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KESAB ATTACK IS DIRECTED TOWARDS ARMENIANS AND WOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT TURKEY'S SUPPORT: FRANCE 24
14:37, 25 March, 2014
YEREVAN, MARCH 25, ARMENPRESS: The Armenians of the Kesab town-village,
located on the Turkish-Syrian border, have become the victims of
the ethnic cleansing. Armenpress reports, citing the French France
24 that the Director of the Research and Study Group dealing with
the Mediterranean and Middle East, expert of Syrian Studies Fabrice
Balanche stated about it.
According to the expert, the Kesab attacks, in the result of which the
members of the armed groupings established control in the village on
March 23, were directed against the Armenians and the capture of the
town would not have been possible without the military support and the
"green light" of the Turkish authorities.
"The militants do not need to cross the border to get weapons
and ammunition. They easily pass by the south forested hills of
Turkmenistan. The capture of the district, located on the border and
having a strategic importance, is just a motive. We deal with the
strategy of ethnic cleansing implemented against the Armenians of
Kesab", - said Fabrice Balanche.
Earlier it was reported that the Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia Aram I contacted the presidential palace of Syria appealing
to send army to Kesab to provide for the security of the local
population. In his turn the Syria's ambassador to Lebanon visited
Catholicos Aram I in Antelias on March 22, conveying to him Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad's assurances that peace will be restored
in Kesab. The Catholicos welcomed the Syrian President's initiative
and noted for his part that Kesab has a symbolic significance for
the Armenian people.
He later sent a delegation of clergyman to Latakia. The Catholicos
reminded that the same genocide-committed Turkey uses the chance to
strike on the Armenian people.
According to the Armenian Weekly, the armed incursion began on Friday,
March 21, 2014 with rebels associated with Al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front,
Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham crossing the Turkish border and
attacking the Armenian civilian population of Kesab. The attackers
immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kesab, including a
strategic hill known as Observatory 45 and later took over the border
crossing point with Turkey. Snipers targeted the civilian population
and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages.
According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers crossed the Turkish
border with Syria openly passing through Turkish military barracks.
According to Turkish media reports, the attackers carried their
injured back to Turkey for treatment in the town of Yayladagi.
Some 670 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kesab,
were evacuated by the local Armenian community leadership to safer
areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia. Ten to fifteen families with
relations too elderly to move were either unable to leave or chose to
stay in their homes. On Saturday, March 22, Syrian troops launched a
counteroffensive in an attempt to regain the border crossing point,
eye-witnesses and state media reported. However, on Sunday, March
23, the extremist groups once again entered the town of Kesab, took
the remaining Armenian families hostage, desecrated the town's three
Armenian churches, pillaging local residences and occupying the town
and surrounding villages. Located in the northwestern corner of Syria,
near the border with Turkey, Kesab had, until very recently evaded
major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population
had increased in recently years with the city serving as safe-haven for
those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/755261/kesab-attack-is-directed-towards-armenians-and-wouldn%E2%80%99t-be-possible-without-turkey%E2%80%99s-support-france.html
http://www.france24.com/fr/20140324-syrie-village-armenien-kassab-epuration-ethnique-assad/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEULEsqj5fE
14:37, 25 March, 2014
YEREVAN, MARCH 25, ARMENPRESS: The Armenians of the Kesab town-village,
located on the Turkish-Syrian border, have become the victims of
the ethnic cleansing. Armenpress reports, citing the French France
24 that the Director of the Research and Study Group dealing with
the Mediterranean and Middle East, expert of Syrian Studies Fabrice
Balanche stated about it.
According to the expert, the Kesab attacks, in the result of which the
members of the armed groupings established control in the village on
March 23, were directed against the Armenians and the capture of the
town would not have been possible without the military support and the
"green light" of the Turkish authorities.
"The militants do not need to cross the border to get weapons
and ammunition. They easily pass by the south forested hills of
Turkmenistan. The capture of the district, located on the border and
having a strategic importance, is just a motive. We deal with the
strategy of ethnic cleansing implemented against the Armenians of
Kesab", - said Fabrice Balanche.
Earlier it was reported that the Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia Aram I contacted the presidential palace of Syria appealing
to send army to Kesab to provide for the security of the local
population. In his turn the Syria's ambassador to Lebanon visited
Catholicos Aram I in Antelias on March 22, conveying to him Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad's assurances that peace will be restored
in Kesab. The Catholicos welcomed the Syrian President's initiative
and noted for his part that Kesab has a symbolic significance for
the Armenian people.
He later sent a delegation of clergyman to Latakia. The Catholicos
reminded that the same genocide-committed Turkey uses the chance to
strike on the Armenian people.
According to the Armenian Weekly, the armed incursion began on Friday,
March 21, 2014 with rebels associated with Al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front,
Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham crossing the Turkish border and
attacking the Armenian civilian population of Kesab. The attackers
immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kesab, including a
strategic hill known as Observatory 45 and later took over the border
crossing point with Turkey. Snipers targeted the civilian population
and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages.
According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers crossed the Turkish
border with Syria openly passing through Turkish military barracks.
According to Turkish media reports, the attackers carried their
injured back to Turkey for treatment in the town of Yayladagi.
Some 670 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kesab,
were evacuated by the local Armenian community leadership to safer
areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia. Ten to fifteen families with
relations too elderly to move were either unable to leave or chose to
stay in their homes. On Saturday, March 22, Syrian troops launched a
counteroffensive in an attempt to regain the border crossing point,
eye-witnesses and state media reported. However, on Sunday, March
23, the extremist groups once again entered the town of Kesab, took
the remaining Armenian families hostage, desecrated the town's three
Armenian churches, pillaging local residences and occupying the town
and surrounding villages. Located in the northwestern corner of Syria,
near the border with Turkey, Kesab had, until very recently evaded
major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population
had increased in recently years with the city serving as safe-haven for
those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/755261/kesab-attack-is-directed-towards-armenians-and-wouldn%E2%80%99t-be-possible-without-turkey%E2%80%99s-support-france.html
http://www.france24.com/fr/20140324-syrie-village-armenien-kassab-epuration-ethnique-assad/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEULEsqj5fE