Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

[londontsi]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=c5789acc336ab258b371f205d&id=a8620f5ece&e=96c3db1f4a

Kesab Crisis

Syria's Armenian Villages of Kesab Targeted by Al-Qaeda Front Groups in Cross-Border Attack from Turkey

Reports cite 80 Dead; Civilian Hostages Taken; Churches Desecrated

KESAB, SYRIA - The Armenian populated villages of Kesab (Kessab, Kasab), Syria were the target of three days of brutal cross-border attacks from Turkey by al-Qaeda affiliated armed bands, which have cost 80 lives and forced the civilian population of the area to flee for to neighboring hills, with many seeking safe-haven in the nearby cities of Latakia and Basit.

In a written statement, the Armenian National Committee—International, condemned the attacks and Turkey's active role in aiding and abetting extremist groups in their targeted attacks against the Christian and minority populations in Syria. “For months, we have warned the international community of the imminent threat posed by extremist foreign fighters against the Christian minority population in Syria,” noted the ANC-I statement. “These vicious and unprompted attacks against the Armenian-populated town and villages of Kesab are the latest examples of this violence, actively encouraged by neighboring Turkey. We call upon all states with any influence in the Syrian conflict to use all available means to stop these attacks against the peaceful civilian population of Kesab, to allow them to return to their homes in safety and security. In the last one hundred years, this is the third time that the Armenians are being forced to leave Kesab and in all three cases, Turkey is the aggressor or on the side of the aggressors.”

According to news reports, the armed incursion began on Friday, March 21, 2014, at 5:45a.m., with rebels associated with Al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front, Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham crossing the Turkish border and attacking the Armenian civilian population of Kesab. The attackers immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kesab, including a strategic hill known as Observatory 45 and later took over the border crossing point with Turkey. Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages.

According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers crossed the Turkish border with Syria openly passing through Turkish military barracks. According to Turkish media reports, the attackers carried their injured back to Turkey for treatment in the town of Yayladagi.

Some 670 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kesab, were evacuated by the local Armenian community leadership to safer areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia. Ten to fifteen families with relations too elderly to move were either unable to leave or chose to stay in their homes.

On Saturday, March 22, Syrian troops launched a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain the border crossing point, eye-witnesses and state media reported. However, on Sunday, March 23, the extremist groups once again entered the town of Kesab, took the remaining Armenian families hostage, desecrated the town’s three Armenian churches, pillaging local residences and occupying the town and surrounding villages.

Located in the northwestern corner of Syria, near the border with Turkey, Kesab had, until very recently evaded major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population had increased in recently years with the city serving as safe-haven for those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.

Assad Regime Protests Turkey's Involvement to United Nations

The latest onslaught on Kesab has prompted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to protest to the United Nations that Turkey was providing cover to rebels crossing the border from its territory. In a message to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Damascus demanded that the Security Council denounce what it called a terrorist attack on Syrian territory.

Syrian state television made reference to the fighting in a breaking news alert, saying the army was "tackling attempts by terrorist gangs to infiltrate from Turkish territory and attack border crossings in northern Latakia province."

Turkey Downs Syrian Fighter Jet

On March 23, Turkey said its fighter jets shot down a Syrian jet after it crossed into Turkish airspace.

Syria denied that its jet had violated Turkish airspace and, according to Agence France-Presse, accused Turkey of “a flagrant act of aggression that is evidence of Erdoğan’s support for terrorist groups.” The MIG-23 jets were reportedly flying a support mission to assist ground forces repelling extremist fighters which had infiltrated from Turkey into Kesab.

"The international community should restrain Turkey to stop this and similar anti-Armenian operations and in general it antagonistic policy against Armenia and the Armenian people" concludes the ANC International’s statement.

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

EXCLUSIVE: TURKISH MILITARY POUNDS SYRIAN ARMY BASES NEAR BORDER

Al-Alam, Iran
March 26 2014

Turkish military tanks have targeted Syrian army bases in the Kasab
border town, where the Syrian army has been battling numerous militant
groups to secure the border.

According to Al-Alam reporter in Syria's Latakia, a huge explosion
was heard at a Syrian army base near Kasab after Turkish military
targeted the area.

The explosion has been followed with Turkish military firing several
other rockets at Syrian army bases, the reporter said citing military
sources.

The report said, Al-Qaeda's al-Nusra front have raised their flags
over several Turkish military tanks near Kasab, as a sign of having
the area under their control.

Syria has been criticizing Turkey for 'covering for' militant groups
and helping them occupy the Syrian border.

On Sunday, Turkish military shot down a Syrian fighter jet at the
Syrian side of the common borders with Turkey, as it was engaged in
fighting with extremist foreign-backed militants.

Kasab and its surrounding villages are Armenian Christian-dominated
areas, and their value is primarily because of their location near
the Turkish border.

