The Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (), usually abbreviated as BNDP, is an Assyrian political party based in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. For much of its lifespan and involvement in politics, the party has been led by Romeo Hakkari. One of the party's goals was to create an autonomous Assyrian administrative region within the

Assyrian homeland The Assyrian homeland is Assyria ( or ), the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. The territory that forms the Assyrian homeland is, similarly to the rest ...

, through the framework of the

Iraqi constitution The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ( Kurdish: دەستووری عێراق) is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on September 18, 2005 by the Transitional Nati ...

. The BNDP has a long history stretching back 50+ years, and has participated in Assyrian politics in Iraq since the US invasion. The party also founded the

Nineveh Plain Forces The Nineveh Plain Forces (; ; abbreviated as NPF) was an Assyrian militia. Formed in cooperation with the Kurdish Peshmerga, the militia's primary mission was to defend the Nineveh Plains against the Islamic State. The group was affiliated wit ...

in the wake of ISIS, and has since joined the

Athra Alliance The Athra Alliance (, ) is a political alliance of five political parties in Iraq that represent the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people. The alliance comprises these five parties: * Assyrian Democratic Movement * Assyrian Patriotic Party * Beth Nahr ...

alongside several other Assyrian political parties. Although Assyrian nationalist from its founding, the BNDP has been known to opt its stance towards the

Kurdish Regional Government The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the official executive body of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. The cabinet is selected by the majority party or list who also select the prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdish polit ...

, often in opposition to parties like the

Assyrian Democratic Movement The Assyrian Democratic Movement (, , ADM), popularly known as Zowaa (), is an Assyrian political party situated in Iraq, and one of the main Assyrian parties within the Iraqi parliament. The Assyrian Democratic Movement states its aims are to e ...

who prioritized the

Federal government of Iraq The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution of Iraq, Constitution, approved in 2005, as a Democracy in Iraq, democratic, Parliamentary system, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government i ...

. The party has also previously been under scrutiny due to its affiliation with the ruling

Barzani family The Barzani tribe () is a Kurdish tribe and tribal confederation of various neighboring tribes inhabiting Barzan in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Barzanis are mostly Naqshbandi and one of the most influential tribes in Kurdistan. History Barz ...

of the KRG and the

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party (), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling Political party, party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. ...

, under the leader of Hakkari.

History

The Bet Nahrain Democratic Party was originally founded in March 1974, as a union between the Bet-Nahrain Organization in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

headed by

Sargon Dadesho Sargon Dadesho (, ; born September 18, 1948, in Habbaniyah, Iraq) is an Iraqi-American author, broadcaster, activist, and nationalist leader of Assyrian ethnicity. Based in Ceres, California, Dadesho has had an extensive career in Assyrian po ...

, and the Quest Movement in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

headed by notable individuals such as Gilyana Yonan. Dadesho had previously a strong advocate for the

Assyrian Universal Alliance Assyrian Universal Alliance (, ; ), usually abbreviated as AUA and popularly known as Khoyada (English: ''Unity'') is an ethnic Assyrian worldwide umbrella organization made up of different sectors of the Assyrian federations and organizations t ...

, but his pursuit of a more militant approach to find solutions to the ongoing persecution of Iraqi Assyrians led him to leave the AUA and form the BNDP. Dadesho had advocated Assyrian nationalism through the BNDP, creating the ''Assyrian National Manifesto'' which called for an Assyrian autonomous state in

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

Duhok Duhok (; ; , ) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is the capital city of Duhok Governorate. Name The city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish words ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a tax payment of two lumps from the baske ...

. The manifesto prompted heavy concerns from the still newly emerged Ba'athist regime of Iraq, especially in relation to the party's activities with leaders of the

Chaldean Catholic Church The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church (''sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is ...

. The BNDP would eventually be put under the surveillance of the Iraqi government, alongside other Assyrian political parties. According to the AUA, the BNDP was one of the very first organizations to adopt the modern

Assyrian flag The Assyrian flag ( or ) is widely used to represent the Assyrian nation in the homeland and in the diaspora. The flag was first designed by George Bit Atanus in 1968, and was adopted in 1971 during a gathering of Assyrian organizations. Th ...

, alongside the AUA and another organization called the Assyrian National Federation. The party participated in the

1991 Iraqi uprising The 1991 Iraqi uprisings were ethnic and religious uprisings against Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime in Iraq that were led by Shia Arabs and Kurds. The uprisings lasted from March to April 1991 after a ceasefire following the end of th ...

alongside ADM and Kurdish parties. In 2000, the Ba'athist government arrested Assyrians from

and

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

after they were found to have obtained pamphlets from the party.

