Iraqi National Assembly member Yonadam Yousef Kanna visits University

Yonadam Yousef Kanna, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly and an Assyrian Christian from northern Iraq, visited the California State University Stanislaus campus on August 14 during a visit to the Turlock region.

Kanna was shown the Assyrian Monument in the Vasche Library and met with President Hamid Shirvani during a tour of the campus. The Assyrian Monument is a mounted and framed rubbing from an ancient Chinese monument erected in the eighth century that featured a translation of the Holy Bible by an Assyrian visitor to Emperor Taitsung. 

Kanna, who is also secretary-general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, Iraq’s largest Assyrian political party, served in the Kurdistan administration of northern Iraq, then as minister for public works. He was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council in 2003-04 that was created following the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003. Kanna was elected to the National Assembly of Iraq as head of the Al Rafideen National List in the January and December 2005 elections.  In addition, he is vice chairman of the parliamentarian commission that is forming Iraq’s new constitution.

Kanna met with American Iraqis in the Stanislaus County area as well as San Jose and Los Angeles before heading to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.