Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO
With the progress of events in the Middle East, namely Iraq, Assyrians find themselves on a crossroad. A crossroad that will have great impact on their future, in fact selecting the right road will be very decisive, because it will either mean the continuation of the Assyrian race, or its extinction.
In this confusing situation we see that every ethnic groups is trying to fulfill his own agenda, and it is obvious that the Kurds are seeking succession from Iraq, but are not publicly declaring it because even though they are in control of the so-called safe haven in northern Iraq (which has been heaven for the Kurds and Hell to Assyrians and Turkmen). The Kurds had established themselves almost as independent state by default, and the longer the Iraqi issue drags the more northern Iraq is being Kurdified and changed demographically, yet even with all their efforts their claims are built on shaky grounds, because the Assyrians are the only indigenous ethnic group in north Iraq while all other groups came to the region either as conquerors or as immigrants. What it all boils down is that only Assyrians can claim that their land is under occupation.
As Assyrians northern Iraq is their homeland, and they should seriously look at their options and evaluate the other players, and see who are the ones that treat them as partners and not as third class citizens.
Group #1
The Arabs, they arrived to Assyria from the Arabian Peninsula, they are the present rulers of Iraq since its independence, if you study their treatment of Assyrians you will find that they never cared for the Assyrians, and through their policy of Arabization their main goal was getting rid of the Assyrian presence in the Middle East through different means:
a- Massacring Assyrian as they did in Simele in 1933.
b- Ethnically cleansing Assyrians from their ancestral homeland.
c- Persecuting Assyrians and forcing them to live under a state of fear.
d- Arabize Assyrians and turn them to Arabs.
All that because they believe that recognizing Assyrian as an ethnic group could open the door for Assyrians to claim their national and territorial rights. Although this is what they are afraid off, yet they don’t realize that by doing so (i.e. not allowing Assyrians to claim a small portion of their homeland), the Kurds will claim a larger portion of Iraq, as it has already happened where Kurds are already claiming northern Iraq as southern Kurdistan. Sooner or later the Arabs will realize that giving a small piece of land to Assyrians would be better than giving a larger piece to the Kurds, and that is when the Arab interests will coincide with Assyrian interests.
The Arabs have been ruling over the Middle East for 1400 years, they started when the region was populated by about 90% Assyrian, now the Assyrians are about 10%. The question is: where did the difference of 80% go? Some say they were massacred during the past 1400 years, other say some converted to Islam and were Arabized in the process. Regardless how you look at it, you will realize that being under Arab rule the Assyrian either lose their lives or their identity, (culture, religion, language etc.) It is not in the best interest of Assyrians to remain under Arab rule, because the Arabs have a track record of persecuting, massacring, or Arabizing them, add to that Assyrians are at a constant loss of grounds, which eventually will end up as a big fat zero if they remain under Arab rule.
The Arabs had their chance to rule over Assyrians, and their track record proves that they abused that power, in other words they had their chance and blew it. And now it is not in the best interest of Assyrians to remain under Arab rule, because the main goal of Arabs is to persecuting, massacring, ethnically cleanse or Arabize Assyrians.
Group #2
The Kurds, they arrived to Assyria from the Iranian side of the Zagaros Mountains. Although every nation on earth should rule itself, yet the Kurds have three major mistakes or problems on their hands and those will eventually backfire on their cause if they don’t try to correct their policies:
a- Just in recent history the Kurds were directly involved in massacring unarmed Assyrians men women and children in three major incidents: conducted by the Kurdish leader Bader Khan in 1843-1846, then followed by the massacres of Sayfo in 1915-1918, and most recently the massacres of Simele in 1933.
b- What is alarming to Assyrians is that Kurds glorify the massacres of innocent and unarmed Assyrians, and look at those actions as a means of National Kurdish pride. To them Bader Khan, and Simko (The Kurdish chief who massacred the Assyrain Patriarch) are national Kurdish heroes. and on top of that they claim that the Kurdish new year starts with the sack of Nineveh and the massacre of Assyrian men women and Children. Imagine they celebrate the killing of innocent people. Kurds treated Assyrians like Nazis treated the Jewish people.
c- The Kurds are claiming someone else’s homeland namely Assyrian homeland. Logic says that if a nation claims its own homeland, they are justified to do so, and even the UN charter recognizes that right. But the problem wit the Kurds is that they either due to their ignorance of history or due to their denial of historical facts are claiming the Assyrian homeland. And either way you look at it is bad and reflects negatively on the Kurdish cause. Especially when that is couple with Kurdish atrocities conducted against the peaceful unarmed Assyrians who lived their homeland since the dawn of civilization.
