Forum Name: Assyrian Forums - News
Message URL: https://www.atour.com/cgi-bin/forums/board.cgi?forum=news&mark=17&az=next_topic&archive=
Message ID: 0

#0, ANC's Vision of an Assyrian Parliament
Posted by nbebla on Aug-29-2001 at 02:00 PM

ANC's Vision of an Assyrian Parliament


August 27, 2001

(ZNDA: San Jose) On August 26 at San Jose’s Church of the East Hall, a few
members of the Assyrian National Congress presented to an audience of 50 Silicon
Valley residents their group's past accomplishements and vision.

Mar Bawai Soro, a bishop of the Church of the East, sitting at the head table, also
gave a brief speech in which he encouraged the ANC to move forward with its
activities. He said: “Our first prayers always go for the services provided by our
nationalists… We pray for the ANC which we believe is a progressive, hardworking
political group.”

Other introductory speakers included Mr. James Barcham and Mr. Daniel Benjamin.
The program was being broadcast live via the Internet.

The main speaker was Dr. Sargon Dadesho. He first read the ANC’s July 7th
communiqué in Assyrian and told his audience that the goal of ANC is to form a
common leadership for the Assyrian nation by forming a parliament. He then
described the Parliament as a “permanent organization formed to execute specific
political objectives.”

Dr. Dadesho explained that the name “Assyrian National Congress” was first used in
1918 by a group of Assyrian nationalists in Urmia. To continue their effort, the name
was chosen in 1983 at the first ANC assembly in Modesto Junior College.

Dr. Dadesho also commented on ANC’s struggle to obtain a consultative status at the
United Nation. In the past five years, this recognition has been denied through the
efforts of the Arab or Moslem members of the 18-member U.N. Economic and Social
Council, said Dr. Dadesho. He promised to continue appealing against the findings
of the Moslem members of the UNESC.

ANC is also going to be involved with the World Conference on Racism’s Indegineous
People Forum later this year, said Dr. Dadesho.

Dr. Dadesho then turned to closer issues on hand. He commented that the ANC was
a founder of the Iraqi National Congress and has to date spent nearly $250,000 in
North Iraq through its Assyrian Relief Fund. ARF has already built a pharmacy, a
radio station, and is working on constructing a television station in North Iraq.

The 7th ANC Assembly which took place in Sweden, between June 29 - July 1 (See
Zinda’s August 6th Issue) was a turning point in the politics of ANC and its relations
with the Kurdish groups in North Iraq, according to Dr. Dadesho. At this meeting
representatives of the Kurdish group, Kurdistan Democratic Party, were also
present. Dr. Dadesho explained that the ANC is the only Assyrian political
organization that has demanded an independent Assyrian territory, specifically the
Assyrian Triangle in North Iraq. He further noted that the plans for this independent
Assyrian territory have been discussed with the Kurdish officials and the name of Mr.
Fawzi Toma has been brought up as its governor.

The next item of interest on Dr. Dadesho’s agenda was a review of the events
preceding the now infamous 1999 INC Meeting in New York. Dr. Dadesho said that
the U.S. State Department had asked the ANC to outline a proposal of the demands
of the Assyrian people and its political parties and then called for a conference in
Washington D.C. The State Dept had budgeted $30,000 for this conference of the 40
to 50 Assyrian political representatives. Dr. Dadesho said that “the purpose of this
meeting was to elevate the status of the Assyrians among other minority groups in
the North.” According to Dr. Dadesho, the ANC contacted the Assyrian Democratic
Movement and the Assyrian Universal Alliance and both groups opposed State
Department’s initial recognition of the ANC. Each group flew separately to
Washington and even spoke against the ANC asking the State Dept to rule against its
earlier decision to recognize the Assyrian National Congress as the collective
representation of the Assyrian people, said Dr. Dadesho.

Furthermore, in London, some individuals who claimed to represent the Patriarch of
the Church of the East, asked that the Patriarch be recognized as the representative
of the people, said Dr. Dadesho. He then turned to Mar Bawai Soro and said: “I
have spoken with His Holiness since then and he has denied these allegations.”

Dr. Dadesho then began lambasting the other political groups and their leaders,
beginning with John Nimrod, Secretary General of the AUA. Dadesho said that “INC
does not even recognize the AUA and considers it a civic organization (shootasa
shotapaya). Dadesho said that “John Nimrod and Zowaa supported the Census
Bureau’s decision to adopt the new Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac category and John
Nimrod even commented in one public meeting ‘What is the difference between
Assyrian and Chaldean anyway?’” Dadesho called John Nimrod and ADM (Zowaa)
“our nation’s internal foes as is the government of Baghdad our external adversary.”

Dr. Dadesho indicated that the ANC has already met three times with the officials of
the AUA, including Mr. Sam Andrews, and the AUA has not shown any sign of
shifting.

In reference to the ADM, Dr. Dadesho commented that “Zowaa wishes to become
the only Assyrian representation in North Iraq… and this simply cannot be.”

In summing up the efforts of the other political groups opposed to the ANC, Dr.
Dadesho said that “Their feet are in the air and no one can guess when they will be
grounded.”

As for the current make-up of the ANC, Dr. Dadesho explained that there are 20 or
more organizations affiliated with the ANC under the umbrella of the “Barqyamoota”
or Confederation. There are also 4 political parties affiliated with the ANC.

At the end of his talk, Dr. Dadesho explained that to increase the annual budget of
the ANC a proposal to form an Assyrian Millionaires Club who will be asked to donate
up to $25,000 annually to the Assyrian National Fund. The ANC has targeted 15
Assyrian individuals so far.

At the end of the Public Forum, Mar Bawai Soro suggested using the analogy of the
Microsoft Corporation’s inclusion of the Syriac font in its Windows 2000 fonts catalog,
that the U.S. government be approached to mediate among the different Assyrian
political factions and help in the formation of a collective parliament. His Excellency
commented that the assistance of the U.S. would strengthen the chances that the
different Assyrian political parties may come to some agreement.

Mar Bawai Soro was then asked to join the ANC and help with the aforementioned
agenda. His Excellency replied that the Church must first witness further progress
on the ANC agenda and then the entire Church hierarchy must be consulted before
making such a decision. He also explained that he personally believes in the
separation of the Church and State.

The next ANC meeting is to be held in Paris, France hosted by the Assyro-Chaldean
Association of France.