Assyrian Democratic Movement

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The Assyrian Democratic Movement (ܙܘܥܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܛܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ, Zowaa Dimuqrataya Aturaya) is an ethnic Assyrian political party in Iraq.

Platform

Assyrian Democratic Movement seeks an autonomous federal state for Assyrians in Iraq.

History

The Assyrian Democratic Movement ("Zowaa") was established on April 12, 1979 to satisfy the political objectives of the Assyrian people in Iraq, in response to the oppressive brutality of the Al-Baath regime and its attempts to forcibly expropriate ethnic Assyrians from their native lands. The movement took up armed struggle against the Iraqi regime in 1982 under the leadership of Mr. Yunadam Kanna, and joined the IKF in early 1990s.

Yonadam Kanna is now the president of the party. He served on the temporary Iraqi Governing Council before it was disbanded in favor of the elected body formed after the January 2005 Iraqi elections.

The party's website, 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." The site's declarations include calls for official recognition of the rights of Assyrians and "unity of our people under their several identities": Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian (various Christian denominations in the Assyrian demographic. 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. Party members and Assyrians in general have been the focus of some insurgent attacks in the time since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The party also operates Ashur TV and Ashur Radio.

External links

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