For the past 53 years, the ADO has been viewed as an opposition party by the governments in the Middle East.  In Syria, where the ADO primarily exists, its members have been imprisoned and tortured on multiple occasions.  Despite the pressures, the ADO never backed down and continued fighting for the rights of our people in the homeland.  Its leadership has always been living among the people in the homeland, and is openly active, risking their lives and families.

On July 15, 2010, the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) held a celebration event in the city of Qamishly, Syria to commemorate its 53rd anniversary.  This public event has been annually held for years, where speeches and cultural activity is performed before an audience that usually exceeds 1000 people.  The celebration is attended by our people from the homeland and Diaspora, as well as representatives of political and national parties, and cultural and social organizations.  The guests also understand the risk that they are taking by attending the ADO events, but they do so in support of the Assyrian Democratic Organization.  It is worth noting that events held by the ADO are never granted official permits by the Syrian government, because these permits are only granted to those groups who are affiliated or collaborating with the government.

This year, after the event had begun, and without any prior notification, the Syrian Government Security Services halted the celebration and ordered the attendees to evacuate the premises.  This action sparked a general resentment from all attendees, and reflected the reality of the decline and absence of democracy in the country.  The ADO issued a statement regarding this incident, which can be viewed in English and Arabic at http://www.ado-world.com.

Those of us who grew up in the Middle East understand that this is a typical action by the government and have become accustomed to it.  Democracy is not respected by these regimes and neither is freedom of speech or expression.  These are all foreign concepts to these governments.

What was surprising was the action of some of our own (Assyrian Chaldean Syriac) media sources.  Many of our respectable online media sources reported the information and published it in both Arabic and English in a professional manner.  However, it was stunning to see what “Suroyo TV” had done and how they reported the news.

Suroyo TV decided to twist the news and modify it according to their desire and then broadcast it however they saw fit.  The TV station took the news about this incident and reported it as if nothing happened and claimed that the ADO held its celebration normally and neglected to mention what the government forces had done.  They also manufactured pictures of previous celebrations from last year and other ADO events and promoted some of them as if they belonged to this year’s celebration.  Some of the pictures were not even of ADO events in Syria but rather of events held in Diaspora dating as far back as 2007.  This is reminiscent of how dictatorships broadcast information on their TV stations to only show what helps their own agenda.

Suroyo TV’s actions were primarily done to promote the Syrian Regime and show that it is democratic towards our people and that our people are freely doing whatever they wish in Syria without being harassed.  This is far from the truth and the Syrian Regime does not need another mouthpiece to speak on their behalf and promote their agenda.  The question is: Why is Suroyo TV voluntarily doing the dirty work for the Syrian Regime?

In the past few years, Suroyo TV’s reputation among our people has been perceived as being puppets to the Syrian and Turkish governments.  Some have even claimed that Suroyo TV is actually an arm or an employee of Syria’s Mukhabarat and Turkey’s MIT.  Actions such as these put in question everything that is done by the television station, and solidify the claims made by people regarding the suspected hidden agenda of Suroyo TV.

Suroyo TV has continuously claimed to be independent and serving all of our people in a fair manner.  Apparently, this is not true.  It is high time for Suroyo TV to begin serving our people without any biases, as is expected by media sources.  Journalistic integrity is the cornerstone of a media’s credibility.  A media outlet can only rely on its credibility and reputation.  Suroyo TV’s actions will lead to losing its credibility and hurting its reputation, and will cause the public to question everything that is done by the television station.