The truth about Syria

[Yervant1]

SEVERAL ALEPPO ARMENIANS KILLED AND INJURED

Lragir.am
Country - 23 February 2015, 11:02

Mortar fire by armed militants at different districts of Aleppo killed
and injured several, the Facebook page of the Gandzasar informed. Sago
Karakyulean and Haroot Aksanean were killed, Jacques Aksanean, Hovsep
Chaloghlean, Avo Zarminean, Levon Barseghean and Nazo Aksanean were
injured.

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/country/view/33665#sthash.v4xT8UbR.dpuf

[Yervant1]

KESSAB AGAIN UNDER SNIPER FIRE - AGOS

16:33 * 26.02.15

The Syrian border town of Kessab, which is mainly populated by ethnic
Armenians, is amid increasing anxiety and fear under the Islamic
State's fresh threats.

Speaking to the Turkish-Armenian publication Agos, a resident of the
city said that the town's Armenian population has is now feeling like
a captive as the confrontations between the conflicting sides continue.

"For us, even the smallest eruption between them costs a life. We
cannot even work in our yards, as we are under snipers' target,"
the source complained.

Reports recently emerged that last year's raid against the town was
partly due also to Turkey's assistance, which shelled the area.

Sounds of bomb explosion are now often heard in the town, which is
not very far from the the Turkish border. The population of Kessab now
leads a battle for survival under the Islamic State's fresh threats.

"We have no other choice than to trust our country's army. No one knows
at all what bargaining is going on over Kessab. Developments evolve
irrespective of our desire. No one can give guarantees that nothing
of the kind will happen ever again. Turkey earlier did not deny the
reports that they have links with what happened to us; neither has
it guaranteed that it won't be repeated. How can we sleep in peace
in such conditions," a resident of Kessab is quoted as saying.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/02/26/kessab/1602036

[Yervant1]

KESSAB-ARMENIANS CONCERNED THAT TURKEY MIGHT PROVOKE ISIS TO TAKE STEPS AGAINST KESSAB

20:26, 26 February, 2015

YEREVAN, 26 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. Kessab-Armenians are concerned
that Turkey might provoke ISIS to take steps against Kessab. This
is what member of the Executive Body for Emergency Help for Diaspora
Armenians Garo Manjigian mentioned in an interview with "Armenpress",
adding that even though that's the Kessab-Armenians' only concern,
there hasn't been any troubling case registered yet.

"Turkey might provoke ISIS, just like it provoked Jabha an Nusra,
which attacked Kessab last year," Manjigian mentioned, adding that
the situation in Kessab is relatively calm and that life is getting
back on track.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/795704/kessab-armenians-concerned-that-turkey-might-provoke-isis-to-take-steps-against-kessab.html

[Yervant1]

`Turkey is responsible of whatever happens in Kessab'

Vahakn KeÅ?iÅ?yan
02.26.2015 09:38 NEWS


People continue their struggle to survive in Kessab, a town on the
border of Syria with Turkey in the Hatay province area. Following the
occupation of the town by Al-Nusra forces last year, the Armenians in
the town had been dispersed, with most of them coming to Vakıflı
Village in Hatay, and had returned after the Syrian army had retaken
the town. However, the people of Kessab now face the threat of ISIS.

We spoke about the most recent developments with a resident of Kessab
who asked to remain unnamed:

`We have no option but to trust the army of our country. We do not
know what kind of a bargain Kessab is used in, yet our fate is
determined by these political events. Our biggest problem is the fact
that we cannot trust our neighbour Turkey. Because we saw Turkey help
armed groups with our own eyes. We witnessed Kessab military stations
being shelled by artillery fire from Turkey. No one can guarantee us
that this will not be repeated. Turkey never denied it was involved in
the previous events, nor did it provide any reassurance that they
would not be repeated. So how are we to sleep peacefully at night?

The political circumstances have turned us into the political hostages
of the conflicting forces. Even the faintest flame between them costs
us our lives. But we have to remain here, because we have no
alternative. Where could we go? We do not want to abandon Kessab. To
leave Kessab would mean that we are cut off from the land. We cannot
live apart from the land. We can't even live in Armenia. All we can do
is to be on alert. We live in fear every day. Snipers target the town,
which means we can't even go and work in the orchards.

Others have already left for Latakia (Lazkiye). It is not easy for
every one to just leave and go. Many who left have returned. We hope
that these incidents our temporary, and we can go back to working in
our orchards. There are 250 students at our schools, and their lessons
continue. In other words, life goes on. Now there is a huge military
regiment opposite Kessab, and we can see it grow by the day. At night
you can see its lights even from Latakia. Four years ago, that
barracks did not exist, yet now it entirely covers the top of Gasios
Mountain. They have plans, but we do not know what they are. The State
of Syria has nothing to say. According to conventions, the border is
protected by Turkey, which means anything that happens in Kessab is
Turkey's responsibility. Turkey should be the first to respond to the
attacks.

`We saw it with our own eyes'

We do not use the main highway from Kessab to Latakia, because it is
dangerous and open to attacks. There are Turcoman villages around
Kessab as well. We lived in harmony and peace with them for decades.
But now we cannot communicate with them because many people from those
villages have joined jihadist forces and are being used by the State
of Turkey. Of course, not all of them have become jihadists, and we
continue to meet with our close friends, in secret, because they do
not want it to be known that they are meeting us. We already said what
we have to say to the UN representative, and we can repeat it now.
Armed forces would never have entered Kessab without the help of the
artillery of the army of Turkey. The last time they tried they failed
at first, but when the bombs arrived from Turkey, the next day they
entered Kessab. We saw it with our own eyes.'


http://www.agos.com.tr/en/article/10696/turkey-is-responsible-of-whatever-happens-in-kessab

[Yervant1]

11:43 20/04/2015 » SOCIETY

Extremist forces launch attack against Kessab – Arabist

“Late in the evening on April 18, just like on March 21, 2014, Syria’s al-Nusra Front, in coordination with Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, launched another offensive against Syria’s predominately Armenian village of Kessab on the Turkish border,” Arabist Armen Petrosyanwrote on Facebook.
“But this time the extremist forces failed to succeed: they were thrown back by the National Defense Forces and retreated towards Turkey,” he added.
The expert also posted the following article:
Jabhat Al-Nusra launches another attack on Kassab
The Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” – in coordination with Harakat ‘Ahrar Al-Sham – has launched another offensive at the predominately Armenian village of Kassab on the Turkish border.
The attack began in the late afternoon on Saturday, when Jabhat Al-Nusra stormed the border-crossing and infiltrated the National Defense Forces’ fortifications, fighting their way to the strategic hill at Point 45 before the latter was able to push them back towards the border-crossing.
Despite claims made by Jabhat Al-Nusra social media activists about the alleged control of Point 45, Tal Sinaan, and Tal ‘Azzar, a source from the NDF that’s protecting Kassab has reported the full-control of these hills and denied any militant control.
The source further added that all Jabhat Al-Nusra and Harakat ‘Ahrar Al-Sham militants have either been killed or retreated north towards Turkey, where they launched their initial attack.
During their 2014 offensive at Kassab, Jabhat Al-Nusra and their allies were assisted by the Turkish Army, who succored the Islamists with medical supplies, transportation to Turkish hospitals, weapons, and attacks on the Syrian Arab Army and NDF; this was the first time the Turkish Army was caught aiding Al-Qaeda in Syria.

