The Assyrian Democratic Organization
Qamishly(SYRIA) – ADO — Martyrdom has been inextricably linked to the lives of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people, which have paid all their dues and duties in pure Christian faith , giving and sacrificing as an expression of their love for life and the rejection of the culture of death. In order to ensure its continued existence , civilization and human legacy , convoys of martyrs have fallen in defense of its identity and national and religious existence .
Perhaps the most serious and severe test it went through was the genocide (Alsevo) committed by Turkish federal authorities in 1915 during the First World War, and claimed the lives of nearly half a million of our people who lost their lives in Tur Abdin, Hikary , Amed , Mardin ,Urmia , alRaha and Azekh districts .. In one of the most heinous crimes of the times, these atrocities have affected the lives of other Christians living in the Ottoman empire like Armenians and Greece. The resonance of this crime still reverberates in the international forums, because firstly , they have changed the demographic features of the area , and secondly, have almost entirely uprooted the Christian presence from their historical homes ,and finally because of the insistence of successive Turkish governments to evade their legal responsibility towards the victims and the international community, because such crimes can not be dropped in the course of time .
The tragedies of our people did not stop at this point, and did not give our people the opportunity to heal its wounds and overcome its plight, for soon the Iraqi army led by the criminal Bakr Sidqi destroyed the peaceful town of “Semmil” on the 7th of August 1933, killing women , children and the elderly. The result was slaying over five thousand innocent people. And this massacre occurred under the eyes of the British Mandatory authorities, and came as a violent and bloody response by the Iraqi government to the peaceful demands of our people for improving their living and ensuring their legitimate national rights within the national framework. This eventually , has opened the door to military intervention in politics, and led to the institutionalization of a culture of violence and made it a base for dealing with all matters relating to national diversity, political and religious issues, or in relations with the neighboring countries. Consequently , this brought devastation on Iraq, the region , and attracted foreign occupation forces and prevented the establishment of a national , modern state founded on the principles of secularism, democracy and human rights, where everybody enjoys justice and equality in accordance with the principle of citizenship.
The suffering of our people and the general Christian population in the occupied Iraq in the twenty-first century , of killing , kidnapping , ethnic cleansing ,forced displacement and attacks on churches and properties by militia as well as Islamic “Takfiri” exclusionist dark forces , calls back to memory all the tragedies that befell this people, signaling to the continuation of the forces of intolerance and hateful religious extremism of the same method that were used during the genocide committed in the early 20th century, and further affirms its determination to implement its plan to empty Iraq and the East of its indigenous Christian population who built with their fellow Muslims and people from other religions , the region’s civilization, and founded the culture of tolerance and brotherhood and co-existence.
There is no doubt that the silence of our partners , the Iraqi government , the Islamic authorities, and with them the international community, as well as the evasion from their responsibilities to protect Christians and to put an end to the injustices , places all before serious moral dilemma and a suspicion of collaboration with the forces of intolerance and exclusionism seeking to dominate Iraq and the region and pushing it further for more fighting and rivalry, and to options incompatible with the aspirations of their peoples in seeking security, peace , stability and in building a modern democratic and prosperous homelands.
The remembering Martyrs Day and recalling the sacrifices of our martyrs Mar Shimon, Ashur Benjamin , Ashour yousef, Feridun Aturaya ,Thoma Aodo Bashar Helmi Boorujy and Francis shabu, and all the martyrs of “ Alsevo” and “ Semmil”, the martyrs who died recently in Iraq, involves , at this stage, an exceptional importance to our people, not for the sake of uncovering the past and agitating hatred, or surrendering to despair and frustration, but because it represents an inspiration of the values and principles for which our martyrs sacrificed, and a framework for unifying the efforts and energies of our people : our churches and institutions at home and abroad and to move forward together on all levels : national, regional and international , in order to draw attention to the open tragedies experienced by our people in Iraq , and to exercise pressure to stop them , and to further disclose the dangers to the future of coexistence and diversity in the entire region. This can be achieved only through united efforts of all the honest forces of our people and through cooperation with all our partners and the forces of good and peace in the nation.
Honor to the great martyrs of our Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people, to the martyrs of our homeland and all peace-loving nations. Shame, and disgrace on the killers, criminals and enemies of Man and peace everywhere .
Syria-early August 2007
The Assyrian Democratic Organization Political Bureau, 6757
