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Syria has a cultural and political heritage, which distinguishes it from
the rest of the countries of the region. It is the country that gained
its independence early and the first Arab country that established a
Republic form of government. It was in Syria where the first free
parliamentarian elections of the Arab world took place, in 1954, when
the first liberal democratic attempt occurred in the region. But then
came the rule of Jamal Abdul-Naser during the era of unity with Egypt in
1958, which aborted this attempt that could have made Syria a democratic
model for the region if it had continued to develop that democratic
attempt.
This is the Syria that is known to all. It is living these days the
atmosphere of preparations to conduct the Parliamentarian Elections for
its eighth term, on the second of March. Over 10,000 candidates are
competing for the 250 seats, and this is the first elections under the
rule of President Dr. Bashar Al-Assad. These elections have caused and
are still causing great controversies and heavy competitions among the
different political groups and the cultural and educational authorities
in the entire Syrian arena. There are those who still consider it a
continuation and strengthening of the old methods, and they see that
these elections are nothing more than a typical fake constitutional
practice similar to the previous ones where it is a competition over
parliamentarian seats and nothing more. Also, there are those who
consider it a beginning of a new democratic and political openness era,
and that these elections will create a new phase in Syria’s political
life and her democratic process.
Of course, we do not want to anticipate the events and matters, and we
do not want to judge these elections before they take place, conclude
and the results are announced. But the least that could be said about
the election is: ‘it sure will shape the features of the political life
of Syria in the forthcoming phase.’ It will also define the limits of
freedom, which was promised by the government, and the extent of the
government’s compliance with the demands of the democratic movement in
Syria. These elections may also reveal and define the political groups
that the government wishes to include in Syria’s political life through
her addition of certain parties to the National Front, which is in
alliance with the ruling Baath Party.
Whoever is interested in Syria’s political affairs was expecting, as the
rumor had spread in Syria, that these elections would be preceded by
many legal procedures and political reforms in order to make a correct
qualitative step towards strengthening democracy and deepening the
openness method that was started by Dr. Bashar Al-Assad. These
procedures were to include, issuing a new system for elections that
guarantee justice and equal opportunity for winning and success in the
elections for all the political parties and factions, the cultural and
social organizations and the independent nationalistic individuals. In
addition to that, also issuing a legislation to authorize political
parties and activities in Syria, because with the absence of such
legislation, the government could prevent the candidates of the
“Prohibited” political parties and organizations from participating in
the elections.
In the near future, it does not seem that there is any new development
being made to the system and regulations of the parliamentarian
elections, for this term, from the previous ones, which were highlighted
by the inclusion of the National Front’s list. This list includes the
candidates of the ruling Baath Party, who reserves for itself the
majority of the seats (51%), and the candidates of the parties allied
with it in the National Front. Even the small portion granted to the
independent candidates were chosen by the Baath Party in many of the
electoral districts including the district of Al-Hassake governorate,
through the addition of their names to the “Shadow List,” which is
attached to the list of the National Front to guarantee their victory.
The goal is to prevent the victory of those candidates from the
“prohibited” political parties such as the Assyrian Democratic
Organization (ADO) and other parties whose candidates had won the
majority of the independent seats in Al-Hassake governorate in the 1990
elections.
This is why this year’s elections will lose their appeal, importance and
political effectiveness, if no adjustments and developments were made to
the elections’ system a law is not issued to legalize the political
parties and authorize the political activities in Syria. As long as the
elections remained staged and the results fabricated, then it will no
longer stir the enthusiasm and interest of many of the Syrian citizens,
who have begun to live a state of alienation towards elections that are
lacking true democracy and are missing the voice of the free voter, the
genuine competition and the political equality between the candidates.
This is because the importance and appeal of the elections are based on,
it being a political match taking place in the entire country, where the
candidates compete and contend truthfully with national devotion, while
its referee is democracy. This is how elections could become one of the
mechanisms for the true democratic activities and a model for the proper
political practice, which permits the citizens the right to participate
in drawing and defining the political, economical and social affairs of
the country; in order to guarantee and allow the people’s true
representatives to oversee and call to account the executive authority
(the government).
Despite what has been raised of questions and inquiries about the
upcoming parliamentarian elections for this term, the Assyrian political
movement in Syria has decided to not pass this national political right,
by participating in the elections through representation and voting.