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

Sad!

ARMENIAN CHURCH DESTROYED BY SHELLING IN ALEPPO

12:47 29/04/2015 >> SOCIETY

Aleppo's Armenian Cathedral Srbots Karasnits Mankants has been
destroyed as a result of shelling, the Facebook page of Inews says.

Al-Jdayde Christian neighborhood of Aleppo, where the church is
located, was shelled on Sunday.

http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2015/04/29/aleppo/

 

[Yervant1]

FORTY MARTYRS CHURCH OF ALEPPO DESTROYED

11:55, 29 April, 2015

YEREVAN, 29 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Forty Martyrs Church of Aleppo was
destroyed due to the bombing. Our Syrian source informed "Armenpress"
about this. The photos of the destroyed Church are spread in the
internet.

Earlier, the Speaker of the National Primacy of Aleppo Zhirair Reisian
informed, that on the afternoon of April 26, the neighborhood quarter
of the Holy Forty Martyrs Church has been subjected to the bombing.

The Armenian Church of the Forty Martyrs in Aleppo was mentioned 1476,
in the second edition of the book The Exploit of the Holy Bible,
written by Father Melikseth in Aleppo.

However, the current building of the Church was built and completed
in 1491 to replace a small chapel in the old Christian cemetery of
the Jdeydeh quarter. The Church was named in honour of a group of
Roman soldiers who faced martyrdom near the city of Sebastia in Lesser
Armenia, and were all venerated in Christianity as the Forty Martyrs
of Sebaste. At the beginning, the Church was of a small size with
a capacity of only 100 seats. In 1499-1500, the Church went under
large-scale renovations. Within 2 years, it was enlarged and a new
prelacy building of the Armenian Diocese of Beroea was built in the
Church yard, funded through the donation of an Armenian elite named
Reyis Baron Yesayi. During the following years, Forty Martyrs Cathedral
frequently became a temporary seat of many Armenian catholicoi of
the Holy See of Cilicia.

Until 1579, the cathedral was surrounded with the tombstones of the
Armenian cemetery, when the cemetery was moved and only clergymen
and the elites of the community were allowed to be buried in the
Church yard.

The Forty Martyrs Cathedral was renovated again in 1616 by the donation
of the community leader emir Khoja Bedig Chelebi and the supervision
of his brother Khoja Sanos Chelebi. By the end of the same year, the
Church was reopened with the presence of Catholicos Hovhannes IV of
Aintab (Hovhannes 4th Aintabtsi) and Bishop Kachatur Karkaretsi.

In 1624, as a result of the growing number of Armenian residents
and pilgrims, the Armenian prelacy started to build a quarter near
the Church, which is still known with its original name Hokedoun
(Spiritual House). It was designated to serve as a rest-house with 23
large rooms for the Armenian pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The
Hokedoun was built by the donation of Khoja Gharibjan.

The Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle who visited Aleppo in 1625,
has described the Church as one of the four Churches that were built
adjacent to each other in one yard with one gate, in the newly created
Jdeydeh Christian quarter. The other three Churches are the Greek
Orthodox Church of the Dormition of Our Lady, the Holy Mother of God
Armenian Church (the current Zarehian Treasury) and the old Maronite
Church of Saint Elias.

Currently, the cathedral has 3 altars, an upper story built in 1874
and a baptismal font placed in 1888.

The Church never had a belfry until 1912, when a bell tower was erected
by the donation of the Syrian-Armenian philanthropist Rizkallah Tahhan
from Brazil. During the 2nd half of the 20th century, the interior of
the Church underwent massive renovations to meet with the requirements
of traditional Armenian Churches. On 28 May 1991, by the donation
of Keledjian brothers from Aleppo, a khachkar-memorial was placed in
the Churchyard commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

On 26 April 2000, the Armenian community of Aleppo marked the 500th
anniversary of the first enlargement of the Church under the patronage
of Catholicos Aram I, during the period of Archbishop Souren Kataroyan.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/803726/forty-martyrs-church-of-aleppo-destroyed.html

[Yervant1]

14:54 07/05/2015 » IN THE WORLD

Ottomans committed heinous crimes against millions of Armenians, Syriacs, and other groups - Bashar al-Assad

The Ottomans’ crimes weren’t restricted to nationalists; they also committed heinous crimes against millions of Armenians, Syriacs, and other groups under their rule, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday, SANA reported.
The President attended a ceremony organized by the Martyrs’ Sons and Daughters Schools Establishment to honor the children of martyrs who followed in their fathers’ footsteps and joined military academies.
President al-Assad addressed the children of martyrs and the schools’ staff members, saying that he feels great joy when he meets the sons and daughters of martyrs, and that he wanted to join them on this occasion, which takes place on Martyrs Day.
President al-Assad stressed that Martyrs Day has many values associated with it, some of them symbolic, and some very tangible linked to the history of Syria, as around 100 years ago, the Ottomans carried out a campaign of arrests and executions of Syrian patriots and nationalists which culminated in 1916 when a large group of nationalists were executed by the Ottomans for defending the Syrian people from oppression.
His Excellency noted that the Ottomans’ crimes at that time weren’t restricted to nationalists; they also committed heinous crimes against millions of Armenians, Syriacs, and other groups under their rule at a time, and now these same massacres are being repeated in the same way but with different tools and names, as back then it was the Othman Jammal Basha “the Butcher” who had ordered the executions, and today history repeats itself as his ancestor Erdogan “the Butcher” is the one committing these crimes.
President al-Assad said that martyrdom is the most noble value to be championed by human beings anywhere in the world when they are defending their homeland, and the nobility of martyrdom isn’t restricted to the martyrs themselves; rather it extends to all those who continue to champion this value, and none can champion it better than the families of the martyrs.

