Written question asked by Edward Leigh (Conservative) on Thursday, 18 December 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 January 2009. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Thursday, 15 January 2009 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Iraq: Christianity

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will make it its policy to support the creation of a self-governing province in northern Iraq linked to Iraq's central government situated in and around the Nineveh Plains and jointly governed by the Assyrian Chaldeans, Shabak, Yezidis and other ethnic groups living in that area.

Answer: As I said in the Westminster Hall Adjournment debate on 'The Christians of Iraq' on 16 December 2008, Official Report, column 44 WH, any decisions regarding changes to the federal structure in Iraq are for the democratically elected Iraqi government and the people of Iraq to make.However, dividing Iraq along ethnic, religious or sectarian grounds would be a vastly complicated and potentially volatile process as in many cities and areas of Iraq, people lived in ethnically and religiously mixed communities.

Secondary information