ALEPPO, Syria—The St. Kevork Armenian Church of the Nor Kyugh (Meidan) neighborhood of Aleppo was set on fire on Oct. 29. The interior of the church, including religious vestments, liturgical items, and icons, suffered serious damage, Aleppo’s Armenian Prelacy spokesperson Jirair Reisian told the Lebanese-Armenian newspaper Aztag.
Reisian reported that the adjacent Mesrobian School, with its kindergarten and elementary school, also suffered from the fire.
“We strongly condemn this barbaric and criminal act. We are convinced and we believe that God, at least, will not let these inhumane crimes and desecration—against Aleppo’s historic Great Mosque, other places of worship, and today, the St. Kevork Church—go unpunished,” said Reisian.
On the same day, 10 passengers on a bus traveling from Beirut to Aleppo, among them seven Armenians, were kidnapped.
Reisian confirmed that some of the kidnapped are still unknown, and that community leaders are working on securing their safe return to Aleppo. There are rumors that among those abducted were a Kurd and an Assyrian.
Different reports have put the number of abducted between 10 and 12, with some claiming that 2 of the passengers were Syrian Christians, 2 were Kurds, and the remaining Armenian.
Reisian denied that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom.
According to other reports, the kidnappers have demanded that the government release 150 prisoners within 3 days in exchange for the kidnapped. If it does not, they have threatened to kill the 10 kidnapped men. The Armenian Weekly could not independently confirm these reports.
Mosques were also destroyed. I do not think the church was targetted because it was Armenian. I think we have been cursed with the self perception that we are always victims. That is the worst thing the genocide and its promoters have inflicted on the conciousness of the new generation of Armenians.
you are wrong: the Armenian Genocide was a seminal event: it radically altered the outlook of Armenians worldwide.
It demonstrated to all Armenians that meekly submitting would not save their lives.
Every Armenian now knows that if we are going to be murdered by Turks or AzeriTatarTurks – might as well take as many of them with us as we can.
If you think Armenians think of themselves as victims, you must be living in a cave. In Artsakh, Armenians showed to the world that Armenians are victims No More.
An invading enemy that outnumbered Artsakh’s mountain warriors 4-to-1 was crushed.
Armenian fighters KIA 30-35,000 enemy troops, including Turk Grey Wolf ‘volunteers’, Afghan Muj, Pak Islamists, tough Chechen volunteers, and of course AzeriTatarTurk regular Army troops: the latter ran like rabbits all the way to Baku.
Right: if you think Armenians thinks of themselves as victims, you must be living in a cave.
And the fact that Mosques were also destroyed is a non sequitur: if there is an airplane crash, we mourn for the victims of the tragedy. Human beings who die before their time deserve to be mourned.
However, if the dead included members of your own family, then your heart bleeds infinitely more for the loss: it’s only human.
It would be highly unusual for someone to feel the same pain of loss for a stranger vs one’s own kin.
So, we Armenians, cry for all the innocent victims that are killed in Syria.
But, we cry more for our own.
I am of Turkish descent, who is nationalist about Turkey-related issues (I support the CHP party) and even though the Turkish and Armenian communities disagree about the genocide issue, I think people should support the current Secular Government in Syria to defend itself from Salafist terrorists once and for all.
Hassassian wrote: Mosques were also destroyed. I do not think the church was targetted because it was Armenian. I think we have been cursed with the self perception that we are always victims. That is the worst thing the genocide and its promoters have inflicted on the conciousness of the new generation of Armenians.
I write: Reference Jews teaching/not forgetting their Holocaust to future generations, hopefully can give some perspective to the Armenian’s ideology. Avery, well put.