Conference in Sweden Calls for Assyrian
Safe-haven in Iraq

December 21, 06

The Expanded Assyrian Conference in Sweden In light of the complicated political circumstances which are intertwining in general on the land of Iraq and negatively reflecting on the Assyrian people in particular, our historical responsibility and duty as political parties, organizations and independent activists to mobilize in the general interest of the Assyrian people in order to rescue them from the clutches of subordination and mendicancy which were portrayed as the last resort; on the grounds of such a reality and under the slogan: "Assyria the pride of Iraq, Iraq the homeland of the Assyrians", the expanded Assyrian conference convened in Stockholm from 15- 17 December 2006 in the presence of several political parties, organizations and activists to deliberate on the injustices, marginalization and divisions which are befalling the Assyrian people to find the necessary means in order to confront those who are wasting the rights of the Assyrian people, the origin of Iraq and its history.

Over three days, delegates discussed issues in a spirit derived from the nobility of the past, the present's responsibility and the future's vision, discussions included the legitimate national rights of the Assyrian people and the political mechanisms to achieve them on the land of Iraq, the land of the fathers and forefathers, side by side with the rest of the Iraqi people.

The discussions resulted in the establishment of an Assyrian national front under the name "Save Assyria Front" while its program and formation will be declared at a later date. The Save Assyria Front supports all efforts aiming at advancing the Assyrian path in Iraq which may be represented by any organization or political entity working to realize the conference's demands, thus the Save Assyria Front declares that its representative in Iraq is the Assyrian General Conference (AGC) which was also established in Iraq in August 2005, and it is ready to support all the Assyrian factions which will undertake the decisions of the expanded Assyrian conference as the practical basis of their political approach in Iraq, the Front also welcomes any organization, political party or activists who would like to join in the future as long as they believe in the Conference's decisions without exceptions.

The Conference's decisions:

The Save Assyria Front shall work to unify the efforts in order to realize the following decisions.

First: Although the Iraqi Constitution ignored in its introduction all that the Assyrians presented to Iraq be it the cultural and historical facets which put the country side by side with the civilized nations or the martyrs in addition to large tracts of Assyrian blood which was shed at the hands of successive dictatorial governments since the establishment of modern Iraq till this very day passing through the dark forced migration since 1933 following the horrible massacres of Simeleh (Simel) extending through the North of Iraq against the unarmed Assyrians and the descriptions of betrayal and accusations of being un patriotic which were launched against the Assyrians by the racist and retrogressive governments. Despite all the suffering, the Iraqi Constitution didn't give the Assyrian people their rights nor did it respect them as they deserve in accordance with the historical reality and national equality.

Therefore, the Conference has decided to demand that the Assyrians be recognized as the original, indigenous people of Iraq.

Second: In addition to the persecution and marginalization that the Assyrians were subjected to, but the Constitution brought more tragedies when it divided the Assyrians by inventing new national components which aren't recognized neither by Assyriologists nor by Iraqi historians, even the Assyrian language was given a sectarian name following the policy of pleasing few of the Assyrian denominations leaders with a support from outside factions which is unfair to the Assyrian nation and its historical truth; it's our belief in the historical truth which imposes Assyrianism as the identity of a land, people and language.

Thus the Conference has decided to demand that Assyrian identity be confirmed in the Iraqi Constitution as a comprehensive national identity.

Third: As Iraq found relief from the suffering which was endured during the oppression of the successive dictatorship governments, Iraq entered a new phase in its political life to sort out the ambitions of its national and religious components but the proposals were more factional than patriotic which turned Iraq into a religious, federalism in a manner contrary to all standards of equality and coexistence, especially that Iraq's federal map was drawn in a manner which didn't take into consideration the demographic deviations resulting from the policies of the dictatorship governments and separatist movements. As example are the persecutions which took place in the 1960's when between the hammer of the separatist movements and the anvil of the barbaric governments, the Assyrians were forced to flee their towns and villages, hence matters worsened from 1961 to 1969 which culminated in the massacre of Soriya village in addition to the deportations during the 1970's leading to the Anfal operations in 1988 which claimed a large number of Assyrian lives between those dead and homeless for no guilt of their own, up to the Second Gulf War when north of latitude (36) was separated in order for the project of kurdifying Assyria to begin publicly and officially, adding to the national persecution which followed since 1991 in the North of Iraq in addition to the religious and ethnic persecution allover Iraq which took place following the demise of the regime on April 09th, 2003 where the demographic genocide against the Assyrian people continued up to the moment of this statement.

Proceeding from our vision that equality in federalism is a necessity as it appears in the Iraqi constitution and as all the usurped Assyrian lands in all regions of Iraq must be returned to their owners, and removing the injustice that has befallen the Assyrians due to these policies which disregarded the rights of the Assyrian people in Iraq, as well as the right of the Assyrian people to preserve their identity and existence in the land of their ancestors "Assyria" and preserving both the social and cultural national components.

Hence the Conference has decided to demand the recognition of establishing the region of "Assyria" with the following geographical borders:

North: The international borders of the state of Iraq with Turkey and Syria.
East: Including the Nirwa Rikan region down to the Greater Zab River.
West: The Tigris River.
South: The point where the Greater Zab meets with the Tigris River.

We call upon the international community which witnessed all the tragedies and calamities which befell the Assyrian people since before the establishment of the League of Nations and even after the establishment of the United Nations when all the human rights organizations took the stand of a spectator vis a vis the displacement, religious and ethnic persecution which is taking place in Iraq against the oldest people in history.

We also address the proud Iraqi people after regaining its freedom to understand the right of others to equality and coexistence as recognized by the international and humanitarian laws away from the national and religious intolerance, which were a result of the dictatorial, retrogressive, eradicated governments which ruled Iraq against the will of the Iraqi people. It's time to sit together as one family away from the external projects that affect our historical unity which brought us together through the ages, where we shared our existence.

Finally, we address our Assyrian people to assume their responsibilities in regards to their threatened fate in what concerns their national components of identity, land and existence, with the sectarian and political equations which entered the Assyrian people in matters hostile to the Assyrian Cause, such as the introduction of the compound, sectarian names and attaching the Assyrian Cause to newly invented separatist, racist cases on the land of Assyria. We also call upon the Assyrian people to collaborate together with all the power that they have inside and outside Iraq whether they are political parties, organizations or activists to stand in the face of all the projects which aim at undermining the worthy Assyrian Cause.

Expanded Assyrian Conference
Stockholm, December 18, 2006