(AINA) -- The Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, unanimously approved a motion to support the establishment of an autonomous Assyrian province in North Iraq. The motion was raised by Rev The Hon Fred Nile and focused on the Assyrian demand for the establishment of an autonomous province in the heart of the Assyrian ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq.

Rev Nile's motion was as follows:

1. That this House considers and supports a resolution by the Australian Assyrians that demands the Iraqi Government to accord the new proposed Nineveh Plains Province an autonomous status (self-administrated region) to the Assyrians and other Christian minorities on the land of their ancestors in the north of Iraq (the territory located between the greater Zab and the river Tigris) and that the newly created Assyrian region in the said territory shall be administrated and protected by the Assyrians, under the jurisdiction of the central national Government.
2. That this House considers it will be absolutely necessary to the security and survival of the Assyrians in Iraq and the establishment of such an Assyrian region as promulgated under article 121 of the Iraqi constitution will allow greater local Assyrian control within the context of their integrated, sovereign Iraqi state, and furthermore, such an Assyrian area would allow for political, educational, linguistic, religious, and cultural protection.
3. That this House calls on the Federal Government to use our seat in the United Nations Security Council to adopt a similar motion supporting a new province for the Assyrians in Iraq at this critical time before the next Iraq national election.

After the motion was passed, Rev. Nile said "I am very pleased all Members of the NSW Legislative Council (The Upper House) voted in support of my historical Assyrian Homeland Motion which I moved on behalf of the Australian Assyrian Community. An Assyrian Homeland Province based in the Nineveh Plains, as an autonomous status (self-administrated region) would provide protection and security especially for the Assyrian Christian population."

The Assyrian Universal Alliance in Australia (AUA) lobbied the Australian Federal Government for years to endorse and support the Nineveh Plain province. Many members of the Federal Government spoke in support of this issue, including Mr Chris Hayes, MP, Mr. Craig Kelly, MP, and the Hon. Chris Bowen, MP

Mr Bowen tabled a similar motion in the Federal Parliament.

On January 21 the Iraq Council of Ministers approved a plan to establish three new provinces in Iraq. One province would be in Fallujah, in central Iraq; a second would be in north Iraq, in Tuz Khormato; the third would also be in north Iraq, in the Nineveh Plain bordering the Kurdish areas. The Nineveh Plain has the largest population of Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) in Iraq (AINA 2014-01-22).

In his remarks before the vote was taken, Rev. Nile said:

I draw to the attention of the House the proposed Nineveh Plain Assyrian Province in Iraq. Iraq's Council of Ministers, led by the Hon. Nouri Al Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, on Tuesday 20 January 2014 decided in principle to create three new provinces from contested parts of the country. A statement said the Cabinet had "agreed in principle to turn the areas of Tuz, Fallujah and the Nineveh Plain into provinces and the Cabinet will decide after the fulfilment of the necessary requirements". It did not give a reason for the decision. Assyrians have been demanding separate province status at Nineveh Plain for years. Today the Assyrian Christian nation is struggling to impress upon the international community the importance of being distinctly recognised as a nation in need of significant protection and, more importantly, a nation in pursuit of autonomy within the territorial boundaries of a centrally governed Iraq.

More than 750,000 Indigenous Assyrians were slaughtered by the Young Turks during World War I. The injustice continued and in 1932, within 15 months of the enactment of the Declaration of the Kingdom of Iraq--a declaration that guaranteed the rights of persons belonging to national ethnic or religious minorities--Arabs and Kurds were armed by the Iraqi Government and offered one pound for every Assyrian head. Eleven villages were summoned under the pretext of police protection. Assyrians were disarmed after being assured of the "good intentions" of the Government; the population was indiscriminately murdered; priests were tortured and killed; girls were raped; 65 out of 95 Assyrian villages were destroyed or burnt to the ground; thousands of Assyrians were removed from their homes; thousands were killed, and their killing denied by the Government; the Assyrian religious leaders were deported; a camp was set up, and the Iraqi Government was charged with the task of looking after thousands of Assyrian refugees, but instead they were left destitute and penniless causing death by famine and disease.

As a result of these massacres hundreds of Assyrian families crossed the border into Syria on 21 July 1933, in hope of receiving asylum from the French Mandate of Syria. Some 35 villages were established on both banks of the Khabur River between Hassaka and Qamishli to settle the flood of refugees. Today these people are facing the same fate as Syria and 70 per cent have fled Syria, devastated by the recent rebel attacks on their villages and churches. In similar conditions, more than 200 Assyrian villages were destroyed and their Assyrian population forced into internal and external displacement during Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime.

Today Assyrian Churches are still being bombed and Assyrians are still being killed, kidnapped or assaulted. Assyrians have survived the adversities of history for thousands of years, but their hope, faith and determination cannot continue to sustain them from extinction. Without international cooperation and pressure, having serious regard to this fundamental crisis, their ancient nation will not survive.

The Assyrian Universal Alliance in Australia has lobbied the Australian Federal Government for years to endorse and support the Nineveh Plain province. Many members of the Federal Government spoke in support of this issue including Mr Chris Hayes, MP, Mr. Craig Kelly, MP, and the Hon. Chris Bowen, MP. Mr Bowen tabled a motion in the Federal Parliament focusing on the Assyrian demand for the establishment of an autonomous province in the heart of the Assyrian ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq. I propose to move the same motion in this House: That this House considers and supports a resolution by the Australian Assyrians that demands the Iraqi Government to accord the new proposed Nineveh Plains Province an autonomous status (self-administrated region) to the Assyrians and other Christian minorities on the land of their ancestors in the north of Iraq (the territory located between the greater Zab and the river Tigris) and demonstrated in the newly created Assyrian region in the said territory shall be administrated and protected by the Assyrians, under the jurisdiction of the central national Government.

This will be absolutely necessary to the security and survival of the Assyrians in Iraq. The establishment of such an Assyrian region as promulgated under article 121 of the Iraqi constitution will allow greater local Assyrian control within the context of their integrated, sovereign Iraqi state. Furthermore, such an Assyrian area would allow for political, educational, linguistic, religious, and cultural protection.

We also call on the Australian Federal Government to use our seat in the United Nations Security Council to adopt a similar motion supporting a new province for the Assyrians in Iraq at this critical time before the next Iraq national election.