Electoral history and activities

BNDP contested the

2005 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 30 January 2005 alongside January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election, national and 2005 Iraqi governorate elections, governorate elections. They were the first parliamentary elec ...

as part of the ruling

Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan The Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK) sometimes referred to simply as the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) is the name of the electoral coalition first presented as a united Kurdish list in the January 2005 election in Iraq. Elections were ...

and were allocated one seat for Romeo Hakkari. It also contested the

January 2005 Iraqi legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005 to elect the new National Assembly, alongside governorate elections and a parliamentary election in Kurdistan Region. The 275-member legislature had been created under the Transitio ...

as part of the Kurdish alliance, and Goriel Mineso Khamis was allocated one seat in the

Council of Representatives of Iraq The Council of Representatives is the ''de facto'' unicameral legislature of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghdad ...

. Although initially participating in the ''al-Nahrain Watani'' list, it did not participate in the Iraqi legislative election of December 2005, as Romeo Hakkari had withdrew before the elections began. In the

Iraqi governorate elections of 2009 Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,9 ...

, the BNDP allied itself with the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council in the Ishtar Patriotic List. The list won two seats in

and Ninawa, including BNDP member Giwargis Esho Sada in Baghdad. Prior to the

2009 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election General elections were held in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 25 July 2009 to elect a president and the 111 members of the National Assembly. Around 2.5 million people were eligible to vote, although those outside the region were not allowed to ...

, the party decided to withdraw from the elections. In the

2010 Iraqi parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The elections decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who would elect the prime minister and president. The elections resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi Natio ...

, the BNDP ran as part of a united list with the

Assyrian Patriotic Party The Assyrian Patriotic Party (, commonly known as Atranaya) is a political party in Iraq representing Assyrians that has been led by Emanuel Khoshaba Youkhana, since the 4th APP conference in Duhok in 2011. In 2018 they allied with the Assyrian D ...

and the Chaldean Democratic Forum, called the ''Ishtar Democratic List''. The list received the fewest votes across all governorates, and the party won no seats or representation. Similarly, in the

2013 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 21 September 2013. They were the fourth parliamentary elections in Kurdistan Region since 1992. The candidates were competing for a total of 111 seats out of which 11 seats were ...

, the party ran as part of a ''Chaldean Syriac Assyrian United List'', which also received no seats or representation. In the

2018 Iraqi parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 12 May 2018. The elections decided the 329 members of the Council of Representatives, the country's unicameral legislature, who in turn will elect the Iraqi president and prime minister. The Iraqi pa ...

, the BNDP ran as part of the ''United Bet Nahrain List'', but was unable to win any seats from the election.

Nineveh Plain Forces

In 2014, the BNDP and Bet-Nahrain Patriotic Union announced the formation of the Nineveh Plain Forces to protect the people of the

Nineveh Plain Nineveh Plains (, Modern ; ; ) is a region in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq. Located to the north and east of the city Mosul, it is the only Christian-majority region in Iraq and have been a gathering point for Iraqi Christians since 2003. Control o ...

and maintain control of the region for people that want to return to the area. The force had been stationed in the Tal Qasab village north of

, and was intended to liberate Assyrian/Christian areas from

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

while acting as the basis for security for an Assyrian autonomous region. The force, however, was criticized for acting as a Kurdish proxy against the

Nineveh Plain Protection Units The Nineveh Plain Protection Units ( ; ) or NPU is an Assyrian people, Assyrian paramilitary organization that was formed in late 2014, largely but not exclusively by Assyrians in Iraq to defend themselves against Islamic State of Iraq and the L ...

, and although it reported 500 soldiers, eyewitness reports said that there were less than 50 active soldiers. The force operated under the command of the

Peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

, and was dissolved in 2017.

Diaspora

The party is primarily active among

Assyrian Americans Assyrian Americans () refers to individuals of ethnic Assyrian ancestry born or residing within the United States. Assyrians are an indigenous Middle Eastern ethnic group native to Mesopotamia in West Asia who descend from their ancient cou ...

, where it runs the

KBSV KBSV (channel 23) is a non-commercial independent television station in Ceres, California, United States, broadcasting Assyrian programming to the Ceres and Modesto area since 1996. It is owned by Bet-Nahrain, Inc. alongside radio station KBES ...

