Assyria - Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

15 Pages·2009·0.81 MB·English

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STATISTICS

Status: Unrecognised Indigenous Group

Population: The total Assyrian population, including the
Diaspora, is estimated at 3.3 million

Capital City: Nineveh, Ancient Assyrian Capital (Iraq)
Area: 37,323 km2 (Current Nineveh Governorate Area)

Language: Assyrian, which also is referred to as Neo-Aramaic,
Chaldean and Syriac.

Religion: Christianity (Orthodox and Catholic)

UNPO REPRESENTATION

The Assyrians are represented in the UNPO by the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA). They were
admitted to the UNPO as a member on 6 August 1991.
Last updated September 2009

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OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW
Assyrians are one of the indigenous populations of modern-day Iraq. The Assyrians’
ancestral homeland is spread over northern Iraq, northern Iran, south-eastern Turkey
and southern Syria. The region from the Hakkari Mountains in Turkey to the Mosul
district in northern Iraq is the Assyrian nation’s ancestral homeland, with Nineveh as
its historic capital.

Assyrians are also referred to as Chaldeans, or Syriacs. The origin of these names is
mainly related to the changing fortunes and identities of a people and their diasporas
that have gone different ways over three millennia. However, it should be emphasized
from the outset that all these names refer to essentially the same indivisible people. In
the Iraqi context, references to Assyrians as ‘Arab Christians’ or ‘Kurdish Christians’
reflect political attempts, both past and present, to assimilate Assyrians into Iraqi soci-
ety at the cost of their identity.

After the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 and following the political
instability during the first years of democratization, the situation for Assyrians dete-
riorated. As a consequence many Assyrians had to flee their homes to seek refuge in
northern Iraq or in neighboring countries. Over five years later, minorities’ issues are
still neglected despite international attention and efforts to pacify the region. While
Assyrian political representation within the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has
progressed, Assyrians continue to press the international community to recognize their
nation as one in need of protection and to support their legitimate pursuit of autonomy
within the territorial boundaries of a centrally-governed Iraq.
Assyrians fully support the efforts to consolidate a united, secular and democratic Iraq,
capable of respecting and bringing together its culturally diverse society. An Assyrian
autonomous region would therefore encompass the Assyrian ancestral lands located
between the Greater Zab and Tigris rivers and extend to the Republic of Iraq’s inter-
national borders to the north and west.
Although more Assyrians now live outside the Middle East, mainly in the United
States and Australia, large numbers of the diaspora wish to return to their homeland if
stability returns. The return of young, highly educated, Assyrians represent a good
opportunity to bridge Iraq’s new democratic society and Western countries into a new
era of mutual dialogue and understanding.
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POLITICAL SITUATION POLITICAL

SITUATION
Since 2003, political instability in Iraq has left the Assyrians in a particularly vulnerable
situation and approximately 250,000 Assyrians have fled Iraq to date. According to
UNHCR data, religious minorities, including Assyrians, are overrepresented in Iraqi
refugee’s census, representing 36% of the total number, even though they account only
for 3% of the total Iraqi population.

Those who remain in Iraq must still live with the legacies of past Ba’athist policies and
continue to face problems with socio-political recognition within the country. After Sad-
dam Hussein’s fall, Assyrians continue to face identity insecurity with severe restric- Iraqi Disputed Areas
tions on their linguistic and religious rights. Christians in ‘disputed areas’ are on the
fault lines of political power struggles between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. Extremist UNAMI report on the Disputed
Internal Boundaries (April
religious-nationalist groups target them with harassment and intimidation as part of a
2009) identifies 15 disputed
wide political agenda. And in other cases, Assyrians are forced to identify themselves as
areas in Northern Iraq, mainly
Arabs or Kurds in other to benefit from public services such as health and education.
around the city of Kirkuk. Un-

der the Article 140 of the new
Amendments to the Iraqi Provincial Election Law (2008) and the Kurdistan National
Iraqi constitution, the situation
Assembly Electoral Law (1992), guaranteeing reserved seats to specific communities,
in Kirkuk was supposed to be
such as the Assyrians, have been welcomed but are still not sufficient to protect Assyr-
"normalised", a census taken,
ian political rights.
and a referendum held, to estab-

lish whether the inhabitants
Furthermore, religious extremism has made Iraq an insecure place for non-Muslim reli-
wanted to join Kurdistan or stay
gious groups. It has made the practice of Assyrian cultural rituals, including church ser- with Baghdad. However, persis-
vices, increasingly difficult. Today, the Assyrian population in Iraq continues to be sub- tent tensions and difficulties
jected to violations of their human rights and international humanitarian law with dis- have delayed a final agreement
crimination, displacement and arbitrary executions among the main abuses. on the subject. A census is to be
held in 2010.
UNPO PERSPECTIVE

