Chapter 3 analyzes the early period of Baʿthist rule during the 1970s, arguing that the activities of Assyrians in the Iraqi opposition and the influence of diasporic organizations on Western governments led the Baʿth to adopt conciliatory policies. These included Law 251, which extended cultural and linguistic rights to “Speakers of the Syriac Language” in April 1972. Yet rural Assyrians were not fully convinced. The community as a whole continued to navigate between the state and the opposition, negotiating for more rights within the volatile and temporary space opened up under circumstances of political instability.