Recap: Kurdistan: Faith, Tolerance, and Peaceful Coexistence
Key Takeaways
1. The Kurdistan Region’s response to displacement from ISIS and the Syrian civil war highlights how regional autonomy can support religious coexistence and minority protection.
2. Minority communities need economic opportunity, political representation, and meaningful participation in governance to support lasting returns.
3. Locally representative security forces can help rebuild trust and help displaced communities to return to their homelands.
4. Federalism and decentralization can protect minority rights while preserving national unity, provided governments uphold the rule of law and ensure inclusive governance.
5. U.S. and international engagement should prioritize equal citizenship, minority inclusion, and accountability for armed militias that undermine security.
Executive Summary
The division of power between the center and the periphery can serve as a bulwark against the persecution of religious minorities. The Kurdistan Region’s record of coexistence and sheltering displaced people illustrates how regional governance can provide a safe haven for groups forced to leave federal Iraq and seek sanctuary in the northern part of the country. Drawing on their experience in international religious freedom, minority protection, and U.S. policy in the Middle East, Nadine Maenza, chair of the Institute of Global Engagement, and Knox Thames, executive director of the Everett Center for Global Religious Freedom at Dallas, reaffirmed that while physical safety is essential for vulnerable groups to rebuild their lives, lasting recovery requires shared security forces that include minority communities, access to jobs and education, and a real voice in local decisions. The U.S. and the international community should connect these priorities so that minorities can have a future in their ancestral homelands.
The Kurdistan Region as a Refuge
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has hosted communities displaced by ISIS and Syria’s civil war, but many families are still unable to return home. Their prospects depend in part on power-sharing: who controls local security, who provides public services, and whether residents can influence those decisions. The panel discussed the plight of religious minority communities and how federalism and decentralization of power can secure and help them in the recovery.
Knox Thames and Nadine Maenza reiterated that the Kurdistan Region’s federal status provides the Kurdistan Regional Government with the flexibility to legislate and implement policies that protect minorities and support their recovery.
Maenza characterized the self-governing status of the Kurdistan Region as a foundation for keeping minority groups safe. This remains true even though officials in Erbil and Baghdad continue to contend who holds legal power, how to distribute revenues and oil as well as how to implement the Iraqi constitution. Thames noted that Kurdistan does not have a new government two years after the election. This creates a vulnerability for minorities and the whole population. The current political deadlock where parties cannot reach an agreement prevents constitutional rules from working well, he said.
Syria’s political transition raised similar concerns about the distribution of power. According to Maenza, concentrating authority in the central government restricts minority participation. Religious and ethnic communities, she emphasized, must have a role in shaping the institutions that will govern them.
The experience of the Kurdistan Region also demonstrated the magnitude of needs facing regional authorities. At the height of the crisis, the KRI had approximately 1.8 million displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees, said Maenza. It was relatively safe and had traditions of coexistence that gave shelter to people fleeing persecution and war, she said.
Thames remembered the impact of ISIS attacks on Yazidis, Christians, and others in northern Iraq. “I saw Christians in Alqosh looking after a place that was important to Jews and Christians” with the Kurds protecting them. He said this cooperation was an example of the coexistence that international efforts should support.
Sanctuary, however, has not resolved the conditions preventing the return of the displaced people. In Sinjar reconstruction remained difficult, and many Yazidis and Christians continued to face insecurity and displacement. The speakers asserted that families needed confidence in the local authorities responsible for protecting them before they could rebuild their communities.
One way to rebuild trust is to enlist members of minority communities into established security institutions. Then residents would see people from their own neighborhoods protecting their own neighborhoods, helping restore trust without creating separate militias, Thames said. Maenza welcomed moves to incorporate Yazidi fighters, with the Sinjar Resistance Units, into Iraq’s security forces. She warned, however, that armed groups in the Nineveh Plains had damaged local representation and led to further displacement. Protection requires giving residents a voice in security and governance decisions.
Jobs and education were equally important in making return viable. Maenza also spoke of support for family businesses and agricultural recovery, such as solar-powered wells that allowed farmers in Syria’s Khabur Valley to return to cultivation. Thames cited the development of Christian higher education in the Kurdistan Region and scholarships for minority students. “This work could help families earn a living and give younger generations a reason to stay.
The international assistance approach also has policy implications. Besides reconstruction, business, and education, the U.S. and other international partners should support locally representative security institutions. They also need to urge Iraqi and Syrian authorities to restrict the interference of armed groups and protect the participation of minorities in government. Federalism and decentralization should be supported in terms of the powers, resources and accountability that regional and local institutions need to serve their residents.