Lara Zara

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Lara Yussif Zara
ܠܪܐ ܝܘܣܦ ܙܪܐ
لارا يوسف زارا
Assumed office
27 July 2017[1][2]
GovernorNofal Hammadi (2017)
Faiez Abed Jahwareh (2018)
Mansour Marid (2019)
Preceded byFaiez Abed Jahwareh (discharged over allegations of corruption, but later reinstated.)[3]
Personal details
Born1982[4]
Political partyKurdistan Democratic Party[1]
Other political
affiliations		Shlama Entity (2014 elections)[5]
EducationGraduate in economics and management[4]

Lara Yussif Zara (born 1982) is an Assyrian politician who is currently serving as the mayor of Alqosh in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq.[4] A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Zara was appointed to the mayorship in July 2017 by the KDP-led Nineveh Provincial Council after the previous mayor had charges of corruption by the Provincial Council.[6][1][7][4] She is both the first female mayor of Alqosh and the first woman to serve as mayor of any city in Iraq.

Background[edit]

Zara was born in 1982 in the town of Alqosh, and graduated with a bachelors degree in economics and management from Al-Hadba'a University College in Mosul in 2006.[8] For the next three years, she was an Assyrian language teacher in Alqosh, and continued to work as she settled into a permanent-teacher position.[9]

After the Fall of Mosul, when ISIS took over large swathes of the Nineveh Plains from the Iraqi government, Zara stayed back to defend the city with the help of the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Nineveh Plain Protection Units.[10] Pictures of Zara with the Kurdish flag, as well as in military uniform, spread over the internet after her involvement had come to light. It was also from her involvement with the Peshmerga that she joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Zara had previously ran for the 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election under the Shlama Entity, but failed to win any seats.[11] In May 2017, she helped to found the Alqosh branch of the Chaldean League, a now-inactive Assyrian separatist political party founded by Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako.[12]

Mayorship of Alqosh[edit]

In July of 2017, Zara was formally elected to the mayorship of Alqosh by the pro-Kurdish Nineveh Provincial Council. This followed the dismissal of the previous mayor, Faiez Abed Jawareh, over allegations of corruption. He had already been dismissed and reinstated prior, after the installation of KDP-member Adel Amin Omar and protests from residents of Alqosh.[13] Protests once again broke out after the instillment of Zara, with allegations that the KDP was co-opting the Assyrian minority into supporting the planned 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum, and annexing the Nineveh Plain under its territory. [14] Zara argued that only Kurdistan Regional Government can keep the locals of Alqosh safe, mentioning the situation in Mosul as a reason to not trust the federal government in Baghdad.[15] Protestors against Zara's inauguration were subsequently met with harassment and physical force by Kurdish forces, much as Jawareh had faced by the KDP.[16]

In April 2019, Zara welcomed a delegation from the United States, led by Deputy Chief of the American embassy in Iraq and Consul General in Kurdistan Steve Fagan, to Alqosh for the inspection of the Tomb of Prophet Nahum located in the town.[17] In June 2019, she visited the United States and met with American officials to raise awareness of the circumstances of the Christians in the country.[18] The Assyrian Policy Institute was in attendance during the meeting and accused Zara of illegally holding the position of mayor, citing a federal case in Baghdad rendering her election unconstitutional and previous failed attempt to have appealed the results, of which Zara denied the allegations.[19]

Discussions of Zara as the mayor of Alqosh typically note her role as being Iraq's first female mayor. In an interview with the United Nations Development Programme, Zara had hoped that in the future, more women would lead the country's politics through official representation in parliament and other places.[20] Zara has also previously noted that she looks to the future to prevent Assyrians from future emigration outside of Iraq, citing the Assyrian diaspora in the Metro Detroit area.[21]

In November 2021, she announced that with the financial support of the US Government, the Office of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and private donors, the main part of the restoration work on the tomb of Prophet Nahum had been completed; however, the site was not yet ready to be reopened to the public.[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "مجلس نينوى يعلن تعيين مدير جديد لناحية القوش شمال الموصل" (in Arabic). alsumaria.tv. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Christian woman elected mayor of Iraqi town for first time ever". Catholic Herald. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Alqosh, Christian village on faultline of Iraq and Kurdistan". Middle East Eye. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d Fides, Agenzia. "ASIA/IRAQ - Chaldian Catholic Lara Zara elected mayor of Alqosh - Agenzia Fides". www.fides.org. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  5. ^ "قوائم ابناء شعبنا واسماء مرشحيهم المشاركين في انتخابات مجلس النواب العراقي". www.ishtartv.com (in Arabic). 4 April 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  6. ^ Youhana, Rosemary (2019-01-29). "Kurdistan's Curious Democracy". The National Interest. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
  7. ^ "Irak - Élection d'un maire catholique chaldéen". InfoCatho (in French). 8 August 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  8. ^ Fides, Agenzia. "ASIA/IRAQ - Chaldian Catholic Lara Zara elected mayor of Alqosh - Agenzia Fides". www.fides.org. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Despite their skepticism, Lara proved she is up to the task". Kirkuk Now. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Verwüstet von den Jihadisten". jungle.world (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  11. ^ "قوائم ابناء شعبنا واسماء مرشحيهم المشاركين في انتخابات مجلس النواب العراقي". www.ishtartv.com (in Arabic). 4 April 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  12. ^ "Opening an office for the Chaldean League in Alqosh". Chaldean Patriarchite (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Iraqi Christians fear Kurdish agenda behind removal of mayor". World Watch Monitor. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  14. ^ "UNPO: Assyria: Crowds Gather to Protest Mayor's Unfounded Expulsion". unpo.org. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  15. ^ Wilson Face (25 September 2017). "Un irréductible village chrétien en révolte contre le Kurdistan". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Iraq's Indigenous Peoples Can't Face Another Conflict". Foreign Policy. 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  17. ^ "وفد أمريكي عال المستوى يزور بلدة آلقوش الأثرية بمناسبة عيد القيامة" (in Arabic). 23 April 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  18. ^ "Mayor of Al Qosh visits Washington to raise awareness of status of Christians in Iraq of Al Qosh visits Washington to raise awareness of status of Christians in Iraq - Representation in the United States". us.gov.krd. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  19. ^ "API attends Hudson Institute Working Group with Lara Yousif Zara". Assyrian Policy Institute. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  20. ^ "Meet Lara Youssif Zara, the first female mayor of Northern Iraq's Alqosh". United Nations Development Programme. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  21. ^ "Iraqi Christians rebound in Irbil and Alqosh". Washington Times. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  22. ^ "Mayor of Alqosh calls for continued support for Christian town". Kurdistan24. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
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