Dear Tahrir,

As Congress begins to make its final decisions for the Appropriations bill this year, its now time to tell them they need to support the proposed Senate language on Assyrians.  This language directs the Department of State to submit a report “detailing U.S. efforts to help these communities, including assistance consistent with Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution; assistance in building an indigenous community police force in the Ninevah Plains; and efforts to support NGOs in the region."

This language would help promote economic development, security, and potentially, explore and enable viable political representation of Assyrians through the implementation of Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution, the legal vehicle by which to create a province in the Nineveh Plains.  Such a province is essential to stabilizing our population in Iraq by allowing Assyrians to share control of local resources in proportions to their numbers with Arabs, Kurds, and other minorities. 

Please send this letter to Congress by electronic fax at this link to show your support for this language:

 

Its critical you act and send this fax letter to Congress now because Congress is still deciding whether to include this policy in the final Appropriations bill as well how money to allocate to the policy if it is included.  

We are asking that not less than $75 million of the $681 million already allocated to Iraq should be targeted to support this report language.  This budget neutral reallocation is proportional to the need that simply has not been adequately addressed since the beginning of the Iraq War. 

We are entering the final stretch of the Appropriations process for this year.  Now more than ever, we will need your support to get language passed through Congress that will help Assyrians, including Chaldeans and Syriacs, survive in our homeland.


 

Thank you,
The Assyrian American National Coalition