Kessab Archives

The town of Kessab in northern Syria, populated mostly by Armenians has received humanitarian assistance from Russia

February 13, 2016 by administrator

The city of Kessab populated mostly by Armenians which is in the region of Latakia (Syria) a few kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border, just to receive humanitarian aid from Russia and Syria.

Information provided by the Tass news agency. Two Russian type aircraft Il-76 delivered to the Russian Air Force Base “Hmeymin” nearly 50 tons of humanitarian aid for the Syrian city surrounded. Food, medicines, but also clothing for civilians.

According to the governor of Latakia, Ibrahim Salem His Hotr this humanitarian aid was distributed to the encircled city of Der Zor and other Syrian cities which Kessab who was attacked two years ago by the Islamist groups’ Zabhat year Nousra ” and “Ahrar ach Cham” supported by Turkey.

Its population, including many Armenians then finding refuge in the region of Latakia. After the liberation of Kessab few months later by Syrian government forces, most of the population has returned.

Krikor Amirzayan

Syria: Armenians Kessab residents return to their devastated city by jihadists

February 5, 2016 by administrator

The members of the large Armenian community in Kessab, a town in northern Syria that they had to leave in the spring of 2014 while the jihadist forces took control, with almost said Turkish support, have found a city devastated, bearing the marks of vandalism Turks who have worked hard on their churches. Back for nearly a year in their town liberated by Syrian loyalist forces and their allies, the testimonies of Armenian inhabitants

Syria: Residents Speak Out Against Turkish Vandalism in Kessab

February 4, 2016 by administrator

Destroyed buildings in Kessab. (Source: Public Radio of Armenia)

KESSAB (Public Radio of Armenia) — Residents of the Armenian community in the Syrian town Kessab spoke out about the vandalism of Turks against local churches, Interfax Religion reports.

“Kessab’s centers of Armenian culture – our churches- especially suffered from actions of Islamists and Turks. When I came here for ministry after the town had been released, I saw bare walls remained from the once flourishing church,” the priest of the local Armenian protestant church Zhirajr Gazaryan was quoted by the Rossijskaya Gazeta daily.

Akop, head of a Kessab Armenian family, told that militants from Tunisia lived in his house during the occupation.

“Turkey played a great role in our troubles. When Jabhad an-Nusra invaded Kessab, entire divisions of the Turkish special operations’ forces rushed into the town together with Salafi. Local guards saved residents of the town from a new genocide of Armenians. They started a battle against bandits, which gave local people time for leaving the town. However, when Turks seized the town, they brought here residents of their neighboring villages who loaded all valuable things we had in trucks, trailers, tractors, carts and just drove it to Turkey,” he said.

About 200 residents of the Syrian town of Salma were driven to Saudi Arabia and no one has heard anything about them ever since.

“Salafis rushed into the houses and shot men. They just ordered women and children to turn away and then there were shots fired. Only old men and those who understood what was going on managed to survive and ran from the village to the valley. There were few of them. They killed almost all of us,” 78-year-old Harun Dijib said.

Syria: Armenian town Kessab Hit by Rocket Fire from Turkey

January 21, 2016 by administrator

Smoke rises from building in Kessab during another attack by Turkish-backed militants in 2014

ALEPPO—At 3:15 p.m. local time on Wednesday Kessab was hit by two GRAD missiles rattling the residents of the mainly Armenian-populated city in Syria, reported the executive editor of Gandzasar newspaper Zarmig Boghigian.

The rocket fire came from the direction of the Turkish border, according to Boghigian. One of the rockets landed a 55 yards from the Kessab mosque, while the other landed on the street behind the Holy Trinity Armenian Evangelical Church in the city.

The rocket fire caused heavy damage with one reported injury reported. No fatalities were reported.

Kessab residents, especially children who were playing in their yard were severely shaken by the attack.

In March, 2014 Islamic militants affiliated with al Qaeda attacked Kessab, bringing the city under siege for three months and forcing its population to flee to nearby Lattakia and elsewhere. In June, 2014, forces affiliated with the Syrian government liberated Kessab, paving the way for families to return to their home, which were looted and destroyed by the Turkish-backed Muslim militants.

Russia bombed the Turkmen terrorists who attacked Kessab

November 24, 2015 by administrator

The Russian aviation bombed the Turkmen area Bayırbucak.

Turkmen terrorists started fleeing to Turkey.

These same terrorists who attacked the Armenian village of Kessab a year ago.

