Who Are Egypt's Coptic Christians?
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MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 INTERNATIONAL First Palm Sunday since IS in Erdogan warns Turkey EU bid ‘on table’ Iraq’s main Christian town after referendum Jihadist inscriptions still visible on the walls ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday that Turkey’s embattled bid to join the EU will be back “on the table” after QARAQOSH: Members of Iraq’s Christian minority cel- next week’s referendum on enhancing his powers, raising new doubts ebrated Palm Sunday in the country’s main Christian about the future of the membership drive. In a speech in the Aegean town of Qaraqosh for the first time since it was retaken city of Izmir, Erdogan described Europe as a “sick man”, using the jibe from the Islamic State group. Hundreds of faithful that nineteenth century European politicians used to describe the gathered inside the town’s burnt out Immaculate decaying Ottoman Empire. Conception church for mass before starting the tradi- He once again threatened after the April 16 referendum to sign into tional Palm Sunday march, a procession during which law the reinstatement of the death penalty-if it was passed by parlia- palms are carried to commemorate Jesus’s entry to ment-a move that would automatically end the European Union mem- Jerusalem. bership bid. “Europe will pay for what they have done. God willing, the “Thank God, we are returning to our towns and question of the European Union will again be on the table after April churches after two years,” Abu Naimat Anay, an Iraqi 16,” said Erdogan. priest, said inside the church, which is Iraq’s biggest He said that Turks living in Europe were “oppressed” and “humiliat- and where jihadist inscriptions were still visible on the ed”: “God willing, our people will bring them (Europe) to account,” he walls. Qaraqosh, with an overwhelmingly Christian said. “They said a century ago that we were the ‘sick man’. Now they population of around 50,000 before the jihadists took are the ‘sick man’. Europe is collapsing,” he added, claiming the over the area in August 2014, was the largest Christian European economy weakened every year. The EU is facing the gravest town in Iraq. crisis in its six-decade history after last year’s British vote to leave the It was retaken by Iraqi forces late last year as part of bloc, while populist and eurosceptic movements have gained ground a massive offensive to wrest back the nearby city of across the continent. Mosul from IS but it remains almost completely Erdogan reaffirmed that if a bill on restoring the death penalty- deserted. The area is now considered safe and the abolished in 2004 as part of the EU bid-was brought to him he would Palm Sunday mass and march were secured by the sign it “without hesitation”. The president has raised hackles in Europe Nineveh Plain Protection Units, an Assyrian militia. over recent weeks by claiming some EU states were behaving like the Speakers playing hymns were set up near a large cross Nazis by preventing his ministers from holding pre-election rallies. recently erected at the entrance of the town. The arch- While the ‘No’ campaign has struggled to make its voice heard as bishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Mouche, moved QARAQOSH: A giant cross built by volunteers from the Iraqi town of Qaraqosh (Hamdaniya) is seen on the ‘Yes’ campaign dominates the airwaves, analysts believe the out- back to the town last week but it needs to be exten- the main road, some 30 kilometers east of the northern city of Mosul. — AFP come is still too close to call as the race enters the last week of cam- paigning. Yesterday marked the last day of expatriate voting in the ref- sively rebuilt and basic services restored before dis- jihadists took over Mosul, the country’s second city, Many of the more than 120,000 Christians believed to erendum which is expected to be crucial to the outcome with some placed Christians can return en masse. the Christian minority there was told to convert, pay have fled their homes when IS swept across the region three million expatriate voters registered, almost half of them in tax or face death. “Honestly, this makes the heart hap- less than three years ago moved in with relatives or into Germany. The ‘Yes’ campaign is also backed by the Nationalist ‘We will stay’ py and sad at the same time, because we were torn camps in the nearby autonomous region of Kurdistan. Movement Party (MHP) which yesterday held a giant rally led by its After the Palm Sunday service, he praised the high away from our birthplace and this kind of devastation “There is a mixed feeling but sadness dominates. We fled leader Devlet Bahceli in Istanbul at precisely the same shoreside venue turnout and told AFP: “This is a message of trust and we didn’t even see during the wars of the 80s and 90s,” to Arbil and we are not back yet,” 62-year-old Yusef Nisan used by Erdogan for a giant meeting the day earlier. — AFP hope to our neighbors.” When the Islamic State Aby Naymat Anay said. Hadaya said, referring to the Iraqi Kurdish capital. — AFP TANTA: A general view shows people gathering outside the Mar Girgis Coptic Church in the Nile Delta City of Tanta, after a bomb blast struck worshippers gathering to celebrate Palm Sunday. —AFP Who are Egypt’s Coptic Christians? CAIRO: Egypt’s Copts, targets of an apparent Coptic Catholics and various Coptic Protestant charged at a protest in Cairo to denounce the church bombing north of Cairo yesterday, are branches.Tawadros, who succeeded pope torching of a church in southern Egypt. The the Middle East’s largest Christian minority and Shenuda III, was chosen by a blindfolded altar 2013 ouster of Mubarak’s elected Islamist suc- one of the oldest. Making up about 10 percent of boy picking his name from a chalice, according cessor Mohamed Morsi after just one year in Egypt’s population of 90 million, the Coptic to tradition. The Catholic Copts, who form part power sparked further attacks against Orthodox form the largest Christian denomina- of the Church’s eastern rite, have been headed Christians. Pro-Morsi Islamists accused the tion in the Muslim-majority country. Here is a by patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak since 2013. Christian community of supporting his over- recap of their history, their status today and The Vatican says some 165,000 Catholic Copts throw. They pointed to the appearance of recent attacks against them. lived in Egypt in 2010. Poorly represented in Tawadros alongside President Abdel Fattah Al- government, Copts complain that they are side- Sisi on television in July 2013 as the then army ‘Dawn of Christianity’ lined from many posts in the justice system, chief, also surrounded by Muslim and opposi- The Copts trace their history to the dawn of universities and the police. Authorities often tion figures, announced Morsi’s removal. Christianity, when Egypt was integrated into the refuse to issue building permits for churches, The next month, security forces used deadly Roman and later the Byzantine empire. The arguing it would disturb the peace with their force to break up two pro-Morsi protest camps in word “Copt” comes from the same root as the Muslim neighbors. Cairo. The following two weeks saw attacks word for “Egyptian” in ancient Greek. The com- against more than 40 churches across the coun- munity’s decline started with the Arab invasions Deadly violence try, according to Human Rights Watch. Amnesty of the 7th century and the progressive Egypt’s Copts have been the target of several International later said more than 200 Christian- Islamisation of the country, which today is large- deadly attacks since the 2011 uprising that top- owned properties were attacked and 43 church- ly Sunni Muslim. Several churches and monas- pled longtime president Hosni Mubarak. On es seriously damaged, with at least four people teries in Egypt are built on sites Copts believe January 1, 2011, more than 20 people died in the killed. In December last year, a suicide bombing were visited by the Holy Family. The Bible says unclaimed bombing of a Coptic church in claimed by the Islamic State group killed 29 wor- Joseph, Mary and Jesus sought refuge in Egypt Egypt’s second city, Alexandria. shippers during a Sunday mass in Cairo. after Christ’s birth to escape a massacre of new- In March the same year, 13 people were killed A spate of deadly jihadist-linked attacks in borns ordered by King Harod. in clashes between Muslims and Copts in Cairo’s Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula in February working class neighborhood of Moqattam, prompted some Coptic families to flee their Copts today where around 1,000 Christians had gathered to homes. About 250 Christians took refuge in the Copts, represented in all social classes, are protest over the torching of a church. In May Suez Canal city of Ismailiya after IS released a present across the whole country, with the 2011, clashes between Muslims and Copts left 15 video calling for attacks against the minority. strongest concentration in central and southern dead in the Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba, Pope Francis is set to visit Cairo late this month Egypt. Most adhere to the Coptic Orthodox where two churches were attacked. for talks with the grand imam of the capital’s Church of Alexandria, headed since 2012 by That October, almost 30 people-mostly famed Al-Azhar mosque and to show solidarity Pope Tawadros II. A minority is divided between Coptic Christians-were killed after the army with Coptic Christians.