Aug 20, 2013

In light of the instability in Iraq and the indifference of the Iraqi government toward the protection of its citizens, Iraqi minorities are developing ways to save themselves from the hell in which they live in a country that has for a long time refused to embrace them. Immigration without return started decades ago, with Iraq indifferently and uncaringly ready losing its cultural components, one by one.

Yet, those who left — be they Jewish, Christian, Mandaean or others — remained nostalgic for their homeland. Because of the impossibility of safely returning, some minorities began thinking of other ways to achieve their national dream.

The Assyrian Association Union, in partnership with the Australian Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA), held the conference "Return to Assyria," in celebration of Assyria Day on June 30. Australian Treasurer Chris Bowen and Linda Ben-Menashe, head of the public relations departments for humanitarian organizations for the Association of Jewish Representatives in New South Wales, attended the conference, which was held for the third year in a row.

The gathering in Sydney, Australia, focused on the right of Assyrians to return to their homes and their right to self-determination in their historical lands, primarily in the Iraqi province of Ninevah. Two main ideas headlined the conference: establishing an autonomous Assyrian state within Iraq or an independent state separate from Iraq. Each camp supported its proposal with legal evidence, taking into consideration as models either the Iraqi Kurdistan Region or the state of Israel.

Bowen is a supporter of establishing an autonomous Assyrian state in Ninevah province. He has made concerted efforts to convince the New South Wales parliament to adopt a resolution supporting the Assyrian people in establishing an autonomous state on their ancestral lands. His work efforts paid off, as the Australian Parliament recognized Assyrian Genocide Day, known as Sayfo, as an annual memorial to the extermination of Assyrians at the hands of Ottoman forces and Kurdish armed groups.