Armenians and Kurds urge the international community:

Stop the Al Qaida terror against minorities in Syria !

By

Brussels, 25 March 2014 – Ararat News (ANP) – Al Qaida supported fanatic organizations attack and terrorize ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. The Kurdish city of Kobane has been surrounded and heavily attacked by terrorists in the last four days, while the Armenian population in Kesab (Kessab) has been forced with terror to leave the city. Kurds and Armenians call the international community, UN, US, EU and Russia to fulfil its obligations and to protect the civil population and the ethnic and religious groups in Syria.

In Hague in Nederland, the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expressed his deep concern over the developments in the Armenian town Kesab: “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 Kesab and their safe return to their permanent places of residence at the structures dealing with human rights and ethnic minority rights issues.”

The Armenian National Committee-International (ANC-I) also strongly condemned the terror attacks against Armenians.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) also called the international community for immediate reaction against the terrorists’ attacks in Kobane, one of the three cantons declared autonomous by the Kurds in Southwest Kurdistan – Rojava (Syria). “We call upon all international organisations including the European Union and the United Nations to take a stance. We call on these organisations to stand by the Kurdish people. We also call upon all human rights activists, civil societies and democratic institutions of the world to be in solidarity with the Kurdish people”, noted the KNK statement. 

The Kurdish organisations underline the role of Turkey in the recent events: “It is a well known fact that these terrorists’ gangs are receiving military and logistical support through the Akcakale border crossing at the Turkish-Syrian border from the Turkish state. It is incomprehensible that the international arena can remain silent in the face of these events.”

Kurds believe that the last weeks closer cooperation between Turkey and Iranian regime against Kurds has activated the terrorist groups. 

Speaking to Ararat News (ANP), PYD Coordinator in the European Union (EU) Abdulselam Mustafa said that the Kurdish city Kobani has been actually surrounded in the last three months, but the attacks became heavier in the last four days when thousands of terrorists approached the city with heavy guns. Over 150 Al Qaida supporters have been killed since the Kurdish New Year Newroz (21 March) until now. The bodies of 28 of them are in the hands of the Kurdish military forces YPG. Over 15 Kurdish fighters also lost their lives.

Thousands of Christians terrorized and forced to flee

Since the beginning of the civil war and terror in Syria, thousands of Armenians, Assyrians and Syriacs Christians have been forced by the Al-Qaida supporters to leave their homes. 

Armenian National Committee-International (ANC-I) also condemned the attacks and Turkey’s active role in supporting extremist groups in their targeted attacks against religious and minority groups 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,” says 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 neighbouring 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”, concludes ANC-I. 

Kesab is historical town with ancient Armenian and Greek/Roman presence. It is located in the west corner of the northern Syria, near the Mediterranean Sea, on the slope of Mount Casius (Aqraa) in the Turkish-Syrian border. Mount Casius was divided by France, which gave half to Turkey and half to Syria, as they did with Ararat Mountain dividing it between Turkey and Armenia.

Kesab is situated about 180 km from Aleppo. Today the town and the surrounding villages are mainly populated by Armenians with around 3000 people population. The town has Armenian Orthodox, Evangelist and Catholic churches. It is just 42 km from the only Armenian village in Turkey, Vakifli Koyu in Samandagi / Antakya.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT KESAB :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesab

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT KURDS IN SYRIA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds_in_Syria
2014-03-25
http://www.araratnews.com/nuce.php?aid=710

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