Chaldean Cardinal Sako condemns “morally unacceptable” vandalism of Christian graves in Harmota, urging KRG investigation amid regional unrest.
Newsroom (09/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) The Chaldean Patriarchate has issued a forceful condemnation following the desecration of a Christian cemetery in the village of Harmota, Koya District, labeling the act sacrilegious and a threat to the community’s fragile existence.
The attack, discovered recently, saw several graves broken into and headstones deliberately smashed. Hawzhin Silewa, a local Christian community member, described the scene to Kurdish media, noting a “large number of graves have been vandalized” with tools like hammers, leaving several graves uncovered. The scale of damage suggests multiple perpetrators, though motives and identities remain unknown.
In a formal statement sent to AsiaNews, Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako slammed the “criminal attack on the dead” as “morally and religiously unacceptable.” He framed it within a pattern of persecution, stating, “We Christians have already paid a high price for conflicts in which we are not involved.”
The Patriarchate explicitly demanded that Kurdistan regional authorities conduct a “thorough and professional investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.” Cardinal Sako warned of potential emigration, asserting, “We want to assure Christians that they are protected and safe; otherwise, a new wave of emigration will begin.” He expressed faith that the regional government would deliver justice.
The call was echoed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The office of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani denounced the “destructive and inappropriate act” against “our Christian brothers and sisters,” pledging “necessary investigations” to identify and punish those responsible.
The assault has sparked outrage among Harmota’s more than 700 Christians, part of a population constituting roughly nine percent of Koya. It also drew wider political condemnation. The Assyrian Democratic Movement (ZOWAA) called it “a new link in a chain of similar incidents” against Christian sites in the region in recent years, acts it said reflect “extremist ideas hostile to religious and ethnic diversity.”
The vandalism occurs against a backdrop of heightened instability in Iraqi Kurdistan. The statement referenced a late November missile attack on the critical Khor Mor gas field in Sulaymaniyah, which severely disrupted power generation. Cardinal Sako, commenting on that separate attack, said, “These senseless attacks and these demonstrations of force only complicate the situation in Iraq.”
For the besieged Christian community, the cemetery attack is both a spiritual violation and a stark test of their security in a region they have historically shared peacefully with Kurdish Muslims.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
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