Photo Gallery Religious War
The city of Qaraqosh in Iraq is home to one of the country's last large Christian populations. Around 40,000 Christians live here. The city has a total of 12 Christian churches. Even though more than 800,000 of the 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq have fled the country over the past 20 years, Qaraqosh has remained a bastion of stability.
Yohanna Petros Moshe, the archbishop of Mosul, lives in Qaraqosh. Christians here feel left in the lurch, ambivalent about whether they should be loyal to Baghdad or to the Kurds. "Only the Kurds express any interest in us," he says. "Perhaps it's because they were also oppressed."
Armed Christians provide protection for local churches. "The terrorists want to destroy us," says Archbishop Moshe. "We have to remain strong."
Salam Kihkhwa, a Christian, was badly injured in a suicide attack in Mosul in 2010 that left 186 students dead or wounded. "Iraq is disintegrating," he says. Speaking of the Christian population, he says, "And we will lose -- regardless whether we belong to the Arabs or the Kurds in the end."
