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Christians Flee Syria's Kessab, Armenia Accuses Turkey

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  • Christians Flee Syria's Kessab, Armenia Accuses Turkey

    CHRISTIANS FLEE SYRIA'S KESSAB, ARMENIA ACCUSES TURKEY

    ALALAM, Iran
    April 1, 2014 Tuesday

    The Syrian army is trying to retake the Christian majority town of
    Kessab reportedly seized by al-Qaeda-linked forces. The attack made
    hundreds of ethnic Armenians flee and caused international outcry
    with Armenia blaming Turkey for supporting extremists. Kessab -
    located in Syria's Latakia province, near the border with Turkey -
    fell to militants sparking a fierce battle in the media as conflicting
    reports are coming in about the events in the town which is home to
    over 2,000 ethnic Armenians.

    Reportedly, on March 21, foreign backed extremist groups affiliated
    with al-Qaeda crossed into Syria from Turkey and seized the town after
    clashes with Syrian government troops and local self-defense squads.

    According to the Armenian side, the militants were supported by
    Turkish forces. Ankara denied the allegations as "totally unfounded
    and untrue". The relations between Armenia and Turkey have long been
    strained over Ankara's refusal to recognize Armenian genocide after
    WWI. With the help of local self-defense forces and the Syrian army the
    majority of ethnic Armenians managed to flee Kessab and are currently
    resided on the territory of an Armenian church in the coastal city
    of Latakia, Arman Saakyan, Armenian MP from the Republican Party
    said. The residents of the town managed to escape in the very last
    moment before "their homes were attacked," Bugus Kazaryan, the chair
    of the Armenian Community Council in Latakia told RT. He said around
    850 families from Kessab - "not only Armenians, but also residents of
    other nationalities" - have currently taken shelter in Latakia. They
    fled the town in order to let the Syrian Army "destroy the terrorists
    who only came to Syria to kill, they've got no other goals," Kazaryan
    said. "The bombardment started early morning.

    We struggled to save our son. We were laying on the ground because
    of the heavy bombing. We could take nothing from our home," Kessab
    resident Hrach Chegelian told RT. During the past several days a
    number of reports have been circulating in media and online, claiming
    violent atrocities by militants, manslaughter of Armenians in the
    area. However, so far, there is no confirmed information that any of
    Kessab's civilians died due to fighting. NJF/NJF

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