Struggles of the Assyrian-Chaldean Minority for the Right to Representation in the Twenty-Fourth Term of the National Assembly: From Denial to Recognition

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, I. R. Iran.

2 , PhD in Iranian Islamic History, Department of History, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, I. R. Iran

10.30484/ganj.2025.3277

Abstract

Purpose: The present study focuses on the deprivation of the Assyrian-Chaldean community from the right to independent parliamentary representation and the process in which they finally acquired this right.
Method and Research Design: In the present study, the historical-analytical method will be used, relying on the minutes of the National Consultative Assembly and archival documents.
Findings and Conclusion: The findings indicate that from the beginning of the Constitutional era, the Assyrian-Chaldeans were legally grouped with the Armenians and shared a common representative. Their efforts to obtain an independent seat in parliament unfolded in successive stages. Unlike other religious minorities, they were entirely denied the right to an independent representative during the Constitutional period. Their attempts were later obstructed by the nationalist ideology of the Reza Shah era. Finally, with the post–World War II rise of human rights concerns and changes in the electoral system, they succeeded in securing an independent seat in the twenty-first parliament. This trajectory illustrates how a minority mobilized its agency to redefine its position within the Iranian nation-state, shaped by the interplay between domestic political dynamics and emerging international norms.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 01 April 2025
  • Revise Date: 08 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 31 May 2025

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