This decision was not only for the sake of winning a parliamentarian
seat, but also for the sake of presenting the national aspiration of its
methods and practices of its lawful political right and bearing its
national duties of defending the country’s causes and deepening the
concept of “Syria is the Nation of All,” which the Assyrian political
movement of Syria believes in and works for. This concept is based on
the belief of “the mutual living” among all the nationalities and
factions of the Syrian society without any favoritism or discrimination
between the citizens of the one nation in rights and fundamentals.
There are those who say: “since the establishment of the Syrian
government, the Ministry or Parliament has not been empty of Assyrian
(Syriac/Chaldean) Parliamentarians and Ministers, and many of them hold
important posts in the government, so where is the discrimination and
what more do Assyrians want?” This is true and no one questions it. The
situation of Assyrians, as Christians, in Syria is well, where they are
enjoying their full religious and cultural freedom and rights without
any discrimination or separation from the remaining factions of the
Syrian people. But the Assyrian political movement in Syria has a
different point of view for the cause of the Assyrian existence and the
Assyrian rights in Syria. Whoever thinks or believes that Assyrians
distinguish themselves based on racial feelings or
denominational/religious beliefs is mistaking. The Assyrians are not a
Christian religious denomination only, as some would like to see it. The
Assyrians are an ancient and indigenous people residing in the regions
of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent since thousands of years Before
Christ; in other words, much prior to the establishment of Syria with
its current international borders. And the Assyrian (Syriac) language is
the language of ancient Syria. Hence, the Assyrians constitute the
cultural depth and the historical past of Syria. Assyrianism is a
historical case, before it became a religious phenomenon in Syria. It
has its distinguished cultural scent and its special civilizational
aroma. It has intermixed and interacted with the rest of the components
of the national identity of Syria until it became an integral and
genuine part of it. The cultural prospect and the civilized features of
Syria cannot be completed without the acceptance of the Assyrian
existence, which is the shining color in the Syrian national rainbow.
Without a doubt, the Assyrians in Syria, as in the rest of the countries
of the region, and due to the Arabization policy that was practiced and
still is being practiced on them and due to their remainder under the
leadership of the Church for many centuries, they have adopted the
religious culture and many of them have lost their feeling and sense of
belonging to the Assyrian nationality. Thus, the Assyrians today, whose
numbers in Syria are estimated to be over One Million belonging to
different denominations and faiths (of course these estimates include
the Assyrians in Diaspora), no longer constitute a united social
homogenous mass. This has weakened their political strength and their
electoral voice, especially since they are distributed in many of the
Syrian governorates. Their population today is centralized in the Syrian
Jazeera, where the heavy Assyrian concentrations and the headquarters of
their political parties exist.
Based on what we have mentioned of historical facts and political and
cultural incidents for the Assyrian situation in Syria, the Assyrian
political movement of Syria, backed by the Assyrian (Syriac and Chaldean)
people, sees that it is of national necessity and in harmony with the
era of openness and reform, which was initiated by Dr. Bashar Al-Assad,
the President, that the Syrian government reexamines the Assyrian
existence and recognizes the Assyrians constitutionally as a nationality
and not only as a religious denomination. Also, grant them their
nationalistic (cultural and administrative) rights, and they should be
properly and sincerely represented nationalistically in the governmental
institutions and authorities (legislative, judicial and executive)
through the elections of Assyrians to their own representatives. As well
as, authorizing their political parties and national organizations. Such
rights that have been granted by the international declaration of Human
Rights, have become indisputable and unquestionable rights granted by
the democratic countries to all of their minorities, ethnic groups and
their foreign immigrants, even prior to being requested by these groups.
The recognition of the cultural, political and ethnic diversity in Syria
cannot oppose the concept of national unity; on the contrary, it is
benefiting and servicing the nation and nationalism.
Q- To understand the Assyrian stand of
the upcoming parliamentarian elections in Syria, we interviewed and
asked the candidate and representative of the Assyrian political
movement in Syria, Mr. Gabriel Moushe Gawrieh and we thank him for
answering us:
 A- We participated in this term’s
elections as we had participated in the three previous elections as
representatives of the Assyrian national movement in Syria generally,
and specifically of the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO), which
constitutes and represents the major and largest Assyrian segment. This
organization has been able to get its candidate, Mr. Bashir Saadi,
elected to the Parliament in the 1990 elections. We participate in these
elections, believing in strengthening the national aspiration of the
Assyrian national existence, as well as, to stabilize the democratic
practice in everyday life and improve the principles of participation
and interaction with all the citizens of the country.
