The truth about Syria

[MosJan]

some more than 80% of Syria is under control of a turkish backed forces

[MosJan]

 

[MosJan]

 

[MosJan]

see if you have 135 billion dollars putin well welcome you. i guess our Ruben Vardanyan didn't have enough for  putins welcome. 

[Yervant1]

The Times of Israel
Dec 14 2024


Can Syria’s dwindling Christian community survive under jihadi rebel rule?

Once loyal to the regime, Syrian Christians have ostensibly joined the national celebration after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. But can they trust the new Islamist rulers’ pledges?

By Gianluca Pacchiani

The lightning power grab by the Sunni jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria has raised concerns about the fate of the Christian minority in the country.

Numbering 1.5 million before the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, Christians made up about 10 percent of the Syrian population. Within the span of a decade, their numbers dwindled dramatically, and in 2022, there were only 300,000 left, or about 2% of the current population of Syria, according to a report by the US-based NGO “Aid to Church in Need.”

Traditionally wealthier and more educated than the average Syrian population, Christians emigrated en masse to escape persecution by ISIS, but also to flee Syria’s spiraling economic situation.

The new HTS leaders have repeatedly reassured Syrians and the international community that it will protect all minorities – which also include Shiites, Alawites, Druze, Kurds and others – and the new Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir has urged millions of Syrian refugees abroad to return home, vowing “the rights of all people and all sects in Syria” will be guaranteed.

However, it remains to be seen whether the country will once again become a tolerant, pluralistic place as its new leaders claim. Concern for the fate of Syria’s millennia-long Christian presence has been recently expressed by the Washington DC-based NGO In Defense of Christians.

In a statement issued after the rebels’ capture of Aleppo two weeks ago, IDC quoted sources in Aleppo saying that Christians were “living in fear” and had been the “target of widespread crime and vandalism.”

However, Christian residents of Aleppo were recently interviewed by the Center for Peace Communications, a New York nonprofit, on the occasion of the Festival of Saint Barbara, a celebration observed by Middle East Christians. They said that they were afraid for the first two or three days after the HTS takeover, but now feel they do not have any reason to be concerned, and churches are operating normally.

How are the Christians of Aleppo faring as Syria's Assad regime falls to a coalition of rebel forces? On St. Barbara's Day (Dec. 4), we asked them directly.

During the 13 years of the civil war, Christians largely remained loyal to the Assad regime, which portrayed itself as a secular defender of religious minorities. Christians didn’t actively take action to support the regime, such as organizing armed militias to defend it, said Syrian analyst Hazem Alghabra, a former Senior Advisor to the US Department of State who runs a Washington DC-based Middle East security consultancy.

“For the most part, [Christians] were afraid. They were concerned about the Islamist elements of the Syrian uprising – and that is hard to ignore. But also, they repeated the regime messaging that anybody who stood up against the regime was an Islamist terrorist,” Damascus-born Alghabra told The Times of Israel. He noted that describing them as regime supporters today, after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, would “amount to an insult.”

Rebels return confiscated Christian property

Like most other Syrians, Christians appeared elated at the fall of the brutal dictatorship. Bahjat Karakach, a Franciscan friar who serves as Aleppo’s Latin-rite parish priest, told Vatican News this week that Christians had been “completely exhausted by living under the regime” due to the economic hardships.

The cleric also noted that over the past years, rebels had shown increased tolerance to Christians, and returned confiscated property. In the Idlib area, controlled by HTS for the past decade, Christians had reportedly been allowed to continue practicing their faith.

Archbishop Hanna Jallouf, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, told Vatican News that he had met with HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who had given him “assurances that Christians and their possessions will not be touched, and that [the militants] will meet all our legitimate requests.”

However, in 2015, al-Sharaa, back then known only by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Julani, said in a prescient interview with Al Jazeera that once the group took control of all of Syria, it would impose shari’a law over the country.