Assyrians have paid an instrumental role in the development of modern-day Iraq and
they continue to be key to the country’s economic, political, and social recovery. To
protect their rights, UNPO believes it imperative that Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitu-
tion is observed and upheld in protecting the administrative, political, cultural, and edu-
cational rights of Assyrians within Iraq’s federal constitutional framework.

UNPO
UNPO believes that should be the first step to achieving the unequivocal recognition of
Assyrian nationhood by both the Republic of Iraq and the international community. As-
PERSPECTIVE
syrian assertions of autonomy within Iraq are set within the context of the Iraqi Consti-
tution and are based on clear popular support from the Assyrian community in Iraq and
abroad.

The creation of an Assyrian administrative unit within Iraqi federal framework a solu-
tion already foreseen under the Transitory Administrative Law and incorporated into
Iraq 2005 constitution. Acknowledging territoriality to Assyrians would mean guaran-
teeing political representation and physical protection.

The ongoing intimidation of Assyrians within Iraq, and the failure of the Iraqi Govern-
ment to prevent attacks against the Assyrian community, makes the establishment of
such an autonomous region a prerequisite if members of the Assyrian diaspora are to
return to Iraq. Consequently, UNPO advocates for both Assyrian calls for an autono-
mous region and the return of Assyrian diaspora to their homes in Iraq.
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UNPO MEMBER PERSPECTIVE
UNPO

The AUA is an international alliance made up of Assyrian national federations and
MEMBER
organizations throughout the world. The AUA was established on 13 April 1968,
as a world-wide organization seeking to represent a powerful voice for the Assyr-
PERSPECTIVE
ians, committing itself to upholding the Assyrian culture around the world, whilst
working to secure the human and national rights of the Assyrian people in their
homeland and elsewhere. All Assyrians are automatically members of AUA.

The background of the organization is set against the emergence of Arab National-
ism in the Middle East, when Assyrians were seen by Arab governments as a fifth
column because of their Christian faith. In the absence of any official or organized
leadership, Assyrians were therefore forced to embrace either Arabist national ide-
ology or to abandon their historical Assyrian lands and villages. Amidst rising
concern about the situation facing Assyrians and their
AUA Aims and Goals
future worldwide, Assyrian leaders decided to create the

AUA and gave it a centralized leadership capable of
ONE NAME FOR ONE
dealing with the growing challenges facing the Assyrian
NATION
nation.

ONE LANGUAGE FOR
Since 1968, the AUA has held annual congresses that ana-
ONE NATION
lyse the situation of Assyrian communities around the

world. The General Secretary of the AUA is the Honorable
ONE LEADERSHIP FOR
Yonathan Betkolia who also represents Assyrians in the
ONE NATION
Iranian Parliament. The AUA has five regional secretariats, dealing with the Ameri-

cas, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East.
A HOMELAND FOR
OUR NATION
Assyrian Universal Con-
ference (Tehran, July
2007)

HISTORICAL
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND
From the Assyrian Empire to the British Mandate

During the first millennium BC, the Assyrian Empire was a multi-ethnic society com-
posed of citizens that today could be identified as Assyrians, Egyptians, Israelites, Ar-
abs, Anatolians and Iranians. The unity around an Assyrian identity started in the mid-
eighth century BC. Following the arrival of Aramaic speaking people from modern-
day Turkey and Syria, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Assyrian Empire and
it was adopted as the everyday writing system for administrative affairs. This, allied
with a shared identity related to a semi-divine king, taxation and conscription systems
contributed to the social and cultural cohesion of the Assyrian Empire.

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As a result, Aramaic-speaking peoples of the Near East continued to identify them-

selves as Assyrians even after the fall of the Assyrian Empire, to the Achaemenid
and Macedonian Empires in 612 BC. In the first century AD they were among the
first people to embrace Christianity and from this time Assyrians have found them-
selves the target of persecutions.

