ADO Head Daoud Daoud: ADO calls on all Syriac-Assyrian people to push peacefully for international recognition of Sayfo Genocide

ZALIN (QAMISHLI), Syria – Daoud Daoud, Head of the Political Bureau of the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) spoke with SuroyoTV about the genocides committed against the Syriac-Assyrian people which began in the mid-19th century and lasted until the early 20th century, demanding the Turkish government to assume its responsibilities towards the victims of those genocides.

Daoud highlighted the massacres committed by Badrakhan, Sultan Abdul Hamid, and other criminals of the Ottoman Empire. The effects of decades of massacres, in effect a decades long genocide, have had profound negative consequences for the Syriac-Assyrian presence in its historical land.

Hundreds of thousands of Syriac-Assyrians were killed in Turkey, said Daoud, making up roughly half of the Syriac-Assyrian population of the region at the time. Hundreds of thousands more were displaced from their homes. Today, there are no more than a few thousand Syriac-Assyrians left in the areas of Tur Abdin and Istanbul.

Daoud clarified the stance of the ADO regarding the Sayfo Genocide, stating that the organization demands the Turkish state to recognize these genocides and commit to its legal, moral, and political responsibilities in this regard.

Daoud called on Syriac-Assyrian people all over the world and urged them through all peaceful methods to push the international community in general and the Turkish state in particular to recognize the Sayfo Genocide.