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TURKEY'S LATEST JIHAD ON CHRISTIAN ARMENIANS
Raymond Ibrahim.com
March 27 2014
by Raymond Ibrahim on March 26, 2014 in Muslim Persecution of
Christians
Far from being repentant of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey, under the
leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, is again, like its Ottoman
forbear, targeting Armenians; is again causing their death and
dislocation.
Turkey-sponsored jihadis pose with Islamic flag in conquered Christian
Armenian town of Kessab
In the early morning hours of March 21, al-Qaeda linked Islamic jihadis
crossed into Syrian territory from the Turkish border and launched
a jihad on the Christian/Armenian town of Kessab. Among other thing,
"Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks
on the town and the surrounding villages." Reportedly eighty people
were killed.
The jihadis later made avideo touring the devastated town. No
translation is needed, as the main phrase shouted throughout is Islam's
triumphant war cry, "Allahu Akbar" (or, according to Sen. John McCain's
translation, "thank God").
Eyewitnesses say the jihadis crossed the Turkish border into 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."
About two-thousand Armenians were evacuated to safer areas in
neighboring Basit and Latakia. Several of these families are currently
living inside the churches of these towns. Ten to fifteen families
with members too elderly to flee remained in Kessab, their fate
currently unknown.
Syrian troops launched a counteroffensive, but al-Qaeda linked jihadis
"once again entered the town of Kessab, took the remaining Armenian
families hostage, desecrated the town's three Armenian churches,
pillaging local residences and occupying the town and surrounding
villages."
Reports further indicate that "the attacks of the al-Qaeda linked
al-Nusra organization and the Islamic Front was supported with
artillery fire from Turkish artillery units. A Syrian MIG-23 war
plane which attended to the operation towards the terror groups was
shot down by Turkish Air Forces on 23 March."
Bashar al-Assad naturally denounced before the United Nations
Turkey's support for terrorists--even as some European leaders, such
as Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, were praising
Turkey for its supposedly increased democracy and human rights, and
supporting the Islamic nation's inclusion into the European Union,
indifferent to the fact that Erdogan banned Twitter in Turkey after
tweets exposed his government's corruptions.
Nor are Armenians and others missing the significance of
Turkey's role. In a written statement, the Armenian National
Committee-International condemned Turkey's active role in aiding and
abetting Christian persecuting jihadi groups:
For months, we have warned the international community of the imminent
threat posed by extremist foreign fighters against the Christian
minority population in Syria. These vicious and unprompted attacks
against the Armenian-populated town and villages of Kessab are the
latest examples of this violence, actively encouraged by neighboring
Turkey. We call upon all states with any influence in the Syrian
conflict to use all available means to stop these attacks against the
peaceful civilian population of Kessab, to allow them to return to
their homes in safety and security. In the last one hundred years,
this is the third time that the Armenians are being forced to leave
Kessab and in all three cases, Turkey is the aggressor or on the side
of the aggressors [emphasis added].
On March 24, Samvel Farmanyan, a member of the Armenian National
Assembly, traveled to Syria to meet with Kessab's dislocated Armenians:
"I should say the impression was shocking," he said. "The situation is
like the one we have read about in textbooks and literature about the
Armenian Genocide, in the memories of Genocide survivors.... These
are tragic events, which cannot but bring forth obvious parallels
with the events of 100 years ago--the Armenian Genocide."
Displaced Kessab Armenians crowd and seek shelter in neighboring
Latakia church
Video interviews with the recently dislocated Armenians of Syria
further document this sentiment. One elderly man says "We've been
here 97 years since they slaughtered us in Turkey. These al-Qaeda
'rebel' groups are the grandsons of Abdul Hamid" (the Ottoman sultan
who committed the first systematic genocide of Armenians).
Nor were these early massacres limited to Armenians but rather
targeted Christians in general. As one Syrian-American woman points
out in writing to me just now: "The Hamidian Massacres (1894-1896)
led to the mass exodus of Christians from the Levant to the USA. My
grandfather was one of those who fled persecution. His father was shot,
by an Ottoman Turk, in front of their ancestral home. Seven children
were left fatherless. My grandfather, the eldest son, left Syria,
and traveled as an indentured man, through Mexico, to find freedom
and safety in the USA. The entire family eventually joined him."
Such is the continuity and interconnectivity of history. A century ago,
Armenians, to avoid massacre, were displaced by the Ottomans and ended
up in places like Kessab. Today, their descendants, to avoid massacre,
are displaced from Kessab by jihadis supported by Turkey.
Years, decades, and centuries go by; names, narratives and rhetoric
change; utopian ideals and materialistic rationalizations become
ubiquitous. Yet the same story, the same enmity--Turkish to Armenian,
or more distilled yet, Muslim to Christian--lives on, even if in
different contexts and formats.
