Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council


The Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, popularly known as Motwa, is a political party in Iraq that was founded by Sarkis Aghajan, a high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, in 2007. The Party runs Ishtar TV and publishes several different monthly magazines.
The party's main goal is to have the heavily ethnically Assyrian-populated Nineveh plains receive self-administrative government or outright autonomy. The party claims the majority of the population in the Nineveh plains suffers neglect and lack of service because of their Christian faith and Assyrian ethnicity.
The party is closely affiliated with Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Results

In the January Iraqi governorate elections of 2009, the party was part of a coalition that won the Assyrian reserved seats in Baghdad and Ninawa. It officially backed the Chaldean Democratic Union for the Basra seat, which the CDU won.
On July 25, 2009, the party ran for the first time on its own for the 111-member Kurdistan National Assembly. It received over 10,000 votes and won 3 of the 5 reserved Christian seats.
On March 7, 2010, Iraq held its parliamentary elections, where the party won 2 of the 5 reserved seats. The coalition maintained their seats during the 2014 parliamentary elections.

Platform

There are two main issues that the party has based itself on. The first is to establish "self-government" in the Assyrian-inhabited areas of northern Iraq. The area generally includes the Nineveh plains, which compromises the three district of Tel Keppe, Bakhdida, and Al-Shikhan.
The second issue the party bases itself on is to have the three different Assyrian sub-sects all united as under one name in the constitution of Iraq and Kurdistan Region.