The Deputy Prime Minister of the region is Syriac Christian Elizabeth Gawrie.[6]
Persecution by the Assad government
The Syriac Union Party has been subject to continued repression by the Assad government during the civil war, despite being part of the nonviolent and officially-tolerated domestic opposition National Coordination Body. On 6 June 2013, government forces raided the Qamishli home of SUP Executive Committee member Rubel Gabriel Bahho, arresting and subsequently imprisoning him.[7] On 12 August 2013, security forces apprehended SUP vice-president Sait Malki Cosar—the father of Sutoro leader Johann Cosar—as he disembarked at Qamishli Airport following a visit to Switzerland, where he holds dual citizenship.[8] After being detained in Qamishli for several days, Cosar was transferred to a prison near Damascus and contact with him was lost.[9] Neither party official is known to have been formally charged or tried in court, and neither has been released or heard from since their imprisonment.[10] Their fates remain unknown as of February 2014.
Cosar is rumoured to have died under shadowy circumstances while in custody.[9] The government produced a death certificate for Cosar that stated he died in Damascus of supposed "cardiac arrest" at either 10:00[11] or 10:25[8] PM on the day of his arrest, even though his flight did not even land in Qamishli until 10:30 PM.[8] But despite requests from both the SUP and Cosar's family, government officials have refused to release his body.[9] Cosar's relatives reportedly managed to track down the doctors in Damascus who signed the death certificate, who told them that the government frequently forces doctors to sign death certificates for detainees without allowing them to even see a corpse.[8][11] Friends, family members, and party colleagues alike believe that Cosar may still be alive,[8] and have alleged that the government is trying to conceal the fact that he has been tortured in custody.[11]
Activities in Europe
On 15 August 2012, members of Syriac Union Party stormed the Syrian embassy in Stockholm in protest of the Syrian government. A dozen of its members were later detained by Swedish police.[12]
^"Qamishli's Cold War". Middle East Online. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
^Carl Drott (18 November 2013). "Qamishli's Cold War". Le Monde Diplomatique. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
^ abcdeZihlmann, Oliver; Florian Imbach; Daniel Glaus; Claudia Schmid (26 January 2014). "Schweizer in Syrien verschollen" (in German). Sonntags Zeitung. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
^ abc"Syriac Leader Arrested by Assad-Regime"(PDF). ESU Newsletter: The Voice of the Syriacs. European Syriac Union. Issue no. 29. October 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
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