Isolated from Christian centers for centuries, the Assyrian identity was close to be-
ing lost but in the mid-nineteenth century direct contact was again established with
the western world. Because of their importance in the history of Christianity, Assyr-
ians again became the focus of worldwide attention, with western missionaries com-
ing to the region in a quest for the origins of Christianity. Experiencing a cultural
renaissance, Assyrians built modern schools, colleges and technical institutions in
Iran and Iraq during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Despite this cultural resurgence, Assyrians continued to suffer persecution because
of their religion and ethnicity. Under the Ottoman Empire, in 1842-1847 massacres
contributed to Assyrians’ diffidence towards Ottoman authorities. While the Young
Turk Revolution in 1908 made school tuition in the Turkish language compulsory

As World War I engulfed Europe and the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Pow-
ers, the Porte issued a fatwa in November 1914 declaring all infidels who were not
citizens of the Central Powers enemies of the Empire. Because of their faith Assyr-
ians became the target of reprisals and were drawn into an ill-fated alliance with the
Entente Powers in 1915. Subsequent deportations throughout the Empire uprooted
communities and ultimately cost the lives of two thirds of the Assyrian population
living in South East Turkey in a devastating genocide.
Yonathan Betkolia,

Genreal Secretary AUA
At the end of World War I, the Assyrians had to retreat again from Iran (where they
had been fighting along with Tsarist Russia) in order to reach the British forces in
Baghdad. In this long exodus, the Assyrians lost more than two-thirds of their popu-
lation.

As the Great Powers disassembled the Ottoman Empire, Article 62 of the Treaty of
Sèvres, from 1920, promised safeguards for Assyrians. But the abolition of the Sul-
tanate in 1922 invalidated the treaty and led to the Lausanne Conference in 1923.
The Conference resulted in the Treaty of Lausanne that called for the protection of
non-Muslim minorities but rebuffed all Assyrian requests for national statehood.

Concurrently, the British and French Mandates, established by the Conference of
San Remo in 1920, had provided religious minorities with some provisions regard-
ing the protection of their rights. Furthermore, Iraqi Constitution of 1925 extended
nominal protection of minorities and the freedom of cultural, religious, and political
expression. During this period, many Assyrians supported the British mandate, si-
multaneously earning the distrust of Arab nationalists whilst being used by the Brit-
ish as a justification for their occupation.

#1 Assyrian Company
1st Battalion Iraq Levies.
British Forces in WWI
and WWII
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Independent Iraq and the Ba’ath Rule

When the British lifted the mandate in October 1932, Iraq became independent and Assyrians
were left with no effective protection. Consequently, tensions between Iraqi nationalists and
Assyrian became more visible. In 1933, increasing political tensions between Iraqi recently
independent government and Assyrians factions led to the Simele Massacre. On August 7,
Iraqi authorities entered in the little town of Simele, in the Dohuk’s region, and killed most of
the civil population, including women and old people. In one day more than 3,000 Assyrians
were slaughtered, leading to a massive flight of Assyrian refugees to Mosul and to the
French-mandated Syria.

From its independence Iraqi politics was dominated by increasing centralization of power. As
a consequence, security for minority groups, including Assyrians, became a pressing issue
during the period of Iraq’s consolidation as a modern state. After the Simele massacre, those
Assyrians that remained hoped to be settled within an autonomous region in Iraq. However,
politics evolved to make this impossible. In 1936, the League of Nations Trustee Board for
the Settlement of Assyrians of Iraq, aiming to solve the impasse, decided not to count exclu-
sively on Iraqi assurances for the Assyrians provisory settled in Mosul, but also to proceed
with a population transfer to Syria. Assyrians settlements were thus created in Khabur, in the
extreme Northeast of the country. Those Assyrian villages in Syria have endured and in the
1990’s there were still Assyrians 33 of them in Kabhur.

