Assyria (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Assyria (Syriac: ܐܵܬܘܿܪܵ Āttûrā), officially the Republic of Assyria  (Syriac: ܦܘܿܠܘܿܛܝܼܵܐ ܐܵܬܘܿܪܵ Pûlûṭi'iyā Āttûrā) is a small landlocked country located in the Middle East. It is bordered with Syria to the northeast, Turkey to the north, and Iraq to the south. Assyria is a member of the Commonwealth Confederation.

Ottoman Mesopotamia (1514–1921)
The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeated the Safavids in 1514 and gained Upper Mesopotamia which then included the Assyrian homeland. Under Murad IV, the Ottomans secured their control over Mesopotamia in the first half of the 17th century following the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39). The Ottomans reorganized Mesopotamia into several large provinces or eyalet. In 1639, under the Treaty of Zuhab, modern territories of Assyria became part of the Eyalet of Mosul.

As part of the Tanzimat reforms, Assyrian homeland became part of the Vilayet of Mosul in 1878. The Mesopotamian Assyrians mostly concentrated in northern part of Mosul Vilayet and the southern part of Van Vilayet and maintained their cultural and religious autonomy under the Ottomans. Ottoman administration was such that it fostered a peaceful coexistence among the different sections of Mesopotamian society for over four hundred years. Non-Muslims were organised into millets. Syriac Christians, however, were often considered one millet alongside Armenians until the 19th century, when the Nestorians, the Syriac Orthodox and the Chaldeans gained that right as well.

Outside of the Assyrian homeland in Mesopotamia, the Assyrians also centered in northwestern Iran, especially in the western part of Velayet of Azerbaijan. During the 19th century, the Persian Assyrians experienced a short-lived cultural renaissance with many books and newspapers being published in Syriac language. By 1900, the Assyrians constituted over a quarter of the population of Azerbaijan Velayet and were the largest non-Muslim majority in the Urmia region. Before to 1918, there were over 115 Assyrian villages to the west of Lake Urmia.

The persecutions suffered by the Assyrians from the Ottomans and the Kurdish between late 19th century and early 20th century triggered the movement for the establishment of an Assyrian nation state.

British Mandate for Mesopotamia (1921–1949)
During World War I, the Assyrians allied with the British to fight against the Ottomans. The British appreciated the Assyrian for their fighting qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline. The Assyrians also played a greater role for the incorporation of Mosul Vilayet into the British Mandate of Mesopotamia (ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ‎ ܡܐܕܐܛ ܒܪܝܛܐܢܝ ܓܘܐ Mandat Britani gawa Bet Nahrayn) and repression of 1920 Iraqi Revolution.

The Assyrian Independence Party (ܓܒܐ ܐܙܕܘܬܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Gaba Azadutta Atturaya) established in New York, the United States, on 1925 with Naum Faiq as its president. The Independence Party campaigned for the establishment of Assyrian national homeland in northern Mesopotamia within an Arab-Kurdish-Assyrian federation and the revival of Syriac language, bearing a resemblance with the struggle of Zionist World Organisation. The AIP actively persuaded the British government to grant the sociopolitical and cultural autonomy for the Assyrians within the Mandatory Mesopotamia.

In 1929, the Assyrian nationalists in the Mandatory Mesopotamia founded the Assyrian Revolutionary Party (ܓܒܐ ܕܘܒܘܼܬܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Gaba Duba’rutta Atturaya) with Freydun Atturaya as its general secretary. Atturaya formerly was a pro-Soviet socialist before successfully escaped from the Soviet Union for his nationalist activities. The ARP’s goal was not just to establish a national home for Assyrian people, but also to create a democratic and independent Assyrian Republic in northern Iraq.

In 1935, the ARP split between the right-wing faction and the left-wing faction. The former founded the Gil’iara Attura Party (ܓܠܝܪܐ ܐܬܘܪ, lit. “the Soldier of Assyria”) while the latter founded the Assyrian Democratic Party (ܓܒܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܐܛܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Gaba Dimuqrataya Atturaya).

After the formation of the Peel Commission in Palestine to solve the problem occurred between the Arabs and the Jews, the AIP pressured the British to form similar Inquiry Commission to solve the Assyrian Question in Mesopotamia. In his speech before the AIP party congress on January 12, 1936, Naum Faiq stated the establishment of Assyrian Commonwealth in Nineveh Plain would guarantee the loyalty of Assyrian people to the British Empire. This speech, however, was heavily criticized by the pro-republican parties such as the Gil’iara Attura and the ADP.

In 1937, the far-right Assyrian nationalist party, Phlaggha Umta (ܦܠܐܓܐ ܐܘܡܬ, lit. “the Phalanx of Nation” or the "Assyrian Falange"), was founded by Farid Nazha in Beirut, Lebanon. The Phlaggha Umta was backed by the Falangist Spain government and supported for the establishment of Assyrian national homeland by the revolutionary way and as a secular state. The short-lived alliance also formed by the Gil’iara Attura and the Phlaggha Umta in 1938 and ended in 1942 following the former’s support for the formation of Assyrian Brigade.

Following the 1941 Mesopotamian Revolution carried by German-supported Arab nationalist, Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani, between 2 to 31 of May 1941, the Assyrian Question taken seriously for the first time by the British government. The AIP and the Gil’iara Attura sought to establish the Assyrian fighting units under the British flag within the British Royal Army. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Halifax, who recognized the efficiency and the discipline of Assyrian forces agreed for the formation of Assyrian Brigade in 1942.

Naum Faiq died on July 7, 1943 and replaced by Yossip Bar-Qaqnos as the leader of Independence Party. Bar-Qaqnos, who tried to restore the good relationship with the Gil’iara Attura, agreed with the establishment of Assyrian Republic in the future that brought the AIP along the same line with the Gil'iara Attura and the Phlaggha Umta. The meeting between Bar-Qaqnos and Atturaya on February 11, 1944 united the goal of independence between both parties.

At the end of World War II, the British established the Mesopotamia Royal Commission to inquire the transition of Mandatory Mesopotamia into the fully independent states. In 1946, the Commission adopted a resolution called the Pachachi-Atturaya Agreement for the formation of an Assyrian national homeland in Assyrian Triangle and the establishment of an independent state in Arabo-Kurdish sectors that known as "Iraq".

The first election of Assyrian Parliament held on March 1, 1948 with the Assyrian Independence Party gained narrow victory over the Gil'iara Party. The provisional Assyrian government was formed on April 25, 1947 with Freydun Atturaya was elected as its Prime Minister and Noel Mason-Macfarlane as the last High Commissioner for Mesopotamia (Assyria). On January 12, 1949, the Parliament of Assyria declared the independence of Assyria as a sovereign and democratic republic within the Commonwealth Confederation with Tel Keppe as its national capital. Yossip Bar-Qaqnos was elected as the nation's first President.