office, he was met by israel s new prime minister. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president. that s it for me for now, i will be back later in the evening. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year af
home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes, we live in a safe environment in kurdistan, in erbil and duhok, but still, challenges, it s everywhere and especially when it comes to the whole region as middle east, christians have lost trust. it s notjust about iraq. speaking about syria, lebanon and the number of the christians declining. so everyone is thinking how to get out safely, while as church leaders
welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes
does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes, we live in a safe environment in kurdistan, in erbil and duhok, but still, challenges, it s everywhere and especially when it comes to the whole region as middle east, christians have lost trust. it s notjust about iraq. speaking about syria, lebanon and the number of the christians declining. so everyone is thinking how to get out safely, while as church leaders, we are trying our best, really, to hold to everyone, especially the needy, the qualified, because over the
against a challenge almost beyond any possible means of reaching it. yeah, but that s what makes life meaningful. a hope that it s there and we, all with the people who are helping me are part of people who are building and strengthening that hope. it s not a hope that comes like a dream. no, we have to work hard, knock doors. not everyone is listening, but those who are listening are really making it much, much easier on me. and i thank god for it. the ventures i mentioned are in a specific neighbourhood, a quarter of a wider erbil called ankawa. and i m just interested, and this applies not just to your region, but to the fate of all christians across the middle east. is it wise to, in a sense, encourage christians to gather in concentrated communities in one particular place? one could argue and fear that those places might become ghettos and might become easy targets for those extremists