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The truth about Syria


Johannes

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PanArmenian, Armenia
Jan 12 2019
Turkish news site indicted for citing Armenian Genocide in Afrin report
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January 12, 2019 - 11:48 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Turkish prosecutor has prepared an indictment against Necla Demir, the publisher of the Turkish news site Gazete Karınca, over three reports one of which attributed the motivation behind Turkey's attacks on Afrin, Syria to “the 1915 mindset,” referring to the year of the Armenian Genocide, Ahval reports.

The prosecutor said the site was "making propaganda of an illegal organisation" during Turkey's military operation in northern Syrian enclave of Afrin.

A court in Istanbul has accepted the indictment, which says Gazete Karınca has been "making continuous propaganda for a terrorist organisation," the accused news site reported on Friday.

The charges against Demir and Gazete Karınca are principally based on the news site's reports and interviews published in the period when the Turkish Armed Forces declared a cross-border operation in Afrin, a north-west Syrian enclave formerly controlled by Syrian Kurdish groups, on Jan. 20, 2018.

The indictment cited three news reports published on the news site titled as evidence of a crime. One of the news items reported that hospitals in Afrin had gone over capacity during the Turkish military operation, another dealt with the day attacks by Turkish forces reached the town centre. A third attributed the motivation behind the attacks to “the 1915 mindset,” referring to the year of the Armenian genocide, when Ottoman forces drove the empire’s Armenian minority out of the country, killing over a million in the process.

"The news site published reports praising an armed terrorist organisation's actions containing violence, force and threats," the indictment said of the news pieces.

Besides its Afrin reports, several news items by Gazete Karınca covering Turkey's air strikes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region also featured in the indictment.

Turkish authorities have interrogated Demir, who has rejected all accusations.

Demir said the reports the news site released were within the scope of freedom of _expression_ and press and the right to information.

The indictment claims Gazete Karınca's reports were "one-sided and accused Turkish Armed Forces of the occupation of Afrin as well as torture and massacre of civilians."

"In this manner, (Gazete Karınca) elaborated to report on behalf of the PKK/KCK (Kurdistan Workers' Party and its political wing), and its Syrian offshoot the PYD/YPG (Democratic Union Party and its military wing)," the indictment said.

Turkey has stepped up a crackdown on dissent since the military entered Syria in January 2018, and has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and statements of concern from the European Union and the United States.

The country has a large Kurdish minority, many of whom see the operation in Afrin as an attack on the movement for Kurdish self-determination and democratic representation in the wider region, including southeastern Turkey. Hundreds of people who protested against the Afrin offensive were detained.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/264202/Turkish_news_site_indicted_for_citing_Armenian_Genocide_in_Afrin_report

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Panorama, Armenia
Feb 6 2019
Consul General: Only 14-15 thousand Armenians left from once a prosperous colony in Aleppo

Panorama.am’s exclusive interview with Armenia’s Consul General in Aleppo Armen Sargsyan

- Mr Sargsyan, the war that broke out in Syria in 2011 destroyed the country’s once-famous cities, including Aleppo. How is life going on today in Aleppo? Have the restoration works launched?

- The damages inflicted by the war are simply reaching alarming proportions in Syria. The human losses that are estimated at hundreds of thousands are especially irreversible. We should pay deep respects to the Syrian people who are overcoming a long-lasting and cruel war turmoil at the cost of great sacrifices, refusing to leave their country and remaining steadfast in their commitment to protecting it. Today, Syria enters a new period of post-war reconstruction and national consolidation.

Aleppo is one of the cities that has suffered most of human and material losses as a result of the war. Today, live has got back to normal in Aleppo: shops and public catering facilities are being opened, with vigorous activity observed in almost every aspect of life. The government provides financial support for the construction and restoration of educational institutions and the buildings of strategic importance from its scarce resources. The security level is also on the rise due to consistent efforts.

- Aleppo was famous for its large Armenian community established after 1915. Due to the war, Armenians became refugees again, with some of them returning to Armenia. How is the Armenian community in Aleppo and other Syrian cities today? How many Armenians have left in Aleppo? Do you possess some data?

- Yes, the war has also left its mark on Aleppo Armenians. Today, only 14-15 thousand Armenians have left in Aleppo from once a prosperous mother colony with a strong national identity, sparing no effort in an attempt to preserve the community's image and the viability of community structures.

We can underline with joy that the national life of the community is restoring and entering a new course: cultural events are often held, the consulate-community-partnership and the willingness to organize and implement joint events are on a new higher level. Quarterly visits are paid to mainly Latakia and Kessab, where consular receptions are organized to assist the local Armenians in various consular issues.

