Gott nytt Akitu 6771

The Babylonian-Assyrian New Year (Akitu) 6771.

The Assyrian people in Syria and all over the world renew their connection to their ancient civilizational and heritage, as well as, their relationship with the mother-land through the celebration of a national holiday, April 1st, the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year (Akitu); thus continuing a rich legacy that is left by their ancestors since the days of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria; where renewal and resurgence are as significant elements as the yearning for freedom and the pursuit to achieve legitimate national rights. As a consequence of these aspirations the Assyrians have suffered, for decades, from oppression, deprivation, and discrimination; therefore they apt strongly for constitutional recognition and guarantees of their national identity and ensuring their national rights on an equal basis with all nationalities in the new, and united Syria.

The classification of Akitu among the national holidays in Syria, in addition to Nowruz, is considered a starting point for consolidating the pillars of the collective Syrian national identity that is based on diversity and consolidating the principle of partnership and equality among all Syrian people.

Our celebrations of Akitu coincide with the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of the Syrian people’s revolution for freedom and dignity, and it comes within weeks of Syria’s National Independence Day, at a time when all the elements of independence, as we know them, are lost by a dictatorial regime that declared war on its people in response to their legitimate demands for freedom, justice, and democracy. The regime has brought foreign armies, sectarian militias, and terrorists from all over the world to subdue the people, and has turned Syria into a failed state; ruins and devastation prevail all over the country, and the people suffer from poverty, hunger, displacement, and asylum, besides accelerated economic collapse. Despite the tragedies and disasters that afflicted the Syrians and the stalemate and intractability of the Syrian question, exemplified by the inability of the international community to implement or reach a political solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

The Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO, on the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution, firmly believes that the aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom, dignity, and democracy, who have made great sacrifices, are still legitimate goals for millions of Syrians, that cannot be ignored despite the failures, tragedies, and disasters that befell them at the hands of the regime and the terrorists. ADO maintains that restoring peace and stability to the country, starting the reconstruction process, returning refugees voluntarily and safely, and removing foreign armies and militias, can only be achieved through implementing a political solution sponsored by the United Nations based on resolution 2254 (with all its articles), starting with the implementation of confidence-building measures that include the release of detainees, disclosure of the fate of the disappeared and forcibly disappeared individuals, the delivery of humanitarian aid to all regions, and then the beginning of the formation of a transitional governing body with full powers, drafting a modern constitution agreed upon by Syrians, and providing a safe and neutral environment for free and fair elections in which all Syrians would participate, at home and abroad, in accordance with the new constitution and under the full supervision of the United Nations, to ensure the transition to a secular democratic system based on the foundations of equal rights and true partnership between all Syrians.

The ADO extends sincere congratulations and blessings to our people in the homeland, the diaspora, and to all Syrians on this occasion of the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year (Akitu), and confirms its continuing struggle to achieve the constitutional recognition of Assyrians and their national rights in Syria and to make their language and culture as national ones and equal to Arabic, Kurdish, and Turcoman.

To achieve these goals, the Assyrian Democratic Organization stresses the importance of promoting joint work with the rest of the Assyrian parties and institutions of our people in the homeland and Diaspora, and its readiness to reach a political understanding to enhances its ability to face the challenges and difficulties that it faces at home.

Glory and eternity to the martyrs of our people and our homeland.

Happy new year.

Syria 31/12/6770 A – 31/03/2021 AD

Assyrian Democratic Organization
The Executive Office