| |||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Tel Keppe | ||||||
| Language official |
Syriac-Aramaic | ||||||
| others | Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish | ||||||
| Religion main |
Syriac Christianity | ||||||
| others | Sunni Islam | ||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Assyrian | ||||||
| others | Turkmen, Kurdish, Al-Iraqi Arab | ||||||
| Demonym | Assyrian | ||||||
| Government | Parliamentary Democracy | ||||||
| Legislature | Assyrian Parliament | ||||||
| Population | 550,000 people | ||||||
| Independence | from Republic of Iraq | ||||||
The United Assyrian Republic, commonly known as Assyria, is a nation that gained its independence from the former nation of Iraq shortly after its defeat by the Iran in the Iran-Iraq War. It is populated by Syriac-speaking Christian Assyrian people in the Nineveh plains of Northern Iraq. The issue of Assyrian independence has been brought up many times since the end of World War I. It was not until the events of Doomsday, and the geo-political changes that event brought, that an independent Assyrian state came to be.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
Assyria is a small population of people located in northern Iraq. They are Syriac-speaking Christians who claim descent from the ancient Assyrians. In ancient times, Assyria was a great empire based in northern Iraq who, at their height, controlled southern Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Egypt, Babylonia, and Sumeria. However, after the fall of the Assyrian Empire to the Babylonians in 612 BC, an independent Assyria ceased to exist. Assyria was later ruled by a succession of empires: Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Parthia, and various Muslim states. Despite the lack of their own state, an Assyrian national identity continued to exist until modern-day.
Doomsday[]
On Doomsday, no nuclear strikes occurred in Iraq, which controlled Assyria at the time. However, with the destruction of the United States and Soviet Union, Iraq was able to rise and become a major military power. It immediately began to consolidate its position and delivered a major defeat upon Iran, occupying several of their western provinces.
Iraq-Iran War[]
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of what he perceived to be disorder in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and its unpopularity with Western governments. The once-strong Iranian military had been disbanded during the revolution. Saddam sought to expand Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf by acquiring territories that Iraq had claimed earlier from Iran during the Shah's rule. Of chief importance to Iraq was Khuzestan which not only has a substantial Arab population, but boasted rich oil fields as well. On the unilateral behalf of the United Arab Emirates, the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs became objectives as well. On 22 September 1980 the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran-Iraq War.
Although Saddam Hussein's forces made several early advances, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push the Iraqi army back into Iraq. Khomeini sought to export his Islamic revolution westward into Iraq, especially on the majority Shi'a Arabs living in the country.
After the failure of their 1982 summer offensives, Iran believed that a major effort along the entire breadth of the front would yield the victory that they desired. Iranian numerical superiority might have achieved a break-through if they had attacked across all parts of the front at the same time, but they still lacked the organization for that type of assault. Iran was getting supplies from countries such as North Korea, Libya, and China. The Iraqis had more suppliers such as the USSR, the NATO nations, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. During the course of 1983, the Iranians launched five major assaults along the front. None met with substantial success. Khomeini's position on a truce remained unchanged.
The stalemate of the war would soon change, however, when Doomsday occurred. Both countries were spared from direct attacks, but fallout coming from the Soviet Union, as well as refugees fleeing for their lives, would soon cripple Iran, forcing it to halt all Iranian military offensives, as it was trying to ease the influx of fleeing Soviet citizens. Although both countries were effectively cut off from foreign aid, Iraq had the upper hand regarding military equipment. Unhindered by any retaliation by the destroyed superpowers, Saddam Hussein started to massively produce chemical weapons, bombing more than eleven Iranian cities with these weapons, as well as bombing the front lines, trying to mount an offensive of his own.
This would prove successful, as during one of these bombing raids on Tehran the Grand Ayatollah, Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, was killed during a joint prayer for all who were lost during the cataclysm that had occurred months before, along with a substantial part of Iranian leadership. Coupled by the loss of many high ranking leaders, the Iranian forces started to crumble during Iraq's relentless assaults.
