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Posted by Tony (Guest) - Friday, November 4 2005, 19:38:24 (CET) from 67.49.18.250 - cpe-67-49-18-250.socal.res.rr.com Commercial - Windows XP - Internet Explorer Website: Website title:

Wilfred Bet-Alkhas Editorial in Zinda: The Nochiya Connection Posted By: Fred Aprim (214.san-jose-14rh16rt-15rh15rt.ca.dial-access.att.net) Date: Thursday, 3 November 2005, at 7:51 p.m. The Nochiya Connection Last week the Iraqi Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, the current president of the Kurdish Regional Government played down his earlier rhetoric of his government and his people?s aspirations for the independent state of Kurdistan (see Literatus). However, his demeanor during our meetings and the details of the discussions with other Kurdish officials alluded to a different eventuality. One that will, not surprisingly, reshape the future of the Assyrian politics and our future for the many decades to come. During Mr. Barzani?s last day in Washington, Mr. Michael Youash of the Iraqi Sustainable Democracy Project and myself met with several Kurdish officials including Mr. Massoud Barzani and the KRG prime minister, Mr. Nechirvan Barzani. The return of the Assyrian refugees from Jordan and Syria to north Iraq and the fair distribution of funds to the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac communities in the north were the main topics of our discussions. The Kurdish delegation promised a swift response as soon as they return to Arbil. Yet it was our conversations with the non-officials that revealed a more interesting depiction of what to expect in the months to come. To understand the complex factors involved in the future politics of Iraq, it is necessary to appreciate the underlying factors, put in motion three decades ago, leading to last week's meeting between His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV and Mr. Massoud Barzani. In 1946 the Iranian Kurds set up a very short-lived Soviet-backed autonomous region in western Iraq which they called the Mahabad Republic. The Shah of Iran crushed the Kurdish forces and a new political party called the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was founded by an Iraqi Kurd named Mustafa Barzani, the father of Massoud Barzani. The goal of this political party has always been to establish an independent Kurdistan. Mustafa Barzani in 1961 headed a massive revolt against the government of the Iraqi president Abdul Karim Qassem. As before, the Kurdish revolt was once again crushed. Ten years later a peace agreement was signed between the Kurds and the government in Baghdad, granting the former some partial autonomy. This too was as short lived as the Mahabad Republic. Then an unexpected political maneuver began straining the relations between Iran and Iraq in 1974. The Shah of Iran began sending provisions to the Kurdish forces in north Iraq in an effort to destabilize the government in Baghdad. The transporters of the military and humanitarian provisions were none other than the Assyrians, who in turn were promised a well-equipped army and an independent region in their ancestral home. And so began the 30-year triangular partnership between Iran, the Iraqi Kurds, and the Assyrians from Iran and Iraq. Not every Assyrian leader cognizant of this plan was in agreement with the political planners in Tehran. One such dissatisfied notable was the late Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimmun. The Assyrian Universal Alliance, established in 1968, with close ties to Tehran, London, and Washington was at this time at the peak of its political significance, making shuttle trips between Asia and America, and meeting with the heads of the states. Mar Shimmun's opposition to this plan was in conflict with the Shah's plans in the region and AUA's greater control in north Iraq. Suddenly in March of 1975, Iran and Iraq agreed to meet and negotiate their supposed disputes over borders and water and navigation rights. In truth, the Shah was under pressure from Washington to end his imperialist desires to own the majority share of the oil wealth in the region. The Algiers Accord was signed on 13 June 1975. The Shah of Iran then withdraw his support for the Kurdish rebellion, causing it to collapse shortly after. Disputes among the Kurdish leaders following the chaos created in north Iraq resulted in the departure of Jalal Talabani from the KDP, and the formation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The Assyrian fighters in north Iraq were also abandoned; these included the