More Lebanon Residents To Be Evacuated To Armenia
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 19 2006
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Some two hundred more Armenian citizens and other residents of Lebanon
will be evacuated to Armenia on Thursday amid the continuing Israeli
assault on the tiny Arab state, the Foreign Ministry in Yerevan said
on Wednesday.
A ministry spokesman, Vladimir Karapetian, told RFE/RL that the
evacuees will be transported to Syria by bus and then fly to Yerevan on
board two Armenian airliners. "Most of them are citizens of Armenia,"
Karapetian said. The evacuees will be accompanied by Armenian diplomats
during the high-risk journey from Beirut to Aleppo, he said.
According to the ministry, 160 Armenians and dozens of Lebanese
citizens of Armenian descent have already escaped to Armenia since the
start of devastating Israeli raids on civilian and guerilla targets
in Lebanon on July 12. It says some 1,200 Armenian nationals lived
in the country before the assault.
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian has promised to provide "state
support" to them and other Lebanese residents who would like to take
refuge in Armenia. Two Armenian diplomats have been sent to Lebanon
and Syria to assist in their voluntary evacuation. Yerevan’s ambassador
in Beirut, Vahan Ter-Ghevondian, was scheduled to hold a special news
conference for Lebanese-Armenian media on Wednesday.
"I wouldn’t say there is a big influx of evacuees from Lebanon right
now," said Karapetian. "It’s just that we are prepared for such an
influx because it is not clear when all of this will end."
The official added that no Armenian casualties have been reported
so far. The Lebanese authorities say at least 280 people, the vast
majority of civilians, have been killed in the Israeli air strikes
launched in response to Hezbollah guerillas’ deadly cross-border
attack on Israel. The Armenian criticized the Israeli retaliation as
disproportionately harsh last week.
Lebanon is home to an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians that are
represented in the country’s government and parliament. Most of
them live in the Christian neighborhoods and suburbs of Beirut
that have largely been spared bombardment so far. "There is no mass
exodus of Armenians yet," Shahan Kahandarian, editor of the local
Armenian-language "Aztag" daily based, told RFE/RL from Beirut.
The situation appears to be far more dangerous in the
Armenian-populated village of Anjar in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley that
has been targeted by the Israeli air force. "There are roughly 2,500
Armenians living here," Kaloust Polazian, a local resident, said by
phone. "Authorities here are taking all necessary precautions. But
we don’t know what will happen. We are at the mercy of God."
"One is left to think that Lebanon’s Armenians have no future,"
he added grimly. The country is in serious trouble."