Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO
Assyrian Democratic Organization
Political Bureau
Syria
15 April 2005
Letter of Congratulation to Mr. Jalal Al-Talabani on the Occasion of His Election as President of Republic of Iraq
Mr.Jalal Al-Talabani
President of Republic of Iraq
Your Excellency
On behalf of the Assyrian Democratic Organization we extend to you and through you to the Iraqi people, our sincerest congratulations on the occasion of electing you the president of the new Iraq. We hope that you will succeed in navigating the ship of Iraq to the shores of safety, stability and prosperity in a secular, democratic, federal, diverse and unified country that will serve as a model in the region for diversity and unity, and a real home for all its sons, the Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Armenians and Syriac ChaldoAssyrians, all living together in a broad and beautiful mosaic picture.
Your Excellency
Our Syriac ChaldoAssyrian people, who have suffered much repression, despotism, discrimination and neglect, as all other Iraqis, are hoping that the new Iraq would guarantee its legitimate rights – political, administrative and cultural – within the structure of a unified Iraq similar to the other ethnic minorities, as well as its rights of self-rule in the areas where they constitute a majority in the Nineva Plain, within the framework of any federal divisions agreed upon. Also, our people are looking forward to be fairly represented in the draft constitution committee, as well as in the forthcoming Iraqi constitution, and further trusts that the fraud it was subjected to during the parliamentary elections would not be repeated. Furthermore, we are hoping that all the encroachments, during the bygone regime, on the lands and villages of our people in Iraq would be properly settled, so that Iraq would become a place of justice, freedom and equality
Your Excellency
We have great confidence in you . We have always known you as a friend and a sympathizer for the causes of our people in Iraq, and a staunch supporter of the right of all minorities amongst them our Syriac ChaldoAssyrian people, whether during the period of your resistance for the freedom of Iraq or after the liberation. Moreover, we have no doubt, that in the present and the future you will abide by the same principles in defending the rights of all the Iraqis, as you have always done when defending the cause of your Kurdish people. Those who have tasted the bitterness of deprivation and injustice, are capable of understanding and appreciating the suffering and the rights of other people .
Your Excellency
We see in your election as the president of Iraq the beginning of a new era for the region. An era that will consolidate the right of citizenship regardless of religion or ethnicity and will further break the walls of separatism, discrimination or favoritism, an era of freedom, democracy and human rights. You will serve as an example, Mr. President, for those who will come after you. Your success in your mission as the president for all Iraq and Iraqis will lay the foundation for a new human and patriotic reality, a new democratic paradigm that would be followed in the future; but in case of failure, God forbid, the dream of democracy, freedom and liberation will come to an end.
Your Excellency
We are confident that you will succeed in your undertaking to rebuild a democratic, safe and stable Iraq and to defeat all forces of darkness and terror who seek to destroy the democratic experience there .
Once again, our sincerest congratulation to your person, to the Kurdish and Iraqi people, wishing Iraq and Iraqis a bright future and prosperity .
Yours Sincerely
