Category: News

Members of the Armenian Social Council made a statement to the press in front of the council’s headquarters in the Kibaba neighborhood of Heseke.

The statement read by the co-chair of the council, Imad Teteryan, denounced the attempts of foreign powers and their collaborators that seek to incite sedition among the peoples in the region by distorting the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) Operation Security Reinforcement against ISIS cells and criminal elements in Deir ez-Zor region and by portraying it as a campaign against tribes.

“The SDF is not a Kurdish force as some circles claim, but is made up of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Syriacs, Assyrians, Turkmens, Circassians, Christians, Muslims and Yazidis. The SDF protects all components and religions. It has freed the region from the atrocities, persecution and terror of ISIS mercenaries and their supporters. Half of the fighters in SDF ranks are made up of the children of the Arab population and tribes,” said the statement.

The Armenian Social Council pointed out that: “We are against any form of discrimination between religions. We are meant to live together in our land with pride, honor, love and peace. We support the SDF and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. We stand against the intended instigation.”

The council stressed that the SDF holds the key to peace in Syria and is the people’s hope for freedom and equality.

In April 1915, the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic extermination of its civilian Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923, when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey. 

The Armenian population of the Ottoman state was reported at about two million in 1915. An estimated one million had perished by 1918, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless refugees. By 1923, virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared.

The Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Turks who had conquered lands extending across West Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe. The Ottoman government was centered in Istanbul (Constantinople) and was headed by a sultan who was vested with absolute power. The Turks practiced Islam and were a martial people. 

The Armenians, a Christian minority, lived as second class citizens subject to legal restrictions which denied them normal safeguards. Neither their lives nor their properties were guaranteed security. As non-Muslims, they were also obligated to pay discriminatory taxes and denied participation in government. Scattered across the empire, the status of the Armenians was further complicated by the fact that the territory of historical Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Russians.

When World War I broke out in August 1914, the Ottoman Empire formed part of the Triple Alliance with the other Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and it declared war on Russia and its Western allies, Great Britain and France.

The Ottoman armies initially suffered a string of defeats, which they made up with a series of easy military victories in the Caucasus in 1918 before the Central Powers capitulated later that same year. 

Whether retreating or advancing, the Ottoman army used the occasion of war to wage a collateral campaign of massacre against the civilian Armenian population in the regions in which warfare was being conducted. These measures were part of the genocidal program secretly adopted by the CUP and implemented under the cover of war. They coincided with the CUP’s larger program to eradicate the Armenians from Turkey and neighboring countries for the purpose of creating a new Pan-Turanian empire. Through the spring and summer of 1915, in all areas outside the war zones, the Armenian population was ordered deported from their homes. Convoys consisting of tens of thousands, including men, women, and children, were driven hundreds of miles toward the Syrian desert.

The deportations were disguised as a resettlement program. The brutal treatment of the deportees, most of whom were made to walk to their destinations, made it apparent that the deportations were mainly intended as death marches. Moreover, the policy of deportation surgically removed the Armenians from the rest of society and disposed of great masses of people with little or no destruction of property. The displacement process, therefore, also served as a major opportunity orchestrated by the CUP for the plundering of the material wealth of the Armenians and proved an effortless method of expropriating all of their immovable properties.

The government had made no provisions for the feeding of the deported population. Starvation took an enormous toll, much as exhaustion felled the elderly, the weaker and the ill. Deportees were denied food and water in a deliberate effort to hasten death. The survivors who reached northern Syria were collected at a number of concentration camps whence they were sent further south to die under the scorching sun of the desert. Through methodically organized deportation, systematic massacre, deliberate starvation and dehydration, and continuous brutalization, the Ottoman government reduced its Armenian population to a frightened mass of famished individuals whose families and communities had been destroyed in a single stroke.

Most of those implicated in war crimes evaded justice and many joined the new Nationalist Turkish movement led by Mustafa Kemal. In a series of military campaigns against Russian Armenia in 1920, against the refugee Armenians who had returned to Cilicia in southern Turkey in 1921, and against the Greek army that had occupied Izmir where the last intact Armenian community in Anatolia still existed in 1922, the Nationalist forces completed the process of eradicating the Armenians through further expulsions and massacres. When Turkey was declared a republic in 1923 and received international recognition, the Armenian Question and all related matters of resettlement and restitution were swept aside and soon forgotten.

