Assyrian Case Presented At Washington's
Iraq Conference

The following speech was delivered at the Iraq Futures 2007 Conference on April 10 in Washington DC.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, on behalf of the Assyrian General Conference as well as thousands of voiceless Iraqi Assyrians, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the organizers of this event for providing this opportunity to me to deliver to you the concerns of our people with respect to their plight in future Iraq.

In addressing you, ladies and gentlemen, I have assumed responsibility to speak on behalf of a people; the remnants of, once, a great nation that ruled over the entire Middle East. However, at present, a rather small, decimated and marginalized people in their very ancestral homeland. A, rather, helpless people that have no mentionable means of power except their strong will for survival and continuation and their relentless insistence and struggle for their existence and legitimate rights in their father-land. Therefore, I anticipate that our concerns will come by your necessary attention.

1- We are with the federalization of Iraq but in what guaranties the integrity of Iraq as a nation and a country.

2- We look forward to having a secular regime in Iraq where religion and state are separated constitutionally.

3- We look forward to having a Democratic Iraq, where democracy encompasses all the aspects of the state of Iraq.

The aforementioned objectives are among the many other accomplishments that we hope to see in future Iraq. However, and with resentment I would like to say that, what we as Assyrians have, so far, experienced and endured after liberation of Iraq, does justify our concerns and fears. And here, I would like to comment:

A- As the federalization, supposedly, is meant to reflect and realize the hopes of all the Iraqi factions, certain dominating groups ( ethnic and religious ) are attempting to divide Iraq to what serves dominating groups.

B- A secular Iraq in the light of the present draft of the Iraqi constitution is an impossible task due to the fact that most of its legislative articles are overwhelmed by religious spirit.

C- If the dominating factions have resumed power through democratic elections, it is, therefore, expected from them to exercise such democracy which mandates the majority to recognize and respect the rights of the minority. However, to this day, these said groups have failed to exhibit any sense of democracy, sure the exploitation of the election mechanism, and are aiming to monopolize authority and rights by the virtue of the said democracy in default.

D- In spite of all the shortcomings and infirmities of the present draft of the Iraqi constitution, the behavior of the dominating groups with regard to the rest of the Iraqi factions, including the Assyrians, is contradictive to this very constitution that they have drafted. Overpowering, marginalizing and fractioning our Assyrian people are a few of many injustices that we have endured, let alone transgressing against and digesting the rights of other Iraqi factions such as Turkmen, Yezidi and Shabak.

This behavior brings to our memory the day when the state of Iraq signed international protocols and conventions guaranteeing the rights and the protection of the Iraqi ethnic minorities as a prerequisite condition for the acceptance of Iraq as a member in the League of Nations, and how on the eve of Iraqi's admission to the said League, the regular Iraqi army erected a massacre to the armless and peaceful Assyrians in the village of Simel on August 7th 1933 with such brutality as the killing, plundering and spoils violated over 63 Assyrian villages in Northern Iraq.

Alas! Isn't is not justified for us to be anxious and fearful about our future while experiencing such injustices under the nose of the great powers and the civilized world?!

As to the question of Kirkuk, we have expressed our firm stance in the Kirkuk 2007 Conference that was held in the Turkish Capitol, Ankara, in January of 2007 where we reiterated that Kirkuk be restored as a sample of a Smaller Iraq; a city for all Iraqis.

Namrood Shiba
Assyrian General Conference