Shakarian: Turks did not miss chance to harm Armenians of Kesab

The main purpose of the Armenian parliamentary delegation’s visit to Syria was to meet with compatriots, the member of Heritage faction Tevan Poghosian told a press conference today.

“Our goal was to confirm that we are prepared to help our compatriots. We needed to see the ongoing events and assess them. It was hard to see all this and remain indifferent,” Tevan Poghosian said.

Touching upon their meetings with high-ranking Syrian officials and President Bashar Assad, Tevan Poghosian said they received the Syrian authorities’ official proposal to meet and it would be wrong to reject it.

“It is the third time that Armenians were subjected to deportation in the last 100 years. They understand the situation and have no intention of abandoning their homes. They ask Armenia to help them restore their households when they return to Kesab. They understand clearly that they lost their property and their homes were looted, but they are convinced that they will return to their homes sooner or later. Living outside Syria is out of the question,” T. Poghosian noted.

Another participant of the press conference, independent deputy Edmon Marukian said for his part that people informed them during the meeting in the yard of Surb Astvatsatsin Church in Latakia that Kesab Armenians noticed that during the retreat some Turkish groups joined Syrian armed groups.

“The residents of Kesab were evacuated to Latakia with the assistance of the Syrian army. Our compatriots understand that upon return they will not find their homes in the same state in which they left them and for that reason they ask the Armenians to help restore them,” the deputy explained.

Edmon Marukian stressed the importance of conducting a correct propaganda campaign, noting that there is an information vacuum concerning the Syrian events and massive abuses of rights of the Christian minority in Syria are committed.

According to A. Shakarian, an expert on Turkey, the Turks continue to believe that Kesab belongs to them and not to Syria. “It is a Turkish-Syrian problem. The Turks just did not miss the chance to harm the Armenians. Armenians took a correct decision and the hashtag #SaveKessab has become a trend. We used this fact and once again raised the Armenian Genocide problem,” he said.