FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Rally for supporting Iraqi Assyrians to be held in San Jose, California

Nation-wide rallies will be held in support of the Assyrian Christians, the indigenous people of Iraq, who in the past weeks have found themselves facing increasing violence intended to drive them from the city of Mosul, in Northern Iraq.

Immediate attention to the current situation of Assyrian Christians is being urged from United Nations, Human Rights Organizations, Religious Rights Groups, Political Organizations, and activists throughout the world.

The support rally will exhibit a unified stance for the reinstatement of Article 50 of the Iraqi constitution; a key clause whose original intent was to reserve seats on Provincial Councils for Christians and other minorities throughout Iraq.

In addition, the rally will call for the support and establishment of an Autonomous Assyrian Region in Northern Iraq as an integral part of Iraq. The formation of such a region would be most crucial to the security and survival of Assyrian Christians on their ancestral lands by allowing them total control within the context of a sovereign Assyrian state. This action would also encourage the Assyrian refugees, whether those internally displaced in Iraq or those forcefully scattered in the neighboring countries, to repatriate.

The support rally will be held on Saturday, November 1, 2008 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Courthouse and Federal Building located on 280 S. 1st St., San Jose, California.

The following organizations are supporting this rally:

Assyrian Academic Society
Assyrian American Association of San Jose
Assyrian Churches in Silicon Valley


For further information about this event, please contact Andrew Daniel at 209-765-0101 or via email at
youthofamerica@aua.net.