By Y. POLOS

The Kurdish Administration in Northern Iraq has been applying plans aiming to obstruct the national rights of us Assyrians since 2003, having increased these policies in the recent period. Barzani and Talabani are using a part of their political influence that has increased in Iraq, Northern Iraq in particular, so as to intimidate our people. Barzani is trying to split our people as Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs. Moreover, he is exploiting certain Assyrians to his own advantage by luring them to Kurdish political parties and declaring them as the representatives of all Assyrians. Sarkis Aghajan, Nimrod Youkhanna, George Mansour, Fawzi Hariri, Romeo Hakkari and Abd al-Afram Sawa are the prominent figures. However, one should know that we do not recognize these individuals who are the puppets of the KDP and the PUK, acting under their guidance, as our representatives and we do not embrace them because these people are fond of their own interests and titles.

There have been severe political and economic problems all around Iraq since 2003. Unfortunately, our beautiful country has turned into an unbearable place. Rather than creating an environment of tolerance, the KDP and the PUK plant grudge and hostility among people. Kurds, who were talking about “Assyrian oppression” a while ago, are now acting inconsistently by suddenly becoming “the friends of Assyrians (!)”.

The Kurds, who claim that our motherland is “a Kurdish country for a thousand years”, deny our presence and identity, seizing our historical artifacts in the Plains of Mosul. Kurds have to prove if they want to claim these territories as their homeland. However, one cannot deny history. Trying to categorize the Assyrians as “Christian Kurds”, the KDP and the PUK are making a grave mistake. The real objective of this effort is to include all the ethnic elements, like us, within the borders of the Regional Kurdish Administration. One should know that Assyrians, who express on every occasion that they are for the unity and integrity of Iraq, will never let the subordination of Mosul to the Regional Kurdish Administration. 

The KDP and the PUK have been trying to control our lands which possess rich oil fields. One should consider that Ninova and all connected districts are administratively subordinate to the Central Administration and that the current Province of Dohuk was a district subordinate to the Ninova Province in the past. Kurds should not be let to carry out demographic and administrative changes that would harm the Assyrian presence in Dohuk. In this context, we reject the subordination of Ninova region to the area under Kurdish influence and demand that Ninova and all subordinate places should remain connected to the Central Administration.   

 Original in Arabic: الأكراد يمارسون الضغط على الآشوريين