d- The problem of the Kurds is that their track record of massacring Assyrians portrays them as a bloodthirsty nation seeking independence not by revolting against the governments that are ruling the region but against a peaceful unarmed Assyrian citizens whose only fault is that they are Christians and of a different ethnic group who speak a different language. Their whole struggle can be summarized as follows: The Kurds can’t face the regional governments so they unleash their frustration on the peaceful unarmed Assyrian citizens killing most of them and scaring the rest to either flee their ancient homeland or submit to Kurdish control through terror. Unfortunately this is happening under the eyes of the regional governments who pretend to close their eyes because they too don’t want the Assyrians there (because to them too the Assyrians are a different race, with different language and different religion), in other words those governments allow the Kurds to do their dirty job for them, and then the Kurds come with their bloody hands (covered with innocent Assyrian blood) and demand the rights for Great Kurdistan, asking for a piece of Turkey (calling it north Kurdistan), a piece of Syria (calling it West Kurdistan), a piece of Iraq (calling it south Kurdistan) and a piece of Iran calling it East Kurdistan, a nation that is built the skulls of Assyrian and called great Kurdistan.
The Kurds had their chance to rule over Assyrians, and their track record proves that they abused that power, in other words they had their chance and blew it. And now it is not in the best interest of Assyrians to remain under Kurdish rule, because the main goal of Kurds is to persecuting, massacring, ethnically cleanse or Kurdify Assyrians.
Group #3
The Turkmen, they arrived to Assyria from central Asia and Mongolia. They have unique good relations with Assyrians, and the relation of those two nations goes back to even long before they arrived in Assyria (going back to 300 A.D. when Assyrians went to central Asia spreading the word of God). Presently the Turkmen and Assyrians are together in the same boat, they both had their own share of suffering on the hands of Arabs and Kurds. They have a lot in common, and here are few examples:
a- Neither Turkmen nor Assyrians were recognized as a separate ethnic group in Iraq. The Iraqi census offered two choices only, where an Iraqi citizen had to choose between two options only: an Arab or a Kurdish identity. In other words an Assyrian and a Turkmen had to deny his identity and forced select what he is not.
b- Both Turkmen and Assyrians were ethnically cleansed from their towns and villages in northern Iraq.
c- Neither Turkmen nor Assyrians had any representation in the Iraqi government.
d- Both Turkmen and Assyrians were discriminated against by Arabs and Kurds. In other words Arabs and Kurds stepped all over Turkmen and Assyrian rights.
e- Neither the language of the Turkmen nor the languages of Assyrians were recognized as an official language in Iraq.
f- Arabs and Kurds always claimed “Arab and Kurdish brotherhood” (Al-Ukhuwwa Al-Arabiyya Al-Kurdiyya); they never ever considered Assyrians and Turkmen as part of this brotherhood. In other words they always looked at Assyrians and Turkmen as strangers. Now it is about time to declare the Brotherhood of Assyrians and Turkmen.
g- In Iraq, Assyrians and Turkmen were treated as third class citizens after Arabs and Kurds.
Based on above facts, and shared common interests, the Assyrians and Turkmen feel a stronger bond bringing them closer and closer together. In fact, those two ethnic groups are destined to unite and join forces to change their present miserable conditions. They need one another to fulfill their dreams, because they both complement each other, and neither one can achieve his goals single handed.
Neither Assyrians on their own can pull this out, and nor can the Turkmens on their own, however united as allies they can achieve their common goals, so it is very essential to join arms and seek an Assyrian-Turkmen independent state, after all they share the same destiny.
b>Assyrian-Turkmen Allaince
This is hypothetical plan and will need further polishing, (Note: the door should be left open for the Yazidies to join this alliance). The following are the highlights:
1. A declaration of an Assyrian-Turkmen formal and official alliance.
2. An official Assyrian declaration and claim to their homeland, and a formal demand for an independent and sovereign state of Assyria. We need to mention some technicality about this: independence can’t be claimed by the Turkmen of Iraq, because the place where they live in is not historically and originally Turkmenian homeland (their original homeland is Turkmenistan in central Asia), that is why the Turkmen need the Assyrians, because the Assyrians have the historical right to their homeland (i.e. the Assyrians will claim Assyria, and the Turkmen would join them as an equal partner).
