US Official News
April 5, 2014 Saturday
Washington: SPEECH OF HON. FRANK R. WOLF OF VIRGINIA IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014
Washington
The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following Speech:
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the people of
Kassab, Syria. Their town was overtaken by Islamist rebels late last
month. The town’s inhabitants, who are largely Armenian Christians,
have been forced by jihadist rebels to evacuate their homes and seek
refuge in Lebanon and the nearby city of Latakia. I submit an article
which ran in yesterday’s Washington Post which paints a deeply
disturbing picture of the events unfolding in Kassab.
This is yet another case of Christians and other religious minorities
being pulled into violent conflicts in the Middle East. Throughout the
region, small and peaceful minority groups are often the first to
suffer collateral damage, as we have seen in recent years not only in
Syria, but also in Iraq, in Egypt, and elsewhere.
It is especially poignant to recognize the people of Kassab at this
time of year, since April 24 is the Genocide Remembrance Day observed
by Armenians around the world to commemorate the atrocities committed
against their people nearly a hundred years ago.
I have advocated for a non-governmental bipartisan Syria Study Group
to bring a fresh approach and possibly creative solutions forward to
address the ongoing conflict in that country. It is inexcusable for
the world to stand by while families are being driven from their
homes, children are being killed and ancient communities’ very
existence threatened. [From the Washington Post, Apr. 2, 2014]
SYRIAN ARMENIANS, WHO HAD BEEN INSULATED FROM WAR, FORCED TO FLEE
AFTER REBEL OFFENSIVE
(By Loveday Morris)
ANJAR, LEBANON.–Some fled in their nightclothes, others in their
farming boots straight from the fields. Many thought they’d be able to
return in a few hours but now fear they may never again.
Until the shells started raining down late last month, the tiny Syrian
village of Kassab and surrounding villages had been largely sheltered
from the three-year-old conflict that has devastated other parts of
Syria. But now the area is the focus of a rebel offensive in the
coastal province of Latakia, and an accompanying social-media storm of
disinformation.
Kassab, a lush, mountainous idyll abutting the Turkish border, is an
ancestral home of Syria’s minority ethnic Armenians, Christians who
have lived on the land for a millennium. But the attack by jihadist
rebels sparked a mass exodus from Kassab and nearby villages.
The picturesque Armenian hillside villages in the north of Latakia
provide a foothold for a push into the rest of the province–a
heartland of Syria’s minority Alawites, who are largely supportive of
President Bashar al-Assad.
The area holds little other strategic value for the opposition, but
the limited gains there have boosted rebel morale amid a string of
defeats elsewhere, with the leader of the main opposition body, Ahmad
al-Jarba, making a rare visit to Syria this week to tour the area and
meet with fighters.
The Armenian diaspora, including some celebrities, has expressed
outrage, demanding that the United States act to protect the Armenian
community in Syria. The State Department has said it is “deeply
troubled” by the developments.
Some Syrian government loyalists have launched a propaganda campaign
accusing rebels of mass killings and desecrating churches in the area,
sparking fierce rebuttals from opposition activists.
But the people of Kassab, like the 7 million others who have been
displaced by the civil war, are focusing on trying to rebuild their
lives after being torn from their land. At least 30 families have fled
to neighboring Lebanon, seeking refuge in the Armenian village of
Anjar and in the capital, Beirut, and the testimonies of more than a
dozen shed some light on the events surrounding the offensive.
All but about 30 of the area’s roughly 2,500 residents fled within 48
hours of the attack, they said. The fate of those who remained, who
were too old or unwilling to leave, is unknown, with communications to
the villages cut. There was no major loss of life, they say, with just
one known death, that of a local teacher who was hit in her car by a
sniper as she tried to flee. Still, the mass exodus is particularly
emotional, with Armenians from Kassab having been forced to leave
their homes twice in the past century because of persecution by the
Turks.
The Armenians first fled during the Adana massacre of 1909, when tens
of thousands died at the hands of the Ottomans.
Then, in 1915, as many as 5,000 residents of Kassab died during the
fracturing empire’s murderous campaign against the Armenians, which is
widely recognized as a genocide.
“Now it’s 2014, and we are being displaced again,” said a
41-year-old farmer’s wife who arrived in Lebanon a week ago. Like
others fleeing the loyalist area, she spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of reprisals if she and her family return.
“But thank God that this time there is no massacre,” she said. “We
believe that, as Armenians, what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger.”
Once again, the Armenians see the hand of their long-standing enemy
behind their displacement, saying the rebel attack was launched from
Turkish soil. Many of the farms and homes in what was once a popular
tourist spot offer sweeping views of the Turkish border.
The offensive, they say, began about 5 a.m. on March 21, with
villagers waking to the sound of heavy machine-gun fire, followed by
shelling.
Two Syrian border posts were first struck, according to the accounts
of several residents. With the posts manned only by lightly armed
Syrian border police, residents said there was little in the way of
defense against the push by jihadist rebel groups, which included the
al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham.
Not long after, the main border crossing to Turkey fell, residents said.
Villagers had prepared evacuation plans. In case of an attack,
instructions were for women and children to congregate in Nabaeen, a
village farthest from the Turkish border, with a back road to the city
of Latakia.
By 7 a.m., one Nabaeen farmer said, about 50 people had gathered at
his house. “People were crying and yelling that they had nothing with
them. Some were in their slippers and pajamas,” he said. “It was a
sad situation.”
Despite the chaos, many grabbed the deeds to their houses–an
instinct, they say, for a people with a history of displacement. Some
of the men stayed behind to see how the situation developed.
“We left all our valuables and had nothing more than the clothes we
were wearing,” said one 40- year-old mother of three. As the shelling
picked up, by 11 a.m. most of the families had left Nabaeen for the
safety of Latakia, 35 miles south, as Syrian army reinforcements made
their way north.
By March 23, the rebels had reached the center of Kassab. Villagers
point to Turkey’s shooting down of a Syrian jet attempting to hit the
invading fighters later that day as further evidence of Turkish
support for rebels.
A Turkish diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the subject, said that no rebels are
“deliberately” allowed to use the Turkish border and that if there
was shelling into Kassab from Turkey on March 21, it was because of
new rules of engagement, which allow the country’s armed forces to
retaliate when fired at to deter further attacks.
Turkey also said that the jet it shot down had strayed into its airspace.
Jihadist fighters who entered Kassab have gone to great lengths to
stress that they are not desecrating churches or hurting civilians.
The mother of three said that after she arrived in Latakia with her
children, she called home, and a man who identified himself as a
member of Ja`hat al-Nusra answered.
“He said, ‘Come back, why did you leave your home? We have come here
to protect you,’ ” she recalled, though she added that he later said
she should convert to Islam before returning. “I pleaded with him,
`Eat and drink whatever you like, but please don’t destroy the house.’
”
But Kassab’s displaced residents are not convinced by the jihadists’
assurances, and some fear they will never be able to feel safe
[Page: E518] GPO’s PDF
in the area again, even if the government succeeds in pushing out the rebels.
One farmer, who sold his car in Latakia to afford the journey to
Lebanon, said his grandmother survived a notorious death march from
the village to the city of Horns during the genocide but still
returned to Kassab.
This time, he’s not sure his family will make it back.
“Our roots are there, everything is there,” his wife said, “but we can’t.”
For more information please visit:
From: A. Papazian
http://thomas.loc.gov/