COMMUNITY UNITES GLOBALLY, ACTS LOCALLY TO AID SYRIAN BRETHREN
NEWS | NOVEMBER 29, 2012 11:50 AM
Scene from the AGBU YP fundraiser in Boston
By Gabriella Gage
Mirror-Special Staff
WATERTOWN – The ongoing conflict in Syria has resulted in the
displacement of thousands of Syrian Armenians, the majority of
those fleeing to Armenia and Lebanon, but also to Iraq, Jordan
and elsewhere. The tremendous impact of fighting in Syria has
unsurprisingly been felt throughout Syria.
Prior to the conflict, more than 90,000 Armenians made Syria their
home, predominately in the cities of Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Kamishli
and Latakia. What is more surprising is the corresponding impact the
crisis in Syria has had on its sister diasporan communities throughout
the world.
Despite the political, regional and even religious divisions that
normally plague cooperative efforts in the global Armenian community,
every facet of the diaspora seems to have united to address the needs
of the Syrian-Armenian community.
The first step to uniting in efforts to aid the Syrian-Armenian
community is understanding the crisis at hand. According to
Prof. Ara Sanjian of the University of Michigan, Dearborn, there
are two dimensions to the Syrian conflict. The first is the internal
conflict that was sparked after years of the centralized authoritarian
government failing to meet the needs of the general population,
especially in rural areas. From the initial upheaval in rural regions,
the uprisings eventually moved toward a demand for democratizing
within the country by various segments of the population.
“The second dimension of the conflict – and possibly the more important
one – is the international implications of the revolts.
Because Syria has been a staunch ally of Iran, several Western
countries such as the US would likely prefer to unseat Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, while others such as Iran,
Russia and China support his regime. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and
Qatar have made no attempts to hide their intentions to unseat Bashar
al-Assad, as evidenced by their financial and military support of
oppositional forces,” said Sanjian. In the midst of this complicated
web of international tensions, the Syrian Armenians wait in hopes of
returning to home and to normalcy.
Thousands of Syrians have fled the region, especially those who have
been able to acquire the resources to migrate. Many still remain
in Syria, hoping for a quick end to the fighting and a return to
normalcy that may never come. For those Syrian-Armenians who have fled
to Armenia or Lebanon, he said, the future is unclear. The desire to
eventually return home still remains, but others are confronting the
possibility of permanent emigration, he explained. Armenia, he noted,
is not in a position to accept and absorb unlimited immigrants.
“It is difficult to dismantle what you have assembled over many
generations and just leave your home,” Sanjian noted.
In response to these dire circumstances, efforts to aid Syrian
Armenians have come from communities across the globe, from large
scale to individual efforts. The Armenian National Committee of
Australia (ANC Australia) recently partnered with the Australian
Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Department
of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) in securing $24.5 million aid
package for Syrian-Armenians who have fled to Armenia. On November 22,
the ANC-Australia website posted a press release from Walt Secord, a
member of the Australian Legislative Council, stating, “I will note my
concerns regarding the plight of Armenians in Syria as events continue
to unfold. Just last month an important Armenian church in Aleppo was
set ablaze and Armenians were kidnapped. I know that members of the
local Armenian community are worried about their loved ones in Syria.
My thoughts are with them at this time.”
One of the largest coordinated efforts has come through the formation
of the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF), which includes the Western
Diocese of the Armenian Church, Western Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America, Armenian Catholic Eparchy in North
America, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Western U.S.A. (ARFD), Social Democrat Hunchakian
Party-Western USA, Armenian Evangelical Union of North America,
Armenian General Benevolent Union, Armenian Missionary Association
of America and Armenian Relief Society of Western USA.
Fundraising efforts by SARF have also included the two Hye AID
concerts in Pasadena and San Francisco, with two more Hye Aid concerts
planned in California, “together with educating and mobilizing the
public and publicizing the calamity that has stricken the Syrian
Armenian communities thru the print, audio and visual media and
during all activities,” according to Executive Committee Chairperson
Zaven Khanjian. “There is the natural-human, national-Armenian and
Christian-ethical/moral obligations. All three. We would have done
it to any and all communities in peril. It must be said though that
the Syrian-Armenian community has a special place in the Armenian
Diaspora. It is the mother of all Armenian Diaspora communities. The
closest to historical Armenia where the memories and monuments to
the Genocide are living cries in the face of humanity.”
SARF partnered with the Suryahayutyan Shdab Oknutyan Ojantag Marmin
(the Syrian-Armenian Emergency Relief Organization) a pan-Armenian
coalition, which also facilitates the transfer of aid and funds through
the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia. According to Khanjian,
they have already transferred $100,000 of the funds raised overseas
and are preparing for the transfer of another $250,000 to take place
imminently. Overall, about $500,000 in contributions and pledges have
been raised by this body in the last three months alone.
