Iraq _ Dohuk

What were the circumstances that gave rise to the establishment of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ZOWA’A) in 1979? And when did you actually join the armed struggle? And what were the direct repercussions regarding your family?

The three decades that subsequently followed the Second World War characterized by psychological and social shocks owing to the Assyrian continuous Diaspora. The Assyrian’s historically aggravating dispersion was not groundless, but occurred partly as a result of logical sequence of events full of oppression and national persecution since the collapse of the towers of their Empire in Babylon and Nineveh and partly because of the prejudice and religious disregard after their affiliation to Christianity. That persecution and this disregard which the Assyrian people had undergone and suffered under the despotic yoke of their neighbors and their tyrant rulers were regarded as a traditional goal instigating the vigilant youth to crystallize their concepts in gathering and formations to challenge these apparatus. In this way those political banners united in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk to proclaim the establishment of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in April 1979. This movement adopted Iraqi patriotic procedure and Assyrian national course including all sects and church believers. That was a great honor for me to be at the head of the first group that founded the movement in Nineveh province, and then I joined the armed struggle announced by Zowa’a in 1982 to stand violently and firmly against the regime of despotism and comprehensive oppression in Baghdad.

In a conference held in 1983 I was elected as a member in the transitional leadership of the ADM. Then in the same year I was entrusted with the responsibility for leading the military flank in the movement ADM until 1995.

Archdeacon Zaya Bobo at the cooperative conference for the Iraqi people held in Tehran in 1986.

The negative impacts of my joining the armed struggle were not unexpected. When the security apparatus of the Fascist regime in Baghdad heard of our declaration of the armed struggle from the summit of Ashur mountains, the regime apparatus commenced a horrible campaign of harassment and insolent investigation against my father, Archdeacon Zaya Bobo as well as my family members in desperate attempt to force them to cooperate with their suspect apparatus which we had always rejected.

No sooner had these rottened campaigns intensified when the regime began a chain of threatens, arrests, detentions and insults synchronized with the shocking news of the execution of our immortal comrades (Youbert _ Yousep _ Youkhana). Consequently my father as well as my family members 32 in number (most of them children and women) joined the Assyrian Democratic Movement escaping from the Ba’ath regime oppression and refusing cooperation with Saddam intelligence elements, in fact my father’s joining with the ADM gave it an additional power internationally and regionally and this in turn made the movement (Assyrian Question) significant and widely famous. This endowed ZOWA’A supplementary enthusiasm to adopt the Assyrian National Action in Iraq. These events took place in consequence of my father’s consolidating relations with Iranian government and with the Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and all national parties in it in addition to the movements and other opposition national political forces as well as representing Assyrian nation in the cooperative conference for the Iraqi people held in Tehran in 1986. He traveled to Geneva to attend the conference held in Switzerland in August 1988 among the popular Iraqi delegation where he met important people in the International Humanitarian Organizations such as Mr. Bahandra the chairman of the conference, which was held by subcommittee of the human rights belonging to the United Nations. He (my father) also met Mr. Van Hoven, the international expert for the children’s affair and the Papal consul as well as the Secretary of the International

Church of the Middle East affair, who is responsible for the Swiss Church. My father presented all the details of the Iraqi issue, particularly the Assyrian issue in which he expressed all violations, infringements and aggressions perpetrated by Saddam’s former regime against our nation. He also mentioned all Saddam’s attempts to exterminate the Iraqi Assyrian Identity by demolishing and eradicating all signs of our origin, and also by burning the churches and villages in the north of Iraq. Relying on all the facts mentioned above, my father is regarded as the first religious man, next to the martyred Patriarch, Mar Ishay Shimoun, presenting Iraqi question before international circles. He continued his national duty despite his old age till his death in Sep 22^nd 1989, and he was buried in the church of Mar Gewargis at Singer village_ Iran.

-After all these years of arduous struggle extending back to cover more than 20 years, half of which you spend in the snow-covered mountains of Ashur, where you and your family suffered a great deal. What is the reason for your deviation from the groups of the Assyrian Democratic Movement at this specific time when your efforts are most needed and indispensable than any other time before?

To start, I should like to say honestly that we shall never stop or deviate from our national Action (task) and we shall never be away from it at any time, But our deviation is merely organizationally because we firmly stick to our Assyrian Nation principles and owing to our unlimited adherence and embrace of the principles and goals of the Assyrian Democratic Movement for which many martyrs died, for this purpose our generation sacrificed to uplift its motto and goals represented in the recognition of the Assyrian National existence on our historical land and free democratic Iraq, with deep regret we say that these principles have been obliterated and neglected entirely by Bahra Newspaper and some influential characters, for some reasons , and caused the movement to deviate from the priorities of Agenda of Assyrian National Action, if there was any priority actually remaining in their calculations, We admit that crystallizing and incarnation of the National Action organizationally is essential to spread the political view to certain group and it is also important and necessary. Yet this does not absolutely mean obliterating

Comrade Hormiz Z. Bobo leading at the mountains of Ashur.

the political spirit employed for seeking the political rights even if this intention is not politically organized. Nevertheless we still keep our commitment and obligations and our pledge towards Iraq and the Assyrian struggler people. We honestly promise our immortal martyrs that we spare no time and effort but employ them for the achievement of our national and patriotic aims even though we are devoid of responsibilities.