Christians, as “people of the book,” would enjoy a privileged status and be allowed to practice their faith, the jihadi leader said, but per Islamic law, they would be obligated to pay the per capita jizya tax – even though HTS at the time was not imposing it in the areas it controlled.

At the time, al-Julani said that a different fate awaited other religious minorities in Syria, such as Alawites and Druze, whose doctrines originated from Islam centuries ago but then departed from Muslim Orthodoxy. Those two groups would have to “correct their doctrinal mistakes and embrace Islam,” Julani said.

In 2013, two years prior to the interview, the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch that al-Julani led at the time, abducted 13 nuns amid fighting with regime forces. They were freed three months later after Qatar agreed to pay the kidnappers $16 million.

Today, al-Julani appears to eschew those fundamentalist positions. He renounced ties to al-Qaeda in 2016 and now depicts himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.

In recent days, the insurgency leader dropped his nom de guerre and began referring to him by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa. He shed his garb as a hardline Islamist guerrilla and put on suits for press interviews, talking of building state institutions and decentralizing power to reflect Syria’s diversity.

Salvation in the eye of the beholder?

The transitional government appointed on Tuesday only includes members from the HTS administration of Idlib, known as the “Salvation Government,” and no representatives from secular rebel factions or religious groups other than Sunni Muslims.

“The concerns are not exclusive to Christians. They are also shared by the average moderate Sunni population,” Alghabra told The Times of Israel. “If we end up with a Taliban-style governance in Syria, then Christians will be targeted first, but down the line, moderate Sunnis will be targeted as well.”

HTS’s experience ruling the Idlib area over the past years could provide an indicator for its future behavior governing the country.

Aaron Zelin, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a recent interview with France 24 that HTS’s rule in Idlib was “an authoritarian governance model, not quite as bad as the totalitarianism of the Assad regime. It wasn’t a liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination.” But the Islamist group had apparently abandoned any aspirations for “global jihad,” Zelin noted.

In a recent article, Zelin said that Christians in those areas were treated as second-class citizens, as they were not represented in the local government, the General Shura Council, and their interests were dealt with by a “Directorate of Minority Affairs.”

France24 journalist Wassim Nasr visited Idlib in 2023 and reported that the few hundred Christians who remained in the region were allowed to hold masses, but not to display crosses or ring church bells.

Syrian analyst Alghabra remained optimistic that once HTS becomes the internationally recognized government of Syria, it will have to make compromises and show more openness.

“In Idlib, HTS did not have to deal with the concerns of the international community,” Alghabra said. “It will need technical support, aid, fuel, a lot of things. So the international community’s approach will need to be transactional. HTS will have to allow every religious group to practice unobstructedly in order to get outside help.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/can-syrias-dwindling-christian-community-survive-under-jihadi-rebel-rule/

[MosJan]

 

[Yervant1]

Asbarez.com

 

Syria’s New Leaders Reassure Armenian Community to ‘Not Live in Fear’

by Asbarez Staff

 

 December 16, 2024

 

in Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

 

Schools and churches reopened in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria

 

Syria’s new leaders have urged the country’s Christian communities, among them the Armenian community to not live in fear, as a new government that is being led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), begins to take shape after ousting President Bashar al-Assad last week, ending his and his father’s decades-long reign in that country.

The country’s new leaders have held meetings with representatives of Syria’s minority Christian communities in the capital Damascus, as well as in the heavily Armenian-populated Aleppo, said Zarmig Boghigian, the editor of the Kantsasar newspaper, in an interview with the Yerevan-based Yerkir.
Boghigian said that Syria’s new authorities are attempting to reassure the Christian communities that they can go about life with any fears of persecution, telling them to “stop being afraid.”

Sunday Mass was celebrated in all Armenian churches in Aleppo and elsewhere and life was returning to a semblance of normalcy, with schools opening and militants not patrolling the streets anymore, Boghigian explained. All schools, churches and institutions were forced to close when anti-government forces started their move to oust the al-Assad government two weeks ago, beginning with the seizure of Aleppo.

