Assyrian Democratic Movement

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The Assyrian Democratic Movement (Syriac: ܙܘܥܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܛܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ - Zowaa Dimuqrataya Aturaya) is an ethnic Assyrian political party in Iraq.

[edit] History

Party logo

The Assyrian Democratic Movement ("Zowaa") was established on April 12, 1979 to satisfy the political objectives of the Assyrian people in Iraq, in response to the oppressive brutality of the Al-Baath regime and its attempts to forcibly expropriate ethnic Assyrians from their native lands. The movement took up armed struggle against the Iraqi regime in 1982 under the leadership of Yunadam Kanna, and joined the IKF in early 1990s.

Yonadam Kanna is now the president of the party. He served on the temporary Iraqi Governing Council before it was disbanded in favor of the elected body formed after the January 2005 Iraqi elections.

The party's website, zowaa.org, describes it as "a democratic and political organization -- national and patriotic -- to defend our people and their legitimate rights and to struggle under the banner of [a] free democratic Iraq." The site's declarations include calls for official recognition of the rights of Assyrians and "unity of our people under their several identities": Chaldean, Syriac, and Assyrian (various Christian denominations in the Assyrian demographic). The group supports the idea of a federal Iraq, and is on good relations with other Assyrian and Kurdish groups present in northern Iraq, as well as with Shi'a leaders in southern Iraq. The movement is also represented in the Kurdistan parliament. Party members and Assyrians in general have been the focus of some insurgent attacks in the time since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Yonadam Kana in particular was a target of the Saddam Hussein Ba'ath regime for many years. Other Assyrian parties and their members in the United States were targets as well, like Sargon Dadeesho who is the head of the Bet-Nahrain Assyrian political party. Although, Zowaa and Bet-Nahrain have had odds with each other on their political views of how the new Iraq should be structured. The parties are both representations of how the new Iraq can be more democratic. The party also operates Ashur TV and Ashur Radio.

[edit] Post War tragedies

The party has been hit with many setbacks since the beginning of the Iraq invasion.

On October 20, 2003, reports indicated of a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the ADM office of Kirkuk, injuring one member official.
On November 18, 2003, Sargon Nano, the ADM representative in Basra, was killed by masked gunmen.
On February 11, 2004, The Associated Press reported gunmen firing from a car attacking an office of the ADM in northern city of Mosul, injuring one ADM member guard.

ADM election poster lying after a terrorist attack against its party members in 2005 Iraq election.

On March 26, 2004, gunmen killed ADM official Romeo Esha David in the northern city of Kirkuk.
On November 29, 2005, gunmen opened fire on four party members as they were hanging Iraqi election posters in northern city of Mosul (in the al-Shuhadaa district,) killing two ADM members.
On December 2, 2005, ADM election candidate Sarmad Bihnam Ibrahim was gunned down in Kirkuk.
On January 1, 2006, 44-year old ADM official Ayad Loqa Lazar was killed in the Baghdad district of Dora.
On May 6, 2006, an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the party's leader, Yonadam Kanna, as his convoy came under improvised explosive device attack in Baghdad.