In all, it is estimated that up to a million and a half Armenians perished at the hands of Ottoman and Turkish military and paramilitary forces and through atrocities intentionally inflicted to eliminate the Armenian demographic presence in Turkey. 

The surviving refugees spread around the world and eventually settled in some two dozen countries on all continents of the globe. Triumphant in its total annihilation of the Armenians and relieved of any obligations to the victims and survivors, the Turkish Republic adopted a policy of dismissing the charge of genocide and denying that the deportations and atrocities had constituted part of a deliberate plan to exterminate the Armenians. 

(Compiled with information from the Armenian National Institute)

The Armenian community in Rojava has called on the West to act against the siege of Nagorno-Karabakh. Since mid-December, the population there has been cut off from the outside world due to an Azerbaijani blockade.

The Armenian community in the autonomous region of North and East Syria has called on the international community to act against the siege of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). The Azerbaijani blockade of the region is threatening a humanitarian catastrophe there, the Armenian Society Council and the Women’s Council of Armenians in Rojava said at a rally in front of the UN mission in Qamishlo, adding that immediate action is long overdue. “The world must not allow another genocide against our people. Act humanely and with values in mind, and work for the release of the lifeline of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The lifeline refers to the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Since mid-December, Azerbaijan has blocked this artery. 120,000 people, including 30,000 children, have been cut off from the rest of the world and thus from any supply. Previously, Armenia delivered 400 tons of food to the region every day. But under the blockade, both the import of food and medicine and the transport, for example, of sick people out of Nagorno-Karabakh are impossible.

“This policy of starvation and siege with the aim of a complete occupation of Armenian Karabakh has already claimed its first fatalities,” said a joint statement by Armenian associations read out by Kohar Khaja Dorian for the Women’s Council and Imad Tatrian for the Societies Council. They said the blockade was in violation of international and humanitarian law and should be dealt with accordingly by the international community. “Over a hundred thousand people are trying to survive in precarious conditions in the middle of winter, without food, medical care or electricity. Geopolitical and geostrategic interests of the West must not lead to soft-pedalling on human rights.”

The Lachin corridor has been secured by Russian peacekeepers under a treaty since the supposed end of the Azerbaijani-Turkish war of aggression on Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Nevertheless, on 12 December, alleged “eco-activists” from Azerbaijan set up a roadblock there with the aim of stopping “illegal mining”. The aim was to demonstrate against the “exploitation of Azerbaijan’s gold and copper deposits by Armenia”, they said. The Armenian side, on the other hand, speaks of a state-coordinated action. Accordingly, the alleged eco-activists are members of the military and the secret service, and the fairy tale of environmental protection is only a pretext for a new invasion. Azerbaijan, they say, has never cared about environmental issues, and there is no such thing as a civil society in this authoritarian country.

Earlier this week, Armenia appealed to the International Court of Justice over the Nagorno-Karabakh siege to impose emergency measures against Azerbaijan and oblige it to lift the blockade. The government in Baku denies blocking the Lachin corridor to cut off supplies to the population. It accuses Armenia of transporting weapons and mines through the road, in violation of the terms of the ceasefire. A ruling by the UN court is expected in a few weeks.

What is your name? What is your job and the work of the Armenian Council?

Kohar Khajadourian (co-chair of the Armenian Social Council in Qamishlo): We have been working for seven years for this council. After 3 years the General Council was formed in Heseke, and it was recognized by the Autonomous Administration. On this basis, branches were opened in Qamishlo and Deir ez-Zor, and one will soon be opened in Raqqa.

In general, our work focuses on the social, cultural, and historical issues, such as the history of the displacement of Armenians in the past. When the Armenians came to Syria, Kurdish and Arab people treated and accepted us very well. Now we are working with the Armenian diaspora to learn our roots, history, language, and culture: this is the main work of the Council. 

What are your political orientations?