university students who had been actively engaged in the transport of food and ammunition from Iran to north Iraq. Among these was a young engineer who would later become the Secretary General of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, formed in 1979 ? the year the Shah of Iran was forced to leave Iran and Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq. With the departure of the Shah of Iran ? perhaps one of the most disastrous events in the history of the Assyrian struggle for recognition and autonomy in the last century, the Assyrian Universal Alliance had to look elsewhere to continue its partnership with the Kurdish forces in Iraq and exercise other options in case of a catastrophic retaliation against the Assyrians in Iraq by the government in Baghdad. Several clandestine meetings were held between the AUA representatives and the Lebanese government officials, including the late-president Bashir Gemayel. A new interest in the ?Syriac roots? of the Maronite national identity was being advanced by the Maronite politicians in Lebanon and the Assyrians from Iran and Iraq were being consulted on possible emigration of the Assyrians from these two countries to Lebanon. The Lebanese Phalangists needed more manpower to fight the Moslem insurgents and the Syrian-backed forces, and the Assyrians previously fighting in the north along with the Kurdish pishmerges could be easily retrained to battle a different foe. With the assassination of Bashir Gemayel in 1982 the Lebanese Solution was thankfully abandoned. The solution now had to be reached from within the Assyrian sources. On 6 November 1975 Patriarch of the Church of the East, Mar Eshai Shimmun was gunned down by an Assyrian, David Malik Ismail, in San Jose, California. The assailant was released from prison a few years later. During her testimony in 1976, the wife of the Patriarch made the following remarks: ?About a month before the Patriarch was killed, someone from the Assyrian Universal Alliance in Chicago visited him, trying to get him to return to Iraq to live, and to support the political alliance. The Patriarch again declared that he didn't want the Church involved in politics, and that each member should be faithful to the country in which he lived. It seemed that the Assyrian Universal Alliance wanted the Patriarch out of office.? The election of Mar Dinkha IV to the patriarchy of the Assyrian Church of the East was a calculated move on the part of the AUA, the most influential Assyrian political organization of its time. The AUA used its diplomatic muscle to help elect ?the Bishop from Tehran? - who spoke Farsi fluently - as the next Patriarch of the Church of the East. Mar Dinkha, unlike his predecessor, has since 1976 upheld an unspoken promise not to be directly involved in the politics of his nation and leave the acts of the possible to the political machines in Iraq and the U.S. (click here). His consecration in London also provided another important advantage toward the continuity of the AUA-Barzani partnership. The Patriarch?s tribal background soon became the bridge between the helpless AUA in Iran and the defeated KDP forces in Iraq. His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV was born in the village of Darbandoki and baptized in the church of Mar Youkhana in Harir. Both Harir and Darbandoki were among the five villages founded by the Nochiya (no-chee-ya) Assyrians in 1928 after they departed the Gaylani Camp in Baghdad, following the mass exodus of the Assyrians to the Baquba Camp in 1918. Nochiya, which in Kurdish means ?between the mountains?, is a small area in southeast Turkey?s Hakkari region. The Patriarch is a Nochiya Assyrian, as are many other clergy in his patriarchal circle, and several Assyrian politicians in Iraq working with Massoud Barzani?s KDP. The following is a short list of the influential Nochiya men in the Mar Dinkha?s circle compiled by Zinda Magazine: The Nochiya Assyrians Active in the Assyrian Political and Spiritual Activities KDP Officials The late, Franso Harriri Former governor of Arbil; thought to have been assassinated by Kurdish elements; his death was never fully investigated Sargis Aghajan Mamando Deputy PM of KRG and chief financial officer Fawzi Toma Harriri son of the late Franso Hariri & until recently a member of the AUA Executive Committee Kristo Yalda Torkhan former director of KDP central TV station & Media Nineb Hariri director of Christian Affairs in the Kurdish Regional Government AUA Officials Dr. Emmanuel Kamber Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) Praidoun Darmo