Very quickly the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “We have given instructions to protect our Turkmen brothers Bayırbucak”.

He severely condemned the operations carried out by the Syrian regime against civilians Bayirbucak the Turkmen region in north-western Syria.

“All night we discussed the situation with our military leaders, those of Intelligence and our diplomacy,” he said.

“In recent days, incessant attacks are carried out in the region Bayirbucak in Syria, especially against our Turkmen brothers, he continued. These attacks show once again the degree of barbarity of the regime in Damascus. They specifically target civilians. “

Ahmet Davutoglu also confirmed that Russian aircraft are involved in these operations.

“The Russian Ambassador in Ankara was summoned to the Ministry for Russian aircraft strikes on the Turkmen villages. We told him that the strikes have no connection with the fight against Daesh and they target civilians Turkmen villages. We asked that these operations cease immediately. “Said Turkish Prime Minister.

“We had the necessary discussions with the Russian authorities so that these strikes, which their aviation takes part, either immediately arrested. The supposed fight against Daesh can not be done by bombing civilians near our borders. Those involved in these killings will be responsible if a new flow of refugees would arrive in Turkey, “he said.

“We oppose any attack against civilians. We are against any attack that lead to new flows of refugees at our borders. And Bayirbucak of Turkmen living there for centuries are also our brothers like all Syrians. That is why we condemn these barbaric attacks and invite the world to do the same. No one can justify the killings of our brothers Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs under the guise of fighting against terrorism, “he has yet explained.

“We recall once again the Syrian regime, we will respond appropriately to any attack against civilians near our border, they are Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs, he has yet launched. So far, 40 Turkmen civilians were wounded. We also had a meeting with the Russian authorities to express our concerns about it, “Davutoglu warned.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

The lives of the Armenians of Kessab (Syria) resumes its normal course with over 90% of people who have returned

August 14, 2015 by administrator

Life in Kessab, the last Armenian village in Syria at the Syrian-Turkish border, resumed its usual course. Chant Lntsian Kessab the head of the team that participated in Yerevan the 6th pan-Armenian Games gave some information on the current situation in Kessab. Last year, facing an Islamist attack from Turkey, the village had been evacuated by its inhabitants. “More than 90% of the population has returned. Kessab back to life, people are renovating their homes. For the most part, these are farmers, “said Chant Lntsian. New Armenian families from Aleppo would also installed Kessab in the last month. “Right now we feel safe, even if we are not sure we go again,” he said. Due to the war situation in Syria, the Armenian delegation Kessab had many difficulties to come to Yerevan for pan-Armenian Games. “Coming to Armenia, for us it is the realization of our dream. Especially as our team won two bronze medals, “said Chant Lntsian. The delegation of Kessab in Yerevan was strong of 17 members.

Krikor Amirzayan (Գրիգոր Ամիրզայեան)

Thierry Meyssan: Today’s Turkey continues the Armenian Genocide with the massacres of Deir ez-Zor and Kessab

May 14, 2015 by administrator

By Siranush Ghazanchyan,

“The world has just commemorated the centenary of the genocide of Turkish non-Muslims. However, contrary to conventional wisdom, this crime began with the Hamidian massacres of 1894-95, which were ordered by Sultan Abdülhamid II, and continued on a huge scale with the massacres perpetrated between 1915 and 1923, planned by the young Turks. They continue today with the massacres of Deir ez-Zor and Kessab, organized by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. For 120 years, the Turkish power elite have been successively massacring non-Muslimns – to general indifference – in order to build a homogenous nation,” Thierry Meyssan writes in an article published by Voltaire Network.

According to the author, “the centenary of the genocide of Turkish non-Muslims prepared the stage for festival of hypocrisy.” “While certain states celebrated the memory of the victims in Yerevan, others showed themselves to be shameless.”

“President Erdoğan had the opportunity to confess to this very old story, of which he is in no way responsible. Had he done so, he could have made his country a normal state. But no! Instead he hung onto his lies, denying History and affirming that there had been “only”100,000 dead, and that they had been executed for their participation in terrorist activities,” the article reads.