(''Assyria Vision'') television station and the KBES radio station. In 1983 the party set up the "Assyrian National Congress" with the "Assyrian American Leadership Council". In 2002 they entered into an alliance with the Free Officers Movement of exiled military officers led by Najib al-Salhi. The party also hosted its own annual conferences where they discussed party activities, issues of leadership and politics in the

, and calls for greater autonomy. In August 2006, the party hosted its Congress in

Criticism

Like with other Assyrian political parties in Iraq, the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party has been criticized in the past for its affiliation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the

Dawronoye Dawronoye () is a secular, leftist, national liberation movement among the Assyrian people. Ideologically characterized by progressive ideas and including socialist elements, its founding roots can be traced to the late 1980s in the town of Midy ...

movement. In a 2018 report by the

Assyrian Policy Institute The Assyrian Policy Institute (API) is a non-governmental and nonprofit organization based in the United States that primarily advocates for the rights of Assyrians and other minorities in the Middle East including Yazidis and Mandaeans. Early h ...

, the group noted how Romeo Hakkari had publicly praised

Masoud Barzani Masoud Barzani (; born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017. Early life and career Barzani was bo ...

, stating that he was a beacon of coexistence in the

Kurdish region Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geogr ...

, and publicly expressed his support for the

2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum An independence referendum for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was held on 25 September 2017 in Kurdistan Region, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. Despite reporting that the in ...

. The report noted that before the

, the KDP had endorsed Hakkari's brother, Oshana Nissan, who wasn't well known in the Assyrian community apart from his affiliations with the KDP and being seen at several of their events. The report also stated that many of the votes that came to Oshana were through Kurdish votes from Kirkuk and areas of

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

with no Assyrian population, as well as voter intimidation against Assyrians in Duhok. Hakkari and the BNDP also took part in signing a collective document of support for the KRG, condemning the federal Iraqi government's military actions in the midst of the

2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number) * One of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017, 2117 Science * Chlorine, a halogen in the periodic table * 17 Thetis, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (Americ ...

. The party, as well as Romeo Hakkari himself, were also criticized by the

Assyrian Democratic Organization Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) (; ), also known as "Mtakasta/Mtakasto", is an Assyrian political party based in Syria. Founded in 1957, it is the oldest Assyrian political party in Syria, and was established as a national, political and de ...

for their affiliation with Kurdish groups during Iraqi elections.

Modern activity

The party still engages in smaller activities in Iraq as of the 2020s. Romeo had been chosen as head of the National Union Coalition by the KRG, and in 2020, called on Masrour Barzani to provide proper infrastructure for Assyrian villages in Iraq, particularly in the Nahla valley. On the eve of Kha b'Nissan in 2021, the party released a statement that called for an end to the suffering of Assyrians in Iraq. In 2023, the party joined the

, which was hailed as a uniting political force for Iraqi Assyrians. However, due to political marginalization from the

Babylon Movement The Babylon Movement (, ) is a political party situated in Iraq. Founded in 2014, it is the political wing of the Babylon Brigades, a militia that was formed as part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. Rayan al-Kildani currently leads the pa ...

and

Rayan al-Kildani Rayan Salem Sadiq Al-Kildani (), better known as Rayan al-Kildani (, ), is an Iraqi Assyrian politician who serves as the general secretary of the Babylon Movement, as well as its military component, the Babylon Brigade. He rose to power after ...

, the coalition and party won no seats. The party has taken part in signing statements that condemned the discrimination of Assyrians as part of the alliance. Parallel to other Assyrian political parties, the BNDP condemned the revocation of minority political seats in the

Kurdistan Region Parliament The Kurdistan Regional Parliament, also known as Kurdistan Parliament – Iraq (; ), or simply Perleman, is the parliament of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It is made up of representatives from the various parties, lists or slates that are elec ...

and had taken part in boycotting the 2024 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election.

References

External links

Party websiteFacebook pageAP News, 2018 Kurdish Regional ElectionsCSU Stanislaus Archives, BNDP Interview
{{Authority control Assyrian political parties Political parties in Kurdistan Region Political parties of minorities in Iraq Organizations of the 1991 Iraqi uprisings Assyrians in Iraq Political parties established in 1974 Ethnic political parties 1974 establishments in Iraq 1974 establishments Assyrian organizations Ankawa Assyrian-American culture in California Assyrian-American organizations Assyrian nationalism Dawronoye