Dear countrymen in the homeland and Diaspora:
It has become a tradition in the Diaspora and the homeland to celebrate annually our national day, the New Year, on the first day of Nissan (April), in various public celebrations that represent in their symbolism and meaning the victory over all forms of tyranny and oppression and the determination of our people to keep on living, drawing inspiration from the renewal of nature and rebirth of Tamuz, a new resurrection and potential to recreate and persist. The first of Nissan (April) and the celebration of our people in nature, come to confirm the continuity of our people’s contribution and creativity, its civilized national presence and adherence to its roots and homeland throughout ages from Sumeria, Akkad, Assyria , Aram, Babylonia ending up with the Christian era .

Dear brothers and countrymen
Pressures and threats are increasing on Syria these days, aiming at reconstructing the new Middle East to suit the US strategy as a sole superpower in the world , and further consolidating its hegemony on the area and imposing its agenda and vision, through breaking down all the strongholds and barriers of rejection to its policy . Now, all the indications show that Syria is the next target. No doubt, the ability to confront these threats is waning, with no change and reforms in the offing, especially that , these pressures are accompanied with winds of liberty and democracy that is sweeping the area and finding extremely enthusiastic and receptive reactions amongst all sectors of the Syrian society.
The decision by president Bashar al-Assad to pull out the Syrian troops from Lebanon in response to the UN resolution and the desire and interest of both Lebanese and Syrian people was a step in the right direction, that would strengthen the independence and sovereignty of the two countries, help establish best relations between them and further ease the pressures to a large extent, if not completely stop them.

As a matter of fact, the rehabilitation of the domestic internal situation and putting it in order would, no doubt , strengthen the country and make it immune to the threats and pressures, as well as would break its isolation , and help her restore its role as a member of the international community alongside the modern democratic developing countries . Thus, priority must be given now to the reform of the internal situation. Arrangements should be made for real general reconciliation in the country , far from demagogic calls for reform coming from outside .On top of these arrangements comes , an invitation for holding a broad-based national dialogue convention called and presided by the president of the country , that would involve all components of the political forces in Syrian society, aiming at debating the different issues with transparency , objectivity and high sense of responsibility and seeking to find the best means and ways to bring to life the ailing reform process , through a new reform policy that would consider the political reforms in the country as an introduction for general reforms in all sectors , and within a course that would lead to the renewal and revival of political life, through releasing general freedoms , broadening involvement in political life , issuing a modern democratic law for political parties that would take into consideration the political ethnic and religious diversity in Syria, as well as putting an end to political monopoly and further , consolidating the concept of citizenship and resolving the problem of ethnic diversity within the national framework, on the basis of real democratic principles via constitutionally recognizing our people alongside other ethnicities . Besides, the emergency law as well as all the exceptional courts and laws should be revoked. Political prisoners, amongst them our brothers, who have been arrested against the backdrop of Hassake’s events, should be released. These steps only, when taken, national unity can be reinforced and a strong, stable and flourishing country capable of confronting the various challenges can be built.

While in Iraq, our people like all others, has been through very difficult times owing to the loose security situation and the control of terrorists and killers on the streets of Iraq. Their churches and holy places have been targeted and attacked, many of them have been martyred and many others displaced with the aim of ethnic cleansing. Nevertheless, and in an admirable experiment, that expressed their thirst for freedom and democracy, millions of Iraqis challenged the forces of darkness and terror and participated in the first real parliamentary elections in Iraq’s history. In spite of that, the results of this election did not live up to the expectations and ambitions of our people and did not reflect its true representation because of the splits and divisions amongst them on one hand , and depriving many of them of the right to vote in many towns and villages of Nineva plain on the other, due to the partiality and one-sidedness of these elections and the agreement between the Election’s High Commission and influential parties in the area to diminish and further eliminate the role and participation of our people . The democratic experience can not be corrected by diminishing the rights of minorities and depriving them of their rights, or by subjecting them to the will of the powerful parties. The best model of democracy is , that which guarantees the rights of minorities . Hence, the rights of our people and the other minorities must be safeguarded in the permanent constitution. We take the opportunity of our feast to call upon our people’s various factions and institutions in Iraq, to draw lessons from previous experiences and to unify their forces and speech in preparation for the next elections, the most important of which are, the upcoming parliamentary elections and the permanent constitution drafting commission .

Whereas in Turkey and after long years of tyranny , oppression, ethnic and religious discrimination practiced against our people with the aim of displacing them from their historical towns and villages , the authorities, and in their endeavor to enter the EU, have permitted , our people for the first time , to celebrate their national day, the Assyrian New Year. The initiative to hold this celebration was taken by the community council of the Syriac church in Tor Abedin , this is considered an exemplary step reflecting the true conscience and feeling of our people . Our people everywhere is looking forward to generalizing this experiment so that churches everywhere would take part in one of our most important celebrations.

No doubt, the permission by Turkey to hold this celebration is a positive step, but not a sufficient one to atone for crimes committed against our people. Turkey must reconcile with its past at least its near past , and this can be done only through recognizing the genocide perpetrated by her against our people and the Armenians during the II world war, and further, by its acceptance of all the binding obligations according to the international law resulting from this acknowledgement, such as the right of return, reclaiming the possessions, compensations and legal and constitutional guaranties, in addition to a formal apology.

In Diaspora our people and institutions have shown great dynamism and vitality during the past year in defending and interacting with our various issues and were able to knock the door of international bodies to explain our cause to them, this was revealed through the institutional and political efforts as well as demonstrations and rallies and attempts to promote and build up better relations with governments, parliaments and international organizations and human right societies. As a matter of fact, these accumulated experiences and remarkable connections are considered a great support for the cause of our people, if invested correctly.

The 1^st of April is a festival of nature, a deep –rooted national feast. Our people are looking forward to considering this occasion, a national day for all components of our society. Finally on this occasion we extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes to all our people in the homeland and Diaspora

Assyrian Democratic Organization

Political Bureau

27-3-2005

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