Zowaa.org / Baghdad
Iraq has been witnessing more than a month of peaceful demonstrations in several governorates, particularly in the country’s center and south. The demonstrations come as a natural reaction to the deep suffering caused by poor services and immense corruption present in all of the state bodies by some political forces and militias. This includes favoritism, political affiliation, loss of hope for future security, and living standards among the Iraqi people.
We are reaffirming our stance since early October regarding the demonstrations: we support the true demands of the peaceful demonstrators and deplore the excessive use of violence that has resulted in the deaths of demonstrators and security forces.
The political process is witnessing a continuous and significant retreat from its democratic foundations, with rampant corruption and blatant disregard for the fundamental rights the Constitution guarantees to the Iraqi people: in particular the minorities who have faced displacement, genocide, and seizure of property before the eyes of the government, and insist on partisan and sectarian abhorrent quotas and move away from common sense and wise governance.
We call on the government to promptly respond to the demands of the demonstrators and stop the shedding of precious Iraqi blood to preserve the citizens and the fate of the homeland. We stress the need to respond to the legitimate demands in early parliamentary elections; to urgently prepare the amendment of the electoral law and commission and constitutional amendments that meet the demands of all Iraqis, to ward off strife and begin real reforms; and above all, to fight corruption, prosecute corrupters, and recover looted public funds, without exception or immunity for anyone.
In conclusion, we applaud the role of peaceful demonstrators in pressuring the political blocs to accelerate the implementation of legislation and executive procedures, and we call on them to beware of groups that target public and private property in order to distort the demonstration’s paths, implement agendas that are against the peaceful protesters and high national interests, and lead to sowing discord and chaos in the country. We thank the security forces for protecting the peaceful demonstrators and we call on them to expedite the detection of vandals who targeted the demonstrators and bring them to justice.
Glory to the righteous martyrs, and the speedy recovery of the wounded.
Long live Iraq
Baghdad, November 7, 2019
Political Bureau
Assyrian Democratic Movement