Zeynep Tozduman
Yerevan. It has been about 100 years since the town of Kessab, neighboring Latakia, is populated with the Armenians. There are Greeks, Assyrians, and Alawites living side by side with the Armenian population. But the year of 1915 has not ended for the people, who faced with Genocide. 1915 continues. Turkish activist, author, and human rights advocate Zeynep Tozduman stated this in a conversation with “Armenpress”.
Among other things Zeynep Tozduman underscored: “The Islamist groups, which have been nourished by the culture of destroying, burning, and destructing, opened fire to gain control over the territory. This attack also targeted the destruction of all the values created by the Armenian people. It’s so sad that any war in the Near East and Mesopotamia harms the Armenians.”
In addition, Zeynep Tozduman emphasized: “About 6 thousand Syrian women have been subjected to violence during the war in Syria. There are Armenians and Alawites among them. We have information that women are forced to engage in prostitution to save their lives on the migration road through Turkey. As a woman, I announce that the practice of subjecting women to violence during the wartime must be stopped!”
Previously it was reported that the armed incursion began on Friday, March 21, 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 Kessab. The attackers immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kessab, 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 Kessab, 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 Kessab, 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, Kessab had, until very recently, evaded major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population had increased in recent years with the city serving as safe-haven for those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.
Article by Araks Kasyan
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/755751/cexaspanutyun-tesats-zhoxovurdneri-hamar-1915-tvakany-der.html
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