From the period between Iraq’s independence and the 1958 revolution, political instability
inside the country had a negative impact on Assyrian welfare. At the time of the newly inde-
pendent Iraqi Monarchy, two competing nationalisms, an Iraqi one and a Pan-Arab one were
DATES OF SPECIAL at the origin of political turbulences. In 1936 Iraq suffers its first military coup d’état, led by
the General Bakr Sidqi. With the ascension of his Pan-Arab Sunni government, emphasis was
INTEREST
given to an exclusive ‘Arab identity’ that was not able to conciliate the ethnic mosaic of the

country.
March 21st - Start of the As-

syrian New Year
Differences between pro-British tribes and anti-British political groups were exacerbated by
April 1st Assyrian New Year
the Second World War. The Axis’ countries profit from an anti-British sentiment and it was
Festival - Assyrian National
only in 1943 that Iraq declared war on the Axis. The WWII aggravated social and economic
Day
tensions in the country. While, Iraqi leadership remained in competition with the emerging
August 7th - Assyrian Martyrs
‘Pan-Arab identity’ led by Egypt General Gamal Abdel Nasser. Inside and outside the coun-
Day
try political groups were struggling for power.

The 1958 revolution of Iraq overthrew Faisal’s monarchy and brought to power a new gen-
eration of political figures attached to the ideology of Pan Arabism. Following a period of
internal violent political instability, with several successive coup d’états attempts from com-
munists and Arab nationalists alike.

In 1968 the Ba’athist party manages to assure its leadership, and since then they start to deny
the existence of people in Iraq under the name of Assyrian. Assyrians were referred to as
‘Syriac speaking Christians’, and encouraged to identify with the Sunni-Arab dominated re-
gime. Moreover, through several ‘Arabization’ (ta'rib) policies, cultural and political life of
the non-Arabs in the country has become very difficult. Once again, Assyrian nation were
threatened in its ancestral homeland.

In the following decade, Iraqi politics were dominated by an increasing polarization between
Kurds and Arabs. After years of violence and instability, a peace agreement was reached in
1970, with a plan of guarantee of Kurdish self-rule in the Northern region, heavily inhabited
by Assyrians.

After Saddam Hussein’s arrival into power in November 1978, the Eleventh World Congress
of the Assyrian Universal Alliance that convened in Sydney experienced the first chemical
attack by agents of Saddam Hussein's regime. The five-member delegation attending from
Iraq had brought sweets poisoned with mustard gas, packaged in Iraq, which were offered to
the other delegates of the Congress. At least nine people suffered from poisoning.
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In 1979, Assyrian situation deteriorated within Iraq during the years of Ba’ath rule. The In-

ternational Federation for Human Rights lists more than 196 Assyrian villages obliterated by
the Iraqi government and part of the Assyrian population in the north of Iraq was forcibly
transferred to larger cities such as Baghdad, as the government tried to homogenize north-
Iraq population. For the progressive perception of increasing repression, also in 1979, the
Assyrians found the Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa or ADM) an organization to
campaign for Assyrians rights welfare. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Assyrians were
once again caught in the middle of regional volatility, and many fled their homes, in a mas-
sive emigration from the Christian community in both countries, most of them settling in the
United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The 1991 Gulf War further aggravated the situation of the Assyrians, as the establishment of
a Kurdish safe-heaven in Northern Iraq accentuated the opposition between Assyrians and
Kurds. Both suffered a lot under Saddam’s rule. Still, during the first years of Kurdish
Autonomous Region, there was no legal mechanism and no political expediency in protect-
ing other national groups. While the incursion of the Turkish army into northern Iraq in an
attempt to end violent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) activity in Turkey in 1995 also had
negative effects on the political stability, threatening civilian population including the Assyr-
ians. Assyrian Boy, 2009

From 1996 until the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, the continuous internal fight-
ing between the two main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led to armed conflicts in the Kurdistan region and com-
munities not aligned with either of the two main Kurdish groups lived under fear and intimi-
dation.

Iraq after 2003

In the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s fall, the expectations of Assyrians rose toward hopes
for a safer future within an Iraq with a federal framework. Nevertheless, the multiple chal-
lenges of a newly democratized Iraq and the instability generated by the war following the
US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, accentuated even more the differences between eth-
nic groups. The ascension of a dominant Shiite-Kurd coalition in Iraq has actually changed
the situation for the worse. Instead, this new coalition shifted the ethnically-motivated dis-
crimination caused by Saddam Hussein’s regime to the more dangerous religiously moti-
vated crimes. In the meantime, more attention has been focused on Iraq’s Shia, Sunni, Kurds,
and Turkmen than Assyrians.