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

TOO LATE FOR SYRIAN ARMENIANS - ARMEN NAVASARDYAN

12:23 * 29.05.15

In an interview with Tert.am, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary, Head of Chair of Global Politics and International
Relations, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU), Armen
Navasardyan said that the Armenian communities are doomed in the Middle
East as the war factor there is a supragovernment transnational entity
rather than terrorism.

"Very few experts, including myself, who know the region and what the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is, said the community
would face serious problems. And when they said they 'must stay there
to protect the fathers' graves', I told them live to 'stay to add
new graves.'"

"A proposal was made to organize resistance following the example of
the Beirut events in 1974. It was a wrong approach because they are
different things. The alignment of forces was entirely different:
we lived in the Soviet Union and the Russian warships aimed their
guns at Beirut, while the TASS announced that nothing must happen to
the Armenian community," Mr Navasardyan said.

The situation is entirely different now and the ISI is an entirely
different phenomenon. This is an evil of the 21st century which
threatens Armenia as well.

"We have missed the right moment," the expert said.

As to whether Armenia has changed its position on the Armenian
community in Syria in the context of the Armenian authorities' latest
calls for not leaving Syria, Mr Navasardyan said:

"I think they have. A state may change its position, but it must
have a concept and a plan of action. I think it is not largely so. I
have said the right moment has been missed, and both the sides - the
Armenian community and our government - are to blame," the expert said.

The community remains stuck to its wrong position, which has a
simple explanation from a human point of view: the authorities
are telling them to stay. On the other hand, Armenia's authorities
committed blunders. I primarily mean economic, political financial,
psychological problems, which have been evident in Armenia's relations
with the Armenian Diaspora.

Asked about the Armenian community's opinion on their future, Mr
Navasardyan said:

"Some are for leaving Syria, others want to stay because they see
problems in leaving the country. I am not saying it for the first
time."

The Armenians should have been evacuated from Syria earlier as it is
a matter of their existence.

"We must realize the consequences as 20,000 people are staying there,
unable to either come in or go out."

Speaking of diplomatic measures that need to be taken, Mr Navasardyan
said that an alarm should have been raised at international
organizations at the right time, including the United Nations and
the Council of Europe.

"Those are the diplomatic steps Armenia should have taken, considering
the fact that Armenians are the only people that has statehood among
all the national minorities in Syria. Diplomacy has numerous ways
and means, and something can be done in secret. In that case, the
situation would not have reached this point," Mr Navasardyan said.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/05/29/armannavasardian/1690055

[MosJan]

https://www.facebook.com/alik.simoniyan/videos/727947220649527/

 

 

this is the truth about Armenians of Syria in Armenia.. Sad Saddd Sadddddddd

[MosJan]

Hovaness ??? brother if you can see this please post somthing

[ED]

https://www.facebook.com/alik.simoniyan/videos/727947220649527/

 

 

this is the truth about Armenians of Syria in Armenia.. Sad Saddd Sadddddddd

Mosjan en poxe vor uxarketsi es txu hamar er, Artini, eli yes im koxmits uxarkelem shat.......banakin el shat a oqnum, lav txa a

Edited June 19, 2015 by ED

[MosJan]

Haskanali e Astvatvs Tvoghin E Talis..

[Yervant1]

 

Two Armenians killed in Aleppo shelling

12:13 ¢ 21.06.15
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/06/21/aleppo-armenians/1713247


Yesterday's shelling killed Armenians in Aleppo.

On its Facebook page the Gandzasar weekly reports that the two
Armenians were killed in the Aleppo municipality. One of them is
Eduard Petrosyan (Stepanyan), a missionary of the Word of Life church,
and the second is Aleppo-based Armenian Karo Mkrtchyan.

The situation remains alarming in the city, with clashes and shelling
continuing.

The Armenian community in Syria has sustained serious damage as well.
More than 100 people have been killed, churches, houses and schools
have been damaged.

[MosJan]

http://hetq.am/static/news/b/2015/08/62287_b.jpg

Yerevan Kowtows to Washington: Appeasement in Iraq, Slaughter in Syria

 

By Markar Melkonian

Yerevan’s appeasement of American warmongering in the Middle East is only one of many instances that demonstrate that Armenia’s rulers are incapable of even consistently serving the interests of native Armenian capitalists when they conflict with the demands of the Superpower.

Five years ago, before the violence began to escalate, an estimated 80,000 Armenians called Syria home. Today, according to published figures, only ten to twelve thousand Armenians are left, mostly in Aleppo and Damascus. Some 16,000 Armenian Syrians have sought refuge in the Republic of Armenia (the ROA), and thousands of others have escaped to Lebanon, Turkey, and farther afield. These refugees are among the reported four million Syrian refugees who have been forced to flee their country since March 2011. Millions of others have been displaced within Syria.

For generations, Muslims and Christians lived in friendship and peace in Syria. Arab people, both Christian and Muslim, extended a hand to Armenians at the time of our direst need. They gave far more than those who had far more to give. We have shared dark days with our Arab friends and neighbors, and we have faced the same adversaries, notably Turkish occupiers, British colonialists, and the Zionist oppressors who destroyed our ancient Armenian community in Jerusalem.

But for the past four years, Armenians have watched helplessly, as fighters--many of them non-Arabic-speaking foreigners who crossed into Syria from Turkey--have plunged the country into a bloodbath. In late January 2013, U.S. Senator John McCain’s “freedom fighters” occupied and depopulated the Armenian village of Yacoubiah (founded in the 8th century).

In March 2014, the “freedom fighters” attacked and occupied the Armenian town of Kessab. In September 2014, they partially destroyed the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church at Deir Zor, and two days after the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide, they bombed the Forty Martyrs Cathedral in Aleppo. Meanwhile, Armenian communities in Aleppo, Raqqa, and other cities have suffered massive destruction and depopulation.

Thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, including Armenians, are Iraqis who had taken refuge in Syria only several years earlier, when they were forced out of their homes thanks to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among George W. Bush’s many other accomplishments, he succeeded in uprooting 30,000 Iraqi Armenians, thus signing the death warrant for the Armenian communities of Iraq.

Before Operation Iraqi Freedom there was Operation Desert Storm; and between the two American Operations, Washington imposed a deadly military embargo on Iraq, an embargo that, according to Western sources, resulted in the deaths of some 250,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqis, notably women and children. So far, the death toll in Iraq since 1990 is around one and one-quarter million. In addition, the American wars in Iraq have created millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of amputees, hundreds of thousands of widows, and hundreds of thousands of orphans. Americaand its regional surrogates in Tel Aviv, Ankara, and Riyadh have fanned flames of fanaticism that will not subside for decades. They have fomented hatred and division, and turned tens of millions of lives into a living hell.

