“The situation in the Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo has been relatively calm over the past few days,” leader of the Armenian Evangelical Community of Aleppo, Rev. Harutioun Selimian told 168.am, touching upon the state of affairs in the Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo. He stated that last week was a hard week for the Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo since those districts had become the target of armed opposition members.

According to Selimian, opinions on the causes vary. “Based on my analysis, these incidents were caused by the German Bundestag’s resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey worked with the Turkish armed oppositionists, especially with Zabhat al Nusra and tried to cause a greater blow to the Armenian people. That’s why the focus was more on the Armenian-populated areas and districts on those days. Indeed, other areas of Aleppo were also targets, but not like the Armenian districts,” the Reverend said.

Selimian reported that, as a result of the attacks that took place last week, the Armenian districts were at risk, quite a lot of Armenians of Syria left their homes and moved to more peaceful settlements, that is, the inner city. “However, over these past two to three days, the Syrian national army scored quite a lot of victories with the help of Russian air forces. There are two major spots in the direction of the outskirts, one of which is Rustam Pasha, and the other is more towards the east and called Penizet. Military operations were carried out in these areas recently, and the northern part of these areas, which is generally in the direction of Turkey, is open. Currently, the Syrian army has blocked those two areas, and Syrian soldiers are also stationed on the road leading to Turkey. These two districts where all the districts and residents of Aleppo are being attacked have already been blocked by the Syrian army.

“We have high hopes that the Syrian forces will also invade other districts in 24 or 48 hours. Those who surrender and hand their weapons will be at the disposal of the state, and those who don’t will be defeated. Aleppo will be saved over the next couple of days,” Harutioun Selimian said.

Selimian also informed that the Syrian-Armenians are content with the Government of the Republic of Armenia for its efforts to take care of the needs of the Armenian community of Syria and for providing the community with the support that it needs. “We have expressed our position. We need to stay clung to our churches and schools. We need to defend ourselves, if necessary, but we must not be a barrier to those who wish to leave Syria.

We tell them to leave and take shelter in the Mother Homeland. We will help them with that. This way we will save our people and keep them away from the danger facing our nation. What we expect from the Armenian authorities today is that those who have temporarily or permanently left Aleppo to have adequate places to live in Armenia and to see that the tax legislation is to their benefit so that they aren’t pressured as much and their needs are taken care of. We would also like to see our children enrolled in schools,” Selimian said, adding that they are always in contact and are content with the Armenian authorities.