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The new Syrian constitution, drafted by Russia and presented to opposition leaders, has been obtained by Sputnik. Below is the full text.
Damascus rejects Russia’s proposal on Kurdish autonomy in Syria
Syrian Constitution, Page 3
Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201701311050216226-syrian-constitution-full-text/
By Denise Ryan, Vancouver Sun,
With their two sons serving as altar boys, and eight-year-old daughter Varti flying around the church hall in a red dress, Syrian refugees Ara and Sousan Strak celebrated their first year in Canada at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in Richmond on Sunday.
The family arrived in Canada last January and their one-year anniversary coincided with the celebration of Armenian Christmas on Jan. 6.
As the families arrived at church Sunday, the priests swung the traditional incense, and chanted the liturgy in the church. Downstairs, volunteers cooked a celebratory lunch in the community kitchen, filling the hall with the scent of fresh baked bread.
The Strak family is among the 140 ethnic Armenian refugees from Syria who were sponsored by the church after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made good on his promise to fast track 10,000 refugees last year.
Varti has become the family’s unofficial spokesperson, fielding interviews for multiple media outlets. Her favourite part of Canada is school, she said shyly, in a voice that is almost accent-free. She misses her friends in Aleppo, but she is making new friends here.
The family has come a long way since fleeing Aleppo in 2014. “In Aleppo our children don’t sleep, they don’t go to school,” said Ara. After ISIS bombs struck their apartment building, killing a neighbour and making their home uninhabitable, Ara and Sousan made the difficult decision to leave the country that had first taken their forebears as refugees after the 1915 Armenian genocide.
“Nothing is more important than the security of the family,” said Ara, who left behind an automotive business. Once in Lebanon, the family realized that returning to Aleppo was out of the question. They would have to seek a new life. They applied to come to Canada.
Ara Strak (left), his wife Sousan and daughter Varti pose for a photo at St. Gregory Armenian Church in Richmond on Sunday. The Strak family are ethnic Armenians who were among the 140 Syrian refugees sponsored by the church one year ago.Vikin Kovjian, an ethnic Armenian from Syria who immigrated to Canada as a skilled worker in 2012, worked with the St. Gregory congregants to match sponsors with families, bringing 140 people to their community. A year later, Kovjian says he is overwhelmed not just by the generosity of the local community, but by the energy and enthusiasm the refugee families have brought with them.
“The levels these families have reached has exceeded all of our expectations,” said Kovjian. “The children are doing well in school, the parents are working and many of them are moving along in the process of having their professional credentials recognized.”
What was unexpected, said Kovjian, is just how much the refugee families have given back. “We have more people to contribute to the community — it has brought a new prosperity to us,” said Kovjian.
Ara landed work in an automotive supply warehouse just 12 days after arriving. A few months later he moved to a higher-paying job with Lugaro, a gem and jewelry company run by Vahe Agopian, a member of the Armenian National Committee of Canada. Sousan is still looking for work in her field as an accountant, and the whole family is squeezed into a tiny apartment, but they have no complaints.
“We are here, we are safe and we wish to say thank you to the Canadian government, to the Canadian people for giving us the chance to start again,” said Ara.
Ara and Sousan said they have been touched by the kindness of all Canadians, from strangers on the bus to staff at local community centres. “We feel like we are part of a beautiful mosaic,” said Ara. “We hope in the future the government will give others this same chance they gave us.”
Vahe Andonian, chairman of the western region of the Armenian National Committee, said the group is open to sponsoring more Syrian refugee families of all backgrounds. “Many families, including Muslim families, have reached out,” said Andonian.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the committee’s efforts can go to syriahelp.ca.
Armenians in Syria have decided to settle in Armenia shortly, a Yerevan-based charity announced yesterday.
The Armenian Development Initiatives (IDeA) foundation, created by Russian Armenian philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, has allocated US $ 250,000 in October to support the Syrian Armenians who are seriously affected by the bloody conflict in the Middle East.
The funding aims, among other things, to help them settle and find employment in Armenia through three local non-governmental organizations. One of these NGOs, called Halep (Aleppo), brings together Syrian Armenians living in their ancestral homeland.
In an official statement, IDeA announced that 37 Armenians from Aleppo have already moved to Armenia through its project. Eighteen others told the representatives of Halep that they wanted to follow their example, he adds.
The announcement follows the capture by Syrian government troops of all Aleppo districts remaining under rebel control. Around 80,000 Armenians lived there before the civil war.