And for what? Well, we hear the words “democracy” again and of course “human rights.” If we are to believe Radio Liberty, America’s wars, embargos, and occupations are noble campaigns undertaken for high-minded reasons. And needless to say, none of those reasons have anything at all to do with securing corporate America’s global domination, or controlling oil fields, or propping up Uncle Sam’s preferred tyrannies, or promoting the military-industrial complex.

In 2004, an administration in Yerevan saw fit to join George W. Bush’s Coalition of the Willingin Iraq. Back then, some of us publicly opposed the deployment of Armenia soldiers to Iraq. By doing so, we were expressing the overwhelming popular sentiment in Armenia. (For sources, refer to the links below.) Still, it did not come as a surprise when, at the end of the day, the President of the ROA, as well as the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court all obediently gave the green light to the deployment. Soon, some forty or so Armenian soldiers landed in Iraq, for no other purpose, really, but to help lend an air of international legitimacy to a unilateral war of aggression.

The reader is invited to review documentation of this writer’s contribution to the campaign to stop the Armenian deployment to Iraq. Here are some links:

file:///Users/markarmelkonian/Documents/roadweb/PAGES/iraqdeploy.html

file:///Users/markarmelkonian/Documents/roadweb/PAGES/iraqopenletter.html

file:///Users/markarmelkonian/Documents/roadweb/PAGES/iraqnadistract.html

file:///Users/markarmelkonian/Documents/roadweb/PAGES/iraqplanokd.html

And here is a passage from another document from the campaign to stop the deployment of Armenian soldiers to Iraq:

The Syrian Arab Republic has been a place of refuge for thousands of Christians fleeing Iraq. Will Armenia help set the stage for these refugees to be uprooted yet again? Are leaders in Yerevan prepared to take the next step, to help “stabilize” Syria if the neoconservatives in Washington get their way yet again? It is as true of George W. Bush as it was of Adolph Hitler: To appease an aggressor is to invite further aggression.

(file:///Users/markarmelkonian/Documents/roadweb/PAGES/Iraqnatassem.html)

This open letter was sent out as an email blast on December 14, 2004. In it, we publicly predicted the consequences of Operation Iraqi Freedom for Amenians IN SYRIA, ten years before McCain’s “freedom fighters”blew up the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir Zor.

It is not as if these predictions were the work of genius or mystical insight. On the contrary, for any moderately informed adult with a healthy skepticism of Radio Liberty propaganda, it was a no-brainer. In view of the obvious consequences of Operation Iraqi Freedom for Syria, it is all the more disgraceful that so few Armenian officials could see the disaster coming. Or that they pretended that they could not see it coming.

Recent revelations, including documents released by Wikileaks, have abundantly confirmed what the most perceptive critics of U.S. foreign policy have long claimed: the United States has provided training, money, medical aid, and weapons to the “Syrian rebels,” including al-Qaeda-linked fighters of the Nusra Front, as well as future fighters for Daesh (ISIS). U.S. clients in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have provided hundreds of millions of dollars worth of support to jihadi’s during the same time period, and the CIA has provided military training. All the while, U.S. officials and the corporate-owned media have produced an incessant barrage of inflammatory accusations--many of them outright lies--against the Syrian Army and Bashar Assad.

And now we get to witness the unspeakably humiliating spectacle of leaders of Christian churches in the Middle East dutifully making their pilgrimage to Washington, hat in hand, to beg “favors” from functionaries of the very state that is responsible in the first place for destroying their communities, their lives, and their hopes. The church leaders mouth the usual platitudes and beg for charity, for the lifting of immigration restrictions, and for the creation of “safe zones” in Syria. Once again, we are required to show gratitude to the architects of our victimhood.

The American wars in Iraq, followed by subversion of Syria, set the stage for the Daesh military advances in Syria. And this in turn has promoted the long-standing American goal of destroying the Syrian Army—the last remaining Arab army that was willing and able to defend its territory against Zionist attack. Leaders in Yerevan who railroaded the ROA into the Coalition of the Willing may congratulate themselves that they have brought smiles to the faces of the likes of Richard Perle, Michael Chertoff, Kenneth Adelman, Martin Indyk, Eliot Abrams, and all the rest of the vicious Zionist neocons who have been running American foreign policy for decades. (Regarding the influence of Friends of Israel on American policy, refer to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, 2007.)

At the time of the deployment, acquaintances in one or another of the “power ministries” in Yerevan informed us that Armenia simply had no choice in the matter: it had to join the Coalition of the Willing, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the United States. The question then arises, how does Armenia find itself in a position where a superpower eight thousand miles away can force it into something as shameful and as harmful as the Coalition of theWilling? Is this the post-Soviet “independence” that the counter-revolutionaries in Opera Square promised twenty-five years ago?

Joining America’s “coalitions” does not even guarantee that the neocons will leave you alone. Let us recall that the Assad government in Damascus joined the Desert Storm “coalition” back in 1990, and so did the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya. It seems that they, too, were pursuing their own “balanced foreign policies.” We saw what happened to them.

There is a lesson here for Armenia: appeasement only encourages further aggression. Armenia’s participation in the Coalition of the Willing helped to legitimize the decimation of ancient Armenian communities in the Middle East, the destruction of Armenia’s allies in the region, and Turkey’s rise as a regional superpower. Knowingly or unknowingly, Armenian officials helped the American neocons to achieve their explicit goal of destroying the armies of Iraq and Syria. Their next target is Armenia’s only helpful neighbor, Iran.

Yerevan’s appeasement of American warmongering in the Middle East is only one of many instances that demonstrate that Armenia’s rulers are incapable of even consistently serving the interests of native Armenian capitalists when they conflict with the demands of the Superpower. If Armenia’s rulers are incapable of doing this, then what is the likelihood that they will ever pursue the welfare of the country’s impoverished majority? (Armenians who want to understand what is happening in their country really need to learn the meaning of the term COMPRADOR BOURGEOISIE.)

If the preferences of the majority are to count for anything, then clear-sighted members of that majority must organize themselves, to articulate their demands through their own independent institutions and advance those demands through the exercise of power at the street level. This is another lesson—an incalculably costly one--to be learned from the consequences of appeasement in Iraq.

 

 

Markar Melkonian is a philosophy instructor and an author. His books include Richard Rorty’s Politics: Liberalism at the End of the American Century (1999), Marxism: A Post-Cold War Primer (Westview Press, 1996), and My Brother’s Road (2005).

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

CONSUL GENERAL VISITS ARMENIAN ORPHANAGE AND NURSING HOME IN ALEPPO

18:34, 22 Sep 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On the occasion of Armenia's Independence Day, Armenian Consul General
to Aleppo Tigran Gevorgyan visited the Armenian home for the elderly
in Aleppo.