Yet the economic woes plaguing Syria continue to their toll. Boghigian explained that while stores are open, the prices for basic goods continue to fluctuate and increase. The economic uncertainty is worrying many in the Armenian community.

She also reported that all roads have now been opened and people can freely move around and travel to various parts of the country, as well as Lebanon from where they can go to Armenia. She cautioned, however, that many people have homes and businesses in Syria and leaving all that behind will not be an easy decision for some families.

Boghigian also said that while Syria’s new leaders are promising calm, Israel’s continued attacks on Syrian military positions in Latakia are scaring the community in general, as the impact of the bombings is felt in cities near the target.

The Armenian foreign ministry on Monday voiced its support for the Syria people and called for peace and stability in the region.

“We stand firmly by the friendly Syrian people in this decisive moment for their history and support the inclusive and peaceful political transition process, with strong believe that tolerance and national unity are the sole way to stability and peace in Syria and the entire region,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X.

The foreign ministry also announced that Armenia’s embassy in Damascus has resumed its activities, adding the Armenian Consulate in Aleppo will also resume its operation soon.

 

 

https://asbarez.com/syrias-new-leaders-reassure-armenian-community-to-not-live-in-fear/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHNxd5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHW_oGO8XG61TEAiCA-TlMWPuWcz7JzHnSzciRTCl8q8g_5cUEkEMGJMf0g_aem_apXc-JMgJI2WwG-yesrqPw

[Yervant1]

TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

‘We Paved the way’: Turkey negotiated fall of Assad with Russia, Iran, Turkish FM says

· DECEMBER 16, 2024

 

“We paved the way for this to be bloodless by continuing focused talks,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Turkish TV, discussing the non-intervention of Russia and Iran.

DECEMBER 16, 2024

By Jerusalem Post staff

 

 The newly appointed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a handover ceremony in Ankara, Turkey June 5, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/CAGLA GURDOGAN)

 

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told local TV channel NTV on Friday that Turkey played a key role in making sure that Assad’s allies, Russia and Iran, did not intervene in the lighting offensive that toppled his regime on December 8.

Fidan discussed the developments in Syria with the channel. In particular, he described Turkey’s role in the development and training of Syria’s rebels and its eventual role in helping ensure the fall of Bashar Assad‘s regime.

Fidan was asked if the diplomats meeting in Doha during the collapse of the regime knew this was the end of the regime. He told them that the Turkish Foreign Ministry had worked to ensure that Russia or Iran did not intervene.

“The most vital issue that needed to be done was for the Russians not to enter the equation as a vital issue,” Fidan said. “The Iranian Foreign Minister came, and we got together with the Russians and Iranians in Doha and talked about certain issues.”

 

“If the regime had been supported, it could have been very bloody,” he continued, “The Russians and Iranians saw that there was no point in continuing this; after a certain point, they called, and Assad left that evening.

“We paved the way for this to be bloodless by continuing focused talks.”

 Officials, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, attend a meeting on the crisis in Syria in the framework of the Astana process on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Doha, Qatar, December 7, 2024. (credit: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

Preventing chaos

When asked whether the new rulers in Damascus will protect minority groups in Syria, Fidan said, “What they say and what they do coincide; they are on the right track.”

Ahmad al-Sharaa (al-Julani), the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Shams, the most prominent rebel group, has consistently emphasized that the new government will protect minorities. However, his past ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS have raised doubts.

Fidan assured NTV that Turkey was working to prevent the creation of a power vacuum in Syria, “This risk always exists, so we need to act constructively. We are very sensitive about this issue. The necessary diplomatic and intelligence steps need to be taken.”

 

Fidan also confirmed that the Turkish embassy in Damascus would be open and operational by Saturday.

