Assyrian news

Bartilla, North Iraq (AINA) — In an intensely emotional procession, approximately 1000 Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) marched in the funeral of Matthew Simon (Mattai Shamoun) Zora Sha’ya, who was murdered on August 26 by Kurds. On August 26 37 year old Nabil Akram Ammona, a resident of …

AINA) — Assyrian protests against the proposed Iraqi constitution (English, Arabic) have resulted in deadly reprisal attacks against Assyrian Christian civilians by forces loyal to Masoud Barazani, the tribal chieftain of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). On August 24, several hundred Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) protestors demonstrated …

Mosul (AsiaNews) — Christians in Iraq are optimistic about the new constitutional text, but hope for the improvement of certain points in which the principles of Islam (one of the sources of law) and those of democracy seem to contrast, particularly in terms of the full respect of religious freedom: …

The fate of millions of Iraqis hangs in the balance as politicians appear poised to introduce a new constitution for the country. This constitution represents freedom for the Iraqi people from more than 30 years of oppression and injustice under the Ba’ath Party and marks the birth of a new …

When Britain ruled Iraq in the 1920s, there were problems, just as now, in bringing all the ethnic and religious groupings in to the political process. At that time it was the Shia Muslims who were left outside – not least because their religious leaders refused to meet face-to-face with …

(ZNDA: Cologne)  Banibal Atman, a 16-year-old Assyrian from Germany, met with the Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der recently and used the opportunity to discuss the role of Turkish government in the 1915 Seyfo Genocide. Banibal presented Mr. Schr?der a pen on which the following phrase was inscribed: “Turkey should recognzie the Assyrian …

As world attention focuses on the struggle to achieve a balance of constitutional interests between Kurds, Sunnis and Shias in Iraq, a human rights group is campaigning to draw fresh attention to the serious plight of Assyrian Christians and other minority groups. In a letter to the Guardian newspaper in …

ANKAWA, Iraq (Reuters) – It looks much like any other Iraqi town, until you notice the number of shops selling alcohol, the young women walking the streets at night in jeans and tight T-shirts, and the church spires. Ankawa, a town of about 15,000 people just outside the capital of …

Baghdad — The Christian “Assyrian democratic Movement” has objected to the project of the law of “granting Iraqi nationality”, which has been discussed by the constitution drafting committee, as it refers to returning the nationality to the displaced and immigrants, only as of 1963. Assyrian Objection to the Nationality Law …

The mood is tense among the 71 members of the constitutional assembly attempting to draft a new constitution for Iraq before an August 15 deadline. A series of stumbling blocks has delayed the work of the assembled politicians, prime among the obstacles being religion and federalism. In all, 18 unresolved …