Mosul and its Minorities

The city of Mosul in Northern Iraq witnessed the misfortunes of war on many occasions in the past 100 years, and its minorities have always been ignored during difficult times. In Mosul and Its Minorities, Harry Charles Luke, once an Assistant Governor of Jerusalem for the British Mandate government, hopes "to make these singularly interesting peoples better known to English readers, and to win for them, if possible, some additional measure of sympathy in the difficult times through which they are passing." H. C. Luke was referring to the political status of Mosul after World War Two, but his concerns could have well been for Mosul's minorities of today. The communities covered by the author include the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrian Orthodox and the Yezidis, so-called "devil worshipers".