Deputy Secretary General AUA (London) Other Political Parties Romeo Nissan Hakkari Head of the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party in Iraq Pnuel Hurmiz BNDP member, Chicago Yatron Darmo BNDP member Shimmun Khammo former head of BNDP in U.S. Assyrian Clergy Close to Mar Dinkha IV Rev. Antwan Lachin Patriarch's Secretary (Chicago) Rev. Shlimon Hesiqial Chicago parish Rev. Giwargis Toma Chicago parish, accompanied Mar Dinkha to meetings with Barzani in Washington Mar Emmanuel Emmanuel Bishop of the Church of the East Diocese in Canada Rev. Younan Marwan Toronto parish Archdeacon Younan Younan London parish Rev. Estiphanos Torkhan London parish Rev. Toma Toma New Zealand parish Rev. Samaan Dawood From Northern Iraq, studying in Rome Last week, Mr. Praidoun Darmo, Deputy Secretary General of the AUA and Dr. Odisho Khoshaba, another Nochiya Assyrian, and Rev. Giwargis Toma, also a Nochiya, accompanied Mar Dinkha IV to his closed door meetings with Mr. Massoud Barzani in Washington. As reported in the last Zinda editorial, much of the discussions is believed to have been around the subject of the construction of a patriarchal compound and tens of parishes in north Iraq ? under the auspices of the KRG and the blessings of Mr. Sargis Aghajan Mamando. The nearly bankrupt Assyrian Church of the East expects a huge revitalization of its core presence in Iraq and the diaspora, as more funding is received from the Kurdish Regional Government, mediated by the Nochiya Assyrian officials in the KRG and the Church of the East in the U.S. As the war between Iran and Iraq between 1980 and 1988 was consuming the region and while the internal feud among the AUA members was further dividing this organization a new Assyrian political party was slowly emerging in north Iraq from the ashes of the Kurdistan-AUA-Shah of Iran partnership. The Assyrian Democratic Movement did not materialize into a beefy contender until the Gulf War in August 1990. Its charismatic leader, Yonadam Kanna (then known as Yacu Yosip) was quickly acknowledged as the leader of the Assyrian struggle in the homeland. He too is fluent in the Farsi language and quickly recognizable in the corridors of the Iranian political arena. Last week during my discussions with Massoud Barzani and his nephew, Nechirvan, speaking in Farsi language it became very clear that the common denominator in the progress of the Kurdish autonomy and Assyrian Church of the East wealth-building, plus the AUA empowerment was not Baghdad, rather the capitol of a country so despised by the Bush administration, namely Tehran, where the Barzanies, founders of the AUA, Yonadam Kanna, and Mar Dinkha IV at one point within the last three decades prepared for their future tour de force. Two years after the liberation of Kuwait, a Kurdish parliament was setup in north Iraq and the Assyrian Democratic Movement was allotted five seats. While the AUA leadership maintained direct contact with the Kurdish officials, it opposed the direct participation of the ADM in the Kurdish parliament. Yonadam Kanna, AUA officials believed, was too hard-headed, inflexible and uncompromising. In short Mr. Kanna was not going to cooperate with his former AUA superiors in maintaining ties with the KDP. The ADM was gradually nourishing a new hope in north Iraq and the abroad. In the late 1990's inspired by the Christological Agreement signed between the Church of the East and the Roman Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church, Mr. Kanna was about to undertake the biggest political gamble of his life, one that no other political party leader before him after General Agha Petros had dared to carry out. He was putting all his bets on one single political card which had already bankrupted others before him; one that could potentially eclipse the "Nochiya Connection" and assure his organization, teeming with another Assyrian tribe namely the Tiyari and the Iranian-born Assyrians. In the meantime the Kurdish officials and their Nochiya Connection waited patiently for their rivals' political suicide. The spectacle that followed was nothing new to the history of the habitual corruption called the Middle Eastern politics. -continued in the next editorial http://www.zindamagazine.com/ --------------------- As the bloodshed continues in Iraq, people are being tortuned in our name. - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

The full topic: Fan Hit the Shit!!! Tony - Friday, November 4 2005, 19:38:24 (CET) Re: Fan Hit the Shit!!! Maggie - 11/05 08:45

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