Since 2003, Assyrian’s situation has dramatically deteriorated. Many Assyrians, working as
translators to the US-led coalition in Iraq, were seen as ‘collaborationists’ and thus perse-
cuted. Others, alcohol shops owners had their business destroyed and start receiving threat-
ens to leave the country. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) esti-
mates that one in three Assyrians are now refugees and a significantly larger number are in-
ternally displaced persons (IDPs).

Mr Sarkis Aghajan is a well-known Assyrian among the Kurdish Region and in Iraq for his
commitment to the Assyrian community, his efforts to rebuild villages and churches de-
stroyed by the previous Iraqi regime and for promoting and protecting Assyrian rights with
all different Christian denominations. He was appointed the Assyrian Christian Finance Min-
Citadel of Arrapkha,
ister for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG’s) Minister for Finance and the Econ-
named Kirkheni (citadel)
omy in May 2006 and in 2007 he established the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Council.
and ultimately Kirkuk

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI awarded Mr Aghajan the Knight Commander of the Order of
Saint Gregory the Great for his work with the Assyrian Christian community in Iraq.
Mr Aghajan and his Council are pushing for an autonomous region for the Assyrian Chris-
tians and other minorities in the ancestral lands of the Assyrians, a region with its own parlia-
ment, cabinet and budget. The proposed region will fall either under the administration of
Baghdad or Erbil.

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CURRENT ISSUES
CURRENT

1. Lack of Political Representation
ISSUES

Despite being one of the indigenous people of Iraq, Iraqi constitution does not provide
recognition or protection to Assyrians in respect of their indigenous or ethnic status. But
rather, Iraqi government considers Assyrians as a religious minority. Iraq fails to name
Assyrians together with the other segments of Iraqi population as basis of Iraq’s rich his-
tory and culture.

In particular, restricted interpretations of Article 2(A) of the Constitution, stating “No law
can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam” raises Assyrian fears that as
in the past, political groups may use the Islamic majority identity of Iraq as a way to re-
strict other non-Muslim communities’ rights. Opposition to the building of new churches
has given credence to these fears.

Until 2009, there were no seats reserved for the Assyrian community in nationwide elec-
tions. After the 2005 parliamentary elections, six Assyrians were elected to Iraq’s Council
of Representatives out of 275 members. The only Assyrian list elected was the National
Rafidain list that got the minimum required votes for a seat in the parliament, which was
given to Yonadam Kanna. The other Assyrians elected came from the Kurdistani List and
the Secular List. In the Iraqi governorate elections of 2005, the Assyrian Democratic
Movement was the only Assyrian party to win one seat out of forty-one available seats in
the Nineveh Governorate. Of the 34 current government ministers, none represent Assyr-
ians.

Progress has been made to improve Assyrian representation. Law No. 36 of 2008
(‘Elections Law of the Provincial, Districts, and Sub-Districts Councils’) reserves seats
for Assyrians, Turkmen and Yezidis. These so called ‘component seats’ are located in
Nineveh, Baghdad and Basra. Moreover, Article 125 of the Constitution also proposes a
guarantee of administrative, political, cultural and educational rights to the various nation-
alities in Iraq. In reality however, such limited promises are not sufficient and Assyrians
continue to be victims of electoral malpractices.

During the 2005 January Provincial Election held in Kurdistan, many Assyrians of the
Nineveh’s residents claim they were denied the chance to vote as a result of widespread
polling irregularities, as lack of ballot boxes, fraud and intimidations.

Despite some recent improvement on the political rights of minorities within the Kurdish
autonomous region, such as the five reserved seats to Christians in the KIP, Assyrian’s
continue to aspire to self-governance and disputes continue as to whether these seats are
in fact an underestimation of the true size of the Assyrian population.

Explicative Box:
Electoral Framework

The Governorate Council Seats are allocated according to the
IHEC Regulation No. 15 - Seat Allocation. The electoral sys-
tem is based on closed lists and proportional representation,
whether to accommodate woman and minorities’ representa-
tion, that are able to vote collective from around the country.
The minimum required votes for a seat is calculated accord-
ing to the Hare Formula: the total of valid vote cast divided
by the number of seats.
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2. Linguistic Restrictions

Assyrian or Aramaic is listed by UNESCO as a “definitely endangered” language
and within Iraq it has always been considered a minority language. In 1972, the new
Ba’athist government issued Presidential decree #251 which granted cultural rights
to Assyrians (considered as ‘Syriac speaking Christians’) and autonomy to Iraqi mi-
norities. However, with Saddam’s ascension to power, decree #251 was revoked and
many Assyrians schools stopped teaching Syriac in favor of Arabic.

