and churches in Iraq, primarily in the Kurdish-controlled north. Elsewhere in Iraq, however, education in any language other than Arabic and Kurdish is prohibited due to a law passed by the government in Baghdad. Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, who speak and use Syriac in their religious texts, are unable to receive an education in their native language in areas under Baghdad control (Journalist 18 May 2000; USDOS 25 Feb. 2000; USDOS 9 Sept. 1999). According to the UK Immigration & Nationality Directorate, “military forces have destroyed numerous Assyrian churches,” though where these churches were located is not indicated (Sept. 1999). In northern Iraq, instruction in Syriac has been permitted since the 1991 Kurdish uprising against the Iraqi government. The US Department of State quotes Assyrian sources, however, which report that “[b]y October 1998, the first groups of students were ready to begin secondary school in Syriac in the north…, [but] region
