Following two coup d’états in 1968 the Ba’th consolidated its power in the political sphere and worked on luring its political opponents, the ICP and the KDP, by inviting them to join the National Patriotic Front. It also issued laws to draw members of various Iraqi communities closer to it. In the case of Assyrians, Law 251 assured them cultural and linguistic rights and permitted them to establish organizations on the basis of social, cultural, artistic and linguistic objectives in 1973. In this paper I will analyze the interactions between the state and Assyrians, and Assyrians’ inclusion/exclusion during this period. Further, using governmental policies and the Assyrian literary movement as examples, this paper will investigate the complex ways Assyrians reformulated their identity/identities. It will examine the interplay between the ethnic (Assyrian), sectarian (different Assyrian denominations), and national (Iraqi) identities, which also existed within this community. I will trace the developments of these, at times conflicting affiliations, and identify factors that have an impact on them both internally, within the Assyrian community, and externally, within Iraqi society at large. It has been argued that Law 251 was a political tactic used by the Ba’th regime to further its own agenda, but it nevertheless onset a new Assyrian literary and cultural movement. As such, I intend to analyze the role of the Assyrian Cultural Club, and its magazine Murdinn? Atur?y? (The Assyrian Literate) within this movement. This club was a prominent centre for the development of Assyrian literature, popular culture and national aspirations from the 1960s until its closure by the government in the 1980s. I will further use popular culture in the form of music and poetry in addition to written material produced by intellectuals. This will ensure that my research for intellectual production, takes into account-varied segments of the population. Music, musicians, singers, and cassette tapes were fluid and highly mobile, seeping through the borders of the nation state and allowing for the formation of a transnational Assyrian community in constant dialogue. At the same time Assyrians in the 2nd half of the 20th century also identified with the newly created nation-states, and became integrated to various degrees in Iraq. Alongside Assyrian publications, the recently available Ba’thist archives have been valuable in examining government attitudes towards Assyrians during this period.