 

 

https://www.thecaliforniacourier.com/we-paved-the-way-turkey-negotiated-fall-of-assad-with-russia-iran-turkish-fm-says/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHOD8lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbTpu5mL3TwAdyrY6etrhjmkAIRLsgHDEdUy5lABsY_4rmO2diLL-kTK7g_aem_vdPKKAJ5nC5pvfniIVtD5w

[MosJan]

https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/317892/

 

Armenia reopens embassy in Syria

December 17, 2024 - 16:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia reopened its embassy in Damascus on Monday, December 16, one week after evacuating it amid the rebel offensive that toppled Syria’s longtime President Bashar al-Assad.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the embassy resumed its activities along with its consular section that “returned to its normal regime.”

“Appointments for citizens of Armenia have already been organized today,” it said in a statement.

The ministry added that the Armenian consulate in Aleppo will also be reopened soon. The consulate was shut down shortly before Syria’s second largest city fell late last month to the rebels dominated by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist militant group. Both diplomatic missions had functioned throughout the Syrian civil war.

In what was official Yerevan’s first reaction to the regime change in Syria, the Foreign Ministry posted a separate statement on X saying: “We stand firmly by the friendly Syrian people in this decisive moment for their history and support the inclusive and peaceful political transition process, with strong belief that tolerance and national unity are the sole way to stability and peace in Syria and the entire region.”

Much of the work of the Armenian diplomatic missions in Syria is related to the country’s ethnic Armenian community that had an estimated 80,000 members until the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. The once thriving community has been in limbo since the start of the lighting rebel offensive.

The plight of between 10,000 and 15,000 Syrian Armenians believed to remain in Aleppo has been of particular concern. Some of them managed to flee the city ahead of the rebel takeover. They have mostly returned home in recent days, according to Zarmig Boghigian, the editor of the local Armenian newspaper Kantsasar.

“The situation with security in the city is good, but people are concerned,” Boghigian has said, according to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “The economic situation is bad and uncertainty persists. Prices go up and down. So it’s not clear what’s going to happen.”

She said that during their meetings with community leaders in Aleppo, Damascus and other cities the new HTS-led authorities gave the Syrian Armenians security guarantees, telling them to “continue your lives as usual and reopen your churches.” Armenian schools across the country reopened on Monday, added Boghigian.

A group of Syrian Armenians had been scheduled to fly to Armenia on a direct flight from Damascus on November 14. The flight was cancelled because of the continuing closure of Syria’s airports. Boghigian said that community members willing to take refuge in Armenia are now free to do so via neighboring Lebanon

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Diaspora13:56, 19 December 2024

Armenian community of Syria returns to normal life, says MP

Read the article in: العربيةEspañolՀայերենРусскийTürkçe

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of Syria is returning to normal life, according to Syrian-Armenian Member of Parliament Maria Gabrielyan.

Gabrielyan told Armenpress that schools have reopened. 

New developments are taking place every hour, mostly related to the international situation, she said.

“The developments pertain to international organizations, UN envoy, French, English, German and other countries’ delegations, reopening of embassies and others,” she said.

“The Syrian-Armenian community is returning to its normal life: schools have reopened, community life will resume stoon, all bistros and cafes are open,” Gabrielyan said.

The Consulate General of Armenia in Aleppo will reopen on December 19, according to the Armenian foreign ministry.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1207861?fbclid=IwY2xjawHRtW9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRFac1pbPGmaMwGWMUndsAZUiVzAsNclIyDbDZS2xN1TC2YAGqFziuoBqg_aem_b_CjiykisJ_3aUjUHo1THw

[Yervant1]

Muslim Mirror

Dec 29 2024

 

Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict: A new theatre in Syria

 

