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REACHING OUT: ARMENIAN PROJECT TO HELP "BROTHERS IN SYRIA" TO CONTINUE DESPITE TURKISH AIRSPACE BAN
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
17.10.12 | 12:28
Armenian organizers of a humanitarian airlift to Syria said on Tuesday
they were determined to continue their efforts to help compatriots in
the embattled Middle Eastern country despite some traffic difficulties
they faced in operating their maiden mission.
Enlarge Photo Vahan Hovhannisyan
The humanitarian aid sent to Syria through the Help Your Brother
program in Armenia was checked in Turkey before the plane was allowed
to proceed to Aleppo, the city where most of Syria's 80,000-strong
Armenian community is concentrated.
The cargo including 14 tons of food and medicines that had been
collected across Armenia reached Aleppo late on October 15 and will
be distributed among Aleppan Armenians through the Red Crescent and
the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Vahan Hovhannisyan, a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, the party that initiated the movement for helping ethnic
Armenians in Syria, said they had chosen neutral organizations for
the distribution of aid so that neither the Syrian government nor
the rebels accuse the movement of having a bias.
The Air Armenia cargo plane carrying out the flight had to land in
the Turkish city of Erzurum and spend six hours there while Turkish
authorities were inspecting the cargo. A number of international and
local media reported that the aircraft was "grounded" by the Turkish
authorities, but Hovhannisyan says the landing had been planned in
advance and there was nothing "forced" about it.
Turkey, which is having increasingly tense relations with Syria,
banned Syria-bound flights through its airspace on Sunday. They agreed
to allow the plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia only on
condition that it lands and undergoes a thorough inspection. Ankara
and its international partners have voiced concerns about possible
arms supplies to Syria, a country currently engulfed in a bloody
internal conflict.
"The inspection in Erzurum was probably the most thorough the world
has ever seen. They took out all boxes, checked the contents of 7,000
of them by hand and also used detection dogs. They had fire engines
and troops on standby in what was a kind of staged display of force,
but we take such things calmly. It was a humanitarian cargo and had
to be allowed to proceed by all laws," says Hovhannisyan, citing
eyewitness accounts.
The senior Dashnaktsutyun representative says they could announce
that the plane would land in Turkey beforehand, but there was a
"subtle detail" stopping them from doing that.
"A few hours before the flight the Turkish authorities announced
that they banned all flights to Syria through Turkish airspace. If
we made any statement in those conditions, that would certainly have
led to Turkey also applying its ban in our respect. We pretended
that we weren't aware of anything to make it too late to apply the
ban against us, too," explains Hovhannisyan.
Meanwhile, the United States has backed Turkey's decision to ban
Syria-bound planes from flying through its airspace, at the same time
praising Ankara's "measured and appropriate posture" with regard to
the most recent incident in which the plane from Armenia carrying
humanitarian supplies to Aleppo was checked.
"It [the Armenian flight] was confirmed to be humanitarian supplies,
and they were allowed to go on to Syria," said Spokesperson for the US
Department of State Victoria Nuland at a press briefing in Washington,
commenting on the development involving the Syria-bound plane carrying
Armenian aid.
The U.S. official added: "We are encouraging all of Syria's neighbors
to be vigilant with regard to how their airspace is used, particularly
now that we have this concrete example."
Help Your Brother movement coordinator Lilit Galstyan thinks that
the civil initiative has achieved great success as it has managed to
attract all sections of the Armenian people.
A total of 40 tons of food as well as 30 million drams (about $74,000)
have been collected as part of the initiative. The rest of the aid
will be sent to Aleppo soon. The organizers, however, do not indicate
the exact date of the second airlift. Certain donation pledges have
been made to the project that would help take care of the expenses to
get the aid to Aleppo by air. Galstyan says that the movement will
not stop its work on collecting money and food as they understand
the Syrian conflict "does not have a quick solution."
Meanwhile, officials at the Syrian Air company said on Tuesday that
in light of the Turkish ban they have rerouted their weekly flights
to Armenia and from now on these flights will be operated via Iraq
and Iran.
