An attack from Turkey to Armenian-populated Kessab
The population of Armenian-populated Kessab settlement located in the north-west of Syria evacuated Latakia. On March 21, early in the morning, the armed groups crossed the Syrian border and attacked Kessab Armenian-populated region and the surrounding villages. According to witnesses, missiles were released from Turkish border in the direction of Kessab. The Syrian army was positioned in Kessab and nearby, whereas the Syrian rebels were operating from the Turkish side. As told by the mass media migrants, in the result of the attacks by the Syrian rebels and Turks, the last Armenians abandoned Kessab. On Sunday, it was already known that as of March 22 evening Kessab village inhabitants have been completely displaced in Latakia.
During the war in Syria, Turkey, as it is known, supported the Syrian rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. During the three years of Syrian crisis, Alavi were controlling Latakia and the entire Mediterranean Sea area Alavi residence regions up to the Turkish border, but the government forces had lost control at the border crossing points with Turkey, except Kessab, which also passed under the control of the rebels. On Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan approved that Turkish air force had destroyed a Syrian aircraft, reported Hurriyetdailynews.com. Turkish media also reported that Syrian aircraft violated the Syrian air border in the north-west of Syria, near Armenian-populated Kessab village.
During the three years of Syrian conflict, Kessab was a safe shelter for Armenians living in other regions of Syria, however, a few days ago the Syrian Armenians appeared in the center of a new conflict. It’s been a long time since Syria’s Armenian-populated Kessab had become the target of the Syrian armed forces. As conveyed by “CivilNet” on Sunday, Aram I, the head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia had sent clergymen from Anthelia to Latakia, so that they carry out an on-site assessment of the situation and the needs of families displaced from Kessab. As conveyed by the Director of Lebanon’s “Howard Karagyozyan” Foundation, Serop Ohanian, the Aleppo emergency authority had established a Sub-Committee in Latakia for Armenian who had abandoned their homes in Kessab. As per initial estimate, currently there are 600 Kessab families in Latakia, some of which had stayed in with their relatives, others in local Armenian church of Holy Mother. The UN Office of High Commissioner for Refugees is also informed about the situation. The Armenian Apostolic Church clergyman Father Miron Avetisyan and the Armenian Evangelical Church Rev. Sevak Trashyan informed that there is a need for urgent financial aid. As said by Serop Ohanian, many of Armenian families who fled from Kessab from the very beginning of attack had come completely unprepared, some of them even did not manage to pick up their passports or identification documents with them. Yesterday, the officially Yerevan, first reported by the level of Foreign Ministry Press Spokesman that Armenia’s authorities are still watching the situation, trying to look for ways to support people. Later, NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan to the question of “Heritage” MP Tevan Poghosyan of what actions they are planned on this issue, answered, “All of us are concerned. We are not entitled to interfere in the internal affairs of this state. In my opinion, it’s a deeper problem, and I think that the MPs should also be aware of, we are organizing a hearing with respective Ministry.” Later, Serzh Sargsyan made a statement on the events in Kessab. He reminded that the first scourge was back in April 1909 when the Turkish armed detachments invaded Kessab, he also mentioned the year of 1915, when Kessab population also experienced exile and migration. “The third deportation of Kessab Armenians today is a serious challenge to ethnic minority rights’ protection mechanisms of the 21st century. I think that everyone should realize that these parallels should sober all the sides,” underlined Serzh Sargsyan, expressing thanks to the Syrian authorities for the steps being taken for the sake of protecting Kessab Armenians. “I have already instructed the diplomatic missions at the UN Headquarters in New-York and Geneva to raise the issue of ensuring the security of the Armenians in Kessab and their safe return to their permanent places of residence at the structures dealing with human rights and ethnic minorities,” said S. Sargsyan. President Serzh Sargsyan assured that the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Syria worked on the program of measures to support the Armenians in Kesab. The program will be implemented in a full scale. It is noteworthy that still on June of 2012, the French Le Figaro has informed that Russia had built a new radar station in the north of Syria, at the border with Turkey, which enable following the Syrian rebels in the region of strategic importance to Syrian regime. The newspaper, quoting Western sources, informed that installation of the radar station for Russia solved two issues: it enables following the NATO facilities located in Turkey, firstly, the American base in Adana, as well as enables President Bashar al-Assad to keep track of all those who cross the border to Turkey. “The station is located 30 km north from the port of Latakia, in the neighborhood of Armenian-populated Kessab settlement, which is also inhabited by the Alavi minority representatives supporting the President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In such a situation, the deployment of the radar station could play an important role in the defense of Syrian area, a sector adjacent to Turkish border,” the newspaper wrote. In fact, the deployment of the radar station at the site has become a threat to Armenian populated village and a main target for the Syrian opposition fighters. What implications may the new tension blazed up in the north-west of Syria in absolutely new situation on the background of West-Iran, West-Russia relationships, it is hard to predict today, however, in the presence of the Russian radar station, the attack by Turkey in the direction of Kessab itself is a remarkable thing.
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