Lara Yussif Zara ܠܪܐ ܝܘܣܦ ܙܪܐ لارا يوسف زارا | |
---|---|
Assumed office 27 July 2017 [1] [2] | |
Governor | Nofal Hammadi (2017) Faiez Abed Jahwareh (2018) Mansour Marid (2019) |
Preceded by | Faiez Abed Jahwareh (discharged over allegations of corruption,but later reinstated.) [3] |
Personal details | |
Born | 1982 [4] |
Political party | Kurdistan Democratic Party [1] |
Other political affiliations | Shlama Entity (2014 elections) [5] |
Education | Graduate in economics and management [4] |
Lara Yussif Zara (born 1982) is an Assyrian politician who is currently serving as the mayor of Alqosh in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq. [4] A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party,Zara was appointed to the mayorship in July 2017 by the KDP-led Nineveh Provincial Council after the previous mayor had charges of corruption by the Provincial Council. [6] [1] [7] [4] She is both the first female mayor of Alqosh and the first woman to serve as mayor of any city in Iraq.
Zara was born in 1982 in the town of Alqosh,and graduated with a bachelors degree in economics and management from Al-Hadba'a University College in Mosul in 2006. [8] For the next three years,she was an Assyrian language teacher in Alqosh,and continued to work as she settled into a permanent-teacher position. [9]
After the Fall of Mosul,when ISIS took over large swathes of the Nineveh Plains from the Iraqi government,Zara stayed back to defend the city with the help of the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Nineveh Plain Protection Units. [10] Pictures of Zara with the Kurdish flag,as well as in military uniform,spread over the internet after her involvement had come to light. It was also from her involvement with the Peshmerga that she joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Zara had previously ran for the 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election under the Shlama Entity,but failed to win any seats. [11] In May 2017,she helped to found the Alqosh branch of the Chaldean League,a now-inactive Assyrian separatist political party founded by Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako. [12]
In July of 2017,Zara was formally elected to the mayorship of Alqosh by the pro-Kurdish Nineveh Provincial Council. This followed the dismissal of the previous mayor,Faiez Abed Jawareh,over allegations of corruption. He had already been dismissed and reinstated prior,after the installation of KDP-member Adel Amin Omar and protests from residents of Alqosh. [13] Protests once again broke out after the instillment of Zara,with allegations that the KDP was co-opting the Assyrian minority into supporting the planned 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum,and annexing the Nineveh Plain under its territory. [14] Zara argued that only Kurdistan Regional Government can keep the locals of Alqosh safe,mentioning the situation in Mosul as a reason to not trust the federal government in Baghdad. [15] Protestors against Zara's inauguration were subsequently met with harassment and physical force by Kurdish forces,much as Jawareh had faced by the KDP. [16]
In April 2019,Zara welcomed a delegation from the United States,led by Deputy Chief of the American embassy in Iraq and Consul General in Kurdistan Steve Fagan,to Alqosh for the inspection of the Tomb of Prophet Nahum located in the town. [17] In June 2019,she visited the United States and met with American officials to raise awareness of the circumstances of the Christians in the country. [18] The Assyrian Policy Institute was in attendance during the meeting and accused Zara of illegally holding the position of mayor,citing a federal case in Baghdad rendering her election unconstitutional and previous failed attempt to have appealed the results,of which Zara denied the allegations. [19]
Discussions of Zara as the mayor of Alqosh typically note her role as being Iraq's first female mayor. In an interview with the United Nations Development Programme,Zara had hoped that in the future,more women would lead the country's politics through official representation in parliament and other places. [20] Zara has also previously noted that she looks to the future to prevent Assyrians from future emigration outside of Iraq,citing the Assyrian diaspora in the Metro Detroit area. [21]
In November 2021,she announced that with the financial support of the US Government,the Office of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government,and private donors,the main part of the restoration work on the tomb of Prophet Nahum had been completed;however,the site was not yet ready to be reopened to the public. [22]
Zara was married to her now husband,Duraid Jamil,in 2007. [9] Her sister is Shrara Yousef Zara Ishaq,currently a member of the Athra Alliance.
Alqosh is a town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq,a sub-district of the Tel Kaif District situated 45 km north of the city of Mosul.
Duhok is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is the capital city of Duhok Governorate.
The Assyrian Democratic Movement,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 establish equal citizenship rights with the rest of the Iraqi people without discrimination on the basis of nationality,belief,religious affiliation,culture,language and other characteristics of the native Chaldo-Assyrian Syriac people of Iraq,to acknowledge the past massacres committed against them and to ensure they are never repeated again.
