YEREVAN, MARCH 25, ARMENPRESS: A group of deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia – Samvel Farmanyan, Arman Sahakyan, Naira Karapetyan, Tevan Poghosyan, Edmon Marukyan and Levon Martirosyan – have left for Syria. Armenpress reports that the deputies will get acquainted with the problems and the conditions of our compatriots in Syria in place.

They spread a statement on March 24 on the events ongoing in the Armenian populated area Kessab at Turkish-Syrian border: “Armenians all over the world are shocked by the recent events in Kessab city of Syria and the surrounding areas in the result of which the resident Armenians were again deported because of the actions of the Turkish Armed Forces again taking the road of migration after almost a century of the Armenian Genocide. We, as Deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, assessing the incident not as internal affairs of Syria or Turkey, but as an extraordinary case of massive violation of human rights, strongly condemn the actions of the Turkish Armed Forces which, in essence, are a new challenge directed to the Armenian Diaspora formed in the Middle East as a result of the Genocide. We call on the Syrian and Turkish authorities to conduct an impartial investigation upon the events. We also demand the international community to give an unequivocal assessment to these heinous cases of human rights violation by sending UN observers to the Armenian-populated areas of Kessab to document the events of the massive human rights violations”.

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.