This is a response to the June 8th, 2017 announcement issued via the official website of the KRG Representation in the United States on the decision made in Erbil, Iraq by President Massoud Barzani and representatives of the political parties to vote on a referendum of independence on Monday September 25, 2017. You can read the full official statement on the KRG website
As a member of the indegenious Assyrian Nation living in Diaspora, I raise reasonable objections to this referendum considering it Null and void for two reasons:

First, Mr. Massoud Barazani whose Presidential term expired in 2015 has no authority to call on this or any summit of the political parties that are also members of KRG parliament. Mr. Barazani has violated the terms of the Electoral Law and must cease from conducting any KRG official government business
Mr. Barzani was democratically elected as President in 2005 winning re-election in 2009 for a second term. When his second term ended in August 2013, the KRG parliament called “Kurdistan Consultative Council” issued a legal motion to extend Mr. Barazani’s term for an additional two years ending on August 19, 2015.
In an article written by Mohammed A. Salih on August 28, 2015 in the Al-Monitor, the speaker of the Iraqi KRG parliament, Yousif Mohammed Sadiq, says “Barzani has lost legitimacy” “Extending Barzani term will be against the laws in Kurdistan. Law No. 19 passed in 2013, clearly says the president’s term ends on Aug. 19 and cannot be extended”

KRG parliament speaker: Barzani’s term extension ‘against the law’
Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan parliament Yousif Mohammed Sadiq, who is leading the opposition to the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s efforts to keep President Massoud Barzani in office, tells Al-Monitor that Barzani has lost his legitimacy.

The second objection is to the following statement in the press release:
“Among the groups that participated in the meeting were representatives of the Christian and Turkmen communities”

The statements references “Christians” among the groups being represented in the June 8th meeting to imply members of the Church Clergy were present at the meeting when in fact there were no Clerics present. The Christians of Iraq comprise of three different denominational churches (Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Church of the East) each headed by their separate Patriarchal leadership of which no delegation was present. Therefore the erroneous statement misrepresents the truth and should reflect the names of the various political parties you enjoy having their loyal opposition who represent only their private paid members and not the Churches.

Furthermore, I feel this blatant oversight in the official press release to refer to a nation such as the Assyrians by their religious designation or depreciate their status to simply a “community” is an act of assault on their Autochthonous status. However, in the same sentence you found no difficulty in identifying the Turkmen by their national name. This clear evasion to recognize the indigenous Assyrian nation by its full National name is reprehensible.

The Assyrian and the Kurds have shared coexistence off and on the battlefields as an enduring army for many years, cooperatively thwarting Iraqi government’s hostile assaults on both nations at one time considered stateless Nations defending their people’s rights against all types of tyranny. During the turn of the century, both Nations faced common struggles fighting against the government’s marginalization which threatened to disenfranchise both Nations’ right to exist. However at this juncture in your success, gaining self-government and semi autonomy, achieving the position of the ruling body of Northern Iraq today referred to as “KRG”, there seems to be a deliberate disregard on your part to recognize those who also sacrificed, suffered and bled beside you on the same soil that you now lay claim to. Your exclusion of the official name of the Assyrian Nation instead referring to them merely as “Christians” or a “community” that you fought alongside and in most cases without which you would not have succeeded in gaining your autonomy, appears to be nothing less than the continued plan of deprivation of rights carried out by the previous ruthless governments’ denial of the civil liberties of the minorities right to exist.

When you relegate the Assyrian Nation’s status to a religious title or a community, you purposely disparage the Assyrians native status in order to parlay your clout to full supremacy. Moreover, you deem them as second class citizens. Isn’t this the very idea our Nations fought against? Isn’t this the iron rule that we both triumphed over through our collective fight to free our nations from? Why would you inflict the same fanatical Ba’ath mandate on those whom you now have been entrusted to protect and defend? Or has this always been your plan from the start to agree to join forces only to take full control at the end? We should hope Saddam Hussein’s fascism is long gone.

