Assyrian Political Party Calls for Assyrian Administered Area in Iraq

Oct. 27-2008
(AINA) -- In a statement released on October 24, the north American branch of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), the largest Assyrian political party in Iraq, called for an Assyrian administered area in north Iraq. Citing the violence against the Assyrians of Mosul, in which 14 Assyrians have been killed and 15,000 driven out of the city (AINA 10-16-2008), as the latest in the ongoing campaign against Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) in Iraq, ADM is calling for an Assyrian administered area in the Nineveh Plain in north Iraq.

Here is the ADM statement:

Recent events in Mosul are confirming the need for a self-protected area for the Chaldean Assyrian Syriac people in Iraq. In the past five years the Christians of Iraq had suffer tremendously. Churches have been bombed, Bishops, priests and residents have been kidnapped and murdered, people have been threatened and recently 2500 families have escaped the killings in Mousel and flee to the neighboring cities. Due to our status as minority in Iraq the toll of these events is much grater than our counter parts. Therefore, a self-protection for the Nineveh Plain and surrounding areas is necessary to maintain peace and balance amidst Iraqi political and security conflicts. These protection forces will consist of official law officers from local residents of selected areas. The Iraqi government has approved a regulation to have a formal legitimate police force in the Nineveh Plain in June of 2006.

This Iraqi Government order requiring a Nineveh Plain local police force came about after relentless work by the Assyrian Democratic Movement. The ADM is fighting for equal opportunities for all defenseless minorities to have official policing and self-protection for their areas. The June 2006 original order was blocked by the prejudicial policies of neighboring parties who say they will protect our people with their militias while denying us the right to policing in order to keep us dependent on them. In March-April of 2008, the Iraqi order for Nineveh Plain official policing was revived and 269 officers out of 711 were hired in the Nineveh Plain. Until today there has not been any development on this issue and the remaining 442 officers are blocked from protecting their communities, as the dominant parties controlling the Nineveh Governorate deny us our basic right to security.

Reality in Iraq shows that all Iraqi citizens feel safer having local citizens protect their communities, and feel intimidated and threatened by different ethnic forces seizing their areas. The current situation proved that both Iraqi and KRG police/security forces have completely failed in the mission to protect Christians and areas where they exist in great numbers. Also, the Christian militias funded by the KRG in the Nineveh Plain are illegal and only necessary because the Nineveh Governorate itself is blocking the creation of formal policing. We call on the ruling parties of the Nineveh Governorate to demonstrate their concern for our People's security by removing the blockages to a Nineveh Plain local police force.

The Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac, Shabak and Yezidis areas have been deprived of self-protection; therefore we are asking for a larger policing force to protect these areas. A minimum of 5000 officers are needed just in the Nineveh Plain. In other parts of Iraq, especially in Baghdad and other southern states, there must be an effort to significantly increase the number of Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac Iraqi police than there is at present. These local legitimate policing forces provided by the minorities needs to be fully supported by the Iraqi government and the Multi-National Forces. In the Nineveh Plain, a special protected area consisting of Multi-National Forces and official Nineveh Plain local police is essential.

Assyrian Democratic Movement, USA and Canada Branch