According to estimates by the Armenian government, only about 7,000 Armenians remain in Aleppo at the present time. Virtually all of them live in neighborhoods controlled by the western government of the city, bombed for years by rebel forces.
It is estimated that up to 20,000 Syrian Armenians have fled to Armenia over the past five years. Many have found it difficult to find employment in a country that has long suffered from high unemployment.
IDeA said that as of next month another NGO based in Yerevan, the Mission Armenia, will use its funding to cover the housing costs of some of these migrants.
The charity hoped to get funding from organizations and individuals in Armenia as well as from its global diaspora when it launched the aid scheme two months ago. So far, he has raised only $ 22,000.
YEREVAN. – A total of 516 Syrian Armenians have moved to Armenia in the current year, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan said at her year-end press conference on Tuesday.
In her words, a total of 27 and 50 Syrian Armenians have relocated to Armenia in December and November, correspondingly.
“This year, 18 thousand Syrian Armenians received Republic of Armenia citizenship, 1,800—residency status, [and] 300—refugee status,” said the minister.
Hakobyan noted that 22 thousand Syrian Armenians currently live in Armenia.
“The passing year certainly was difficult,” added the minister. “[But] the indicators of Syrian Armenians’ relocation from Armenia to the West have dropped since the beginning of the year, and they have begun to stay more in the historical homeland.”
Nearly 90 civilians have reportedly fallen victim to Turkish air raids in northern Syria over the past 24 hours as Ankara steps up its military campaign against what it calls Daesh positions there.
On Friday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some of the raids hit the northwestern Syrian town al-Bab a day earlier, leaving 72 civilians dead, including 21 children.
Another 16 civilians, including three children, lost their lives in the Turkish assaults on Friday.
Over the past weeks, the Turkish military and the militants it is supporting have launched an offensive to seize al-Bab.
It is Ankara’s bloodiest attack since it began its intervention in Syria in late August.
Turkish troops are also in the neighboring country in support of the anti-Damascus militant groups in a mission said to be aimed at Daesh and Kurdish militias.
Damascus has slammed the Turkish military action as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
Turkey has long been a transit route for Daesh terrorists and other Syria-bound foreign militants seeking to topple the Damascus government.
Ankara has recently intensified its Syria campaign as foreign-backed militants have been taking heavy blows from the Damascus army on several fronts, particularly during the Aleppo battle.
On Thursday, Turkey suffered the biggest loss so far of its military campaign in Syria after over a dozen of its soldiers were reportedly killed by Daesh terrorists. The Takfiri group also claimed to have captured Turkey’s two German-made state-of-the-art Leopard main battle tanks.
Daesh also released a video of burning two Turkish soldiers alive, prompting Ankara to limit access to online social media.
Turkey has, however, remained defiant in its military push, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowing to keep up the incursion.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Thursday received a delegation of Syrian-Armenian businessmen to hear their concerns and propose solutions to problems.
According to a press release by the Government, the guests addressed particularly the activities of the Syrian Armenians NGO, proposing measures to boost domestic production and exports.
“We will do all our best to assist in the programs aimed at keeping the Syrian-Armenians in Armenia. You have changed a culture in Yerevan, in the business and the services sectors, so your accomplishment is extremely important for us,” he said.
The premier also issued recommendations to the heads of corresponding government agencies, asking them to consider business development programs with the Syrian-Armenians.
The Armenian districts in Syria’s economic capital, Aleppo, are slowly recovering from war devastations, says Zarmik Boghigian, the editor-in-chief of the local Armenian weekly Gandzasar.
“After liberating different parts of the city from rebels’ control, the municipal authorities rapidly embarked on rehabilitation efforts,” he told Tert.am, ruling out the local Armenians’ return in the nearest future .
“Those who have relatives and friends have decided to return, but we do not have assurances that all can be back now. The city is only now recovering, with lots of parts still lying in ruins.”
Boghigian added that the local authorities are also recovering the local industries, economy, and electricity and water supply in an attempt to return the city to its normal life.
“But safety is in the first place, for which we have no certainty. There are still several districts which will be hopefully liberated in the couple of days to come,” he said.
Discussions on the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide are underway at the Syrian parliament, lawmakers from the People’s Council Omar al Arabi and Alan Bakr said Tuesday, November 29.