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- Are there cases when Armenians return to Syria under conditions of a relative peace following the ceasefire?

- Of course, there are such cases. There are people who return mostly for selling their property and settling themselves in Armenia permanently. There are also cases of permanent resettlement in Aleppo, but the number of returnees is still small. It is noteworthy that a part of Aleppo Armenians looks at their homeland, and many Armenians in Aleppo see their future in Armenia. However, those who want to re-establish themselves in Aleppo are few. We are committed to ensuring the humanitarian needs of our compatriots returning to Aleppo within our abilities.

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- Throughout the Syrian war, the Armenian diplomatic representations in Syria were among the few that continued to operate. What does it mean to be a diplomat and to work under a war?

- Throughout the war, by the decision of the Armenian leadership, the Armenian Embassy in Damascus and the Armenian Consulate General in Aleppo have been working and continue to work with an emergency regime, sharing all the hardships of the war.

Up to present, the only diplomatic representation in Aleppo is the Consulate General of Armenia, which is highly appreciated by the Syrian people. For Aleppo Armenians, the activity of the Consulate General is also of great moral-psychological importance for the simple reason that it ensures a link between the Motherland and its authentic presence in Aleppo.

I would like to present in short the Consulate’s activity in humanitarian aid anddeliveries to Aleppo. In these years, the Armenian government has dispatched humanitarian aid to Syria six times – the last in July 2018. The staff of the Armenian Consulate General in Aleppo has always assumed the full responsibility for assistance receiving, registration, paperwork and provision of transport means for delivery to Aleppo, as soon as it arrives at Latakia.

Amid today’s complicated military-political conditions, assuming such a responsibility is highly risky. This is how the Armenian diplomats work in war zones. Naturally, the work schedule is complex and inclusive, and apart from high level professionalism it is also necessary to be vigilant, realizing the seriousness of the situation and the consequences of reckless steps.

- What programs do the Consulate General currently have and what are its priority targets?

- The activities of the Consulate in this respect are extremely variable and largely depend on the domestic political developments. In general, as in the previous years, in 2019 as well the Consulate will push ahead with its practice of multifunctional work.

Interview by Anna Mkrtchyan

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2019/02/06/Armenian-Aleppo/2068477

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Turkey’s Support of Terrorists in Syria

Exposed in Secret Wiretaps

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt exposed in The Investigative
Journal of the Stockholm Center for Freedom that “hundreds of secret
wiretap records obtained from confidential sources in the Turkish
capital of Ankara reveal how the Islamist government of President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has enabled—and even facilitated—the movement of
foreign and Turkish militants across the Turkish border into Syria to
fight alongside jihadists in the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant
(ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh).”

These secret documents revealed by Bozkurt “indicate that an implicit
agreement existed between ISIS and Turkish security officials that
allowed traffickers to operate freely on both sides of the porous
511-mile (822-kilometer) Turkish-Syrian border without repercussions
from the Erdogan government. The agreement also permitted ISIS to run
logistical lines across the border and to transport wounded fighters
back into Turkey for medical treatment.”

At the helm of this sinister ISIS smuggling operation is a 36-year-old
Saudi-born Turk, Ilhami Bali, with the code name Abu Bakr. He
facilitated and orchestrated “the movement of large numbers of foreign
and local militants back and forth along the Turkish-Syrian border. …
Bali [also] moved goods across the border for ISIS, ranging from shoes
and clothing to handcuffs, drone parts, binoculars, tents, a spotlight
projector and even a boat. Additionally, the wiretaps show the Turkish
government knew the names and locations of 33 Turkish nationals who
pledged to work as drivers in ISIS’s smuggling network,” Bozkurt
reported.

According to indictments filed by Turkish prosecutors, “Bali is
accused of being the mastermind behind three deadly 2015 terrorist
attacks in Turkey’s capital city, Ankara, that claimed the lives of
142 people. A year later, a criminal court issued another warrant for
Balı’s arrest for his alleged role in a suicide bomb attack—the
deadliest in Turkey’s history—on October 10, 2015 in Ankara. The
explosion killed 105 civilians, including the two suicide bombers, as
ISIS militants targeted NGOs and the supporters of left-wing and
pro-Kurdish parties, who were holding a peace rally outside the city’s
main train station weeks ahead of the November 1, 2015 snap
elections,” Bozkurt revealed. Although the Turkish authorities knew
Bali’s exact location and Turkish courts issued several arrest
warrants against him, the Erdogan government had let him roam freely
between Turkey and Syria.

