KRG.org: Despite significant gains in the security field, Iraq remains a dangerous place. While religious and ethnic tensions have lessened in key areas, the recent brutal attacks against Christians in Mosul remind us that violence and repression are not far from the surface. What is the background of the current situation of Christians in Iraq and the position of the Kurdistan Regional Government?

Prime Minister Barzani: There is an unfortunate history of attacks against Christians in Iraq by terrorist groups since the liberation of Iraq in 2003. For example, in August 2004, churches in Baghdad and later in Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk were targeted by terrorists. Christians were assassinated, abducted, and pressured to convert or pay ransom.

Such things continued until nearly 50,000 Christian families had no option but to flee. Of these, 20,000 families fled to the Kurdistan Region and settled in the Dohuk and Erbil Governorates. Other families settled in the towns around the Nineveh Plain, and the remainder left Iraq for Syria and Jordan.