According to scholars in Yerevan, the recent events in Aleppo are continuation of the Armenian genocide and the Armenian community in Aleppo faces extermination.
Images showing vast destruction in Aleppo’s Armenian neighborhoods appeared on the internet in recent days, causing great concern in Armenia where thousands of Syrian nationals of Armenian origin have taken refuge since hostilities began in their country in 2011.
On Friday at a meeting with reporters scientist, ethnologist from Kessab Hakob Cholakian spoke about the situation in Syria saying that during the three years of war the Armenian community in Aleppo suffered most, especially in the suburban districts, where wealthy Armenians, owners of factories lived.
“Nowadays Armenians are concentrated in three districts outside of which there are no other Armenians because of three years of migration. During the last few days another such district, Nor Gyugh, was ruined. The state of Armenians in Aleppo is critical in terms of both safety and livelihood, and at this most dangerous moment we are silent, it’s time to act,” Cholakian said.
Noravank foundation director Gagik Harutyunyan said that in all the countries where the Arab spring took place Christian sections suffered particularly much, a cultural genocide took place.
“The Syrian war endangers our national safety because Azerbaijani mercenaries and Turks are very active on the level of regular army special services, we must be very careful about them,” Harutyunyan said adding that actions realized in the Middle East and in Syria particularly are a direct threat to Armenian security.
“Descendants of Armenian genocide survivors live in the Middle East and they are the bearers of Western Armenian culture and civilization and in case of dissipation not only the physical safety of Armenians but their civilization will be endangered.”
Armenia has strongly condemned the bombardment of Aleppo and, in particular, the city’s Armenian-populated district of Nor Gyugh over the past days, which has caused the loss of lives and destruction.
“We are convinced that the main precondition for progress in the resolution of the Syrian crisis lies in immediate cessation of violence,” Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said on Thursday, according to the Ministry’s official website.
Earlier, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a traditional Armenian party operating both in Armenia and its far-flung Diaspora, also issued a statement condemning the rocket attacks on the civilian population in the Syrian city that is home to a sizable Armenian community.