Main content
Iraq Christian numbers dangerously low - archbishop
An Iraqi Christian leader has told the 91热爆 it is hard to convince members of his community to stay in Iraq, but that he is working to keep them there.
鈥淭here is no one reason for a family to stay. I cannot convince them unless we do something for them,鈥� the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Irbil, Bashar Matti Warda, told the 91热爆 Hardtalk programme鈥檚 Stephen Sackur.
Archbishop Warda said he 鈥渉ated鈥� the calls for 鈥渢olerance鈥� of religious minorities from the wider community in predominantly Muslim Iraq, where Christians have been targeted by Islamist militants and numbers have dwindled from about 1.4 million in 2003 to as few as 250,000.
鈥淚 keep telling them, please don鈥檛 use this word. Speak about co-existence, speak about respect.鈥�
