Assyrian Democratic Movement
Assyrian Democratic Movement ܙܘܥܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܛܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ الحركة الديمقراطية الآشورية | |
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Assyrian interests Federalism | |
National affiliation | Athra Alliance |
Colours | Purple |
Seats in the Council of Representatives of Iraq: | 0 / 325
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Seats in the Kurdistan Parliament : | 1 / 111
|
Party flag | |
Website | |
http://www.zowaa.org/ | |
The Assyrian Democratic Movement (
With regards to separatism from Iraq, the Assyrian Democratic Movement maintains that it does not seek the division of Iraq in order to establish an Assyrian state and states in its manifesto:
The national axis in the approach of the Assyrian Democratic Movement has components of the Iraqi people, and to contribute to building the democratic pluralistic federal state and establishing the Iraqi state based on justice, equality and the rights of all components. And the common destiny of our Chaldean Assyrian people with the components of the Iraqi people, national and religious Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Armenians, Sabians, Yazidis and Shabaks.[1]
History
The Assyrian Democratic Movement was founded on April 12, 1979 after several meetings held in secrecy in
Since its inception, the ADM have joined with the Iraqi patriotic factions in the fight against dictatorship. The movement has also participated in the political field since 1982 alongside other groups. It started by issuing its central newspaper, Bahra, in June 1982. In 1988, fighter members of the movement and its headquarters as well as the rest of the Kurdish parties were attacked in the
The ADM is credited with the development of education in the Syriac language in both elementary and secondary schools as well as the initiation of different organizations such as the Chaldo-Assyrian Students' Union, Hammurabi Scouts, Assyrian Women's Union of Iraq and the Assyrian Aid Society.
The ADM has endured a struggle through the sacrifice of its martyrs' in the arena of armed struggle. On 14 July 1984, the Saddam led regime attacked ADM locations in Baghdad, arresting more than 150 members of the movement who were imprisoned in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. Twenty-two members were sentenced to life imprisonment, and four were sentenced to death where Yousip Toma, Youbert Shlimon and Youkhana Jajo were hanged on treason charges. Jamil Matti and Sheba Hamey were later killed by the Iraqi Army while safeguarding the villages of Hejerke and Pireka in Simele. Relatives of ADM members were also imprisoned, tortured and murdered for their connection to the movement.[5][4]
Some ADM members were victims of political assassinations such as Francis Yousef Shabo who was allegedly assassinated by Wahid Kovli.[6][7]
Prior to the Iraqi invasion
Due to successful lobbying from influential
After the fall of Baghdad
Yonadam Kanna became the leader of the party in 2001, succeeding Ninos Pithyou. He served on the temporary
The party's website, zowaa.org, describes it as "a democratic and political organization -- national and patriotic -- to defend our people and their legitimate rights and to struggle under the banner of [a] free democratic Iraq." The site's declarations include calls for official recognition of the rights of Assyrians and "unity of our people under their several religious identities": Chaldean church, Syriac church, and Assyrian church (various Christian denominations in the Assyrian demographic).
The party also operates Ashur TV, Ashur Radio and issues the Bahra newspaper.
The party is based in the former headquarters of the Fedayeen Saddam in Zayouna, Baghdad.[10][11]
On July 22, 2023 the party joined the Athra Alliance, a political alliance representing Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac interests in Iraq.
Post-war incidents and events
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2022) |
The party has faced many setbacks since the beginning of the Iraq invasion.
- On November 17, 1994, one of ADM's militia soldiers, Zia Zia, was killed while guarding a headquarters of the party in a remote Assyrian village in northern Iraq.[12]
- On October 20, 2003, a rocket-propelled grenade attack occurred on the ADM office in Kirkuk, injuring one ADM official.
- On November 18, 2003, Sargon Nano, the ADM representative in Basra, was killed by masked gunmen.
- On February 11, 2004, The Associated Press reported gunmen firing from a car attacking an office of the ADM in the northern city of Mosul, injuring one ADM member guard.
- On March 26, 2004, gunmen killed ADM official Romeo Esha David in the city of Kirkuk.
- On November 29, 2005, gunmen opened fire on four party members as they were hanging Iraqi election posters in northern city of Mosul (in the al-Shuhadaa district,) killing two ADM members.
- On December 2, 2005, ADM election candidate Sarmas Behnam Ibrahim was gunned down in Kirkuk.
- On January 1, 2006, 44-year-old ADM official Ayad Loqa Lazar was killed in the Baghdad district of Dora.
- On May 6, 2006, an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on the party's leader, Yonadam Kanna, as his convoy came under an improvised explosive device attack in Baghdad.
- On February 4, 2018, a car bomb was detonated outside the headquarters of the ADM in Baghdad, injuring 4 people.[13]
Branches
The organizational structure of the party is as follows:
- Secretary-General
- Deputy Secretary-General
- Political Bureau
- Central Committee
The party is organized into several branches both in Iraq and in the diaspora. Some of these branches include:
- 1st Branch - Baghdad
- 2nd Branch - Kirkuk (Arrapha)
- 3rd Branch - Nineveh (Mosul)
- 4th Branch - Bakhdida
- 5th Branch - Tel Keppe (Kalih)
- 6th Branch - Alqosh (Sanhareeb)
- 7th Branch - Nohadra
- 8th Branch - Arbil
- 9th Branch - Zakho
- 10th Branch - Sarsing
- 11th Branch - Australia
- 12th Branch - Canada
- 13th Branch - Illinois
- 14th Branch - Michigan
- 15th Branch - Arizona
- 16th Branch - California
- 17th Branch - Central Europe
- 18th Branch - Western Europe
- 19th Branch - Scandinavia
See also
- Assyrian Democratic Organization
- Assyrian Policy Institute
- Nineveh Plain Protection Units
- Sons of Mesopotamia
- Assyrian homeland
- Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq
References
- ^ MD (2017-10-08). "نبذة عن الحركة". zowaa.org (in Arabic). Retrieved 2019-05-01.
- ^ "Assyrian Democratic Movement - History". www.atour.com.
- ^ "Profile: Assyrian parties". BBC. 14 January 2003. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9780748686056. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "The Heroes of the Assyrian Democratic Movement". www.atour.com.
- ^ "Murderers of Iraqi Kurdistan MP Francis Yousif Shabo lives in KDP controlled regions". ekurd.net.
- ^ "The Heroes of the Assyrian Democratic Movement". www.atour.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
- ^ "Congressional Record, Volume 155 Issue 58 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
- ^ "Assyrian Democratic Movement". www.globalsecurity.org.
- ^ Tyson, Ann Scott (7 August 2003). "Iraqi council faces many hurdles". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ Szego, Julie (27 June 2008). "Visiting Iraqi Christians tell exiles to stay strong". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "ZENDA - Sept. 27, 1999". April 12, 2001. Archived from the original on 2001-04-12.
- ^ "تفجير ارهابي بالقرب من مقر الحركة الديمقراطية الاشورية في بغداد يسفر عن اصابة ٤ اشخاص". Zowaa. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
Sources
- BarAbraham, Abdulmesih (2018). "Safeguarding the Cross: Emergence of Christian Militias in Iraq and Syria". Middle Eastern Christians and Europe: Historical Legacies and Present Challenges. Wien: LIT Verlag. pp. 217–238. ISBN 9783643910233.
- Brié, Françoise (2007). "The Migration and Displacement of Assyro-Chaldeans in Iraq". The Long March to the West: Twenty-first Century Migration in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean Area. London: Vallentine Mitchell Academic. pp. 343–353. ISBN 9780853037811.
- Dougherty, Beth K. (2019) [2004]. Historical Dictionary of Iraq (3rd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538120057.
- Donabed, Sargon G. (2015). Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748686056.
- Lalik, Krzysztof (2018). "Ethnic and Religious Factors of Chaldo-Assyrian Identity in an Interface with the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan". Rediscovering Kurdistan's Cultures and Identities: The Call of the Cricket. Cham: Springer. pp. 213–257. ISBN 9783319930886.
- Schmidinger, Thomas (2019). "Christians in Iraq". Beyond ISIS: History and Future of Religious Minorities in Iraq. London: Transnational Press. pp. 113–124. ISBN 9781912997152.
- Teule, Herman G. B. (2009). "The Christian Minorities in Iraq: The Question of Religious and Ethnic Identity". In-Between Spaces: Christian and Muslim Minorities in Transition in Europe and the Middle East. Brussel: Peter Lang. pp. 45–57. ISBN 9789052015651.
- Teule, Herman G. B. (2012). "Christians in Iraq: An Analysis of Some Recent Political Developments" (PDF). Der Islam. 88 (1): 179–198. S2CID 156389791.