New Armenian Church was officially opened in Kirkuk, Iraq, beyazgazete.com reports. The governor of Kirkuk, Najmiddin Krim, also attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. The governor mentioned that they are willing to do anything to prevent the mass migration of Kirkuk’s Christians. In spite of the political tension with Baghdad, they keep on implementing different programs.

The Archbishop Markosyan noted that Christians, particularly Armenians, have gone through great difficulties within the last years.

“The extremist groups are the core problem. Thousands of Armenian families left for abroad. There are barely 50 Armenian families now in Kirkuk”, the priest said.