ERASING ASSYRIANS: How the KRG Abuses Human Rights, Undermines Democracy, and Conquers Minority Homelands

ERASING ASSYRIANS 1 Erasing Assyrians: How the KRG Abuses Human Rights, Undermines Democracy, and Conquers Minority Homelands

by Reine Hanna and Matthew Barber Special thanks to Max J. Joseph and Mardean Isaac for their assistance and contributions during the research for and composition of this report.

Assyrian Confederation of Europe September 25, 2017

www.assyrianconfederation.com [email protected]

The Assyrian Confederation of Europe (ACE) represents the Assyrian European community and is made up of Assyrian national federations in European countries. The objective of ACE is to promote and interests in Europe and to be a voice for deprived Assyrians in historical . The organization has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Cover photo: 7th-century BCE Assyrian archaeological site in Dohuk vandalized with the Kurdish flag

ERASING ASSYRIANS 2 PLAIN The Nineveh Plain is the only region in where the largest segment of the inhabitants are Assyrians. The area is considered the original Assyrian heartland.

KURDISTAN REGION

Nineveh Plain

KIRKUK IRAQ

On January 21, 2014, in a landmark moment for Assyrians “ and other minorities in the Nineveh Plain, the Iraqi Council of Ministers voted for the creation of three new governorates in Iraq, among them a Nineveh Plain Governorate. This new governorate would ostensibly serve as a safe haven for minorities, including Assyrians, while remaining part of Iraq and under the authority of the Central Government.

ERASING ASSYRIANS BAGHDAD 3 SECURITY IN THE NINEVEH PLAIN September 2017

ALQOSH

Tel Keppe District TELESKOF

BATNAYA Sub District BASHIQA

Peshmerga Trench Line KAREMLASH BAKHDIDA

Al Hamdaniya District Nineveh Plain Guard Forces (KRG) Nineveh Protection Forces (KRG)

Babylon Brigades (Iraq)

Nineveh Plain Protection Units (Iraq)

ERASING ASSYRIANS 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE Introduction The Assyrian Identity...... 9 Background...... 9 Methodology...... 11 Organization of This Report...... 12

PART TWO Conquest Masked as Liberation: Assyrians in the Nineveh Plain 1. The Nineveh Plain: The Assyrian Heartland...... 12 KRG Territorial Expansionism into the Assyrian Heartland • A New Governorate 2. The Islamic State Conquest...... 14 Baghdad’s Response The KRG Response Liberation 3. The Current Security Environment in the Post-IS Nineveh Plain...... 17 Inhibitions to Assyrian Security and Policing • From the Babylon Brigades • From the KDP 4. Pre-2014 KDP Security Interference in the Nineveh Plain and Its 2014 Consequences...... 21 5. Post-IS Reconstruction...... 22 6. Resettlement...... 25 7. Political Abuses against Assyrians in the Nineveh Plain...... 27 Blocking U.S. Aid to the Nineveh Plain Voter Fraud and Intimidation Removal of Assyrian Mayors in Nineveh • The Removal of ’s Mayor

ERASING ASSYRIANS 5 • The Removal of Tel Keppe’s Mayor • The Earlier Removal of Karemlash’s Mayor Divide and Conquer: The KDP Patronage System • Examples of Patronage in Action The Damaging Effects of Identity Politics 8. The KRG’s Independence Referendum in the Nineveh Plain...... 42

PART THREE Despotism Masked as Democracy: Assyrians inside the KRI 1. Land Theft...... 44 2. The KRG Draft Constitution...... 47 3. Religious Freedom......