By Haider Abbas

Within a matter of days, after the fall of Bashar Al Asad in Syria , who was deserted by his army, there is a takeover of Hayat Al Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), a new ISIS-2 incarnate, led by Abu Muhammed Al Jolani. The first has come a visit of Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan to Syria on December 22. Russian forces, the mainstake along with Iran’s support, on which Asad regime could survive the last decade, have left. Iran’s 4000 fighters have also left Syria. The Syrian route for arms supply to Hezbollah, fighting against Israel in Lebanon, has been severed.  All could happen due to Turkey President Taiyyip Erdogan, who never for a day sent his army to defend Palestinians in Gaza against Israel, which has seen more than 50,000 Gazans dead. The Arab nations also did the same. Turkey and Israel are together in their attack on Syria. Turkey wants to silence the outlawed PKK fighters and Israel has already taken over the strategic Golan Heights.

The war now is to start between Turkey’s sponsored HTS and PKK, the outlawed Kurdish organization. There around 1.5 to 2 million Kurdish people in Turkey involved into making a separate nationhood i.e. Kurdistan.  Kurds are significantly spread over Iran, Iraq and Syria. Turkey’s tanks and military carrier troops, fighter jets and missiles have now started to roll into Syria, to silence PKK once and for all. Erdogan who had turned a blind eye to Palestinians, was prompt into arming Azerbaijan against Armenia (2021) which was supported by Russia and Iran. The conflict had ended in a ceasefire.

This is the ‘second time score’ of Turkey over Russia and Iran, and now, is all set to splurge into a new battlefield inside Syria. Israel’s ongoing killing of Gazans, on daily basis, has now paled from prime-time discussions from Muslim nations and populations and focus has shifted to ‘celebrations’ on HTS victory! Arab nations from October 7, 2023, since when Hamas had attacked Israel, have throughout maintained only ‘ill concerns’ for Palestine, while Iran had come out to support Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Ansar-ul-Lah in Yemen against Israel.

What is the likely scenario for Turkey? International powers are now all set to enter into the fray. The ensuing war between Turkey and its sponsored HTS against PKK is to firstly attract sanctions from US. This is to happen all the very soon. US will never allow Turkey to expand its boundaries inside the area of Syria inhabited by Kurds. The Turkey gameplan is to cut-into-pieces of Syria. Some part of it going to HTS, some to Israel and the rest to be distributed between Alavis etc. This is now to invite Russia and Iran to back PKK.

Russian foreign minister Sergie Lavrov has raked-up the issue of Syrian sovereignty over Turkey’s ambitions and together has issued a warning to Israel about destroying Syrian military facilities as not a guarantee for peace forever.  No wonder, this new theatre is building on the same lines of Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict as Turkey-Israel-US had supported for the former and Russia and Iran had stuck with Armenia. Russia and Iran had then cut a sorry-figure, but what is to happen here, considering new geo-strategic realities, which primarily involve Israel expansionism over Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordon, Egypt in possibly a near future?

In this unfolding war, interestingly, US and Russia( read with Iran)  are now to side with each other to scuttle Turkey to back Kurds. US will be goaded by Israel lobbyists, at least as expected by the outgoing Joseph Biden administration, to support PKK in all of its probabilities. The first casualty to be is the Turkish Lira, as it is already forecasted to plummet to new low. The Kurds inside Turkey are also to get stirred up too. Israel lobbyists inside Europe are to see Turkey out of NATO, something which US would also seek! Donald Trump, to swear into as the next US President had earlier been responsible to bring down Lira and this time too, Trump may keep to his reputation. Turkey, an important player in the region, if goes down, will influence new geo-political situations.

The most important benefactor to be, no marks for guessing, will be Israel. It is also a fact, to remember, that the deposed Bashar Al Asad had been in support of Kurds to fight Turkey supported ISIS aka HTS. It hadn’t been late, as in June last, PKK had brought down Turkish drone, informed Medyanews 1 which could never have happened until there was a US technology behind. The brunt of isolation is to be the burden of Turkey alone.