Having the town in their control, militant factions not only are able
to smuggle in arms for themselves, but are able to demand a cut when
other factions use those crossings.

SHI/SHI

http://en.alalam.ir/news/1579078#

[Federate]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

There's a video in the link.
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Youths Protesters In Yerevan Draw UN Attention To Syrian Armenians’ Plight

Dozens of young people in Yerevan on Wednesday marched towards the United Nations office in the Armenian capital to draw the attention of international bodies to the plight of Syrian Armenians.

They, in particular, raised concerns over the fate of the mostly Armenian-populated town of Kesab in northwestern Syria that was seized by Islamic militants in recent days, which led to the evacuation of hundreds of ethnic Armenian families.

Activists in Yerevan stressed Turkey’s role in the aggression against Kesab as al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist groups had penetrated into Syria from Turkish territory.

“The process is essentially a continuation of the genocide. Turkey has set the task of clearing its whole border from Armenians. With our unity we want to show to the Syrian Armenians that the Armenian nation is not indifferent to their issue and that we support them,” member of the initiative group Armen Mkhitarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am).

The action participants handed a corresponding letter to the UN office after reading it out.

Hranush Aloyan, another activist, said: “First, we call for maintaining international peace and security and for that purpose for initiating consolidated effective measures to prevent and eliminate threats to peace as well as other acts of aggression that disturb peace. And the United Nations, by its silence, in fact, supports Turkey’s illegal activities. We call for the condemnation of Turkey’s illegal acts.”

Earlier this week Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian also raised the issue of Kesab on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague. He expressed Armenia’s “deep concern” over the situation around the Syrian town, describing it as “a serious challenge to 21st-century mechanisms of protecting ethnic minorities.”

Sarkisian said he had instructed Armenian diplomats at the United Nations to press officials to take action to ensure the safety of the Armenians from Kesab.

Meanwhile, a six-member Armenian parliamentary delegation left for Syria on Tuesday to address the situation surrounding Kesab on the spot. They are expected to inform their colleagues in Yerevan on the situation there upon returning home.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/25310664.html

[Federate]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Group of Armenia citizens ready to defend Syria’s Armenian-populated areas (PHOTOS)

YEREVAN. – There are volunteers in Armenia who have expressed a wish to set up a volunteer detachment and head to Syria to protect the Armenian-populated areas (PHOTOS).

Several dozens of Armenian citizens, who on Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of the UN Office in Armenia, told the aforementioned to reporters.

“We want to form a 20-30 member detachment. We will inform the [Armenian] government about this idea.

“[But] for the most part, this detachment can help the Syrian Armenians emotionally, so they sense that their compatriots stand with them, and they will be with them at the moment of need,” initiative member Arman Mkhitaryan told Armenian-NEWS.am.

In his words, however, the UN’s silence on this matter is strange.

“We want to remind this organization the objectives it is called to serve. We condemn the UN’s silence; this is a crime, a silent acquiescence to Turkey’s actions,” Mkhitaryan added.

Subsequently, the protestors handed a respective letter to the UN Office in Armenia.

In the early morning on March 21, armed militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra Islamic terrorist group infiltrated into northern Syria’s Latakia Governorate, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians and Alawites, from four directions. Two large groups of terrorists had launched the attack from Turkey. About 600 Kessab-Armenian families are currently sheltered in Latakia city. On March 23, Turkish fighter planes downed a Syrian military aircraft that was conducting a mission against the Islamic terrorists in Kessab. On Monday, a group of Armenian parliament members headed to Latakia.

http://news.am/eng/news/200954.html

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Armenian paramilitary groups need to be formed. I think we need something like a Hezbala - a armed wing of Armenians not a part of the Armenian government but supported by it. We have the demand for such a group since our diaspora includes dangerous areas where Armenians are targeted. These diasporans need protection. Some of the things i have been advocating for many years are finely coming to life and perhaps we can work on this issue also.

[Federate]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Artsakh parliamentarian on Kessab.

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

AN APPEAL TO ALL ARMENIANS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FROM THE ARMENIANS IN KESSAB

THIS LETTER HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY KESSABTSIS BEING GIVEN REFUGE BY THE ARMENIAN CHURCH IN LATTAKIA.

25.3.14

On Mother's Day, March 21, 2014, our beautiful town was brutally
attacked by Al-Qaeda extremists and Al-Nusra front that is linked to
Al Qaeda, with the blessings and full military and logistical support
of the Turkish government.

Before sunrise, we woke up to the horror of a shower of missiles
and rockets falling on our town. Thousands of extremists crossed
the borders towards our town. Missiles were fired from Turkey to
destroy beautiful Kessab and to celebrate the approach of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Kesabtsi heroes defended the
town with their simple hunting weapons until more forces from the
Syrian government came to fight back the horrific attack on our town.

