Assyrian International News Agency
Iraqi Christians Find Sanctuary in Istanbul
Posted GMT 7-17-2007 16:24:50
ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Every Sunday the basement chapel of one of Istanbul’s
largest churches echoes to the sound of slow chanting in Aramaic, the
ancient language spoken by Jesus.
The 300 worshippers, all Iraqi Christians, have come here to forget the
Muslim sectarian violence that drove them from their war-ravaged homeland.
Refugees, they pray for a swift onward passage.
"God, watch over the families here. Let them go to the United States, maybe
Australia or Europe, even if it may take months. Let them be patient," prays
Father Francois Yakan during the mass in the sparsely decorated,
low-ceilinged chapel.
Aid workers and charities in mainly Muslim Turkey, which is also home to
ancient Christian communities, are bracing for a fresh inflow of refugees,
both Christian and Muslim, from Iraq’s unremitting violence. An estimated
2,000 people flee the mayhem there each day.
Last week, the United Nations’ refugee agency doubled its 2007 funding
appeal for Iraq to $123 million, much of which will go to Iraqi refugees in
neighbouring countries, especially Jordan and Syria. Far fewer refugees come
to non-Arab Turkey, but rising numbers have prompted aid groups to boost
staff.
"We need more people because the number of people coming is increasing and
they will continue to increase. We need more staff to handle it," said Bora
Ozbek of the International Catholic Migration Commission, which has a base
in Istanbul.
FLOODGATES
A decision by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in February to
begin resettling Iraqis from central and southern Iraq as well as Christians
opened up the floodgates, making Iraqis in Turkey eligible for refugee
status.
It also encouraged more people to leave Iraq, with many choosing Istanbul
over traditional destinations in the Arab world such as Damascus and Amman.
Aid organisations in Turkey have already processed approximately 3,000
immigrants from Iraq, the majority of them Christian, and thousands more are
waiting to be processed. Others will not apply for asylum but hope to remain
in Turkey or move on to third countries.
"The Christian Iraqis come here because they think their applications will
get processed faster, that because there are fewer of them it will be
easier," said Belinda Mumcu of the Vatican-backed charity Caritas.
That is what Mazen Massoud Yelda, 34, thought before he applied for visas
for himself, his wife and two children and bought bus tickets to Silopi on
the Turkish side of the border.
Now in Istanbul for nearly a year, Yelda makes Muslim prayer beads in a
factory near the city centre.
In the Baghdad neighbourhood of Dori, he ran a copier and computer supply
and repair store until it was bombed by militants. He says he was targeted
because he was Christian and had made photocopies for a nearby Christian
seminary.
"It has become so awful, but we have forgotten there is a place called Iraq
because it has nothing for us anymore. If we were to go back, we would get
killed," he said.
It is people like Yelda that Christian groups in Turkey mainly focus on.
"These people fall into the category of religious discrimination and they
have a valid claim, given the violence of Iraq," said Ozbek of the ICMC.
"Now we are working seven days a week trying to keep up with the
applications."
BROTHERLY LOVE
Father Yakan, who like his Iraqi congregation belongs to the ancient
Catholic Chaldean Church, said he began services in the basement chapel of
the Roman Catholic Saint Anthony’s Church in Istanbul nine years ago.
Then, many of his flock were Iraqis who had fled during the West’s first
Gulf war against Saddam Hussein in 1991. But the numbers of people attending
Sunday mass has steadily increased and now reaches as many as 800, he said.
"We are from the same church — from the first Catholic Church, the Chaldean
Church … We must help them, they are our brothers," said Yakan.
Though 99 percent Muslim, Turkey is home to tiny ancient Christian
communities, including Armenians and Greeks. There are about 40,000 mainly
Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christians, who comprise both Catholics and those
following Orthodox rites.
Yelda thinks he has two or three months left in Istanbul before he goes to
Kutahya, a town in western Turkey, where he will have to live until the
UNHCR processes his asylum claim.
Iraqis are regularly transferred to provincial Turkish cities where they are
registered and monitored by local authorities before being sent on to start
new lives abroad.
Despite the uncertainty Yelda says he has kept his faith and is able to joke
about his situation.
"We Christians are weak people. We always pray to Jesus for his aid. Of
course as soon as we end up in a different country we immediately start
asking for help," he said.
By Thomas Grove
From: Baghdasarian