Q- What is the nature of the
electoral alliances that you are searching or seeking?
A- We emphasize that the national,
cultural and social diversity is a civilized and humanistic treasure and
wealth for Syria. We believe in diversity within the framework of
national unity. Thus, we, in the Assyrian political movement in Syria,
are open for all the national factions with all of its different
national, democratic and political affiliations and stands. We strive to
accomplish an electoral alliance with national organizations and
individuals that share our principles and stands, which serve the whole
nation and not a single faction over the other.
Q- What is your campaign program?
A- Our program concentrates and
focuses on the concerns of the citizen and the national issues. We will
be working diligently to:
1) Improve the democratic thought and human rights in everyday life, and
consolidate the notion of the true citizenship; as well as, the role of
the law and the institutions in creating equal opportunity for all the
citizens to participate in the process of driving forward the march
towards development and modernization that is being led by President
Bashar Al-Assad.
2) Strengthen the Assyrian existence in the homeland and emphasize that
we are an indigenous people who have an ancient cultural heritage, and a
yearning for a future that is in harmony with the aspirations of all the
citizens of the country. We are a people of nationalistic culture and
beliefs.
3) Tie the Diaspora with the homeland: economically, culturally and
socially. Our Assyrian people possess great resources in the Diaspora
and mainly in Europe, America and Australia. Our people are emotionally
and sentimentally attached to their cultural and historical country
Syria. There is a true possibility to utilize these resources to serve
the national issues and participate in its development and progress. Our
role in this area could expand especially if the helpful climates were
to exist for us to achieve this.
4) Express the living distresses of the citizens and to indicate the
areas of corruption with the goal to uproot it and to demand the
accomplishment of the comprehensive and balanced development in all of
the Syrian governorates. And to work on supporting the agricultural
sector, especially in Al-Hassake governorate, because agriculture
represents the main economic source for the people of this governorate.
Q- What are your predictions on the
progress of the elections’ process for this term?
A- We hope that what happened in the
past two elections is not repeated, where the ruling Social Arab Baath
Party had adopted a few of the independent candidates and supported them
through including their names in a list accompanying the Progressive
National Front’s list and thus guaranteeing their victory even before
the elections had begun. We request providing an equal opportunity for
all the independent candidates to compete among each other in a free
democratic style. We also request the return of the fifth seat that is
designated for the independents in Al-Hassake governorate, which was
taken in favor of the National Front’s list in the past two elections,
and that is according to the electoral legislation of 1990, which
declared the designation of five seats for the independents in Al-Hassake
governorate.
In regards to the current elections, we are hoping that the elections
will be conducted based on an impartial democratic basis, especially
since President Bashar Al-Assad had stressed that it is the right of all
the citizens to participate, as had been presented in the inaugural
address. We are also confident by the statements of Mr. Abdul-Qader
Qaddoura, Parliament President, and his confirmations to one of the
Satellite Television Stations approximately two months ago, that the
Baath Party is only interested in choosing its own candidates and will
not take away the rights of others in choosing their own
representatives.
Q- What are your goals and national
and political aspirations in the Parliament?
A- Under any circumstances, we
cannot be unrealistic. No delusions are going through our mind that we
are able to perform miracles in a climate that has yet to ripe to accept
national pluralism and the acceptance of others and understanding their
rights and needs. Many of the people in the country do not know or deny
that there are Assyrians in Syria, or consider that these people are
part of the ancient past and have become extinct. In the best instances,
some of the distinct groups, on purpose or not, are still looking at us
as a denomination or religious denominations (Christian) only.
Therefore, in addition to what I have proposed in the elections’
campaign of issues and they are general issues that everyone is seeking
to achieve, we, as we did in the past, are also doing today and will
continue to do in the future whether we were successful or not. We will
concentrate our efforts on promoting and identifying the Assyrian
existence and identity and clarify its national and cultural objectives
to all of the people of Syria. We will confirm that our Assyrian (Syriac
and Chaldean) people with their different denominations are an integral
and genuine part of the national identity of the Syrian society that is
embraced and fortified by a solid national unity that we are proud of
and we will work to develop it and strengthen it further and further.
Our existence is a distinct national requirement that is tied to the
democratic question and movement in Syria.
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