If Kessabtsis were not informed to leave their houses by those heroes,
the world would have silently witnessed yet another genocide and
stood by, while the media gave them yet another version of lies.

Kessab has always been home to thousands of Armenians for centuries.

The first agonizing tragedy in Kesab happened in April 1909, when
a rabble of thousands of Turkish men attacked Kessab, robbing and
burning houses. 161 Armenians were killed in this brutal attack. In
1915, during the Armenian genocide, Turkish troops came into Kessab
and started deporting Armenians and killed almost 5000 Armenian people
from Kessab. The Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks in 1915
took the lives of one and a half million Armenians. More Armenians are
getting killed and will get killed in Syria if nothing is done. The
Arabs in Syria took us in then, took care of us, helped us back on our
feet, and helped us survive through that horrible memory of death and
destruction and we will be eternally grateful to them. Since then we
lived in peace and harmony with other sects, like a huge family in
a home called Syria.

Today, we need help once again, because, sadly, the Turkish government
dared to attack Armenians one more time ignoring the Armenian case.

With this act, Turkey has refused, yet again, to recognize the
Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks and is assisting in
the murder of more Armenians in Syria. We have nothing against the
Turkish people. We have lived as neighbors with them and want to
continue to live as neighbors with them. It is the Turkish government,
supporting and facilitating the murder of Kessabtsis by terrorists,
that we plea against. We just want our town back, or what's remained
of it. Because there is a lot of videos on Youtube that show how
those extremists are destroying and burning our beautiful town. All
Syria knows that, wherever those extremists get in, only death and
destruction is left behind.

Our homes have been taken from us, centuries of our heritage have
been destroyed.

This is a call to all Armenians. This is a call to humanity. The world
needs to hear the truth. Erdogan and his government are war criminals.

We need your help. We need you to take action. Our lives hang in the
chance that you will do something to make sure we too don't die. We
were forced out of our homes and our town with nothing but the clothes
we wear. If we stayed to gather even the bare necessities, we would
have definitely died. Most of us cannot even escape because we don't
have our passports or documents of identification. Please, invoke the
intervention of your governments, of the UN, of any other authority
that you believe can help us. All we want to do is to live. If you
ignore this, we all will die a horrible death at the hands of these
terrorists, by being butchered in cold blood like many other Armenians
in Aleppo, Yacoubiyeh, Ghenemiyeh, and around Syria.

Those who you call rebels are extremists who came to Syria for jihad
with many nationalities in it like Afghans, Chechen, Saudis etc.

Kessabtsis and all of Syria saw them and were attacked and killed by
them. The media can't hide the truth forever. You can't manipulate
the lives of people forever. Those whom you call rebels were targeting
and attacking civilians. Wake up, please.

Don't you think enough innocent blood has been spilled? Don't you
think enough destruction has been done? We all lived peacefully and
happily just three years ago. This is not a revolution, this is war.

And the Syrian army is now in Kessab fighting to make sure Armenians
will go back to their homes safely.

P.S.: This letter has been written by Kessabtsis being given refuge
by the Armenian Church in Lattakia.

http://armeniaca-haygagank.blogspot.com/2014/03/an-appeal-to-all-armenians-throughout.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=e mail&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Armeniaca-+%28ARMENIACA+-+Õ~@Ô±Õ...Ô¿Ô±Ô¿Ô±Õ~FÕ"%29

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Why cant it be turkey acting alone?... After blocking Twitter and Google and on the eve of elections erdogan could use a distraction or two. The attack on Kessab, the downing of the Mig-23 in my opinion is exactly this.
Also I feel like turkey's government support of the islamist terrorist attack on Kessab is a response to this Crimean-Tatars-Will-Have-to-Vacate-Land, since the turks have always been the protectors of Islam around the Black Sea coast and vise versa the Russians protectors of Christians in Asia Minor. Think of it as retaliation...

But opinions are worthless without backing it up with at least a few hard facts. Hard facts seem to be the rarest things to find these days.

From http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist...-quagmire.html

The Turkish F-16's downing of a Syrian MiG-23 over the past weekend has, in the meantime, demonstrated that there has been an increased risk for Turkey to be drawn into the Syrian conflict. This is because the intensified fighting taking place inside Syria next to the Turkish border region has the potential to bring Turkish and Syrian fighters closer to each other more frequently than before, risking similar incidents to the downing of the plane over the past weekend.

Added to the concern is the tension in Turkey that has stemmed from government attempts to foil the high-profile corruption and bribery scandal.

There are speculations that the Turkish military could have avoided downing the Syrian fighter, even if it briefly violated Turkish airspace, if it had not received orders to down it from the government. The opposition parties have been blaming Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in particular, for triggering the downing of the Syrian jet ahead of local elections on March 30, this Sunday, to distract attention from the major graft probe that allegedly implicated himself and his family, too.