Tigran Gevorgyan toured the nursing home accompanied by its director,
members of the board of trustees and the leader of Syria's Armenian
evangelical community and talked to the elderly people that live there.

The Consul General congratulated them on the 24th anniversary of
Armenia's independence and assured that issues of Syrian Armenian,
especially the aged people and children, are always in the focus of
attention of the Armenian authorities.

Tigran Gevorgyan expressed gratitude to the staff of the nursing home
for their devoted work.

The same day the Consul General visited the Armenian orphanage. He
congratulated its young residents on the occasion of the start of the
new academic year and wished them every success in their studies. He
assured that the Consulate General would maintain its cooperation
with the orphanage.

The Consul General and the leadership of the orphanage discussed the
possibility of organizing the summer rest of the children in Armenia.

Tigran Gevorgyan conveyed donations from Armenian benefactor Vardan
Sermakesh to both the nursing house and the orphanage.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/09/22/consul-general-visits-armenian-orphanage-and-nursing-home-in-aleppo/

[Yervant1]

Robert Fisk on Syrian crisis: 5 things you need to know
Sept. 21, 2015


[Veteran journalist says the situation in Syria is the most
devastating thing he has ever witnessed]

Robert Fisk has been covering the conflict in the Middle East for over
30 years, but he says he's never seen anything as devastating as the
situation in Syria today.

"100 per cent, 101 per cent, no, I haven't," he said. "In fact the
figures are so daunting that when you're there it's difficult to grasp
them. More difficult than it probably is if you live in Canada," he
told The Early Edition host Rick Cluff.

Fisk is a veteran Middle East correspondent for the British paper The
Independent. He is in Vancouver today to share his insight into the
Syrian Civil War and the rise of ISIS, as part of his seven-city
lecture tour, "Goodbye, Mr. Sykes! Adieu, Monsier Picot!" with
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

Western colonial powers have left a legacy that has lead to the
instability and continued violence in the Middle East, he said.

5 things to know

Here are five things Fisk wants every Canadian to know about the Syrian crisis:

The conflict has its roots in the Sykes-Picot Agreement: This treaty
between France and the U.K. divided the Ottoman Empire into spheres of
influence after World War I. This led to borders that made no sense,
and countries that are basically creations of France and the U.K.,
Fisk says.

ISIS is the result of Sykes-Picot: When The U.K. and France set up
these countries, they set them up for their own benefit, Fisk says,
not for the benefit of the people living there. They became unstable
dictatorships where education was hard to come by, and Fisk says this
laid the groundwork for ISIS and al-Qaeda.

It's worse than it seems: Approximately 200,000 Syrians have been
killed, and 11 million are displaced. Fisk believes those numbers are
low estimates. "The government army alone, whose casualties are not
officially revealed, they told me they've lost 56,000 soldiers dead
fighting the rebels. I suspect the figure of overall dead, obviously
most of them civilians, is somewhere nearer to 300,000," Fisk said.

Refugees are being abused, and probably won't return: Fisk says he's
personally observed the fate of many children who've escaped to
Lebanon: instead of going to school to learn how to rebuild Syria and
Iraq, many of them toil in fields as slave labourers, he says. Beyond
those kids, Fisk doesn't think many other refugees will ever go back:
"These countries no longer exists to them. It is no longer their
country."

Military intervention by Canada is not the solution: Instead, Fisk
said, world powers need to collaborate with the Arab peoples to find
long-term solutions to the damage done by Sykes-Picot and build
countries that serve the people who live in them. "Canada should be
there as it used to be: as a peacekeeping force to bring help and
protection to those who suffer," he said.

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled Robert Fisk on
the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS with the CBC's Rick Cluff on
The Early Edition
[http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/British+Columbia/The+Early+Edition/ID/2675874027/]


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robert-fisk-on-syrian-crisis-5-things-you-need-to-know-1.3237373

[MosJan]

Last Armenians of Raqqa escape to Aleppo, Latakia
Last Armenians of Raqqa escape to Aleppo, Latakia
October 6, 2015 - 17:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Situation in Syria’s Raqqa drastically deteriorated on September 30, forcing 5-6 Armenian families to flee the city for Aleppo and Latakia, Arevelk.am reports.

Raqqa faces drinking water, electricity problems, as well as complete cut-off of telecommunication and Internet connectivity. People are in dire need of medical aid - dozens of doctors fled the city leaving the population unattended.

Russian jets are constantly carrying out air strikes against IS command centers, the website reports citing sources familiar with the matter.

To avoid air strikes, the terrorists use people’s apartments as hideouts; several major militant groups are said to be headed for Iraq.

Since the Battle of Raqqa in 2013, ISIL has been increasing its control over the city, gaining the upper hand over Free Syrian Army and the Al-Nusra Front

[MosJan]

Russian volunteer forces to join fight in Syria: Kremlin
Russian volunteer forces to join fight in Syria: Kremlin
October 6, 2015 - 11:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ratcheting up the confrontation over the Syria war, Russia said Monday, October 5, that its volunteer ground forces would join the fight, and NATO warned the Kremlin after at least one Russian warplane trespassed into Turkey’s airspace, the New York Time reports.

Russia squared off with Turkey and its NATO allies, calling the air incursion an innocent mistake because of foul weather — a claim American officials rejected.

A second airspace violation was committed on Sunday.

The Russian air and ground deployments in Syria challenge the regional policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Obama and NATO.

A Russian ground force could fundamentally alter the conflict, which has left 250,000 people dead and displaced half the country’s population since it started in 2011.

Although President Vladimir Putin of Russia said he would not put troops in Syria, the plan was disclosed Monday by his top military liaison to the Parliament, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov.

American military officials said they believed that more than 600 Russian military personnel were already on the ground in Syria, not counting aircrews, and that tents for nearly 2,000 people had been seen at Russia’s air base near Latakia, in northwest Syria near the Turkish border.

[MosJan]

Turkey warns Russia over second airspace violation, vows to react
Turkey warns Russia over second airspace violation, vows to react
October 6, 2015 - 10:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey has again summoned the Russian ambassador after a second violation of its airspace by a Russian warplane operating in Syria in two days, BBC News reports.

It did the same after the first violation on Saturday, after which two Turkish F-16 jets were scrambled. Turkey said the second violation occurred on Sunday, October 4.

Nato has urged Russia to end air strikes "on the Syrian opposition and civilians". Russia says it is targeting Islamic State and other Islamists.

