After becoming direct victims of ISIS violence in 2014, no significant Christian groups in northern Iraq chose neutrality, and most fought in Christian militias rather than integrating into larger Iraqi or Kurdish forces.

When President Trump took office in January, he made a promise to help persecuted Christians worldwide, and especially Christians subjected to the Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq.

In the city of Mosul, gasping through its fifth month of urban warfare, two histories of the world are crossing.

The split within Iraq’s three-million strong Turkmen minority will test Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s intelligence and ingenuity as the complex and internecine conflict underway in Nineveh Province surrounding Mosul continues.