Ano Jawhar Abdulmaseeh Abdoka, or Ano Abdoka (Syriac: ܐܢܘ ܥܒܕܘܟܐ, Arabic: أنو عبدوكا) is an Assyrian politician who serves as the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since July 2019. Abdoka leads the Shlama Trend for Christian Affairs in the Kurdish region, and he previously led the local committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Ankawa. He is currently the only Assyrian and Christian member of the Kurdish Government's cabinet.
Early life
Abdoka was born to an Assyro-Chaldean family in 1984 in the city of Ankawa, Erbil, where he grew up. While his father's side of his family was directly from Ankawa, his mother's family come from Alqosh. Abdoka graduated with a Diploma in Media from the Technical Institute of Erbil. He attended the University of Kurdistan Hewler, where he holds a bachelor's, master's, and PhD candidacy in Politics and International Relations.
Abdoka has been a lifelong member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, first encountering the party through his involvement in the Kurdistan Student Union organization when he was a teenager.
Career
Abdoka was the head of the Christian department for the Kurdistan TV channel owned by the KDP. In 2013, he established the Shlama Trend for Christian Affairs in 2013 as an NGO and political bloc to defend the social and political interests of Christians in the KRI.
Before swearing in to his position as Transport and Communications Minister, Abdoka took his oath on a centuries-old manuscript damaged by ISIS as a symbolic gesture. Ano stated prior to his ceremony, "It is a challenge that we as Christians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syrians are remaining in the land of our ancestors...The Nineveh Plains, Iraq, Mesopotamia, and Kurdistan are our lands, and we are remaining here with the help of our friends in the Kurdistan Region.” During his tenure as Minister, the Ministry began reforming the transportation sector by outlawing smoking in taxis and buses and implementing regulations with vehicle radios. Moreover, under his directive, he pushed Internet companies to reduce prices and improve Internet speed in the KRI.
In February 2020, Abdoka took part in an official Kurdish delegation to the Vatican City to meet Pope Francis and strengthen relations. In 2021, Abdoka was involved in designating Ankawa as a dedicated district with administrative autonomy. In 2024, he had participated in the arrest of an unnamed man who posted a Tiktok video of himself desecrating a Christian cemetery in Shaqlawa, an event which sparked outrage in Iraq.
Controversy
Abdoka has been previously criticized by Assyrian communities due to his role in the Kurdish Regional Government.
In May 2024, Abdoka created a new Christian Alliance composed of several organizations and political parties representing Armenians and Assyrians. The alliance was created following the removal of minority seats in the 2024 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election, which caused criticism and boycott of the elections by the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The formed alliance was built off of Abdoka's Hammurabi Alliance, which includes the Syriac Assembly Movement, Chaldean National Congress and Chaldean Democratic Party, and the Chaldean League, and starting with the Christian alliance, additional representatives from the Armenian Orthodox Church and Armenian Culture Association. The alliance has previously been criticized for the lack of support of the political parties that were involved, and the formation of the Christian alliance renewed these criticisms against Abdoka.
In 2024, Abdoka continued to face criticism over continued corruption in the Kurdish region and the presence of land grabbing against Assyrians in Ankawa. Speaking to Channel 8, Joseph Sliwa, former member of Parliament, expressed his frustrations with the KDP and land grabbing, including personal regret over his family's involvement in the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict due to the persecution of Assyrians that followed after. Following the rampant criticism, Abdoka made a public statement promising structural and governmental changes to the city of Ankawa, including promotion of the city's municipality and the establishment of a health directorate, among other changes.
Personal life
Abdoka is a Chaldean Catholic and is fluent in Syriac, English, Kurdish and Arabic. Abdoka is also married to a wife from Alqosh. In an interview with Benjamen Kweskin of the Philos Project, Abdoka discussed how he writes poetry.