In fact, Erdoğan announced the downing of the Syrian aircraft at an election rally, congratulating the military on its success, which has strengthened speculations that the downing of the Syrian fighter might have been another attempt to distract the Turkish public from the graft scandal ahead of the local elections.

Just look at that "AN APPEAL TO ALL ARMENIANS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD" letter - it has a complete lack of hard facts, yet makes allegations that, if just backed up by evidence and more detail, would create an international diplomatic scandal. But instead it indulges in off-topic "genocide recognition" rhetoric and references to things that took place in 1909. As if any of that has any effect on stopping what is happening in Kessab right now. And what is the point of the sentimental "On Mother's Day, March 21, 2014" wording except to raise suspicions that this letter WAS NOT written by someone from Kessab? Yes, March 21 is the official day it is marked in most middle east countries - but the event is a very recent innovation and not widely practiced, and of no significance to those attacking Kessab.

"Missiles were fired from Turkey" - give some evidence to help prove this happened. "Thousands of extremists crossed
the borders" - again, give some evidence, details, anything.

BTW, the owner of that blog, Vartan Matiossian, is a well known propagandist and distorter of history. I question the genuineness of the letter, it does not read true with its lack of detail and its rhetoric and its agenda, and the vagueness of its origin. It seems to have been posted in that blog before it got to more mainstream media sources like here: http://asbarez.com/121135/an-appeal-...ans-of-kessab/

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Mr Bell seems to forget that just because there is no hard proof does not mean said thing did not happen. While there is plenty of proof showing rebels using Turkey s a safe haven the only way to get proof that Turkish leader ordered the downing of the Syrian jet would be a recording of the order itself but such orders are not recorded. Just because there is no proof does not mean that something did not happen.

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

TWO UPDATES ON SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS

First Things
March 26 2014

by Mark Movsesian

Two updates on last week's post about the persecution of Christians
in Syria -one hopeful, one much less so.

First the hopeful one. As I wrote last week, the Islamic State
in Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda affiliate fighting with Syrian
opposition, has succeeded in capturing the town of Raqqa and imposing
the classical dhimma on the town's Christian inhabitants.The dhimma is
a notional contract that Christians make with the Islamic community;
it offers Christians protection and some autonomy in exchange for
their agreement to pay a poll tax called the jizya and to accept
restrictions on their dress, movement, construction of churches, etc.

Although the historical origins are obscure, the dhimma was a standard
concept in classical Islamic law. The Ottomans abandoned the concept
only in the 19th century. Its revival now, even in this limited way,
is a very worrying sign.

In a response to my post, a post at Andrew Sullivan's blog points to
comments condemning ISIL by a scholar at Egypt's al-Azhar University,
the leading center of Sunni Islamic learning. The scholar, Sheikh
Abdul Zahir Shehata, maintains that Islamic law makes imposition of
the dhimma illegal in these circumstances. ISIL's collection of the
jizya , he says, is "a form of theft that uses religion as a cover."

It's gratifying to see someone from al-Azhar making the point. But
there is a certain ambiguity in Shehata's remarks. If you read them
closely, you see that he is not necessarily condemning the jizya as
such, only its collection by a renegade group:

"ISIL contradicts itself," Shehata said. "On the one hand they say
they are implementing the provisions of Islamic sharia, including the
'jizya', however the Islamic state must be a full-fledged state and
recognised by its citizens and subjects, which is not the case in
the areas where ISIL is imposing its control by force and bloodshed."

Maybe it's a problem with the translation, or perhaps one has to
read the whole interview to understand Shehata's point. But it's
important to focus on the nuances. Perhaps Shehata's real point
is that only a true Islamic law state, not a band of rebels acting
outside government authority, may impose the jizya-in which case,
Syria's Christians may find his rejection of ISIL's actions less
reassuring than first appears.

The less hopeful update: over the weekend, fighters with a different
al-Qaeda offshoot in the opposition, a rival of ISIL known as the Nusra
Front, captured the Armenian Christian town of Kessab. The fighters
crossed the border from Turkey, where their bases are located, and
attacked the town on Friday. By Sunday, it had fallen.

Thousands of Kessab's Christians-some of whom had sought refuge from
Raqqa-have fled to the nearby city of Latakia, where they receiving
assistance from the local community, the Red Cross, and Red Crescent.

Eyewitnesses report that the Nusra Front has looted Christian homes
and stores and desecrated churches in Kessab.

Many Armenian Christians in Kessab descend from refugees who fled
the last great persecution of Christians in the region, the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-itself a byproduct, in part, of a jihad the Ottoman
Empire declared against Christians during World War I. The sad ironies
will not escape any of the Christians in Syria today.

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/03/two-updates-on-syrias-christians