Bartella, once a predominantly Christian (Assyrian) town in northern Iraq, has
now become a majority Shiite Muslim one, as reported by the Associated Press on 13 February 2019.
Henriette Kats, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, explains: "The arrival of the (Sunni) Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 caused Bartella"s entire population of Assyrians and Shabak (a largely Shiite ethnic group) to flee for their lives. Since the defeat of IS, only a few hundred Christian families have returned and are far outnumbered by the Shabak returnees. The Shabak dominate the Shiite militias who now act as police and control the various check-points in the streets. Christians in Bartella are now reported to fear for their safety, amidst reports of harassment - including sexual harassment of Christian women - and intimidation.
Henriette Kats continues: "What Christians in northern Iraq say they need first and foremost is stability and maintenance of law and order to be able to return to their original home towns. However, the current instability is causing the more vulnerable groups to be pushed away and the trust between the different religious communities (that had grown over the last decades) has now been lost. The demographic change occurring at Bartella is also evident in other places in the Nineveh Plains region and is harming the chances of Christian communities reestablishing their lives and culture."