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/muslim-persecution-of-christians/turkeys-latest-jihad-on-christian-armenians/
also in
http://www.christianpost.com/news/turkeys-new-jihad-on-christian-armenians-116957/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Raymond Ibrahim.com
March 27 2014
by Raymond Ibrahim on March 26, 2014 in Muslim Persecution of
Christians
Far from being repentant of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey, under the
leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, is again, like its Ottoman
forbear, targeting Armenians; is again causing their death and
dislocation.
Turkey-sponsored jihadis pose with Islamic flag in conquered Christian
Armenian town of Kessab
In the early morning hours of March 21, al-Qaeda linked Islamic jihadis
crossed into Syrian territory from the Turkish border and launched
a jihad on the Christian/Armenian town of Kessab. Among other thing,
"Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks
on the town and the surrounding villages." Reportedly eighty people
were killed.
The jihadis later made avideo touring the devastated town. No
translation is needed, as the main phrase shouted throughout is Islam's
triumphant war cry, "Allahu Akbar" (or, according to Sen. John McCain's
translation, "thank God").
Eyewitnesses say the jihadis crossed the Turkish border into 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."
About two-thousand Armenians were evacuated to safer areas in
neighboring Basit and Latakia. Several of these families are currently
living inside the churches of these towns. Ten to fifteen families
with members too elderly to flee remained in Kessab, their fate
currently unknown.
Syrian troops launched a counteroffensive, but al-Qaeda linked jihadis
"once again entered the town of Kessab, took the remaining Armenian
families hostage, desecrated the town's three Armenian churches,
pillaging local residences and occupying the town and surrounding
villages."
Reports further indicate that "the attacks of the al-Qaeda linked
al-Nusra organization and the Islamic Front was supported with
artillery fire from Turkish artillery units. A Syrian MIG-23 war
plane which attended to the operation towards the terror groups was
shot down by Turkish Air Forces on 23 March."
Bashar al-Assad naturally denounced before the United Nations
Turkey's support for terrorists--even as some European leaders, such
as Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, were praising
Turkey for its supposedly increased democracy and human rights, and
supporting the Islamic nation's inclusion into the European Union,
indifferent to the fact that Erdogan banned Twitter in Turkey after
tweets exposed his government's corruptions.
Nor are Armenians and others missing the significance of
Turkey's role. In a written statement, the Armenian National
Committee-International condemned Turkey's active role in aiding and
abetting Christian persecuting jihadi groups:
For months, we have warned the international community of the imminent
threat posed by extremist foreign fighters against the Christian
minority population in Syria. These vicious and unprompted attacks
against the Armenian-populated town and villages of Kessab are the
latest examples of this violence, actively encouraged by neighboring
Turkey. We call upon all states with any influence in the Syrian
conflict to use all available means to stop these attacks against the
peaceful civilian population of Kessab, to allow them to return to
their homes in safety and security. In the last one hundred years,
this is the third time that the Armenians are being forced to leave
Kessab and in all three cases, Turkey is the aggressor or on the side
of the aggressors [emphasis added].
On March 24, Samvel Farmanyan, a member of the Armenian National
Assembly, traveled to Syria to meet with Kessab's dislocated Armenians:
"I should say the impression was shocking," he said. "The situation is
like the one we have read about in textbooks and literature about the
Armenian Genocide, in the memories of Genocide survivors.... These
are tragic events, which cannot but bring forth obvious parallels
with the events of 100 years ago--the Armenian Genocide."
Displaced Kessab Armenians crowd and seek shelter in neighboring
Latakia church
Video interviews with the recently dislocated Armenians of Syria
further document this sentiment. One elderly man says "We've been
here 97 years since they slaughtered us in Turkey. These al-Qaeda
'rebel' groups are the grandsons of Abdul Hamid" (the Ottoman sultan
who committed the first systematic genocide of Armenians).
Nor were these early massacres limited to Armenians but rather
targeted Christians in general. As one Syrian-American woman points
out in writing to me just now: "The Hamidian Massacres (1894-1896)
led to the mass exodus of Christians from the Levant to the USA. My
grandfather was one of those who fled persecution. His father was shot,
by an Ottoman Turk, in front of their ancestral home. Seven children
were left fatherless. My grandfather, the eldest son, left Syria,
and traveled as an indentured man, through Mexico, to find freedom
and safety in the USA. The entire family eventually joined him."
Such is the continuity and interconnectivity of history. A century ago,
Armenians, to avoid massacre, were displaced by the Ottomans and ended
up in places like Kessab. Today, their descendants, to avoid massacre,
are displaced from Kessab by jihadis supported by Turkey.
Years, decades, and centuries go by; names, narratives and rhetoric
change; utopian ideals and materialistic rationalizations become
ubiquitous. Yet the same story, the same enmity--Turkish to Armenian,
or more distilled yet, Muslim to Christian--lives on, even if in
different contexts and formats.
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/muslim-persecution-of-christians/turkeys-latest-jihad-on-christian-armenians/
also in
http://www.christianpost.com/news/turkeys-new-jihad-on-christian-armenians-116957/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress