Kirkuk – A delegation of Christian and Muslim representatives visited yesterday, Sunday, January 10, the Christian cemetery in Kirkuk, desecrated on December 23, with damage to several tombs and gravestones. The visit – report local sources contacted by Agenzia Fides – was attended by Mgr. Yousif Thoma Mirkis OP, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, some priests and even some representatives of the Chaldean League.

In solidarity with the local Christian community, already hit in other circumstances by serious acts of intimidation, representatives of the Islamic community were present, including Sheikh Ahmad Hamid Amin, Imam of one of the most important mosques in Kirkuk.

All speakers condemned the desecration as an act aimed at fomenting sectarianism and sabotaging the peaceful co-existence among different ethnic and religious components of the city population. The Islamic representatives, in their speeches, stressed the need to tackle together the provocations of those who try to destabilize the social situation in the big cities in Iraq.

Source: Fides News