Delegation kurde a Bagdad: de droite a gauche, Saddam Hussein, president de l’Irak, Masoud Barzani, Sami Abdoul Rahman,Nou Shirwan et
Rassoul Mamand
Iraq 1991
Kurdish delegation visiting Saddam Hussein in Baghdad: from right to left, Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, “Sami Abdul Rahman,Nou Shirwan and Rassoul Mamand[/caption]

KRG Chief of Staff Mr. Fuad Hussien was recently quoted arguing the following points:
“All Kurdish rights have been trampled historically and their demand for freedom and democracy answered with iron and fire and they have been subjected to genocide and deportation”
The chief of staff quoted Barzani as saying that “the Kurds gave Iraq a chance for democracy, pluralism, a constitution that would guarantee all people’s rights, and a voluntary union after the liberation of Iraq in 2003”

Iraq’s constitution violations, years of persecution led Kurds to referendum
KRP.org 11/06/2017

Is Totalitarianism, Censorship and Land Grabbing part of the new KRG order of Democracy?

To provide evidence of your surreptitious plan of absolute power, following the 2014 ISIS invasion that devastated Christians at large being the main target of ISIS, the KRG did not rise to the occasion as the governing body to alleviate the suffering of the people. It is a wonder this referendum is being called at all during this time while the overall “Christians” as you refer to them, continue to suffer one of the worst Christian Genocide in history. You chose to call for independence during this time of total destruction of Mosul resulting in the exodus of multitudes of people, evacuating countless villages, all escaping for their lives. Why now? Why in such hurry to call for independence when the entire region is chaos? Why not wait to rebuild the devastation of Mosul, allow people to recover and return to their homes before you claim independence?

Or this is your window of opportunity to exert your plan of full occupation?

Multiple reports have also indicated many instances where the KRG has been accused of exploiting this human tragedy for self gain by usurping, pillaging and unlawfully seizing lands from their devastated neighbors building on lands without authority. These allegations have been made by multiple indigenous residents of Villages, including the Ezidies. The KRG has refused to investigate these claims, denying the rights of the people, and refuting/suppressing any charges of illegal behavior thus siding with the criminals.

The Iraqi constitution states: “Article 23: First: Private property is protected. The owner shall have the right to benefit, exploit and dispose of private property within the limits of the law”

I see this as a reversal of “the oppressed becoming the oppressor”. Let’s compare a few details

Iraqi refugees, who fled from the violence in Mosul, walk during sunset inside the Khazer refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, June 27, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi’ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country’s leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that could hasten the end of Nuri al-Maliki’s eight year rule. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ – Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY) – RTR3W4GS

Iraqi Christians complain about land-grabbing by Kurds –USCIRF report
Iraqi Christians who have fled to Kurdistan to escape the atrocities of the Islamic State in their hometowns have complained that ethnic Kurds are seizing and building on their lands, according to a new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

According to a article by “ChristianDaily.com by Lorrain Cabellero dated June 11, 2017: “According to the USCIRF report, Kurdish authorities have been accused of trying to “Kurdify” disputed territories possibly in a bid to retain those areas. There are also some minorities who are targeted or blocked from receiving aid if they do not support local Kurdish properties”

Déjà vu

In the new.KRG.us website under the title of “about kurdistan” states the following:
“By 1960, however, concessions to the Kurds had been withdrawn, and for the next 15 years, the Iraqi government carried out an extended campaign of “Arabization” of the Kurdish areas, which included such tactics as armed warfare, destruction of villages and deportation of Kurds, relocation of Arabs into Kurdish areas, and other measures designed to weaken and demoralize the Kurds”

Need I remind you of the late Mulla Mustaffa Brazani’s letter of appeal dated June 13, 1969, headlined “Kurdish/Assyrian Appeal for U.S Assistance”? This appeal was delivered to the Secretary of State William P. Rogers asking for assistance on behalf of both the “Kurds and the Assyrians” in their struggle with the Iraqi Government.

You want the world to recognize your right to exist as a “Kurd” while you trample and impede on the rights of those who helped you gain your independence