The wiretap records also indicated that ISIS had a hot line between
the terrorists in Syria and Turkey. Bali monitored the phone calls and
organized the transfer of militants from Turkey to Syria. In one
wiretap, a Georgian militant named Lasha Nadirashvili told Bali that
four jihadists were awaiting pickup at a shopping mall in Gaziantep,
one hour drive from the Syrian border. Bali notified the jihadists the
designated meeting place where he would pick them up and help them
cross the border. In another wiretap, a Russian jihadist Oleksandr
Pushchuk told Bali that 11 jihadists in Gaziantep were waiting to be
picked up.

Bali was also heard on a wiretap giving a report to ISIS on the number
of jihadists he had helped smuggle into Syria. “On average, in a
single day at one crossing point, ISIS smuggles anywhere from 50 to
more than 100 militants across the Turkish-Syrian border according to
wiretaps, bringing yearly conservative estimates to well over 15,000
smuggled individuals,” Bozkurt wrote.

Another important service Bali provided for jihadists was their
medical treatment at M.I.S. Danismanlik hospital in Ankara. One
wiretap revealed a conversation between Bali and M.I.S. Danismanlik’s
owner Savas Dogru regarding a $62,000 payment for treating 16 ISIS
militants. In another conversation, Dogru complained about unpaid
bills of $150,000 for surgeries to ISIS terrorists smuggled from
Syria.

The wiretaps also implicated MIT (Turkish National Intelligence
Organization) for helping jihadists evade the local police. Hakan
Fidan, the head of MIT, is a close confidante of Pres. Erdogan. In
2014, MIT officers were caught at the border smuggling truck-loads of
weapons for jihadists in Syria. The Turkish government quickly
released the MIT officers and charged with treason the reporter who
disclosed the smuggled weapons.

In a recorded conversation between Bali and a Turkish soldier, Bali
was told that he would get whatever he needed. The two agreed to
ensure that there was no confrontation between ISIS and Turkish
security guards.

Surprisingly, then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced on
television that the government could not arrest suicide bombers until
they acted, even though Turkey had advance warning and the list of
names of potential suicide bombers. These suicide bombings in fact
boosted Erdogan’s ruling party’s ratings in advance of the November
2015 Turkish parliamentary elections.

Bozkurt went on to state that there are serious questions regarding
“cases involving ISIS, al-Qaeda and other armed jihadist groups [who]
are being investigated, prosecuted, and tried in Turkey. The
astonishingly low number of convictions in ISIS cases illustrates how
the government is unwilling to successfully prosecute ISIS cases.”

Bozkurt correctly pointed out that Erdogan’s government uses draconian
measures to arrest innocent journalists, human rights activists,
academics and political opponents, but is very lenient on real
terrorists: “The fact that, in many cases, detained ISIS and al-Qaeda
members have been let go with a mere slap on the wrist can only be
explained by the political cover and protection provided by the
government.”

In my opinion, the European countries and the United States have to
take strong measures to curtail Erdogan’s support of terrorists in
Syria. It is strange that Turkey as a NATO member is aiding and arming
terrorists who have been committing murders in several other NATO
countries. This cannot be allowed to continue. Pres. Trump’s announced
pull-out of American forces from Syria under the pretext that the
Turkish military will continue the fight against ISIS is a dangerous
decision which will give Turkey a free hand to strengthen the
terrorists in Syria and elsewhere.

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When others demolish, Armenians build!!!!!!!

Panorama, Armenia

Feb 20 2019
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Society 13:12 20/02/2019 World
Blown up Armenian church in Aleppo to reopen in spring after reconstruction

The Armenian Forty Martyrs Cathedral in Syria’s Aleppo will reopen in spring after reconstruction, with the church expected to offer the first religious service in March or April 2019, RIA Novosti reports.

The Armenian church was exploded by the Islamic State militants in April 2015.

“The scope of work was tremendous. We had to rebuild the corridor which was completely destroyed. We collected and put together the old preserved stones. It was the most difficult. Almost 70% of the building laid in ruins,” Syrian-Armenian engineer Garbis Tamassian told the news agency.

The church already has new doors and windows, with new benches being delivered. The building’s facade has been fully restored, and the finishing work is nearing its end.

The church reconstruction works have been funded by the Aleppo Armenian community, with some 150,000 people said to have contributed to the repairs.

Before the Syrian civil war, an estimated 250,000 Christians lived in Aleppo, which was home to at least 45 churches. Half of them are currently ruined, pending reconstruction.

During the war, militants of many terrorist groups destroyed Christian monasteries, cathedrals and churches throughout the country, plundering and desecrating Christian shrines.

Forty_Martyrs_Cathedral_of_Aleppo%2C_the

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2019/02/20/Armenian-church-Aleppo/2075131

 

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When others kill, Armenians saves lives!