3. Establishing the state of Assyria on a small piece of Assyrian homeland in northern Iraq where power is shared between Assyrians and Turkmens, under a democratic system
4. The balance of Iraq will be a state for both Iraqi Arabs and Kurds, they can share power among them as they both agree, (after all they consider themselves as brothers). Neither Arabs nor Kurds will have any say in the new state of Assyria.
5. The state of Assyria will recognize two official language on equal footing, The Assyrian language and the Turkmen language.
6. The state of Assyria will be a secular democratic republic state.
7. Within the state of Assyria, each of the two ethnic groups Assyrians and Turkmen will preserve their respective cultures, and religions, and they will respect each others particularities and uniqueness.
8. The state of Assyria will be federation between Assyrians and Turkmen, where each ethnic group will control a region, and each region will be run by a governor of that ethnic group, (i.e. an Assyrian governor will govern the Assyrian region and a Turkmen governor will govern the Turkmen region).
9. Each region will have its own flag (i.e. a domestic Assyrian flag and a domestic Turkmen flag), and there will be a unified state flag representing both Assyrians and Turkmens on an international level.
10. The national anthem of the state of Assyria will be half in Assyrian and half in Turkmen languages
11. The national wealth of the state of Assyrian (water, oil, mineral, forestry, fish & game) will be equally shared between Assyrians and Turkmen.
12. The government system of the state of Assyria will be a republic, with a parliament where 50% of its members will be Assyrians and the other 50% will be Turkmen.
13. The presidency will be run on a rotation basis. A president will be elected for a four year term as follows; during the first four year term the president will be Assyrian and his VP will be a Turkmen, then during the following four year term the President will be a Turkmen and his VP will be Assyrian, and so on.
14. Internationally; embassies will be run by Assyrian and Turkmen on a 50/50 basis, and whenever the ambassador is Assyrian, the second man in the embassy will be a Turkmen, and whenever the ambassador is a Turkmen the second man will be Assyrian, as to the staff, they will be 50% Assyrian and the other 50% Turkmen.
15. UN delegation of the state of Assyria will be 50% Assyrians and 50% Turkmen.
16. Domestically Turkmen will run the affairs in their region, and Assyrians run the affairs in their region. Internationally the parliament votes democratically and the state take a unified stand internationally.
17. An independent state of Assyria (for Assyrians and Turkmen) once declared would be automatically recognized internationally because the Turkmen (being of Turkic origins) will get the blessing and the backing of Turkey and the recognition of Turkey plus all the other Turkic states of central Asia, and since Turkmen are Moslems, they would get the recognition of Moslem states worldwide. On the other hand since the Assyrian are Christians (and of three major denominations, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants) they would get the recognition of all countries in the western world (be it Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants), and in no time they can get the recognition of the majority of UN countries, and join the United Nations.
18. As to the Arab world although this Assyrian state would look as if it is taking away part of Iraq which is an Arab country, yet based on historical rights, that piece of territory is Assyrian historically, and the Arabs are the occupiers of someone else’s homeland (i.e. a colonizing force), in other words it would be the Assyrians taking back what originally belonged to them. Add to this the fact that Assyrians are not taking away all their homeland, they are just taking a small portion of it, and (as a gesture of good will) they are allowing the Arabs and Kurds to live on the remaining part of Assyria in return to their recognition of the new state of Assyria. In addition, the Arabs should think of it that if they don’t give Assyrians a small piece now, they will end up giving a larger piece of Iraq and Syria to the Kurds. A very important fact that pushes Assyrians to demand their independence is that Assyrians had lived under Arab rule for the past 1400 years and were denied their basic rights as human beings (now if Assyrians were treated well there would not have been any need to seek independence, but they weren’t, so if there is anyone to blame, the Arabs need to blame themselves!).
19. With Assyrians and Turkmen as partners in this new state of Assyria, it will automatically get the blessing and the military backing of its neighbor Turkey, and also the blessing of the USA the sole super power in the world, followed by the blessings of the NATO countries. This is very important because in a tough neighborhood in the Middle East a small state like Assyria would need a strong neighbor and strong allies to protect it.
In conclusion; An independent sovereign state of Assyria, for Assyrians and Turkmen (leaving the door open for the Yazidies to join this alliance) will be in the best interest of all the countries of the Middle East, and all involved.
Hanna Hajjar
1/6/2003