However, Ali Khamenei managed to survive the attack on Tehran, as he was at the front line giving support to Iranian forces. He barely managed to escape when Iraqi forces broke through Iranian lines and he successfully returned to Tehran to find over 10,000 people had been killed during the Tehran air raid. The Iraqis would gain ground, pushing the front to a line from the city of Kermanshah to the north to the city of Ahvaz to the south. After a stalemate had developed on this line for several years, Khamenei had no choice but to concede to Iraqi demands and give them the occupied territories, along with Kharg Island on April 15th 1986.
Independence[]
In 1990, Iran detonated a radiological bomb in central Baghdad during a speech being made by Saddam Hussein. As a result, much of Iraq's senior leadership was killed and the country began to slide into chaos. In the north, the Kurds launched an invasion of northern Iraq to liberate the Iraqi Kurds. To the east, the Iranians began an offensive to liberate their occupied provinces and also conquered several southern Iraqi provinces. As a result of this chaos, Assyrian leaders assembled in Tel Keppe and proclaimed Assyrian independence. Due to Iraqi preoccupation elsewhere, they were unable to end the Assyrian independence. However, Kurdistan had successfully conquered much of northern Iraq and came to surround Assyria. Many Assyrians feared the Kurds would end their independence and annex their territory. However, the Kurds sympathized with the Assyrian plight and desire for independence, so they allowed their independence. The Assyrian-Kurdish Treaty of Cooperation and Friendship solidified the alliance between the two states and integrated their economies.
Modern Assyria[]
Today, Assyria is a prosperous nation within the borders of Kurdistan. Thanks to direct access to the Kurdish economy, Assyria has become a center of banking, finance, and commerce in the Middle East. Entrepreneurial Assyrians have established major businesses in Kurdistan, neighboring Iran, and as far away as Israel. Due to the military protection of Kurdistan, Assyria has been free to develop its economy. However, Assyria did deploy troops to assist the Kurds in several wars, such as the Hatayan-Kurdish War. Currently, a debate is taking place within Assyria about whether to retake control of their foreign policy from Kurdistan, marking a major step in Assyrian progress. At the moment, the debate appears to be leaning towards domestic control of foreign policy.
Government[]
Assyria is a parliamentary democracy. The chief of state is the President, who retains only ceremonial powers. The head of state, and the de facto leader of Assyria, is the Premier who is also leader of the largest coalition/party in the Parliament. The Kurdish Parliament is the highest legislative organ in the nation. It decides on all national political affairs. Due to its small population, Assyria also has a high level of direct democratic participation. Normal citizens are allowed to lobby Parliament, and citizens can introduce laws directly to Parliament. In addition, many major policy areas, such as economic policy, can only be changed by a direct referendum.
Economy[]
The modern Kurdish economy is mainly focused around banking and international commerce. As one of the few non-Muslim nations in the region, Assyria has the largest number of non-Islamic banks in the Middle East per capita. This has enabled them to establish themselves as a center of foreign investment and regional banking. Assyria is also beginning to invest in the development of modern industries, such as electronics and telecommunications, which will operate well with its small population.
Military[]
The Assyrian Defense Force is the military of the United Assyrian Republic. It is composed of the Assyrian Guard and Assyrian Air Force. The Assyrian Guard is a small, defensive force for the purpose of monitoring Assyria's borders. It primarily acts as a police force, and maintains a high level of cooperation with the Kurdish military. The Assyrian Air Force is a collection of primarily aerial patrol planes and three fighter jets gifted to Assyria by Kurdistan. Its primarily duty is to assist in the monitoring of Assyria's borders and search and rescue. Like the Guard, it also maintains a high level of cooperation with its Kurdish counterpart.
Sports[]
Assyria is a member of FIFA.
International relations[]
Due to its size, Assyria is a de facto protectorate of the Republic of Kurdistan, which also oversees all Assyrian foreign affairs. It has no direct relations with any other country.
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