Masoud Barzani inaugurates the Assyrian East Church in Erbil

Shafaq News/ Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Monday inaugurated the "Assyrian Church of the East" in the capital city of the Kurdistan region, Erbil, earlier today, Monday.

In a speech he delivered during the ribbon-cut ceremony, the former president of the Kurdistan region said, "we assert that we do not discriminate against any component in the Kurdistan region."

"The inauguration of the church is a testimony of the firm tie Martyr Abudl-Salam Barzani and Mar Shimmun established 100 years ago," he added.

In recent years the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been a haven for minorities fleeing the turmoil and sectarian violence in the south of Iraq. The region offers religious freedoms that are comparatively robust as compared to those of its regional neighbors. There are only 250,000 to 300,000 Christians left in Iraq, the vast majority of whom live in the Kurdistan Region.