The Yerevan-based CivilNet is reporting that it has learned from several reliable sources that 23-year-old Kevork Jourian, son of Babken and Nvard Jourian, was killed by members of Syrian rebel groups, as they were searching for guns among the Armenians who remained behind after the March 21 attack on Kessab. Sources explained that this happened in Kessab as the group of mostly elderly were being evacuated to Vakifli, Turkey.
The attack on Kessab has resulted in the displacement of more than 600 families. All have been accounted for except 10 individuals who remain missing, one of whom was Jourian. His parents, uncles and grandmother are in the group of 21 taken to Vakifli.
The Vakifli community representatives have appealed to the Turkish authorities to undertake efforts to identify and liberate the remaining missing, believe to be in the custody of the same Syrian rebel groups.
Kessabtsis by Name: Taken to Vakif or Still Missing
On March 21, armed rebel groups attacked Kessab after crossing the border from Turkey. As a result, over 600 Armenian families had to leave their homes the same day and took refuge at the Armenian church in Latakia, which is 65 km (45 miles) to the south of Kessab. However, nearly 40, mostly elderly, were left behind in Kessab and there was no news from them during the first week. Soon after, the Titizian sisters from Kessab were brought to the Turkish border, after which they were cared for at the Armenian Church in Vakifli, the last remaining Armenian village in Turkey.
After the TItizian sisters, a new group of Armenians reached Vakifli last week, comprised of 19 people, mostly elderly. Saghatel Basil met them and talked to CivilNet about how they arrived from Kessab to Turkey. According to the testimony of the elderly, they were brought to the Armenian catholic monastery in the center of Kessab to say a last prayer, where they were also filmed and later sent with buses to the Turkish border. The rebel groups confiscated their identity cards and passports, and only some of them (the women) were able to get their documents back.
According to CivilNet sources, the names of the 21 elderly people taken to Vakifli are the following:
Hagop Sianos Djurian (70-72 years old)
Asbed Sianos Djurian (60-65 years old)
Papken Sianos Djurian (60-65 years old)
Nvart Guzelian (Papken’s wife, 40-45 years old)
Karun Titizian-Djurian (nearly 90 years old, their mother)
Yessayi Aintablian (75 years old)
Hasmik Darus (his wife, 57 years old)
Silva Aintablian (his sister, 57-58 years old)
Ani Aintablian (his daughter, 31 years old)
Serop Sulian
Dzovig Saghdedjian-Sulian
Hagop Giragosian (85 years old)
Vazken Giragosian (80 years old)
Zaven Hovsepian (over 80 years old)
Movses Yervant Arabian (nearly 75 years old)
Marta Yervant Arabian (nearly 85 years old)
Karun Der Sahagian-Keoshgerian (90 years old)
Srpuhi Yaralian-Titizian (86 years old)
Satenig Titizian (85 years old)
Nerses Tangugian (from Aleppo, over 80 years old)
Anais Aharonian-Ekmekdjian (from Aleppo, Nerses Tangugian’s caretaker)
There are also a number of people missing, from whom there has been no news since March 21. Istanbul Armenian journalist Aris Nalci reports the names of the ten Kessab Armenians that are still missing:
Musa (Moses)Sahagian
Musa Sahagian’s sister – name unknown
Shami Poladian
Seta Chilingirian
Luder Trtrian
George Kortmosian
Minas Cherchigian
Dikranuhi Kazazian
Shant Hovhannesian
Kevork Jourian
Islam: The religion of peace???
Armenians were sitting ducks in Kessab. Who or what were they relying on? It was obvious this was bound to happen. Did the Armenian government or any other organization try to evacuate and settle these people in Armenia? If it were the Israeli government, you can be assured that massive airlifts would have taken place long ago. Remember the Somali airlift in the early 90s?
My Armenian brothers and sisters may god protect you
Կը դատապարտենք թրքական գործուած ոճիրը**************
ALL COUNTRIES AND PERSONS WHO SUPPORT THE REBELS SHOULD KNOW THIS WELL: WE WILL NOT FORGET AND CLOSE OUR EYES !!!
It’s so pathetic to see the anti-Assad apologists among Armenians defending Turkey’s blatant commission and denial of war crimes against Syrian civilians, including Kessab Armenians as well as large numbers of Alawites. I consider it high treason to attempt to cover up or shift blame for Turkish criminality for the sake of one’s personal dislike of the Syrian government, or for one’s own feelings of love for NATO, the US, the EU, and israel, or for the sake of “Lebanese Patriotism”. One of Turkey’s greatest advantages has always been that for whatever outrages and atrocities it wantonly commits against one group of Armenians (ie Kessabtsis), there is always another group of Armenians that will stand up for the Turks (Assad-haters, Russia-haters, Lebanon-firsters). It’s not much different from the shortsighted Maronite Arabs in Lebanon who are filled with joy at the thought of Israel bombing their own country because they hate the Lebanese Muslims more than they love their country, and thus become tools in the hands of the israelis.
In fact if we let some of the haters of President Sargsyan and haters of Russia have their way, they would shamelessly parade around on CNN and the BBC begging NATO to bomb Armenia just as degenerate Iraqis, Libyans and Serbians were used by NATO during aggression against those countries.
Although you may have your heart in the right place, your thoughts are being clouded by your emotions. We need to look at the situation in the greater context. Both sides are murderous criminals and no one side is truly right or wrong. Both have their own justifications. We should avoid any notion of favoritism. That being said, by criticising the regime does not automatically mean appeasement for the other side. That is undemocratic as much as saying “you are either with us or against us”. Our only asset (geopolitically speaking) is smart neutrality. We can not abandon our values and moral compass by siding with anyone that is the enemy of our enemy. Yes, some things are hard to accept, but the effort for future survival sometimes takes unbearable pain in the present.
Save your Lebanon-first, death-to-Assad arguments for a more gullible Armenian who watches too much mainstream western media. To equate a legitimate, secular government that that US hates to Islamic terrorists demonstrates a lack of even a basic understanding of the situation.
You cannot be “smart neutral” with jihadists any more than you can be “smart neutral” with genocidal turkish officials or axe-bearing Azeri “national heroes”
And don’t bother quoting anything from that worthless piece of trash Samantha power, she is just another servant of the US regime, she has demonstrated she cares about exploiting massacres and Genocides only when it serves her interests.
“The gruesome images of corpses bearing marks of starvation, strangulation and beatings and today’s chilling briefing indicate that the Assad regime has carried out systematic, widespread and industrial killing. Nobody who sees these images will ever be the same,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.
http://news.yahoo.com/security-council-sees-grim-images-syrian-dead-053028629.html