Iran and Russia have turned their eyes on Houthis of Yemen engaged with Israel. Yemen in the one last year has targeted ships going towards Israel. Many European ships including Turkish ships have been attacked in the Red Sea. Yemen is reported to have targeted Israel prime most David Ben Gurion airport in its capital Tel Aviv on December 27, as Israel had attached Yemen capital Sanaa airport a day before.  The Yemen retaliation has come within 14 hours. Millions of Israeli’s have gone inside shelter homes.

The other war zone getting ‘more hot’ is Russia engaged in Ukraine. Ukraine is supported by NATO, European Union and US. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is reported to have rejected Trump’s peace-plan but right now Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the power-center in the Middle East, Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (MbS) is using his ‘special-friendship’ with Trump to organize a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. KSA has won the bid to organize the 2034 soccer world-cup.  Will this meeting happen? What’ll be its outcome as Russia has also put its most lethal Oreshnik missile not only on Ukraine but on NATO nations too.  Russia has also revised its nuclear doctrine. Perhaps, world has never been that close to a nuclear war.

What change is to come after January 20, 2025, the inauguration-day when Trump takes oath, is all yet to unfold.

***

The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner and writes on international issues.

https://muslimmirror.com/azerbaijan-armenia-conflict-a-new-theatre-in-syria/

 

[MosJan]

we hadn't see Johannes posting for long time, I wonder how he's doing. i hope all is good

[Yervant1]

MEDYA News

Jan 21 2025

 

‘We are in fear’: Uncertain future for Armenians in Syria

An interview by Armenian activist Arev Aintabian and the Ararat Collective, a Germany-based Armenian group, with Kohar Khachadurian, a prominent Armenian leader in North and East Syria (Rojava), discussing the future of ethnic minorities in Syria under the new Islamist government.

 

Kohar Khachadurian, a prominent political figure representing the Armenian community in Syria, discusses the uncertain future of ethnic minorities in North and East Syria (Rojava) under potential Islamist rule. Once a safe haven for Armenians, Syriacs, Kurds and Arabs, North and East Syria now faces growing fears over the erosion of cultural and religious freedoms.

 

“We are in fear of whether we’ll be allowed to speak Armenian, carry our crosses, or celebrate our religious holidays,” Khachadurian says, highlighting growing concerns over new oppression in post-Assad Syria.

Khachadurian serves in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office of the Armenian Socialist Council based in Qamishli (Qamişlo), in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). She is deeply involved in governance of the region, advocating for the rights of minority communities, and working to address the challenges facing Armenians amid regional conflicts.

Arev Aintabian, a Syrian-Armenian activist based in Stockholm, Sweden, and members of the Ararat Collective – a Germany-based Armenian antifascist group founded during the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) invasion of 2020 – interviewed Khachadurian in December. The conversation offers a critical insight into life on the ground in northern Syria since the fall of Assad’s regime, including increasing threats from Turkish-backed forces, and the impact an Islamist Damascus government could have on the region’s Armenian minority.

The Armenian population in Syria is primarily composed of descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, during which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were massacred or deported, driven from their ancestral lands in Eastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).

The situation in Rojava remains precarious, as the ongoing Turkish siege, supported by Syrian National Army (SNA) mercenaries, continues to threaten civilian life and regional stability. Critical infrastructure has been targeted, including humanitarian facilities, and civilians including journalists have been killed in attacks on sites such as the Tishreen (Tişrîn) Dam, defended by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Only last week, US CENTCOM Commander Michael Kurilla visited officials from the SDF, the local boots-on-the-ground partner in the Global Coalition to Defeat Da’esh (ISIS), to address critical humanitarian and security issues facing the region.

Read the interview transcript here, lightly edited for clarity:

Arev Aintabian: How do you feel right now?

Kohar Khachadurian: Right now we cannot decide how the situation will be, but the people are happy that we are finally done with Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

As an Armenian, how would you contextualise the rapid occupation of Syria by the Turkey-backed jihadist mercenaries? What does it mean for Armenians in Syria (and other groups, especially as minorities)?