Ankawa is a suburb of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is located 8 kilometres (5 mi) northwest of downtown Erbil. The suburb is predominantly populated by Christian Assyrians,most of whom adhere to the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Qaraqosh,is an Assyrian city in the Nineveh Governorate,of Iraq located about 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of the city of Mosul and 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Erbil amid agricultural lands,close to the ruins of the ancient Assyrian cities Kalhu and Nineveh.
Iraqi Assyrians are an ethnic and linguistic minority group,indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. They are defined as Assyrians residing in the country of Iraq,or members of the Assyrian diaspora who are of Iraqi-Assyrian heritage. They share a common history and ethnic identity,rooted in shared linguistic,cultural and religious traditions,with Assyrians in Iran,Turkey and Syria,as well as with the Assyrian diaspora elsewhere. A significant number have emigrated to the United States,notably to the Detroit and Chicago;a sizeable community is also found in Sydney,Australia.
Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups.
Nineveh Plains is a region in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq,to the north and east of the city Mosul. Control over the region is contested between Iraqi security forces,KRG security forces,Assyrian security forces,Babylon Brigade and the Shabak Militia.
Ain Sifni also known as Shekhan,is a town and subdistrict in Nineveh Governorate,Iraq. It is located in the Shekhan District in the Nineveh Plains.
The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world.
Mangesh is a village and sub-district in Dohuk Governorate in Kurdistan Region,Iraq. It is located in the Dohuk District.
2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul was a series of attacks which targeted Iraqi Christians in Mosul,Iraq. The Christians of Mosul,who were already targeted during the Iraq War,left the city en masse heading to Assyrian villages in Nineveh Plains and Iraqi Kurdistan. Both Sunni extremists,and Kurdish Peshmerga were blamed for the attacks.
Assyrian politics in Iraq have been taking many different turns since the US invasion of the country in 2003. Today,there are many different Assyrian political parties in Iraq. The main Assyrian party that came out from the 2005 elections was the Assyrian Democratic Movement. However,Sarkis Aghajan began to challenge its power beginning in 2006 with the opening of Ishtar TV and the KDP-affiliated Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council.
The Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council,popularly known as Motwa,is a political party in Iraq,that was founded in 2007,on the initiative of Sarkis Aghajan,a high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. As a party that represents minority communities,CSAPC participated in several elections,both on national,regional and local levels,mainly in various coalitions with other minority parties. The current president of the party is Jameel Zaito.
Emil Shimoun Nona is the Archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of Australia and New Zealand,prior to this he has been the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul in the northern part of Iraq since the consent of Pope Benedict XVI to his election on 13 November 2009. He took over the archeparchy after the murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho in early 2008.
Tel Keppe is a town in northern Iraq. It is located in the Nineveh Governorate,less than 8 mi (13 km) northeast of Mosul.
Since the early 20th century several proposals have been made for the establishment of an autonomous area or an independent state for the Syriac-speaking modern Assyrians in northern Iraq.
An independence referendum for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was held on 25 September 2017,with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. Despite reporting that the independence referendum would be non-binding,the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) characterised it as binding,although they claimed that an affirmative result would trigger the start of state building and negotiations with Iraq rather than an immediate declaration of independence of Kurdistan. The referendum's legality was rejected by the federal government of Iraq.
The Nineveh Plain Forces or NPF was a military organization that was formed on 6 January 2015 by the indigenous Christian Assyrian people in Iraq,in cooperation with Peshmerga,to defend against Islamic State. The Nineveh Plains is a region at the heart of the Assyrian homeland. The militia is affiliated with the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party and the Beth Nahrain Patriotic Union (HBA),the latter being part of the secular Dawronoye movement. It participated in the Battle of Mosul (2016–2017).
Ano Jawhar Abdulmaseeh Abdoka,or Ano Abdoka (Syriac:ܐܢܘܥܒܕܘܟܐ,Kurdish:ئانۆعەبدۆكا,romanized: Ano Ebdoke,Arabic:أنوعبدوكا,is an Assyrian politician who serves as the Minister of Transportations and Communications of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq since July 2019. Before serving as a minister,Abdoka led the Shlama Trend for Christian Affairs in Kurdistan and Iraq,and also leading the biggest Christian Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Alliance and block in the Kurdistan Parliament,and he previously led the local committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Ankawa.