- It is widely propagated that you don’t approve the participation of our political parties in so called (Kurdish Parliament) whereas it was supported by Assyrian Democratic Movement by four deputies at the time when (you were one of its leaders) at the beginning of the previous decade?

We were revolutionists in the mountains of Assure and we were not leaders of the red carpet but the political inexperience was one of the drawbacks of Assyrian Democratic Movement at the beginning of the declaration of the safe zone in the north of Iraq. But at the same time it was a national aspect representing the young political age of Zawaa. Consequently our political decision swayed between advantages and indications.

If we go back a little and definitely to the period of the Iraqi opposition meeting in Damascus in 1991 and to the coalition of the joint action committee of the national tendency represented by ABSP (Iraq Regional leadership) and the Islamic tendency represented by Islamic Al-Dawa party and the democratic tendency by Iraqi communist party (which had originally allied with Kurdish parties), and the Kurdistan front led by the two principal Kurdish parties. Now we clearly see the obvious negative attitude of the most influential parties in the opposition or the (undeclared refusal) concerning the question of our affiliation with joint action committee as independent party representing the Assyrians, Therefore we had no other alternative but to join Kurdistan front in compliance with a request from Jalal Talabani especially when we manifested our caution towards joining the Kurdistan front because this front had goals and programmes contrary to our ambitious people.

Talabani told us that we could oppose the programme of the front after joining it. And if they did not change their course in the form that would comply with our request we might withdraw from it. And this was the thing we did not do owing to the short and limited period after which the (Kurdish Parliament) was formed. In the view of this we also entered the Kurdistan parliament hoping that it would achieve the ambitions of our people but the contrary happened. The Kurdish force continued kurdisizing our villages and seizing our historical lands and then abolishing the natural aspect of our Assyrian people like what happened in 1997 in the election of the municipal council and the election of Student Union, not to mention the transmission of schism spirit and division among our people. Thy adopted a kind of constitution for the region that can best be defined as pure Kurdish constitution neglecting all the hopes of our ancient Assyrian people to live in their historical land. This is why we opposed and contradicted what we did at the beginning of the nineties regarding taking part in the Kurdish Parliament.

- The National Tendency of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, why?

There is no doubt that all the political groups adopt political course (ideologies) distinguishing its aspects and also adopts an internal organization to which they are committed as well as clear goals for which they struggle. According to this specification, these groups are classified into national, democratical, and religious groups. The Assyrian Democratic Movement is one of the most significant Assyrian groups that had fulfilled all these terms in such a way as to ensure its representation for the Assyrian people for approximately 20 years. But the appearance of Yonadam Kanna, Ninos Pithyo and few of the opportunists who diverged from the political course drafted by the immortal comrade, (Yousep Toma) and thus violating the internal organization of Zawaa issued and acknowledged by the conferences of the movement, and the imprudent negligence and intentional degradation of the national goals of our Assyrian people without which the establishment of our Assyrian Democratic Movement would been fundamentally impossible. Besides the irresponsible practices and suspicious alliances as well as compromising solutions for temporarily privileges and personal benefits. All these notorious practices motivated us to challenge and view these narcissist slithering by the declaration of the National Tendency for the Assyrian Democratic Movement as a political privilege represented by struggler cadre to stand against the attempt aiming at curbing the march of Zawaa and to establish the opposition attitude against any deviation from our inalienable ideology, and against any resolution emerging from outside organization framework, and violating the undeniable sanctity of the aims because they bloomed through years of arduous struggle and blood of the immortal and the support of our Assyrian struggler people.

- What are reasons for withdrawal of the Assyrian Democratic Movement – National Tendency from the Assyrian National gathering before the Iraqi election?

Despite the deficiency of this subject to raise to the level of importance, the urgent need for the knowledge of the facts of current affairs obliged us to dictate our evidence to illuminate the assiduous Assyrian reader. We have published elucidation in different channels of the Internet showing the reasons why the Assyrian Democratic Movement, National Tendency with drew from the Assyrian National gathering. These reasons were represented in the misconduct of the chief of the gathering, Odisho Malko who tried to impose himself on the list without any election at the time when we were not absolutely hesitant to nominate him or any other one if the process was carried out in a democratic and harmonious ways, particularly we had no intention at that time to nominate any one from Zawaa, The national tendency as a nominee or rival.

Notwithstanding our withdrawal from the list of the Assyrian National Gathering in a modest way, we did not oppose or stand against it, because it was the only group that had entered the election under the name of the true Assyrian without any political ornaments or western alliances.

From the Assyrian point of view, what is your impression about the result of the elections of the Iraqi transitional National Assembly? In your opinion what had hindered our parties from affiliating in one independent list?