“By draping itself in this absurdity, today’s Turkey is not only manifesting its support for the Hamidian massacres of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1894-95) – which caused between 80,000 and 300,000 victims – but especially for the crimes committed by the “Special Organization” of the Union and Progress Committee (UPC), starting from 1915 until the election of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as President of the Republic (1923), which caused between 1,200,000 and 1,500,000 deaths – and its ideological continuity with the ancient régime. And this is what we all noted with horror when, last year in 2014, we watched the Turkish army accompany the al-Nusra Front (in other words al-Qaïda in Syria) to Kessab for the purpose of chasing away the Armenian population. Or again, when the same Turkish army helped Daesh to dynamite the Deir ez-Zor Memorial, which commemorated the 1916 extermination of more than 200,000 Armeniens in the camp that the Turks had built for them,” the author writes.

“Pan-Islamism, the project of Sultan Abdülhamid II and the Young Turks early in the 20th century, like the AKP today, aims to become the leader of the sunnite world, and in order to achieve this aim, it intends to create a homogenous sunnite state. This project required the extermination of the Christians (Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Assyro-Chaldeans) and the Yezidis. They all died, exactly as Daesh is exterminating Christians and Yezidis today,” Thierry Meyssan continues.

According to him, the intervention of the Turkish army into Syrian territory, at Kessab and Deir ez-Zor, is coherent with this project, since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hopes to annex Northern Syria once NATO has overthrown President Bachar el-Assad.

Thierry Meyssan is a French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network and the Axis for Peace Conference.

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Will Turkey-sanctioned attack against Kessab on April 24 again?

March 22, 2015 by administrator

YEREVAN. – Although the predominantly Armenian-populated region of Kessab in northwestern Syria is now controlled by the Syrian government forces, the attacks on March 21 of last year may repeat.

Arab Studies specialist Armen Petrosyan stated the aforementioned at a press conference on Saturday.

Petrosyan stressed that Kessab is in the Latakia Governorate, which is populated by the followers of the religious affiliation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and therefore it has a target value.

“No one can give a guarantee that Kessab will not be attacked [again],” the Arab Studies specialist noted.

Petrosyan found it difficult to make predictions on a possible Turkey-sanctioned attack against Kessab on April 24, the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. He added, however, that Turkey would not want to create new problems for itself in the propaganda domain.

“Some local attacks are possible, but it is wrong to predict such large-scale attacks as happened last year on March 21,” the analyst said.

In his words, the main reason for the Arab Spring—i.e. the recent uprisings across the Middle East—was that an attempt was made to institute Western democratic values in the Middle East.

Today marks first anniversary of Turkish Jihadist invasion of Kessab

March 21, 2015 by administrator

Today marks the first anniversary of the Islamist attacks in Syria’s Armenian-populated town of Kessab.

The event captured the international media’s attention shortly after the town was controlled by rebel groups.

One year after the heated developments, the Kessab-Armenians are back home, but many say the town has lost its previous image.

Tireless efforts will be needed to restore the town looted and partially destroyed by insurgents, but the local Armenians say they aren’t willing to leave their homes.

Today too, repeated shootings are heard in Kessab, driving he panic-stricken population – especially women and children – to the port city of Latakia. The one-time prosperous town is now under target, with people in fear of even working in their own gardens.

Situated at a distance of 8km from the Mediterranean, Kessab has a population of an estimated 5,000, of whom 80% are Armenians.

The Turkish border town of Yayladagi (from where the shootings began) is just 3km far from there.
Kessab-Armenians claim Turkey’s direct involvement in the attacks.

Syria Armenian town Kessab again under sniper fire – Agos

February 26, 2015 by administrator

The Syrian border town of Kessab, which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians

The Syrian border town of Kessab, which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians, is amid increasing anxiety and fear under the Islamic State’s fresh threats.

Speaking to the Turkish-Armenian publication Agos, a resident of the city said that the town’s Armenian population has is now feeling like a captive as the confrontations between the conflicting sides continue.

“For us, even the smallest eruption between them costs a life. We cannot even work in our yards, as we are under snipers’ target,” the source complained.

Reports recently emerged that last year’s raid against the town was partly due also to Turkey’s assistance, which shelled the area.

Sounds of bomb explosion are now often heard in the town, which is not very far from the the Turkish border. The population of Kessab now leads a battle for survival under the Islamic State’s fresh threats.

“We have no other choice than to trust our country’s army. No one knows at all what bargaining is going on over Kessab. Developments evolve irrespective of our desire. No one can give guarantees that nothing of the kind will happen ever again. Turkey earlier did not deny the reports that they have links with what happened to us; neither has it guaranteed that it won’t be repeated. How can we sleep in peace in such conditions,” a resident of Kessab is quoted as saying.

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