Armenia's national air carrier, Armavia, stopped its regular flights
to Aleppo on September 17.
From: A. Papazian
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
17.10.12 | 12:28
Armenian organizers of a humanitarian airlift to Syria said on Tuesday
they were determined to continue their efforts to help compatriots in
the embattled Middle Eastern country despite some traffic difficulties
they faced in operating their maiden mission.
Enlarge Photo Vahan Hovhannisyan
The humanitarian aid sent to Syria through the Help Your Brother
program in Armenia was checked in Turkey before the plane was allowed
to proceed to Aleppo, the city where most of Syria's 80,000-strong
Armenian community is concentrated.
The cargo including 14 tons of food and medicines that had been
collected across Armenia reached Aleppo late on October 15 and will
be distributed among Aleppan Armenians through the Red Crescent and
the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Vahan Hovhannisyan, a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, the party that initiated the movement for helping ethnic
Armenians in Syria, said they had chosen neutral organizations for
the distribution of aid so that neither the Syrian government nor
the rebels accuse the movement of having a bias.
The Air Armenia cargo plane carrying out the flight had to land in
the Turkish city of Erzurum and spend six hours there while Turkish
authorities were inspecting the cargo. A number of international and
local media reported that the aircraft was "grounded" by the Turkish
authorities, but Hovhannisyan says the landing had been planned in
advance and there was nothing "forced" about it.
Turkey, which is having increasingly tense relations with Syria,
banned Syria-bound flights through its airspace on Sunday. They agreed
to allow the plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia only on
condition that it lands and undergoes a thorough inspection. Ankara
and its international partners have voiced concerns about possible
arms supplies to Syria, a country currently engulfed in a bloody
internal conflict.
"The inspection in Erzurum was probably the most thorough the world
has ever seen. They took out all boxes, checked the contents of 7,000
of them by hand and also used detection dogs. They had fire engines
and troops on standby in what was a kind of staged display of force,
but we take such things calmly. It was a humanitarian cargo and had
to be allowed to proceed by all laws," says Hovhannisyan, citing
eyewitness accounts.
The senior Dashnaktsutyun representative says they could announce
that the plane would land in Turkey beforehand, but there was a
"subtle detail" stopping them from doing that.
"A few hours before the flight the Turkish authorities announced
that they banned all flights to Syria through Turkish airspace. If
we made any statement in those conditions, that would certainly have
led to Turkey also applying its ban in our respect. We pretended
that we weren't aware of anything to make it too late to apply the
ban against us, too," explains Hovhannisyan.
Meanwhile, the United States has backed Turkey's decision to ban
Syria-bound planes from flying through its airspace, at the same time
praising Ankara's "measured and appropriate posture" with regard to
the most recent incident in which the plane from Armenia carrying
humanitarian supplies to Aleppo was checked.
"It [the Armenian flight] was confirmed to be humanitarian supplies,
and they were allowed to go on to Syria," said Spokesperson for the US
Department of State Victoria Nuland at a press briefing in Washington,
commenting on the development involving the Syria-bound plane carrying
Armenian aid.
The U.S. official added: "We are encouraging all of Syria's neighbors
to be vigilant with regard to how their airspace is used, particularly
now that we have this concrete example."
Help Your Brother movement coordinator Lilit Galstyan thinks that
the civil initiative has achieved great success as it has managed to
attract all sections of the Armenian people.
A total of 40 tons of food as well as 30 million drams (about $74,000)
have been collected as part of the initiative. The rest of the aid
will be sent to Aleppo soon. The organizers, however, do not indicate
the exact date of the second airlift. Certain donation pledges have
been made to the project that would help take care of the expenses to
get the aid to Aleppo by air. Galstyan says that the movement will
not stop its work on collecting money and food as they understand
the Syrian conflict "does not have a quick solution."
Meanwhile, officials at the Syrian Air company said on Tuesday that
in light of the Turkish ban they have rerouted their weekly flights
to Armenia and from now on these flights will be operated via Iraq
and Iran.
Armenia's national air carrier, Armavia, stopped its regular flights
to Aleppo on September 17.
From: A. Papazian