Iraqi Christian Relief Council launches a new campaign in support of rebuilding in a future Nineveh Plain Province

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Iraqi Christian Relief Council stands with Iraq's persecuted religious and ethnic minorities who now ask for a recognized and protected safe-haven in the form of a new federal province within Iraq. The minority groups, who make up most of the fertile Nineveh Plain north east of Mosul, believe that without the creation of a new province in Iraq they will be susceptible to new attacks.

To support the return of families to their ancestral towns, Iraqi Christian Relief Council is launching a massive relief campaign, Operation Return to Nineveh, in mid-November to support Assyrian Christians in the rebuilding of community centers, schools, homes, and churches destroyed by ISIS. All churches in the Nineveh Plain have been destroyed or damaged, according to a source in Iraq.

Now three weeks into the Mosul Offensive, Iraq's Nineveh Plain minorities, including Assyrian Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks, and Turkmen, say the formation of a new province is necessary to rebuild their decimated communities once Iraqi Coalition Forces root ISIS from its second largest support base.

Nineveh Plain minorities are calling on the international community to uphold a 2014 Iraqi Council of Ministers decision promising a standalone province for Iraq's rapidly disappearing Nineveh Plain minorities.

Iraq's instability and violence has put minorities at risk of atrocities from Sunni and Shia extremists since 2003. More than 800,000 Nineveh Plain minorities were driven from their homes, with thousands abducted or killed, as ISIS carried out one of its most violent campaigns during the summer of 2014. The terror group attacked Nineveh Plain cities, towns, and villages where they deliberately destroyed churches and temples amounting to a US government-recognized genocide.

Available for immediate interviews

Juliana Taimoorazy
Founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and Senior Fellow at Philos Project

Juliana Taimoorazy is internationally recognized for her work with persecuted Christians, as well as Yezidi and Muslim communities in Iraq. She is sought after for her analysis on terror's impact on indigenous Christian communities in Iraq and the Middle East. She has appeared in Wall Street Journal, New York Post, BBC, The Telegraph, National Catholic Register, The Stream, and Israel News. Juliana is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post.  

SOURCE Iraqi Christian Relief Council