JINHA

NEWS CENTER –The Bethnathrin National Council (MUB) has wished a happy Akitu to Assyrians and called on Assyrian and Syriac people to escalate their struggle for freedom this year.

"The April 1 holiday of Akitu has been celebrated in Mesopotamia since thousands of years before Christ with magnificent festivals and ceremonies," said the MUB. "Like many civilizational and cultural products, the April 1 holiday has been under attack and has lost its manificence." The statement pointed out that the dictatorships and racist regimes of the 20^th and 21^st centuries had cast a shadow over the ancient holiday, attempting to outlaw and forget the day.

"Developments in the Middle East have now weakened and destroyed the denialist status quo," said the MUB. "The dynamic force of oppressed peoples is beginning to emerge again, with their search for freedom turning into a national resistance."

Over the last few months, Daesh forces have been brutally attacking Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean Christian villages in Rojava, abducting hundreds of women and killing many men. Assyrian self-defense forces in Rojava have worked with the YPG/YPJ to push Daesh back from the Assyrian people's homeland in Mesopotamia.

"We must celebrate the 2015 Akitu national holiday by uniting our forces, increasing our resistance, bringing the voice of our people to the whole world, and demanding our rights and our law," said the MUB.

(şg/fk/cm)