Nineveh Plains: HBA submits formal request to have the Syriac language displayed on street signs, commercial and government buildings, shops, and in official documents

BAGHDEDE, Iraq — The Bethnahrin Patriotic Union (Huyodo Bethnahrin Athroyo, HBA) in Iraq has made a formal application to the district-mayor of Baghdede (Qaraqosh / Hamdaniyah) Issam Behnam, and Governor of Nineveh Abdul Qader al-Dakhil, to enforce the Official Languages Law with regards to the Syriac language.  

The HBA request concerns: (1) the overall use of the Syriac language as a second language of correspondence, after Arabic; (2) using the Syriac language visibly in street signs; (3) using the Syriac language in the official documents of all government departments; and (4) obliging the owners of shops and commercial buildings to use the Syriac language alongside the Arabic language, as is currently the case in the district of Ankawa, in Arbca’ilo (Erbil), Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). 

Under Iraqi law, Syriac is an official language in administrative units where the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian population forms a high concentration of the population. The Official Languages Law was promulgated in Article 10 of the GATT Law No. (7) of 2014, as published in the Iraqi Official Gazette.

Since, for example, Baghdede has an overall majority Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian population, the language law applies and must be implemented, HBA states.

حزب اتحاد بيث بيث نهرين الوطني يطالب
محافظ نينوى و قائم مقام بغديدا بتطبيق قانون الغات الرسمية و اعتبار اللغة السريانية اللغة الثانية في المخاطبات الرسمية و اللوحات التعريفية في جميع وحدات سهل نينوى .

التفاصيل الكاملة في الكتاب الصادر من مكتب رئيس حزب اتحاد بيث نهرين الوطني. pic.twitter.com/p2X5AVRsG8

— اتحاد بيث نهرين الوطني-Bethnahrin Patriotic Union (@bethnahrinunion) March 7, 2025