The Assyrian Democratic Organization
(AINA) — An armed group under the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) attacked Mr. Behnam Habib Ayub Habash. Mr. Habash is in charge of the office for selling land in the area of Hamdaniya in northern Iraq. The armed assailants accused Mr. Habash of registering land in the name of Arab citizens and that he was a member of the Ba’ath party. This group attacked Mr. Habash in his office and severely beat him in front of the office staff. When his brother in law came to his aid, the armed gang took both men and imprisoned them in KDP’s headquarters in Hamdaniya. After complaints were filed in the office of the governor of Nineveh, the deputy governor, Mr. Khasraw Goran, interfered and as a result the two men were later released.
On Christmas day, December 25, 2004 at eleven p.m., two cars that belonged to Beth-Nahrin Patriotic Union (HBA) stopped at the Hamdaniya gas station to fill up. Every official organization has the right to fill its cars at this gas station. As Mr. Husam Salem Tosh and Mr. Diaa Salem Tosh, who were driving the two cars, entered the gas station, a group of Kurdish militants known as Peshmerga, attacked them. Eyewitnesses of this incident were Luis Marcus, a member of the Municipality Council and Walid Adam, an employee of the KDP. After beating the two men, the Peshmerga confiscated their weapons and took them to the KDP office. In an interview conducted by Bethil.org, Mr. Husam Salem Tosh recalled, “we pulled up to the gas station at night to fill up our cars. We were waiting our turn in line, when the cars of the Peshmerga passed us and took our turn without permission. They filled 30 liters of gas, which is their allotted portion, and then they gave us a turn. When I filled 15 liters of gas, a Peshmerga member wanted to take my turn again. But I refused, so he threatened me, pointing his weapon at me. The verbal threat was not directed at me personally, but at our people in general and at our party in particular (Mr. Tosh is a member of the HBA). In response, I raised my weapon in self-defense. Then, five more of his friends joined him. They beat me and took my weapon. Mr. Luis Marcus and Walid Adam witnessed this incident but didn’t react to it. The two men have responsibilities in the area. After this incident, the gas station was closed. We wanted to have a word with the man responsible for the Peshmerga group, but they ran away, as they always do. The gas from this station is supposed to be sold to the people of Hamdaniya, but why it is given to the people of Arbil, we don’t know. I also ask, does this gas station only belong to the KDP?”
Also on December 25, 2004, Silvan Isho Denha who lives in Hamdaniya wanted to get five liters of gas, but the gas station attendant refused to give him the gas. Mr. Denha asked the attendant why he’s unable to get gas when many gallons are sent to Arbil. After Mr. Denha posed his question, a group of armed Peshmerga attacked and severely beat him. As a result of the beating, Mr. Denha was taken to the hospital. On December 26, 2004, at eleven a.m. another group of Peshmerga attacked Mr. Diaa Azar Franso and jailed him in KDP’s headquarters in Hamdaniya. The reason for the arrest was that Mr. Franso complained that the gas station sends fuel to Arbil and only a portion is left for Hamdaniya. Also on 26th December 26, 2004 at three a.m., a group of Peshmerga militants attacked the guards of the Church of Mar Yuhanon, in the area of Hamdaniya. As a result of this attack, two guards were seriously injured and one of them, named Yuhanna Muhannad Necmat Necman, had to be taken to the hospital.
On January 7, 2005 Randi Narsis, who lives in the city of Telkaif, was on his way to the checkpoint, which is near the building of the former official checkpoint of Telkaif. After reaching the checkpoint, the group of armed Peshmerga manning the checkpoint accused Mr. Narsis of being an Arab and not having an Arabic identity card in his possession. The Peshmerga beat him despite Mr. Narsis’ pleas that he is not an Arab, but a Christian.
An attack on the guards of Bartilla
On October 1, 2004, the Syriac Council, which has 108 members and is headed by the tribal leadership of Bartilla, came to a decision to use armed guards to defend the city from both terrorists and thieves. The decision was approved by the governorate of Nineveh on January 31, 2004 and was assigned an official number of 2966. The aim was to keep the city protected and secured.
The leadership of Bartilla held a meeting and invited the political parties in the area and representatives from the Syriac Council. At that meeting it was decided that the political parties were not responsible for the protection of the city and that every party was responsible for its own duties. So the Syriac Council took the responsibility of the city’s protection upon itself.
In order to patrol the city, the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) was asked to offer a car for this aim and to collect money from the local residents in order to support a guard unit made up of 40 men. After a few days, the Iraqi National Guards entered the area and prevented Bartilla’s guards from carrying out their duty on the pretext that they were responsible for security and to ostensibly prevent American troops from killing the local guards.
Then the National Iraqi Guards asked the Syriac Council to patrol only three churches and not the whole city. On December 7, 2004 at eleven p.m., the local guards noticed masked men near the Church of Mart Shmuni. It so happened that on that same day there were attacks and an explosion aimed at the Chaldean Diocese in the al-Shifa neighborhood and the Armenian Church in the al-Wihda neighborhood in Mosul.
The local guard immediately reported the incident to the Peshmerga of the KDP who did not respond. The guards then called the Security Forces of Kurdistan and asked them to speak with KDP headquarters in order to facilitate help from the local KDP members in Bartilla. Their pleas were again ignored. After half an hour, the guards reported this to the head of the Syriac Council. The head of the Council told them, “if I don’t give you any information in 15 minutes, fire shots into the air. After 15 minutes, the guards fired their guns in the air. The shots drew the attention of a car-load of KDP members who approached the guards and the church. When the priest of the church came out, the Peshmerga forced him to open the church, and then they attacked the local guards and took them to KDP headquarters. Inside, the guards were beaten and humiliated. They also abused the religious position of the priest and forbade him from entering KDP headquarters. After the Syriac Council’s interference in the matter, the guards were later released and the local guard unit has been cancelled.
