The only Christian in Iraq's Provisional Government Council said that there
will be no religious discrimination in the new Iraq.
An Assyrian-Chaldean Christian, militant of the Assyrian Democratic Movement,
Younadem Kanna explained that, among other things, his mission in the Council
is to see that the rights of Christians in general are guaranteed, although he
admits that the attributions of each member are still not clear.
"Under the former regime, we were second class citizens. The time of
discrimination has ended. Today, in Iraq, every citizen is free, regardless of
his religious or ethnic" background, Kanna said to the French newspaper La
Croix.
"We will benefit from the same legal rights enjoyed by the two main ethnic
groups, the Arabs and Kurds. So the Assyrian-Chaldeans will be recognized with
the same title, as a nation."
"As the future Constitution will guarantee religious and cultural rights,
we are going to militate for the de-nationalization of confessional schools so
that our children can go back to their roots and, above all, to their maternal
language," he promised.
The Constitution, Kanna added, "will establish the separation between
State and the religious factor. When Iraq is a secular State, there will be no
problems with our Muslim brethren," he added.
"The mission is arduous. The people criticize us. They still have not
realized the risks we have taken. I can assure you that I took less risks at
the time when I was condemned to death by Saddam Hussein, and had to flee to
the mountains in the north of the country," he concluded