Russia said Saturday's violation was for just a few seconds and due to poor weather. It has not officially reacted to Sunday's incident.

Saturday's interception took place near Yayladagi in the southern Hatay region, Turkey says. A statement by Nato's 28 members, which include Turkey, warned of "the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour" and urged Russia "to cease and desist".

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Turkey would have been within its rights to shoot the jets down. "The Turkish Armed Forces are clearly instructed," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish TV. "Even if it is a flying bird, it will be intercepted."

But he played down the possibility of a "Turkey-Russia crisis", saying that channels between the two countries remained open, BBC says.

The Russian air campaign began on Wednesday, with Moscow saying it was targeting IS positions and those of other Islamist groups. Syria said on Monday that the air strikes had been planned for months.

[MosJan]

Growing numbers of refugees return to war zones in Syria
Growing numbers of refugees return to war zones in Syria
October 5, 2015 - 13:20 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Growing numbers of Syrian refugees are returning to their war-ravaged homeland from Jordan because they can't survive in exile after drastic aid cuts, can't afford to pay smugglers to sneak them into Europe or are simply homesick, the Associated Press reports.

The returns, along with the increasing migration to Europe, signal that conditions in regional host countries have become increasingly intolerable, the refugees and aid officials said.

"We stopped getting any aid," said 47-year-old Adnan, waiting at the UN-run Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan to sign up his family for the return bus to the Syrian border, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. He only gave his first name for fear of repercussions from Syrian authorities.

The UN refugee agency views the rising number of departures with concern, AP says.

"It is a dangerous choice for people to make," said Andrew Harper, head of the U.N. refugee agency in Jordan. He said the return of refugees, mainly women and children, to war-torn Syria "signals a failure of the international protection regime."

The journey costs thousands of dollars, including $400 for a new Syrian passport that enables him to fly to Turkey without a visa, as well as a plane ticket and bribes for the smugglers. Adnan said he can't afford to pay for the rest of the family — his mother, his wife, a six-year-old son, two daughters-in-law and two granddaughters.

In recent months, departures by far outnumbered arrivals, and the outflow is increasing.

3,853 refugees returned to Syria in August, compared to 1,934 in July, according to UN figures.

[Yervant1]

The U.S. and Russia, Syria and Ukraine: Neo-Cons vs. Liberal Interventionists
By Joseph A. Palermo
Oct. 5, 2015


As it stands today, United States policy in Syria insists that
President Bashar al-Assad must go. But if the U.S. succeeds and the
Assad government is scattered to the wind it raises the question: Who
will defend the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria from the
Islamic State, the al-Nusra Front, and all the other heavily armed
homicidal maniacs that already control nearly half the country?

An orderly transfer of power in Syria would be terrific. But nothing
taking place on the ground would suggest this outcome to be even a
remote possibility at this time. The paucity of "moderate" elements
among the rebels would seem to preclude a smooth political transition.
The U.S. policy of "regime change" in Iraq and Libya unleashed
long-term humanitarian catastrophes. The Assad government is the only
game in town and if it falls prematurely Syria will probably end up
looking a lot like Libya.

By portraying Russian actions in Syria as "aggression" and
"interference" without acknowledging the far more significant role
U.S. policy played over the past 12 years in creating the crisis, the
American people are being led astray once again on the goals and
consequences of U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

Neo-conservatism and liberal interventionism form two equally bogus
parts of a bifurcated worldview that hobbles clear-headed thinking
among U.S. foreign policy elites. Even in the face of the nightmarish
failures that have destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent people
in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Ukraine, the neo-cons (such as
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland) and liberal
interventionists (such as United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power)
still cling to "regime change" as a viable policy.

Both schools of thought believe they can restore the United States'
damaged credibility in the Middle East by vilifying Russian President
Vladimir Putin and telling lurid tales of Assad's "barrel bombs" and
human rights abuses. Both of them always assume the posture of taking
the moral high ground. Yet they only choose to see "humanitarian
disasters" when they fulfill some wider U.S. geostrategic objective.

We've been hit with a narrative that promotes U.S. power and influence
but accepts zero responsibility for the consequences of its actions
and those of its allies. Saudi Arabia is not only funneling arms and
money to Sunni rebels in Syria and Iraq; it's using state-of-the-art
American military technology in Yemen to blow to bits the Houthi and
other Shia elements. The U.S. recently rewarded Saudi Arabia for its
efforts with another billion-dollar arms deal. We also hear very
little about the human rights abuses of the pro-U.S. government of
Bahrain (where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed) in repressing its
own Shia population.

The Russians have called out the U.S. on its hypocrisy and the
reaction has been fierce. Condemning the "former KGB man" Putin and
his "despicable lies" and "aggression" flows freely from the mouths of
politicians, government officials, and media commentators. Some
members of Congress and Republican presidential candidates accuse Iran
of "destabilizing" the Middle East. They ignore the fact that it was
the United States that already set the place on fire. Gore Vidal used
to like to compare George W. Bush to a little boy playfully skipping
around the globe lighting matches and sparking wildfires without a
care in the world.

The only lasting outcome of the Iraq war was to strengthen Iran's
position in the region and so alarm America's Sunni allies they began
arming some of the most bloodthirsty people on earth. Even on the
U.S.'s own geopolitical terms the Iraq war was a grim flop. Bush,
Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, and everyone else who supported
the Iraq invasion of 2003 should bear some responsibility for birthing
ISIL.

ISIL's high production-value snuff films, which indulge in every
imaginable stereotype of the Islamic terrorist, along with its command
of social media, have successfully fused together 21st Century
technology with 7th Century ideology and customs. ISIL's belief system
is frighteningly anachronistic, but so too is the worldview of U.S.
policy elites.

Trapped in the bi-polar world of the Cold War, U.S. policymakers still
insist on "NATO expansion" right up against the borders of the Russian
Federation while accusing Putin of trying to remake the Soviet Union.
In Ukraine, the Russian response to the U.S. policy of "regime change"
and NATO expansion is consistent with what "realists" (including Henry
Kissinger) would expect as a defensive posture any large power would
assume when confronted on its borders. Scholars making this realist
argument have come under attack.

U.S. officials and the press seldom concede the crimes of Ukraine's
"Right Sector," which is loaded with neo-Nazis whose ultra-nationalist
credentials translate into political influence in the Kiev government.
But within the dominant American foreign policy paradigm the Ukrainian
Right Sector disappears from view, while in Syria "moderates" are
conjured up out of thin air. It's all an Orwellian dance where those
in power erase history and replace it with useful myths.

