The Bethnahrin National Council or Mesopotamia National Council (, MUB), formerly the Bethnahrin Freedom Party (, GHB) and the Patriotic Revolutionary Organization of Bethnahrin (, PROB) is a militant

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Assyrian-Syriac party in 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, whose stated goal is autonomy for Assyrian-Syriac people, either as an independent state or some other structure, in Bethnahrin, 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 ...

. The organization is allied with multiple parties within the

Kurdistan Communities Union The Kurdistan Communities Union (, KCK) is a Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism. The KCK also serves as an umbrella group for several confederalist political parties o ...

(KCK), including the

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gu ...

(PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD). The council has active political party affiliates in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

History as the PROB and GHB

The Patriotic Revolutionary Organization of Bethnahrin was formed in the 1990s by Assyrian-Syriac nationalists who previously fought within the

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gue ...

against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The group carried out its first attack alongside the

against a

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. ...

(KDP) military compound in the town of Qasre on 17 July 1999, where 39 KDP

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 ...

fighters were killed and 20 injured.RFE/RL iraq Report
/ref> Three days later a second attack was carried out by the group in which several of

Massoud 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 ...

's fighters were killed when a

army truck driving on a bridge between Qasre and

Haji Omeran Haji Omeran (; ), is a town located in Iraqi Kurdistan's Erbil Governorate near the Iran–Iraq border. It is 180 kilometers northeast of the Erbil and 20 kilometers east of the Choman. The town is inhabited by Kurds. The BBC described it as " ...

was blown up by the PROB. The group claimed both attacks were to avenge the death of Assyrian woman Helene Aloun Sawa, who was raped and killed by the Peshmerga. On 24 July 2000, approximately a hundred members of the PROB forced entry in a governmental building in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. PROB wanted to attract the attention of the Swiss government and media to issues relating to the Assyrian-Syriac people, especially in relation to their treatment in Turkey. They emphasized how the 1923

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (, ) is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially ...

denied the Assyrian-Syriac people in Turkey their national rights and oppression faced by Assyrian-Syriacs in Turkey. At its first congress in 2000, the PROB reorganized as the Bethnahrin Freedom Party, which was listed as a

terrorist organization Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...

by the

Turkish government The Government of Turkey () is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party system. The term government can me ...

in 2001. According to Wladimir van Wilgenburg, the GHB's founder, Numan Ogur, was kidnapped in 2003 after an attempt to try to leave the organization. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the GHB cooperated with

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy a ...

(PUK) Peshmerga, hoping to gain political influence in Iraq.

Branches

* American Syriac Union *

Beth Nahrin Patriotic Union Beth Nahrin Patriotic Union (Arabic: الاتحاد الوطني بيت نهرين) is an Assyrian political party founded in 1996, in the Slemani area of Iraq, as part of the Dawronoye movement. Since the 2003 Iraq War The Iraq War () ...

(Iraq) *

Syriac Union Party (Lebanon) The Syriac Union Party (, ) abbreviated as SUL is a Lebanese Assyrian political party established on 29 March 2005. It expresses points of view of the Assyrian minority community in Lebanon without any confessional differences between Syriac Ort ...

Syriac Union Party (Syria) Syriac Union Party in Syria (, , SUP) is a secular Assyrian people, Assyrian political party in Syria that represents the interests of Assyrians in Syria and is committed to the ''Dawronoye'' modernization ideology. Established on 1 October 2005, ...

European Syriac Union European Syriac Union is an alliance between different Assyrian/Syriac political and cultural organizations in Europe that was established in May 2004. The group emerged from the Bethnahrin National Council or Mawtbo Umthoyo d'Bethnahrin (MUB) ...

Reorganization as the MUB

In 2005, the Bethnahrin Freedom Party changed its name to the Bethnahrin National Council. The council stated that it may resume military operations 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 ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, or

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Its affiliate in Syria is the Syriac Union Party (SUP). During the Syrian civil war, the SUP has established two military organizations in 2013,

Sutoro The Syriac Security Office (, ), commonly known as the Sutoro or the Sutoro Police, is an Assyrian Christian police force in the Jazira Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in Syria, where it works in concert with the ...

and the

Syriac Military Council The Syriac Military Council (, MFS; ) is an Assyrian people, Assyrian military organisation in Syria, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The establishment of the organisation was announced on 8 January 2013. According to the Syriac Military Co ...

(MFS). The group began to cooperate with other parties in the

Rojava Rojava may refer to: * Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, the geographical region where Kurds historically settled within present-day Syria * Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administ ...

region, such as the

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

, the

Syrian Democratic Council The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The SDC's stated mission is working towards the implementation of a "Pluralistic, democ ...

and its military wing, the

Syrian Democratic Forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurds in Syria, Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed Left-wing politics, left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration ...

. From 25 to 27 May 2016, the 8th conference of the Bethnahrin National Council was held in Switzerland.

References

External links

Mihayel Cudi - A Biography
* {{Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean political parties Assyrian nationalism Assyrian political parties Dawronoye Guerrilla organizations Left-wing militant groups Political parties in Iraq Political parties in Lebanon Political parties in Syria Political parties in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Political parties of minorities in Iraq Political parties of minorities in Lebanon Political parties of minorities in Syria Resistance movements Socialist parties in Iraq Socialist parties in Lebanon Socialist parties in Syria Syrian Democratic Forces

History as the PROB and GHB

Branches

Reorganization as the MUB

See also

References

External links