Right now as Armenian people, we are in fear of Islamist Arab rule, because our future will be uncertain. For example, as Armenians, will we be allowed to speak Armenian, carry our crosses, or celebrate our religious holidays? Since we, Armenians, already live under Arab governance, in schools everything is in Arabic, and we only have one or two periods in Armenian. This has affected us. Many Armenians don’t speak, or understand Armenian that well. An Islamist governance will affect our native language and our religious rights. We are in fear. Will they make us wear hijabs and will we be able to go to church? These things remain in the thoughts of Armenians.

How do you feel about al-Assad’s fall?

Our feelings are mixed, are we happy or afraid? Everything is mixed up because right now nothing is clear on the ground. We are waiting to see what will happen.

Have the developments also impacted the infrastructure of North and East Syria? What is the current situation regarding electricity, water, food, the dollar and/or Syrian pound, the internet, diesel, market prices, etc.?

After 2011 the situation was bad – there was no electricity, no diesel, and gas was expensive. The dollar was rising, which was a big worry for the people because salaries were low and food and water were already expensive. The people were worried about how they would buy bread, and this was very difficult for us. But now since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the dollar has started to decrease a bit, the goods have started to get a bit cheaper, salaries will increase. These hopes are keeping us alive, the people are waiting to see what will happen. The dollar can only be earned or spent in North and East Syria, but not in other places – it was prohibited elsewhere.

What were your thoughts and those of the people of al-Jazira (Cizîrê) when North and East Syria came into power and became an Autonomous Administration against ISIS?

It was great for us. In Rojava, everyone became united – Armenians, Arabs, Kurds and Syriacs. Here in Rojava, we live in better conditions, comfortably and safely, and the salaries are good. For example, compared to Aleppo or Damascus, where they lived in horrible conditions, there’s a big difference between the regions. So we are happy to live here, especially as Armenians and Christians, where our people have freedoms.

You said that life was much better for the Armenians after Rojava was formed. Can you explain what was it that got better?

Because it’s much safer here, nobody bothers us Armenians, if we go to church, celebrate our holidays, or wear whatever we want. We commemorate April 24th, celebrate Easter, play a fanfare and sing on the streets – we have freedom to do all of these things!

This reminds me that it used to be similar in Aleppo. Was it like this in Qamishli before the war as well or did it change after Rojava became a de facto?

It was much better in Qamishli compared to the other places because the areas where Arabs, Kurds or Muslims live are all different. The people here are freedom-loving, and progressive; they accept one another. Unlike in Aleppo, where they are much like the Muslim Brotherhood/Islamists.

Do you know how many Armenians are left today in Rojava compared to before the war, for example in Qamishli and Hasakah [Hesekê]?

In Qamishli, there might be around 500-600 Armenian households left, or perhaps 300 Armenian homes overall. In Hasakah, there are [almost] no Armenians, maybe only a few households.

I have seen the Martyr Nubar Ozanyan Brigade military unit, where “Armenians” from Hasakah join the unit to fight in battles.

Yes, they are not Christian. During the Armenian genocide in 1915, when the survivors fled these areas, they were few, and Kurdish or Arab families adopted and raised them. They used to be Armenians and now the Armenian council which we have started is mostly for these people. We collect them and we teach them Armenian language, Armenian history, songs and dances. They love it and they want to return to their Armenian-ness. There are no Christian Armenians left in Hasakah, maybe a few, but it’s only them in Hasakah.

What are your future plans as Armenians, Syriacs or Christians? Do you plan to leave and seek refuge outside of Syria? Or are there thoughts of repatriating to Armenia?

