 |
Independent Chaldean, Apostolic, and Syriac Assyrians Want the Nineveh Plains Free From Kurdish Coercion & Absorption
As the regularization of disputed lands in Iraq draws near with the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraq Constitution this summer, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is pushing to annex the Nineveh Plains in a flagrant violation of democratic principles. The Nineveh Plains is the heart of the indigenous lands of the Assyrian people, Christians who practice their faith under the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Apostolic Church of the East, and the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic Churches. Kurdish security officers and other authorities entered the Nineveh Plains region and forced Assyrian religious and political leaders to sign a letter dated April 20, 2008, claiming they wanted their lands annexed to the KRG and that ". . . we as Christians should have a 'self-rule' within the region of Iraqi Kurdistan." Not only is a separate area of self-rule not allowed within a regional authority by the Iraqi or KRG Constitution, but the idea of Assyrian "self-rule" in Kurdistan is dubious at best given the treatment of Assyrians by Kurdish authorities since the fall of Saddam.
The KRG has aggressively exerted their authority over the indigenous Assyrians in the KRG Region and the Nineveh Plain, although they have no jurisdiction over the latter. During the 2005 elections, the Kurdish Democratic Party actively kept ballot boxes from reaching the Christian areas. There have been several arbitrary arrests of Assyrian Christians who oppose the Kurdish agenda of annexing the Nineveh Plains to the KRG. For several years, the Kurdish Deputy Governor of Nineveh Province has blocked an Iraqi sanctioned police force - which would allow local security forces in the Nineveh Plains - in order to maintain Kurdish Peshmerga control of the area. Assyrians have had their lands seized with no compensation or legal recourse, and as documented in a recent U.S. State Department report, the KRG has misused funds specifically allocated to assist area minorities. Though perhaps most devastating has been a campaign to politically marginalize any efforts of opposing Assyrians within the KRG. Kurdish authorities have "chosen" their own Assyrian Christians, based on political patronage, to represent the Assyrian community within the KRG rather than allow Assyrians to elect their own representatives freely.
Independent Assyrian political leaders have consistently and repeatedly made clear their desire to remain a distinctive part of Iraq, rather than be absorbed within the Kurdish region in Iraq. The inevitable result of annexing the Nineveh Plains to the KRG will undoubtedly lead to further illegal land seizures and abuses by KRG authorities. Ultimately, it would accelerate the exodus of the Assyrian people from their indigenous homeland in northern Iraq, which may in fact be the unstated goal of Kurdish officials. The continued persecution, oppression, and marginalization of the Assyrian Christians by Kurdish authorities, combined with the violence of Islamic terrorists throughout Iraq, has forced Chaldean, Apostolic, and Syriac Assyrians to flee from Iraq in grossly disproportionate numbers and is threatening to end their rich history in Nineveh Plains dating back thousands of years. The most feasible and sustainable solution to ensure the Assyrian Christians remain in their homeland is the immediate implementation of the Nineveh Plains Administrative Unit in order that the indigenous Assyrians and other minorities can secure themselves and become politically and economically prosperous in a peaceful and truly democratic Iraq.
| 
|
|
