250,000 CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ PREVENTED FROM VOTING

CONTACT: Mr Yonadam Kanna via his secretary Susan (In Baghdad) Telephone 001 914 360 3882
or Albert Michael in London: 011-44-7729 631703
or in U.S., Jerry McGlothlin/Special Guests, 630-848-0750 or Jean Meyer, 321-768-0157 for 10 different Iraqi expert guests.

BAGHDAD– It has now becoming evident that the terrorists are not the only group that prevents people from casting their votes. The Nineveh Governate Council prevented ballot boxes reaching areas in the Hamdaniya and Shaikhan (Ain Sifne) districts that are heavily populated by the ChaldoAssyrians, Yezidi and the Shabak.

This has denied a population of more than 250,000 the legitimate right to elect the officials of their choice. The Assyrian Democratic Movement has protested in the strongest terms to the appropriate authorities against what seems to be tantamount to blatant discrimination by the Nineveh Governate Council.

The ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh is today still inhabited by the indigenous ChaldoAssyrian Christians from which the National Rafidain slate headed by Yonadam Kanna, secretary-general of the ADM would draw the majority of the votes equating to 4 – 6 seats.
Once a thriving community, the ChaldoAssyrians were massacred during the First World War and lost over two-thirds of its population! The Iraqi Army massacred over 3000 innocent ChaldoAssyrians a year after the new Iraqi state was admitted to the League of Nations in 1932.

Under Saddam’s repressive regime, the ChaldoAssyrians were forced to deny their ethnicity and over 200 villages, which included ancient Churches and Monasteries, were razed to the ground as part of the Arabization program. Since the downfall of the regime, the ChaldoAssyrians have been targeted and branded as collaborators with the west and as a result 21 Churches have been bombed, over one hundred murdered and up to 50,000 ChaldoAssyrians have fled Baghdad out of fear.

This latest episode denying the ChaldoAssyrian their right to vote is another step towards cleansing Iraq from the indigenous ChaldoAssyrian Christians.

A request has been lodged by the ADM to extend the electoral process by another day in the Hamdaniya and Shaikhan Districts.

We must all protest now to the US Secretary of State and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to pressurise the Iraqi Electoral Commission to redress the clear violations of the Human Rights pertaining to the ChaldoAssyrians, Yezidis and Shabaks.
This is in addition to thousands of ChaldoAssyrians that fled Baghdad to areas in Dohuk that have also been denied their right to vote.

This is clearly another attempt by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) to deny the ChaldoAssyrians a legitimate representation in the new Iraqi National Assembly.

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