Since 2003, in the northern safe-haven, with diaspora aid, and following the fall of
the Saddam Hussein regime, the Assyrian community was able to establish small
schools in several dozen villages. Under funded and small in number, these schools
remain the sole means of propagating the Syriac language. Plans are also underway
for the foundation of a Nineveh University which would work to promote Assyrian
language studies.
Explicative Box:

Presidential Decree #251

In 1972, the Iraqi Revolution

Council issued the decree #
251, signed by the then Iraqi
president Ahmad Hasan al-
Bakir. This document granted
cultural rights to Syriac-
speaking groups: Syriacs,
Chaldeans and Assyrians in
Iraq.
That decree was unique in its
sort in the Middle East. How-
ever, the decree used the word
“Syriac-speaking “instead for
“Aramaic-speaking”. The
Christians in Iraq use Syriac-
Aramaic in their liturgy but
they speak Neo-Aramaic dia-
lects. Furthermore, Aramaic-
speaking groups are now recog-
nized under the common name
of Assyrians, which will repre-
sent them all.

The main printed media outlet for Assyrians in Iraq is the weekly Bahra (Light). It is
printed in Baghdad in Arabic (10,000 copies) and Syriac (2,500 free copies). Other
printed media outlets for the Assyrians include the monthly Bet Nahrain Newspaper
for the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party, the Qoyama Newspaper for Assyrian Patri-
otic Party and the periodical Ma’altha (Entrance) magazine of the Assyrian Writers
Leagues.

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3. Religious Restrictions and Persecution

Assyrian religious rights such as freedom of conscience are constantly under threat. The
main source of Assyrian persecution in the Middle East was historically their Christian back-
ground. Since 1933 in Iraq and especially under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Assyrian
suffered from state persecution. However, after the Ba’ath Regime’s collapse in 2003, As-
syrians became the target of sectarian violence because of their distinct ethnic and religious
identity.

Despite recent constitutional guarantees, in the Iraqi Constitution and the Kurdistan Re-
gional Constitution, minority religions do not receive adequate protection or state support.
Iraqi government lacks effective capacity or incentives to protect Christian communities
from abuse. Current violations of Assyrians religious rights include the ongoing church
bombings in which 59 churches were attacked since 2004, forced conversion to Islam, kid-
napping and assassinations of members of the clergy and the destruction of Assyrians shops.

Christians, who under Saddam were permitted to trade alcohol, have been singled out by
hard-line Islamist movements for murder or forced conversion. In response to the violence,
Christians have fled by the thousands to northern Iraq or neighboring countries. Many Chris-
tian educational centers and seminars have also closed or been forced to move.

4. Refugees and Internal Displaced People (IDPs)

Since 2003, Iraq’s non-Muslim minorities have tried to flee the political instability that
engulfed the country. The UNHCR estimates that approximately 2 million Iraqis are
now outside the country with a further 2.2 million internally displaced. Of these, minori-
ties making up 30% of the total and Assyrians are overrepresented among the refugees
and IDPs. According to the Assyrian Aid Society, as of January 2008, about 15,000 As-
syrians IDPs moved to the governorates of Erbil, Dohuk and Nineveh.
For further information on

refugees
For those who remained in Iraq, the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) allocated

homes to Assyrian IDPs in the Kurdish autonomous region but they face three major
UNHCR "Eligibility Guidelines
problems: lack of property rights, confiscation of land, and unemployment due to dis-
for Assessing the International
crimination and physical intimidation.
Protection Needs of Iraqi Asy-

lum-Seekers" - April 2009
Of those who have left Iraq as refugees by 2005, approximately 700,000 (UNHCR) took
http://
refuge in Syria. Of this number, 36% were Iraqi Christians, a disproportioned number
www.unhcr.org/4a2640852.pdf
given their represented 3% of the total Iraqi population. There are an estimated 250,000

Assyrian Christian refugees stranded in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey today.
and

UNHCR, "Background Infor-

mation on the Situation of Non-
Muslim Religious Minorities in
Iraq" - October 2005, note 11
http://www.unhcr.no/Pdf/
Position_countryinfo_2007/
Iraqinfo102005.pdf
AUA Convoy to
Refugees in Iraq

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