"American exceptionalism" and the idea that after Iraq and Libya the
U.S. can lecture Russia on the proper conduct of international affairs
are part of this fantasy world. American State Department officials
seem incapable of viewing the world through any other lens than their
own.

Both Russian President Putin and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter
have cited the history of World War Two to point to the possibility of
an alliance between the U.S. and Russia against ISIL (the same way
they joined forces to defeat Nazi Germany). So "history" does
sometimes creep into the discussion.

Susan Butler's, Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership
(2015), shows there was no love between Josef Stalin and Franklin
Roosevelt, but both leaders recognized that "realism" required an
alliance against Germany. Why can't that same spirit of "realism"
prevail today in U.S.-Russian relations with regard to the Middle East
and Ukraine?

At a recent press luncheon, UN Ambassador Samantha Power responded to
a question from Michael Gordon of the New York Times where she blamed
Assad and his "barrel bombs" for the rise of ISIL in Syria and added
that only by overthrowing Assad could ISIL be tamed. Gordon (of
course) failed to ask the obvious follow up question: Who do you think
will fill the power vacuum after Assad is gone?

It takes no insight, intellect, or skill to rail against Putin and
demand that the U.S. "stand up" to Russia as Jonathan Alter, Howard
Dean, and E.J. Dionne did recently on the "liberal" The Last Word with
Lawrence O'Donnell Show on MSNBC. Penning defamatory op-eds about
Putin and Assad has become a cottage industry and it's the easiest
exercise in the world. All one needs to do is Google an old speech by
Dick Cheney or George W. Bush condemning Saddam Hussein and switch out
the name "Saddam" and insert the names "Putin" or "Assad." It's the
same flatulent rhetoric from American pundits who still don't
comprehend that the U.S. has lost the ability to cast moral judgment
in international affairs.

The more difficult task is to chart out a rational path forward for a
political settlement in Syria that doesn't end up sending another
million war refugees fleeing into Europe. Russia keeps trying to
explain to the United States that the most likely scenario that will
play out if the U.S. achieves its goal of ejecting Assad before the
Sunni terrorist groups are neutralized is that Syria will become
another Libya. And given its geographical location, Syria could become
a far more dangerous long-term problem because of the potential of
triggering a wider war that might involve the bigger powers, not only
by proxy but directly.

Just because the CIA trained and equipped rebel group (A) or ( in
Syria doesn't qualify them, ipso facto, as being the "good guys" -
you'd think we would have learned that lesson from the 1980s when the
CIA armed the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets and
planted the seeds for Al Qaeda. How dare those Ruskies bomb the Sunni
cutthroats and assassins that happen to be on the CIA's payroll this
week!

The Pentagon admits that its $500 million effort to train "moderate"
rebels in Syria has been an unhappy disaster, and has only outfitted
about four or five individuals to be anti-Assad fighters at a cost of
about $100 million per rebel. That's not a very good return on a
taxpayer investment - in fact, it equals the entire amount of the
annual federal subsidy for Planned Parenthood.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond believes defending Assad will
strengthen the opposition: "We need the Russians to understand that in
coming to defense of the regime to attack ISIL, what they will do is
forge a single united front under ISIL leadership against the regime."
But al-Nusra, ISIL, and the other terrorist groups in Syria (along
with the thousands of foreign recruits) are well known to shuffle and
reshuffle their alliances in any way that serves their immediate
tactical objectives. It's unlikely that expelling Assad now would lead
these groups to put down their weapons, stop blowing up antiquities
and cutting off heads, and come to the bargaining table.

The ahistorical reportage on the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine is
summed up in the concluding paragraph of a recent New York Times
article:

"Mr. Putin harbors both international and domestic reasons for
interfering in Syria. On the international front, he wants to restore
Russian influence as a global power and try to force an end to the
diplomatic and financial isolation the West imposed after Moscow
seized Crimea and supported separatists in southeastern Ukraine. He
also wants to maintain control over Russia's naval station at Tartus,
in Syria, its only remaining overseas military base outside the former
Soviet Union." (NYT 10/1/15 p. A10)

The omissions are glaring. There's no mention of the U.S. invasion of
Iraq that set off this cluster*** in the first place, which ignited
the bloodiest sectarian fighting in centuries, sent packing the Sunni
technocratic class in Baghdad, and prepared the ground for the rise of
ISIL. The characterization of Russian motives ignores the determined
U.S. policy of "NATO expansion" in Eastern Europe and the role of the
U.S. in the February 2014 coup that overthrew the elected president of
Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. Inconvenient truths that contradict the
U.S. line are airbrushed out of the discourse. Those who still wonder
how the American people could be so misled into thinking the Iraq war
was a good idea should peruse the current media coverage of Syria and
Ukraine for their answer.

In a September 27, 2015, front page article by Michael Gordon, (who's
worth reading to deduce exactly what line the CIA wants to push on any
given day), criticized the decision of the Russian government to share
intelligence on ISIL with the governments of Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
Given the reports that hundreds of new ISIL fighters are now flowing
into Syria from Russia it would seem a prudent step to try to find out
who these people are. Yet Gordon's stenography turns a pragmatic idea
-- tracking ISIL terrorists -- into something suspicious. Sounding the
alarm about terrorists has been the journalistic gold standard for
people like Gordon for years, yet his official sources now lead him to
turn a blind eye to the shared interests of the U.S. and Russia in
combating ISIL.

Maybe the goal of U.S. policy all along has been to crush the Arab
regimes that emerged in the 1960s and '70s (Saddam, Gadhafi, Assad)
that built Oil Ministries and other barriers that impede free access
to their resources? Maybe American foreign policy seeks to remove any
obstacle that interferes with building a neo-liberal Utopia? And maybe
the vitriol aimed at Russia is because Putin is exposing the ruse?

Even during the height of the Cold War American diplomats such as
George Kennan could use their imaginations to try to put themselves in
their adversary's place and view the world from the Russian
perspective. One of the more notable examples of this ability to
perceive the world from your opponent's standpoint comes from a leader
who President Barack Obama, Ambassador Power, and Secretary of State
John Kerry hold in high regard: President John F. Kennedy.

During the Cuban missile crisis Kennedy constantly tried to see the
crisis from the viewpoint of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. He
understood the Russian perspective, the need to "save face," and the
pressures from hardliners within the Soviet government. He tried his
best to empathize with his adversary even while taking militaristic
steps to thwart him. Neither was he afraid of cutting deals and making
concessions. In a sense, it was Kennedy's realism that saved the
planet.