Our only plan is that I hope all of us become united. If we flee because of every minor air strike or inconvenience, leaving our homes and lands, then who will we leave them to? To Turkey? And as we already see, Turkey is attacking us every day – this is Turkey’s intention: to scare away the people so they flee. But all of us together, we try to be unified, it doesn’t matter if [we are] Christians, Arabs or Kurds, all of us live together on this land. We have to be together, [in order] not to let Turkey’s wish come true, not to flee again from Turkey just like after 1915. Of course, we wish to repatriate to Armenia, but this is also our land and our home, we have to always resist, to work together, to become unified, so we remain here for the conditions to improve. Many were forcibly displaced, they were forced to flee. But here the situation is still good, so we don’t want to easily evacuate and emigrate.

Can you present your work within the Armenian Democratic Council of North and East Syria?

We secure the Christian Armenians here, so we try to help anyone who needs a job or has other issues. But our main work is for those Armenians who fled here after the 1915 Armenian Genocide and were adopted by Kurdish and Arab families. We teach them Armenian language, Armenian history and songs, we also have a dance group, singers, theatres and actors. They began to speak Armenian, this was a great success for us because we were moving forward. And we continue to find more assimilated Armenians so we can allow them to approach their Armenian-ness. We will now also start an Armenian army to protect all Armenians and of course, all people that live here.

This is really important work – to fight against assimilation, and preserve language and culture really contributes to the resistance against genocidal politics. I have seen videos of Armenians in Rojava dancing traditional Armenian dances, and singing Armenian songs. I also noticed that an Armenian women’s party has been founded. Why is it especially important that Armenian women organise? What are the challenges and difficulties they are facing?

In Rojava, women have managed to take over their freedom. Before the revolution, it was difficult for women to speak up and get access to education. Now, in Rojava, women have taken their freedom, and their voices are heard.

How would you like it if the international community and the Armenians outside of Syria supported you in this situation? Is there something that gives you hope?

We call for the international community to protect the Armenians and our freedom of religion to live as Christians from the new government that will come and rule over us, so that we can have our rights, to live freely, to speak our language, to wear our crosses, to dress freely and not be forced to cover ourselves with a hijab. It is our right to have freedom and not live with all this fear inside of us as Armenians or Christians. We call for the international community to work for an international answer, to live freely. That you forward our voices and spread about that we don’t want to leave our homes and country. We want to stay here comfortably, we only want to have our rights, with our religion, feasts and clothes. We demand from the entire world that we want to stay here and to live in peace.

Is there a connection for you to the Armenian struggle? Furthermore, do you see a connection to Artsakh?

Indeed, we’re far apart from each other but every Armenian carries the struggle in their heart. When we saw what happened in Artsakh, we got very sad, our hearts were shattered although we were far away. We were fighting every day with our hearts so that these kinds of events wouldn’t take place – in Artsakh or in Armenia. Yes, we are far away, all Armenians are spread out in the diaspora, but there’s always a connection between us. All of us fight together so that this genocidal oppression doesn’t happen to any Armenian, no matter where.

Because in the end, as Armenians we all have the same enemy, namely Turkish fascism.

Yes, every Armenian feels the pain for every other Armenian no matter where, we all care and empathise with each other because we are one, our pain is one.

 

X account: https://x.com/ArmeniaRojava

https://medyanews.net/we-are-in-fear-uncertain-future-for-armenians-in-syria/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Diaspora19:22, 8 March 2025

Two Syrian-Armenians killed in ongoing clashes near Latakia

Read the article in: Հայերեն

Two Syrian-Armenians have been killed in the ongoing clashes between government forces and Assad loyalists, the local Kantsasar newspaper reported.

According to the report the victims are father and son Antoine and Fadi Boudros. They were shot dead in the outskirts of Latakia.

According to latest reports hundreds of people, including civilians, have been killed as intense battles between government forces and loyalists of deposed leader Bashar al-Assad continue.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1213919?fbclid=IwY2xjawI5nGhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHblr8Bs86IwFhgZlpRHag7OuZABu5OHDATAlSizUWohfBV1MraEEqUdu2w_aem_SpAtybOjV8WB_RihnFslfw