The Turkmen, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabak, and other minorities are considered to be among the original Iraqi societies, as evidenced by the various civilizations of Iraq for thousands of years, as they lived, built, and constructed this area of the land between the two rivers, or the land of the valley of the two rivers, and they paid for it with the blood of their children and did not leave this good land despite the genocide campaigns against them throughout history and the disregard for their rights by the successive Iraqi governments to this day. Their share of international terrorism since 2003 has been the largest, the worst of which was the attack by the criminal takfiri ISIL gangs after June 10, 2014, which caused the emigration of hundreds of thousands of them, destroyed their religious and societal heritage, killed, raped, and kidnapped their women and children, burned their bodies, and made dozens of mass graves for them, out of hatred, malice, and reprisal against them.
After all of the genocide, ethnic cleansing, persecution, abuse, and injustice that has happened and is happening, we, the organizations, working in the name of the persecuted national societies in Iraq decided to join in a coalition that brings everyone together in order to defend our presence in Iraq, the land of our forefathers, to strive to achieve stability in our region through all democratic and civilized means, to protect the unity of Iraq, and to regain our rights by virtue of the Iraqi constitution through legal means.
As such, we announce a coalition that brings together each of the following: the Turkmen Rescue Foundation, representing the Turkmen, Al Rafedin Organization, representing the Assyrians and Christians, and the Yazidi Independent Supreme Council, representing the Yazidis. Considering that it is a strategic national coalition, it is titled as the National Coalition for Al Rafidein Region.
We shall make an effort to cooperate and come together in order to achieve the following goals:
1. Working to provide the most important requirements of “Al Rafidein Region,” which shall include three provinces (Sinjar, Talafar, and Nineveh Plain) as a region of multiple Iraqi nationalities, religions, and cultures, free from any racial or sectarian entrenchment, and give a new face to the practice of democracy in Iraq after the failure of the Iraqi regimes to protect the smaller nationalities and societies living together within the borders of the new region.
2. Acting based on the foundations of the Iraqi constitution which allows the formation of new regions and provinces and gives the right to all nationalities coexisting in Iraq to self-administration, the protection of heritage, culture, and civilization, according to Section Five / Chapter One / Articles 112, 115, and 116 of the permanent Iraqi constitution of 2005.
3. Obtaining national, international, and regional support in order to establish the Rafidein region, and to send messages of peace and security to all that the goal of the project is to practice constitutional,
administrative, and humanitarian rights, and to protect the smaller original societies in Iraq, using the principle of openness in relations with everyone.
4. Using the principle of dialogue with all entities in Iraq and to adhere to good neighborliness with all neighboring parties.
5. The doors of the coalition shall be open to all political and societal organizations and formations that belong to the nationalities and societies that live within the map of the new region for the purpose of joining this coalition.
6. Confirming the unity of Iraq in its lands, people, and heritage, and strengthening the national-social fabric. The call for the region is the confirmation of the practice of the constitutional rights granted to all, to prevent the recurrence of calamities, genocide campaigns, and slaughters against smaller societies, and to protect them; it is not for the purpose of dividing Iraq.
We pray for Almighty God to bless this effort to eradicate the persecution and injustice that we have suffered for centuries and to this day, and to grant us success in achieving our higher goals, as success is from God.
Signatures:
Prince Naif Dawoud
President of the Yazidi Independent Supreme Council
Mr. David William Lazar
Chairman of the Mesopotamian Organization
Dr. Ali Akram al Bayati
President of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation
