IRAQ: Suraye representatives visit Judicial Council over recent illegal encroachments on Suraye villages

ANKAWA, Iraq — In light of the recent illegal encroachments on the villages and property of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian (CSA) people in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), four representatives of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people met on Sunday with the head of the region’s Judicial Council, Judge Hakim Bangeen. The aim of the visit was to discuss the conditions of the Suraye in the Nahla area in general and the transgression in the village of Kashkawa in particular.

The delegation, including MPs Romeo Hakkari, Robina Litari, Janan Jabar Boya (National Union Coalition) and MP Farid Yaqub Eliya (Rafidain / Assyrian Democratic Movement), expressed its condemnation and ultimate rejection of the decision of the Erbil Court of Cassation last September, which was eventually overturned by the Nohadra (Duhok) Court of Appeals recently. The delegation also demanded Judge Bangeen to implement the laws of the KRI which are aimed at preventing demographic change in the region.

Last Tuesday, the four Suraye representatives in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament presented a joint memorandum to the Presidency of the parliament denouncing the transgressions against land and property of residents of the Suraye village of Kashkawah.

The village of Kashkawah has been inhabited by Syriacs since the 1920s.