News.am, Armenia

Feb 24 2019
Armenia physicians saving lives in Aleppo (PHOTOS)
15:15, 24.02.2019

YEREVAN. – Armenian doctors are saving lives in Aleppo.

Artsrun Hovhannisyan, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, wrote the aforesaid on Facebook.

Also, he posted respective photos showing the Armenian specialists, who are conducting humanitarian mission in Syria, helping the injured.

An 83-member team—comprising deminers, doctors, and their security professionals—traveled from Armenia to Syria on February 8, to provide humanitarian and professional assistance to the Syrian people.

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https://news.am/eng/news/498086.html

 

 

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PanArmenian, Armenia
March 5 2019
Armenian flag anointed in Aleppo
http://media.pn.am/media/issue/266/114/photo/266114.jpg
March 5, 2019 - 12:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian flag was anointed at the headquarters of a group of Armenian specialists who arrived in Syria on a humanitarian mission, the press service of the Foreign Ministry reports.

The event was attended by Armenian Ambassador to Syria Tigran Gevorgyan, Armenian Consul General in Aleppo Armen Sargsyan, member of the Syrian parliament Zhirayr Reisian, as well as leaders of the Aleppo Armenian community.

Member of the group of humanitarian experts Arkady Tonoyan delivered opening remarks on behalf of the Armenian mission. He stressed that peacekeeping is one of the unique values of the Armenian people, and the presence of the Armenian humanitarian mission in Syria is a clear confirmation of that.

Special military units from Armenia have begun demining the neighborhoods of Aleppo after Damascus concluded an agreement with Yerevan in mid-February.

The Armenian government sent a non-combat humanitarian squad of 83 doctors, sappers, and other servicemen to Syria to provide assistance to the Armenian community in Aleppo. Armenia had previously sent four airlifts of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/266114/Armenian_flag_anointed_in_Aleppo

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Aysor, Armenia
March 7 2019
Armenian deminer injured in Syria while implementing his mission

An Armenian deminer has been injured today during demining activity in Syria, Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise reports.

The incident was caused by trap mine with plastic waist. The deminer received a foot injury and was immediately transported to hospital and operated on.

His life is not in danger. The demining works, in the sidelines of humanitarian mission in Syria, continue.

https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2019/03/07/armenian-syria/1535404

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Aleteia
Nov 11 2019
ISIS claims responsibility for murder of Catholic priest in Syria
syrian-priest-killed-e1573482779461.jpg?
Father Bidoyan and his father were killed during a visit to an Armenian Catholic church.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the murder of Armenian Catholic priest Father Hovsep Bidoyan, who was gunned down today, Monday, November 11, 2019, on his way a church in eastern Syria.

 

Both Father Hovsep Bidoyan, from Qamishli, and his biological father were killed while traveling to visit to the Armenian Catholic Church in Deir Ezzor, a city in eastern Syria.

According to a report from the website Rudaw, ISIS took credit for the murders hours after they took place. Fr. Bidoyan and his father were on their way to “supervise the restoration” of a church when they were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights(SOHR), UK-based war monitor, reported Rudaw.

It is not clear who is responsible for the killing or their motives. More details to follow.

 


 

 

 

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Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 11 2019
Bomb detonates near Armenian Catholic Church in Qamishli, casualties reported

Three car bombs, exploding nearly simultaneously in the Syrian city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, killed at least six people, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

One of the bombs detonated near the Armenian Catholic Church, Head of the Armenian National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education, Science, Diaspora, Culture, Youth and Sport Mkhitar Hayrapetyan said in a Facebook post.

Sourses in Qamishli say no Armenians suffered as a result of the explosions.

The attacks came the same day an Armenian Catholic priest and his father were killed as they traveled to the eastern province of Deir ez- Zor from Qamishli, where they were meant to inspect the restoration of a church, according to the Syrian Observatory.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the murder.

https://en.armradio.am/2019/11/11/bomb-detonates-near-armenian-catholic-church-in-qamishli-casualties-reported/

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Armenpress.am

 
Near East21:15, 2 October 2024

Three killed in Israeli strike on Damascus

Read the article in: ՀայերենРусский

 

Three killed in Israeli strike on Damascus

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS.Three civilians were killed and three wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Syria's capital Damascus on Wednesday, Reuters reported. 

According to the source, Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, but has ramped up such raids since last year's Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israeli territory.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1201338?fbclid=IwY2xjawFqt8pleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVIPMbSR9zVfwttwNvEbJtOh-UfuOMlXoWHUmTTmVtqEHVi3UnwvrnMsfQ_aem_TkVnsj3GtzXo14buorWpTw

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