Ok, now I know that this is going to raise a shitstorm but I have wanted to get this off my chest for a long time.
Minorities in Iraq, especially in Kurdistan where I live, are in no way systemically persecuted.
We have all been made aware in great detail on the crimes ISIS committed against minorities - yezidis received most attention - but the way people act as if they are being hunted by hounds for fun is ridiculous.
Now, most of you might ask why would anyone do that, which is a fair question.... well, they all want to get asylum in a western country and the easiest way to do that is to claim that they are being targeted by Muslim extremists due to their religious beliefs. A claim that most of the time has no factual bases. This is coming from someone whose father was threatened with death. That threat however, was not because of him not being religious, it simply was because he worked with the US army during the operation and no one could give two shits about his religion (Liberation or Invasion depending on your point of view).
So I absolutely hate it when people fabricate claims about their situation. We were threatened and they were not. They probably lived in a wealthy neighbourhood and had no problems in life but wanted to move to a more affluent country. The most effective way of doing that, as I have previously mentioned, is to shit on your Muslim neighbours and claim they have attempted to take your life.
Sorry for the rant and I want to say that I have absolutely no prejudice against any religious person whatsoever but this dishonest practice really pisses me off.