Syriac Writers Union holds its electoral conference in Iraq

BARTELLA, Iraq ꟷ In the presence of a number of Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian poets and writers, the electoral conference of the Syriac Writers Union was held in the Nineveh Plains town of Bartella, Iraq, which ended with the election of the members of the Union’s administrative body.

The conference was organized under the supervision of the Union’s Internal Relations Committee and General Authority and attended by Deputy Secretary-General of the Union Moshe Boulos, MP Farouk Hanna Atto, Tourism and Antiquities Committee Member in the House of Representatives MP Farouk Hanna Atto, District Commissioner of Baghdede Issam Behnam, Director of Bartella District Ali Mohamed Fathi, and  General Director of Syriac Studies Imad Salem Jajo.

After the national anthem was played, journalist Behnam Daoud Shamni delivered a short speech on the history of Bartella. The Bartella Forum for Culture and Arts then presented a folklore painting depicting Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian heritage entitled “The Harvest”.

The attendees elected the president of the conference, with writer Latif Pola appointed after he obtained the approval of the General Assembly of the Union.

Members of the Board of Directors then read the cultural, administrative, and financial reports, the acceptance of which was then voted on by the General Assembly. Writer Round Boulos, the head of the Syriac Writers Union, delivered a speech and then dissolved the administrative body of the Union before the elections began.

There were 12 candidates for the administrative body. Sixty-two members of the general body representing 92 total members elected the seven-member administrative body and two reserve members.