Serzh Sargsyan makes statement on Kesab situation in The Hague

In connection with the Kesab events, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made a statement for the press in The Hague, the presidential press service said.

The president expressed deep concern over the recent events in Kesab. ‘We all remember the history of Kesab which unfortunately was full of hellish realities of Armenian deportations in the last 100 years,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

According to him, the first disaster occurred in April 1909 when the Turkish armed detachments invaded Kesab. Armenians found shelter in Garaturan’s mountains and on the coast. After the Turks set Kesab on fire and looted it, they went to Garaturan, burning and looting houses in the upper district. A French ship transported the Armenians to Latakia. They returned to Kesab a year later and rebuilt their homes.

When speaking about the historical facts, Serzh Sargsyan recalled the 1915 events when the Kesab population also experienced migration and deportations during the Armenian Genocide. Armenians of Kesab were deported in two directions: to Deir Zor and to Jordan in the south. Thousands died en route, the majority perished in Deir Zor deserts.

“The third displacement of Kesab Armenians today is a serious challenge to the 21st century ethnic minority rights protection mechanisms. Everyone should realize that these parallels should sober all the sides,” the Armenian president stressed.
He thanked the Syrian authorities for the steps they have taken in this difficult moment.

‘I have already instructed the Armenian diplomatic missions at the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva to raise the problems of ensuring Kesab Armenians’ security and their return to permanent places of residence - at the structures dealing with human rights and ethnic minority right issues,” he said.

The president also had today a consultation with Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia Aram I in connection with the current situation.

In the words of President Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian embassy in Syria works on the programs of measures to assist the Armenians of Kesab to the full.