31.01.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Assyrian Democratic Movement ("original document (English)") [ID 9944]

"Established in 1979, this group began actively struggling against the Hussein regime in 1982. It is headed by Yonadam Kanna. The movement's website (http://www.zowaa.org) describes it as "a democratic and political organization -- national and patriotic -- to defend our people and their legitimate rights and to struggle under the banner of [a] free democratic Iraq." Calls for official recognition of Assyrian rights and the "unity of our people under their several identities": Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian. The group supports the idea of a federal Iraq, and is on good relations with other Assyrian and Kurdish groups present in northern Iraq, as well as with Shi'a leaders in southern Iraq. The movement is also represented in the Kurdistan parliament. Kanna was afforded a seat on the Iraqi Governing Council. His group has been targeted by militants on several occasions since the fall of the Hussein regime. Operates Assyrian Radio."

Document(s): original document (English)