In light of the recent events in Aleppo, the Central Executive Board of the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) expresses its steadfast solidarity with the Armenians of Aleppo. We call for heightened vigilance and awareness, expressing hope that this crisis can be overcome through united and collective efforts.
On behalf of the extended ARS family, we affirm our unwavering commitment to supporting and standing by the Armenians of Aleppo. We firmly believe that the Armenian nation will join in this spirit of solidarity to assist our brethren in Aleppo.
The heart of the ARS beats with the Armenians of Aleppo.
To donate, please visit www.ars1910.org/sar.
Established in 1910, the Armenian Relief Society operates in 26 countries serving the humanitarian needs of Armenians and non-Armenians alike. Through its avowed mission and numerous philanthropic projects, the organization has empowered women to make an impact on their communities and has promoted education, health and humanitarian aid.
Armenian Relief Society International Inc.
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The jihadists who took over Aleppo and large tracts of territory, are the proxies of the regional bully and hegemon Turkey, which wants Syria to be its own puppet state. Turkey already controls either directly or through its jihadist proxies, large tracts of Syrian territory. If Armenians still live in Aleppo, their lives are in peril. Having stayed and survived in that bombarded and devastated city since the start of the Syrian Civil War 13 years ago, is mindboggling. But this time “luck” could run out, with these Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, who committed many war crimes, controlling that city.
The same fate happened to the Syrian border villages of Kessab and Yakubiyah, the only two places in Syria, which had Armenian majorities before the civil war. Yacubiyah was attacked, devastated and occupied by the jihadists ever since, and its Armenian population fled. Kessab was attacked and looted by the jihadists, though they were later expelled by the Syrian Army which still controls it. Only a small number of Armenians, who fled Kessab, returned. However Kessab, could share the fate of Yacubiyah and Aleppo again, this time permanently.
The Armenian population in Syria before the Syrian Civil War was around 100,000. Today it is estimated to be as low as 15,000, and almost all of whom live in Syrian government controlled areas. Bashar Assad is no saint, but at least under his secular rule, Alawites (Assad’s own liberal Muslim sect), Christians and Armenians were safe and could practice their religion freely and were unmolested by him, as long as his rule was not challenged. It was always the Islamic fundamentalists who loathed the secularist system and tolerance for non-Sunni and non-Muslim groups and challenged his and his father Hafez Assad’s rule.
It is like an Armenian Genocide all over again: Iraq (where the pre-invasion Armenian population was around 100,000, now it is as low as 3,000) Artsakh (where the pre-invasion Armenian population was around 140,000, now it is 0), Syria (where the pre-civil war Armenian population was around 100,000, now it is as low as 15,000) and probably Lebanon is next. And in Artsakh and Syria, it was done by Turkey.