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TURKEY TO HELP SYRIAN ARMENIANS REACH LEBANON
Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 23 2014
The Turkish Foreign Ministry is working to relocate Syrian- Armenians
currently in Turkey to Lebanon, where their relatives reside. Many
of the refugees, all of whom who fled fierce fighting in their home
country, do not possess passports
Published : 22.04.2014 23:38:21
Erhan Ozturk
ISTANBUL -- Syrian Armenians taking shelter in Turkey will travel
to Lebanon where their relatives live thanks to the assistance of
the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The ministry has launched efforts to
provide a passage for those Armenians who do not hold passports.
Turkey is hosting 22 Syrian Armenians who were forced to flee Kasab,
a town near the Syrian-Turkish border, as clashes between rebels
and Syrian regime forces spilled over into the vicinity of the
predominantly Armenian town.
They are being accommodated in Vakıflı, a Turkish Armenian village
in the southern Turkish province of Hatay. Of the 22 Armenians,
17 appealed to Turkish authorities to facilitate their transfer to
Lebanon as they do not have passports.
Cem Capar, head of the Surp Asdvadzadzin Church Foundation in Vakıflı
that provides humanitarian assistance for Syrian Armenians, said the
organization conveyed the refugees' request to the Foreign Ministry.
"The ministry will issue them travel documents and authorities
contacted Lebanese officials for their admission to that country. We
hope the process will be completed as soon as possible," Capar said.
Kasab is located only three kilometers from the Turkish border.
"Rebels brought our brothers and sisters here last month. They lost
their possessions and were separated from their families. We work here
to make them feel at home," Capar said. After clashes escalated, the
2,000 Syrian Armenians living in Kasab, where about 80 percent of the
population is Armenian, left for Latakia, a city on the Mediterranean
coast of Syria.
Capar said eight Armenian residents of Kasab were missing. "The Turkish
Armenian Patriarchate asked for help from the Foreign Ministry to
locate those missing people," he added.
Most Armenians hosted in Vakıflı are elderly people in their
seventies. The local governorate dispatched a team of doctors to the
village to perform medical examinations for the Armenian guests.
Belinda Maşalı, a psychiatrist from Yedikule Surp Pırgic in Istanbul,
a hospital run by an Armenian foundation, also visited them. Maşalı
said the conditions of the refugees were better compared to the day
they arrived.
"They sleep better. Staying in an Armenian village and being able to
speak the same language with people here makes them feel safer. They
are concerned about their future but the prospect of staying with
their relatives in Lebanon obviously relieves them," she said.
On Monday, another resident of Kasab was brought to Hatay's
Yayladağı district. George Kurdmusyan, 72, having been treated in an
opposition-held hospital in Kasab, will be transferred to the Vakıflı
village where fellow Kasab residents are sheltered.
According to unofficial figures, Lebanon is home to a small community
of about 200,000 Armenians who migrated to the country in the early
1900s.
Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since Syrian
President Bashar Assad's regime responded to anti-government protests
in March 2011 with a violent crackdown, sparking a conflict that
spiraled into a civil war.
The civil war, which entered its fourth year last month, claimed more
than 140,000 lives, according to the London-based Syrian Network for
Human Rights.
As the conflict spilled over to Kasab, a defamation campaign against
Turkey was launched by some groups within the Armenian diaspora.
Turkey denied allegations that it hosted al-Qaeda and militants from
similar groups and helped them carry out attacks in Kasab.
The number of Armenians living in Syria is estimated at about 100,000,
though the number decreased since the conflict broke out in Syria.
Most of the Armenian community is located near the Turkish border
in Aleppo, Qamishli, Latakia, Kasab and Yacoubiyah, cities and small
towns in northern Syria.
Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 23 2014
The Turkish Foreign Ministry is working to relocate Syrian- Armenians
currently in Turkey to Lebanon, where their relatives reside. Many
of the refugees, all of whom who fled fierce fighting in their home
country, do not possess passports
Published : 22.04.2014 23:38:21
Erhan Ozturk
ISTANBUL -- Syrian Armenians taking shelter in Turkey will travel
to Lebanon where their relatives live thanks to the assistance of
the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The ministry has launched efforts to
provide a passage for those Armenians who do not hold passports.
Turkey is hosting 22 Syrian Armenians who were forced to flee Kasab,
a town near the Syrian-Turkish border, as clashes between rebels
and Syrian regime forces spilled over into the vicinity of the
predominantly Armenian town.
They are being accommodated in Vakıflı, a Turkish Armenian village
in the southern Turkish province of Hatay. Of the 22 Armenians,
17 appealed to Turkish authorities to facilitate their transfer to
Lebanon as they do not have passports.
Cem Capar, head of the Surp Asdvadzadzin Church Foundation in Vakıflı
that provides humanitarian assistance for Syrian Armenians, said the
organization conveyed the refugees' request to the Foreign Ministry.
"The ministry will issue them travel documents and authorities
contacted Lebanese officials for their admission to that country. We
hope the process will be completed as soon as possible," Capar said.
Kasab is located only three kilometers from the Turkish border.
"Rebels brought our brothers and sisters here last month. They lost
their possessions and were separated from their families. We work here
to make them feel at home," Capar said. After clashes escalated, the
2,000 Syrian Armenians living in Kasab, where about 80 percent of the
population is Armenian, left for Latakia, a city on the Mediterranean
coast of Syria.
Capar said eight Armenian residents of Kasab were missing. "The Turkish
Armenian Patriarchate asked for help from the Foreign Ministry to
locate those missing people," he added.
Most Armenians hosted in Vakıflı are elderly people in their
seventies. The local governorate dispatched a team of doctors to the
village to perform medical examinations for the Armenian guests.
Belinda Maşalı, a psychiatrist from Yedikule Surp Pırgic in Istanbul,
a hospital run by an Armenian foundation, also visited them. Maşalı
said the conditions of the refugees were better compared to the day
they arrived.
"They sleep better. Staying in an Armenian village and being able to
speak the same language with people here makes them feel safer. They
are concerned about their future but the prospect of staying with
their relatives in Lebanon obviously relieves them," she said.
On Monday, another resident of Kasab was brought to Hatay's
Yayladağı district. George Kurdmusyan, 72, having been treated in an
opposition-held hospital in Kasab, will be transferred to the Vakıflı
village where fellow Kasab residents are sheltered.
According to unofficial figures, Lebanon is home to a small community
of about 200,000 Armenians who migrated to the country in the early
1900s.
Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since Syrian
President Bashar Assad's regime responded to anti-government protests
in March 2011 with a violent crackdown, sparking a conflict that
spiraled into a civil war.
The civil war, which entered its fourth year last month, claimed more
than 140,000 lives, according to the London-based Syrian Network for
Human Rights.
As the conflict spilled over to Kasab, a defamation campaign against
Turkey was launched by some groups within the Armenian diaspora.
Turkey denied allegations that it hosted al-Qaeda and militants from
similar groups and helped them carry out attacks in Kasab.
The number of Armenians living in Syria is estimated at about 100,000,
though the number decreased since the conflict broke out in Syria.
Most of the Armenian community is located near the Turkish border
in Aleppo, Qamishli, Latakia, Kasab and Yacoubiyah, cities and small
towns in northern Syria.