At a Yerevan-hosted meeting with Armenia’s Deputy Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov, the MPs thanked Armenia for supporting Syria and its people in times of hardships.
Sharmazanov said, in turn, that the Armenian-Syrian friendship has a centuries-old history, which has further strengthened after Syria gave shelter to the thousands of Armenian migrants who had survived the Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
Also, the lawmakers dwelled upon the crisis in Syria, with the Armenian MP stressing the country’s position in the struggle against terrorism.
The Charge d’Affaires of Syria to Armenia Essam Nayyal also attended the meeting.
Currently 236 Syrian-Armenian pupils attend preschool educational institutions and over 600 pupils attend secondary educational institutions. 203 of them are studying at high schools of Armenia, 325 are studying at primary schools and 42 Syrian-Armenians attend private schools. 12 pupils study at regional schools.
Head of General Education Department of the RA Ministry of Education and Science Narine Hovhannisyan presented the above mentioned figures during the committee meetings coordinating Syrians’ issues.
“I must state that on arriving to Armenia all the Syrian-Armenians have been admitted to schools regardless of the fact whether they had documents or not. To note, the procedure of admission to pre-school facilities have been facilitated for them. They are accepted to kindergartens immediately after applying,” MEC representative stated.
In his words changes have also been made regarding the process of entering universities for Syrian-Armenian students. They enter universities by unsolicited program. Hovhannisyan noted that the government provides free educational opportunities to the Armenians from diaspora annually.
As for the tuition fee, Hovhannisyan claims that they pay the same sum prescribed for the RA residents. Notably the tuition fees for the foreign students are higher in Armenia.
MEC representative also noted that Arabic is taught in No.14 School of Yerevan from the first grade. In addition to the Arabic language, MES is also considering making an educational program for the Western Armenian to include it in the subject list.
“We already have a developed and approved teaching program for the Western Armenian for 10-11 grades, but we also need to introduce the subject in lower grades as well. Further works are to be carried out,” Hovhannisyan noted.
Minster of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, who was chairing the meeting, reacted to Hovhannisyan speech noting that 42 teachers have moved from Aleppo to Armenia and they can teach Western Armenian to the Armenian pupils.
In Hovhannisyan’s words, the Syrian-Armenian students take part in all the educational programs and various competitions. Hranush Hakobyan added that she, in her turn, has been informed of the fast progress made by the Syrian-Armenian students from the heads of different universities.
Syria has censured Turkey’s fresh attacks against the Arab country as “occupation,” pledging to use “all possible means” to deal with it.
In a Saturday statement, the General Command of the Syrian army said that the presence of Turkish troops on Syria’s soil was unacceptable and a “dangerous escalation and flagrant breach of Syria’s sovereignty.”
The statement came after activists and local officials said Turkish tanks and Turkey-backed militants were marching toward the northern Syrian town of Tal Rif’at, which is largely controlled by Kurdish forces.
Fighting has also been reported between Turkey-backed militants and Kurdish fighters near the town.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s military confirmed on Saturday that its rockets had targeted Kurdish fighters in northern Syria for the second time in less than 72 hours. The strikes hit 70 positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria on Friday.
Ankara views YPG and its allied Democratic Union Party (PYD) as terrorist forces linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated regions for decades.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that the country would be expanding its operations in north Syria, including entering the cities of al-Bab, Manbij and Raqqah.
Erdogan claimed that Turkey “had no choice” but to enter al-Bab, despite criticism from the international community, “because we need to prepare an area purged from terrorism. The same goes for Manbij.”
He added that if the so-called US-led coalition was ready to act jointly, Turkey would do “whatever is necessary’ against the Daesh terrorist group in Raqqah but would not work with the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey has been hitting Kurdish positions in northern Syria in the recent past without acquiring permission from the government in Damascus. Turkey has also been pounding Kurds in Iraq, which is also unhappy with the Turkish military operations on its soil.
On August 24, Turkish special forces, tanks and jets backed by planes from the US-led coalition launched their first coordinated offensive in Syria. On the same day, Damascus denounced the intervention as a breach of its sovereignty.
Turkey said the incursion was meant to engage the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the Syrian-Turkish border area as well as Kurdish fighters, who were themselves fighting Daesh.
Turkey has long been criticized for refusing to seriously fight Takfiri terrorists. The country stands accused of allowing potential militants to use its territory for travel and shipment of arms into Syria and buying smuggled oil from terrorists.