With her robe featuring a cross, crescent, two stars and the winged symbol of Zoroastrianism, a Kurdish artist hopes to reconcile a part of Iraq ravaged by jihadists.

Shanaz Jamal, 40, says she has already been assured by the authorities in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan that they will send her work to the Vatican to be put on display.

A Muslim, she explains how she embroidered "3,000 beads including semi-precious stones traditionally used for Kurdish crafts" onto the white ecclesiastical cloak.

After five months of endeavour, she stitched together eight symbols representing the main communities in Kurdistan and Iraq, which are both predominantly Muslim.

But there is also the Jewish Star of David and the sun and temples of the Yazidis -- the minority in northern Iraq persecuted by the Islamic State group (IS) for their faith in what the UN has described as possible genocide.

From the beginning, Jamal says, she planned to offer her artwork to Pope Francis as a "symbol of peace and harmony in the world".

"I want to show that women in Kurdistan want coexistence and fraternity between all religions," she told AFP.

"I do not see any difference between them: they all share love," she added, repeatedly glancing at the ornate robe.

Experts and activists see reconciliation between the various communities as the number one priority in Iraq.

Without it, they say, the country's reconstruction will be impossible and the 1.8 million people displaced by the conflict won't want to return.

Situated on the lands of ancient Mesopotamia, Iraq has been ruled by many civilisations and is today a patchwork of peoples and faiths.

Their coexistence was shattered in 2014 when the IS jihadists seized large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Now, more than a year after Iraq declared victory over IS, tensions persist, especially in the north of the country where minorities accuse each other of crimes.

It has seen Yazidis and Sunni Muslims at loggerheads, with the minority accusing the latter of complicity with IS and the Sunnis insisting they live in fear of retaliation for acts committed by other members of their community.

Related Links
News From Across The Stans

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

China slams US criticism of Muslim treatment as 'absurd'
Beijing (AFP) March 28, 2019
China on Thursday hit back at criticism from the United States' top diplomat who called its treatment of Muslims "shameful hypocrisy" after speaking with a former prisoner from a Chinese detention camp. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comment after meeting with Mihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur ethnic group who has spoken publicly in the US about what she said was widespread torture in China's prisons for the minority group. Beijing claims the camps are "vocational training cent ... read more