We do not have any political orientation, as I said, our orientations are cultural and social. We are not against anyone, neither regime nor others. We align with all peoples and support the fraternity of peoples. We work for the good of all peoples and also the good of the Armenian people.

There was a conference of Armenian women, what was the purpose of this conference and what is its effect?

That was the first conference of the Armenian Women’s Union. The main objective of this union was to support women to obtain their rights, and to rid them of male domination and outdated customs and traditions in society. The Armenian woman is like any woman in society. There is no difference, she faces a lot of pressure, and we help her to be stronger. We provide women with job opportunities so that they can become more economically self-reliant.

The Armenian Social Council and the Women’s Committee organized this conference. The council is composed of committees, such as the Women’s Committee, the Culture Committee, the Education and Training Committee, the Culture and Art Committee, the Youth Committee, the Finance and Statistics Committee, and we are also working on the census of the Armenian diaspora.

What are the problems facing Armenian women?

This conference was for the Armenian women who were under oppression and tyranny. Among the problems facing Armenian women today are the marriage of minors, deprivation of education, choosing a life partner as well as physical violence, psychological violence, and polygamy.

As we know at this stage there is work on the social contract. What is the role of the Armenians in the social contract?

Before the advent of the Autonomous Administration the Armenian people were not acknowledged, we were known as Assyrians. After that, we as the Armenian people saw that we also have the right to be part of this development. Certainly, we will have a great role in the social contract; we will demand our rights and the rights of language and culture. We must have a role, so decisions are taken as a whole people. 

On the Armenian Independence Day, are there relations between you and Armenia at the political, social and cultural levels?

Before the revolution, the Armenian people were a neutral side. As I said, we are part of this homeland but in the past the Armenian people did not join any parties, for example the Baath Party, nor in other politics.

Armenian schools were named in Armenian language, but after the advent of the Baath regime, the names of the schools were changed to Arabic. After the establishment of the Armenian Council here, people began to get involved, and many Armenians took their sides within the military forces, in addition to their involvement in the ranks of the military forces within the Autonomous Administration. We have a military column for Armenian women too.

The number of Armenians in northeastern Syria was approximately about three thousand families before 2011, from Deir Ezzor to the city of Derik, but it is now around 400 families. There are many Armenians who say that their homeland is Armenia, but do not go to Armenia because of the bad economic situation.

We hear about the existence of peace between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. What is the council’s opinion on this issue?

We do not expect that there will be peace between us and Turkey, especially from the Turkish side, because of their practices towards us. Turkey cannot be trusted, and the choice for peace is theirs to make. They are a brutal and strong state with injustice, and Armenia does not have the necessary strength to recover its lands, but if Russia is honest and considers Armenia a part of it in all respects, then the project of Turkey will fail.

What are the council’s goals for the next 10 years?

The goal of the Armenian Council is to help the Armenian people live a good life, as much as possible, and to have a presence like any other people in all aspects, whether military or cultural. I expect that the next ten years will be better if all minorities and all sects obtain their rights; then the situation can improve on all levels.

Members of the Armenian Community Council in the city of Hesekê, civil society organizations and members of the Military Council, as well as many tribal leaders attended the opening ceremony.

The ceremony started with a minute’s silence, and Deir ez-Zor Armenian Community Council president Mihemed El-Ilewi said: “Due to the brutality of the Ottoman state, Armenians migrated from this region and from many parts of Anatolia to different parts of the world 107 years ago.”

Mihemed El-Ilewi thanked the people of Deir ez-Zor for helping the Armenian people who came to the region and said: “The Armenian people have not forgotten the help of the people of Deir ez-Zor.”

El-Ilewi continued: “Your presence here gives morale to all Armenian citizens in Syria in general and all Armenians in Northern and Eastern Syria in particular.” He thanked the Autonomous Administration for their hard work in opening the council.

Zaim Al Mehmud, spokesman for the Syrian Future Party, said: “There is no difference between the components of the region, we are all united against projects that undermine social cohesion.”

Deir ez-Zor Civil Assembly Women’s Committee member Hind El-Ehmed said: “The opening of the Armenian Social Assembly in Deir ez-Zor reinforces the fraternity of the people after the region’s liberation from ISIS.”