Prior to coordination with SARF, the Armenian Relief Society (ARS)
relief efforts had primarily focused on aiding Armenian schools in
Syria with financial assistance to needy students and helping to
relieve financial burdens placed on schools. Through these efforts,
they have raised more than $100,000 globally to aid Syrian-Armenian
schools and students, and the funds were transferred over through
religious headquarters in Lebanon. “In the global diaspora, whenever
one of the communities is in distress, the other communities have
an obligation to lend a supporting hand,” said Vice Chair of ARS
Central Executive Board Nairy Shahinian on the importance of aiding
Syrian communities.
Currently, the ARS is also acting as part of a pan-Armenian effort
“made up of the global communities coming together to create a vivid
awareness amongst all the Armenian communities,” said Shahinian. The
ARS helps provide weekly hot meal plans to the needy, as well as
medications, in addition to raising funds. From large-scale efforts
to weekly church collections for Syria in local communities, the ARS
hopes to continue its aid efforts and encourages readers to contact
their local ARS chapters for more ways to help.
Another sponsoring organization of SARF, is ARFD’s “Help Your Brother”
initiative, has transported nearly two tons of plane cargo carrying
medicine, food and goods.
“Help Your Brother” also oversaw donations to the “Kashatagh Fund”
for the housing of 20 Syrian-Armenian families settling in Kashatagh
in Artsakh (Karabagh).
Elsewhere, Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has publicly committed to
donating at least 10 percent of the funds raised at its annual
Thanksgiving Day telethon this year, to aid Syria. The organization
raised $21 million in pledges, which will primarily benefit
construction projects in Armenia and Artsakh.
At the local level, members of the Boston chapter of the AGBU Young
Professionals recently hosted a fundraising dinner at the Armenian
American Social Club (Agoump) in Watertown. According to Laura
Michael, YP Boston chairperson, more than 50 people attended the
event and/or donated, with further donations still being accepted
at
YP member and attendee Nicole Meregian said, “The AGBU YP fundraiser
was a huge success[…] both Armenians and non-Armenians attended, and
raised over $1,000. I think it’s important to help Armenians, not just
locally, but also globally and especially in times of need such as now
in Syria. The Armenian community in Syria is relying on local efforts
to address their basic needs. The local community in Boston needs to
be aware of the magnitude of devastation to the Syrian Armenians.”
Meanwhile in Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has started
distributing the aid presented by the Armenian people to the Syrians in
order to help them cope with damages, losses and economic sanctions,
after a third aid plane arrived at Aleppo International airport on
November 9. Director of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Aleppo, Hael
Assi, has coordinated with the Armenian Embassy and the Armenian
Orthodox Archdiocese in Aleppo to facilitate the distribution of
supplies and aid. Secretary of the Baath Party branch in Aleppo,
Hilal Hilal, said that the Syrian people “highly appreciate this
humanitarian stance of the Armenian people and government, underling
the strong Syrian-Armenian cooperation.
Religious sects across the Armenian Diaspora have also united under
a single cause.
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, the Armenian Prelacy and
the Armenian Catholic Church have all coordinated efforts. The Prelacy
and members of the Catholic and Protestant churches have participated
in fundraisers in Boston, Detroit, New York and Chicago, respectively.
According to the Eastern Diocese Communications Director Christopher
H. Zakian, “At the directive of Archbishop [Khajag] Barsamian,
the Diocese instituted a fundraising drive last August, which has
included plate collections at the parish level, periodic promotion
in our weekly e-newsletter and on social media platforms, as well as
an ongoing donor opportunity on our website. All the proceeds will
go to the relief effort, to be distributed through the Mother See
of Holy Echmiadzin, which is working with and through the Armenian
Church Diocese of Syria.”
The Diocese has been working with the Primate of Syria, Bishop
Armash Nalbandian, to keep informed on the situation and promoted
communication in order to coordinate humanitarian efforts. “The
Primate has urged all our people to keep our countrymen in Syria in
their prayers and to pray that the historic and long-lived Armenian
community there, once a place of refuge for so many of our ancestors,
will endure through this period and eventually enter a new period of
wellbeing and peace,” added Zakian.
Members of Congress React
The US political community has also drawn attention to the crisis,
with Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) who serves as co-chairman of
the Tom Lantos Congressional Human Rights Caucus, voicing his strong
support for US humanitarian efforts to Syria, including an ANCA-backed
provision in the House Appropriations Committee’s version of the
FY13 State-Foreign Operations Bill calling on the State Department
to prioritize humanitarian and resettlement assistance for minority
communities, including Armenians and other Christian populations
in Syria.
Tying the crisis in Syria to the American-Armenian community, McGovern
wrote, “As you are very much aware, the Armenian community of Syria,
particularly those in and around the Aleppo region, includes a great
many descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and the forced
death marches through the Syrian desert. These Armenians, along with
other Christian and minority populations, are, today, increasingly the
victims of violence – in the form of bombings, sniper attacks, murders,
kidnapping, and acts of destruction and desecration of holy sites.”
These are only some of the organizations globally working to aid
Syrian Armenians.
Further global communication and cooperation will be necessary as
the conflict continues. Government agencies and larger organizations
“must coordinate on the ground and abroad in order to ensure the even,
efficient distribution of resources, so that no one gets left behind,”
said Sanjian.
From: Baghdasarian