It is not possible for the poor representation of four people in the transitional Assembly to inspire the spirit of satisfaction in our parties, people and sects of our Assyrian community though the result was expected and reasons were quite clear for all. Though the recent elections were democratic event of which Iraq was deprived for more than 80 years, and in spite of the limitations involving it which violated credibility (I mean depriving more than 150,000 Assyrians from their right for election in Nineveh plain. And despite the attempts made to silence the Assyrian political voice which many political Kurdish and Arab parties that had relatively demographic influence started, the scattering, dispersion and division of the Assyrian voting voice into religious, national and tribal entities besides the majority of the Assyrians optional refusal of the election which is one of their legal right (this is the answer for the second section)

All this took place owing to the failure of those political, religious and tribal forces from affiliation in one independent list and this in turn happened because of the divergences in the programme of the competent authority supporting those lists. The disputes between the church and other parties brought about this suicide of all of them at the threshold of the Iraqi transitional parliament. This is definitely what the observers of our nations were aiming at. The affiliation in one independent list requires firstly dependence upon a national and clear programme and secondly freeing our parties leaders from their masters and giving up their personal interests otherwise the ticket for the only loser in the coming elections will be for our nation again.

- Your opinion of allocating a S.Z for the Christians in Iraq

The Assyrian Christians are true Iraqis and for this purpose they have offered sacrifices greatly, they have offered the dearest they own for their fruitful land. Why not? Since they are the first who enlighten its culture from early times in history

They have guarded the sanctity of Iraq for generations and generations, and they have still kept their covenant believing in unified, multiple and democratic Iraq in which the rights of all people are preserved and assured. But if Iraq is divided and federalized on the ethnical or religious bases or on the religious and geographical bases (and this is what is looming in the constitutional horizon of the transitional stage)

The (S.Z ) will ensure the continuity of our ancient nation distinguished by its ethnical and religious aspects through self constitutional administration having the same rights other people have and without any decrease concerning kind and quality. They also have the same duties of those who believe in the citizenship rights as well as keeping the sanctified national Iraqi identity as priority under which all Iraqi people are kept.

-What has the Iraqi state Administration law of the transitional stage achieved regarding Assyrians?

The Iraqi State Administration law of the transitional stage is not different from the constitutions preceding it (if not the worst as regards Assyrian).

This law is dividing Iraq into Arab region and Kurdish region and the rest are other nationalities and minor denominations like Turkmen, Assyrian, Yezidis and Armenians who are not regarded as a number in the new equation except for the disgraceful and doubtful name (Kaldo-Assur) which is mentioned in the transitional law. Whereas the Assyrian name was not included in this law. Therefore the answer for this question would be. Quite simply (nothing)

- How do you view the future relations between Assyrian – Kurdish in the north of Iraq?

The nation, which persecutes another nation, is not free. Therefore the Assyrian and Kurds are two Iraqi nations living together for a long time and they are able to live together for long time to come provided that the prerequisite of brotherhood is available and the hallucination of religion and racism are disregarded, and the slogan “ Iraq for all “ is raised.

But our views concerning the future relations of the Assyrian-Kurds depend entirely on the practices of the Kurdish parties. Here I particularly refer to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which dominates all the sectors (districts) where our Assyrian people live in the north of Iraq. If the (Party) continues its policy aiming at eradication of our national existence by Kurdifying the Assyrian countryside and occupying our historical lands and depriving our people of public employment unless they join their party .All these things together will definitely lead to the collapse of all norms of bases and subsequently will widen the gap between Assyrian and Kurds. This is natural procedure between human groups having different religion and ethnics.

On the contrary, if the Kurdish leaders practice non-racial policy, and return our usurped and occupied villages and lands, and bring the criminals who committed crimes against our nation to justices (which is supposed to be independent, then we shall be a paragon for the Iraqi mosaic living across the middle east.

- Last word

Iraq is passing through a real dilemma and unique experience to establish its reconstruction. It is drawing the brilliant future for all Iraqi people without and distinction or discrimination. Our generation is, therefore, responsible for both luxury and wretchedness of our future generation, for we are writing the history today by laying the first brick for the new Iraq. All are obliged to carryout their duties and responsibilities towards their country and their people. And while the Assyrians are more neglected and more oppressed than any other nationality in the visible horizon; therefore every Iraqi Assyrian should move seriously and in the manner that would stabilize and ensure his rights in the anticipated permanent future constitution.

As long as the union of our people, who are dispersed into church sects and various parties disputing clans and tribes, is the point in front of which our nation stand perplexed, the patriarchs of the church must firstly carry out their duties and responsibilities to the best of their ability to tackle the causes for division and dispersion and unify our people, because they (patriarchs) are the cause for this dispersion and schisms for many centuries.

The union of our people can be achieved by forming a joint faculty possibly named (the faculty of the patriarchs of the church of the east). The patriarch will be like a spiritual father for our nation to surpass the dilemma through which Iraq in passing.

In my opinion this is the best way and most rapid one as long as the near horizon does not indicate any sign of our parties union.

At the same time I would like to express my gratitude and thanks for all the people who participated in the process of this interview wishing them good success, and I am quite ready to answer any question that my great people may ask through this channel.