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FALLOUT: CONCERN IN SOME PARTS THAT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN LEBANON WILL SUFFER
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
News | 22.10.12 | 16:00
Photo: Via Photolure
A car bombing of an official in Beirut has sparked concern in Lebanon
Armenians of Lebanon have nothing to do with the recent incidents
there, hence they are not viewed either as party, or as a target,
says Shahan Kandaharian, editor-in-chief of Azdak Armenian daily
published in Lebanon.
"Nonetheless, as part of the Lebanon society they are troubled by
these events," he told ArmeniaNow.
Meanwhile, experts in Yerevan think the situation formed in Lebanon
after the Friday car bomb blast, which left the nation's intelligence
chief and seven others dead and led to public protests, can be alarming
for the country's Christian Armenian community.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that an Armenian woman
was also killed in the car bomb blast in Beirut's Christian district.
Lebanon's intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan's death led to
anti-government protests in central Beirut since Saturday. On Sunday
the protesters clashed with security forces after a funeral for
al-Hassan. Clashes have been reported in other cities, too.
Protesters, many of them allied with Sunni coalitions that have long
been sharply critical of the Lebanese government's perceived closeness
with the Syrian regime, blamed the country's Prime Minster for not
preventing Friday's deadly blast. Al-Hassan had been investigating
the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose
slaying led to the expulsion of Syrian forces from Lebanon. CNN reports
that al-Hassan was the "polarizing figure," drawing the support of
anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon, but antagonizing pro-Syrian ones.
Gagik Harutyunyan, head of "Noravank" think tank in Yerevan, says
the latest developments in Lebanon are surely bad for the some
254,000-member Lebanese Armenian community.
"Especially so, because I believe Christian communities have no future
in the Middle East. In Lebanon there is a unique balance of forces
among the national and religious sectors, but everything is being done
[by the East, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar] to draw Lebanon into
the Arab Spring," Harutyunyan told ArmeniaNow.
Kandaharian says the situation in Beirut today is more peaceful,
despite the continuing political tensions: the opposition keeps
demanding the prime minister's and the cabinet members' resignations,
which he says "is not likely to happen".
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
News | 22.10.12 | 16:00
Photo: Via Photolure
A car bombing of an official in Beirut has sparked concern in Lebanon
Armenians of Lebanon have nothing to do with the recent incidents
there, hence they are not viewed either as party, or as a target,
says Shahan Kandaharian, editor-in-chief of Azdak Armenian daily
published in Lebanon.
"Nonetheless, as part of the Lebanon society they are troubled by
these events," he told ArmeniaNow.
Meanwhile, experts in Yerevan think the situation formed in Lebanon
after the Friday car bomb blast, which left the nation's intelligence
chief and seven others dead and led to public protests, can be alarming
for the country's Christian Armenian community.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that an Armenian woman
was also killed in the car bomb blast in Beirut's Christian district.
Lebanon's intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan's death led to
anti-government protests in central Beirut since Saturday. On Sunday
the protesters clashed with security forces after a funeral for
al-Hassan. Clashes have been reported in other cities, too.
Protesters, many of them allied with Sunni coalitions that have long
been sharply critical of the Lebanese government's perceived closeness
with the Syrian regime, blamed the country's Prime Minster for not
preventing Friday's deadly blast. Al-Hassan had been investigating
the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose
slaying led to the expulsion of Syrian forces from Lebanon. CNN reports
that al-Hassan was the "polarizing figure," drawing the support of
anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon, but antagonizing pro-Syrian ones.
Gagik Harutyunyan, head of "Noravank" think tank in Yerevan, says
the latest developments in Lebanon are surely bad for the some
254,000-member Lebanese Armenian community.
"Especially so, because I believe Christian communities have no future
in the Middle East. In Lebanon there is a unique balance of forces
among the national and religious sectors, but everything is being done
[by the East, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar] to draw Lebanon into
the Arab Spring," Harutyunyan told ArmeniaNow.
Kandaharian says the situation in Beirut today is more peaceful,
despite the continuing political tensions: the opposition keeps
demanding the prime minister's and the cabinet members' resignations,
which he says "is not likely to happen".