Since the Bush-Cheney years it seems that the ability of U.S.
diplomats to put themselves in "the Other's" shoes has atrophied. We
hear American commentators and officials lament Putin's control of
Russian state media. Yet they don't acknowledge their own ideological
blinders that a "free" media system imposes where many of the same
people who brought us the Iraq war (neo-cons and liberal
interventionists) are now manufacturing a faulty and dangerous
"consensus" about what is to be done in Syria and Ukraine.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/the-us-and-russia-syria-and-ukraine-neo-cons-vs-liberal-interventionists_b_8243124.html

[Yervant1]

Russia outflanks Turkey in Syria
By M.K. Bhadrakumar
October 6, 2015


Turkey has voiced strong opposition to the Russian military
intervention in Syria. How far will Turkey take this campaign?

President Recep Erdogan has criticized the Russian move on successive
days before leaving on a visit to Brussels and Paris Monday. He
carried with him a 3-point agenda to rev up the `train-equip' program
for Syrian rebels, declaration of `terror-free zones' in Syria and the
establishment of a `no-fly zone' in Syrian airspace.

Erdogan is upset that during his recent visit to Moscow, he was not
taken into confidence regarding the imminent launch of Russian air
strikes in Syria. Clearly, Russia outflanked Turkey. This puts Turkey
in a fix.

There are three key vectors involved here. One, Moscow is frontally
cornering Ankara on the latter's clandestine support to the Islamic
State [iS] and other extremist Syrian opposition groups operating
inside Syria.

Two, Turkey's plans of creating a `no-fly zone' in northern Syria have
gone for a six. The Russian pilots will fly in the Syrian air space
wherever they need to undertake missions in coordination with the US.

Three, the US and Russia are on the same page in regarding the Syrian
Kurds as allies in the fight against the IS, while Ankara brands the
People's Protection Units (armed militia of Syrian Kurds) as
`terrorists'.

On the diplomatic plane, Turkey faces virtual isolation. First and
foremost, Erdogan's standing in the West leaves much to be desired.
His abrasive behavior has alienated the West. Erdogan is making an
effort belatedly to mend fences with Europe, but it is too little, too
late.

Washington would have sensed that it was played when Turkey opened its
airbase at Incirlik for US aircraft to attack the Islamic State
targets by immediately thereafter underscoring that it is less
interested in confronting the Islamic State and is primarily
interested in dealing a swift blow to the Kurds (which would also help
Erdogan's strategy to whip up Turkish nationalism and affect the
outcome of the parliamentary election on November 1 in favor of the
ruling party.)

As for the European Union (EU), Brussels has been attempting to reset
the relationship with Turkey but in the short term, there is little
hope for making progress on Turkey's accession.

Meanwhile, Erdogan's rude rejection of the EU's values agenda and his
lack of interest in engagement with Europe, apart from his crackdown
on domestic dissent and his aggressively nationalistic policy inside
Turkey, have alienated European opinion.

On the whole, Europe has been strongly critical of Erdogan's
determination to remain in power at all costs and his contempt toward
pluralistic governance.

Equally, from the Turkish point of view, a disconcerting development
is that the Russian intervention in Syria constitutes a fait accompli
for the Arab states. To quote the well-informed columnist and
diplomatic observer of Al Hayat newspaper, Raghida Dergham, `Cracks
have begun to appear in the Arab ranks, and some are saying that there
is no choice but to accept what Russia has imposed on the United
States and the US administration. Others are categorically refusing to
be part of a US-Russian equation that practically entails partnership
with Bashar al-Assad in crushing the armed Syrian opposition, and not
just ISIS and similar groups.'

Indeed, Jordan and Egypt have shown understanding for the Russian
intervention in Syria. The Jordan Times wrote Sunday, `The US and
Russia seem to have finally agreed that fighting terrorism in Syria is
a priority¦ Moscow made itself a point of coordination for the war in
Syria. Russia's presence in Syria offers at this stage the possibility
of cooperation among all parties, which should help any future
anti-terror coalition'.

The Saudi establishment daily Asharq Al-Awsat feels embittered that
Egypt defected to the Russian camp. To quote its editor-in-chief
Salman Aldoary, `Egypt¦has made no secret of its support for the
Russian airstrikes¦ Cairo's position has veered from stridently
anti-Assad, to one of neutrality, to support for the regime under the
pretext of safeguarding Syria's remaining institutions. This seesawing
surely counts as a black mark on Cairo's foreign policy record, and is
completely unbefitting for a country like Egypt'.

Thus, all in all, Turkey does not have the appetite for a
confrontation with Russia in Syria. Nor will Erdogan be foolish enough
to set up a `bear trap' in Syria. He can only undertake such a risky
venture within the matrix of a concerted western strategy to `bleed'
Russia in Syria or to get it bogged down in a quagmire. The
probability of that happening is almost non-existent ` from present
indications, at least.

Meanwhile, while Moscow has maintained that the incident of violation
of Turkish air space near the Syrian border on Saturday by a Russian
SU-30 was due to `navigation error', the fact remains that it did
bring home vividly to the policymakers in Ankara that there is a new
reality across its border with Syria.

At any rate, Erdogan needs to do some profound rethink on Syria.
Paradoxically, Russia may succeed in reining him in from further
adventurism in Syria, where Washington had failed abjectly. The
chances are that Erdogan will act cautiously. The fear of Russia is
embedded deep in the Turkish psyche.

Erdogan would have taken note of the remark by President Vladimir
Putin last Monday in New York that Moscow intends to strengthen the
capability of not only the Syrian government but also the Syrian Kurds
in their fight against the Islamic State.

Putin would have weighed his words carefully. He did not mention
Hezbollah or any other militia but made it a point to single out the
Syrian Kurds (who happen to have close links with the militant PKK,
which leads the bloody separatist struggle inside Turkey.) To be sure,
Turkish intelligence would know that the Syrian Kurdish leaders have
been traveling to Moscow frequently in the most recent years.

http://atimes.com/2015/10/russia-outflanks-turkey-in-syria/

[Yervant1]

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN SYRIA IN ARMENIA'S INTERESTS - LEVON SHIRINYAN

16:32 â~@¢ 07.10.15
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/10/07/shirinian/1809578

Russia and the United States struck a deal at the UN on division of
spheres of influence on the Middle East, political scientist Levon
Shirinyan told reporters on Wednesday.

"The Bosporus and the Dardanelles are a matter of life and death
for Russia," Mr Shirinyan said. Russian President Vladimir Putin
is returning to Syria by blocking the access to the traits of the
Mediterranean traits.

According to Mr Shirinyan, the situation is saving Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad and his statehood.

"We can be sure Syria has been saved. Russia has calmed down and
the United States has agreed. A step has been made. And we should
appreciate it as well. It means political progress, which is in the
Armenian people's national interests," the expert said.