The Assyrian Church inaugurated its new headquarters in Erbil. Here is what to know.
The dual-complex facility is the culmination of years of interrupted work between church and government officials. Some members of the community are skeptical of collaboration with the KDP, which has recently faced allegations of land grabs threatening the region’s Assyrians.
Yasmeen Altaji | Cover photo: Facebook/Mar Paulus Benjamin | Sept. 13, 2022
After more than a decade in the making, the Assyrian Church of the East’s new Iraq headquarters has opened.
Years of interrupted work on the facility, a dual-complex housing a church and a residence for the patriarch in Erbil, culminated in an inauguration ceremony Monday attended by political figures and religious leaders. Attendees included Patriarch Mar Awa Royel III of the Assyrian Church, Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael Sako of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and Former President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) Masoud Barzani.
Highlights
Mar Awa said in a speech at the event, which was streamed live on Facebook: “For the past 82 years, the patriarchal seat has been in the diaspora. But, by the grace of God, the seat has now returned to our ancestral homeland.”
Bishop Mar Ibris Youkhanna of the Assyrian Church garnered local praise when he paused his speech as a call to prayer sounded from a nearby mosque.
Masoud Barzani said in his speech the inauguration of the patriarchal seat “symbolizes the historical relationship established a hundred years ago between the great martyrs, Martyrs Sheikh Abdul Salam Barzani and Mar [Benyamin] Shimun, when at that time the principle of peaceful coexistence and brotherhood was established.”
The patriarchal seat moved from Iraq to the United States in 1940 following the exile of church leaders in 1933 after what the community recognizes as the Simele Massacre, according to the church. Efforts to bring the patriarchal seat back to Erbil went into motion in 2009 under the reign of the late then-patriarch Mar Dinkha IV.
The church has credited Masoud Barzani, current president of the majority Kurdistan Democratic Party, then-Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, now the president of the KRI, and Sarkis Aghajan, former Minister of Finance and Iraqi Assyrian KDP member, with collaborating on the project with the patriarch that year. In 2011, construction on the facility began, and in 2015, with the appointment of patriarch Mar Gewargis III, the proposal to move the headquarters from the Assyrian diaspora back to Erbil gained a footing among church leaders, according to the church.
Proponents of the move and representatives of the church say the new facility in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous KRI, marks the beginning of positive change for Assyrians in Iraq. Some members of the community are skeptical of collaboration with the KDP, which has recently faced allegations of corruption and land-grabs threatening resident Assyrians.
Mar Awa said in a speech at the event, which was streamed live on Facebook: “For the past 82 years, the patriarchal seat has been in the diaspora. But, by the grace of God, the seat has now returned to our ancestral homeland.”
Mar Awa did not respond to The Word’s requests for comment.
According to a statement on Facebook, Barzani said in his speech the inauguration of the patriarchal seat “symbolizes the historical relationship established a hundred years ago between the great martyrs, Martyrs Sheikh Abdul Salam Barzani and Mar Shimun, when at that time the principle of peaceful coexistence and brotherhood was established.” KDP-affiliated media have regarded Abdul Salam Barzani as the founder of the Kurdish nationalist movement, and Benyamin Shimun is a former patriarch of the Assyrian Church assassinated in 1918.
In a since-deleted Facebook post from Sept. 4, an account using the name of Nenif Matran Hariri, a former KDP politburo official, said the land used for the complex measures at 65,000 sqm and has an estimated value of $100 million. Neither Hariri nor the office of the patriarch responded to The Word’s request for comment at the time of publication, but a church official told The Word they would provide information about the structure as it becomes available.
A Chicago-born Assyrian American, Mar Awa was elected patriarch of the Assyrian Church in September 2021. The completion of the new patriarchal headquarters comes just over one year after his appointment.
Editor’s note: This article was corrected to reflect that in his speech, Masoud Barzani referred to Mar Benyamin XIX Shimun, not Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII. It was also updated to clarify that while church leaders were exiled in 1933, the patriarchate was not moved to the United States until 1940.