Every Syrian-Armenian family has to be free to decide to either leave Aleppo or remain a part of the Armenian community. This is what President of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO Lena Haladjian said during an October 13 press conference.

Haladjian said the assumptions that Syrian-Armenians are prohibited from leaving Aleppo and that this is the reason why the major Armenian community of the Diaspora may be eliminated are disrespectful towards the national authorities in the Diaspora.

According to her, the Armenian organizations, authorities and the consulate support the community and don’t prohibit them from staying or leaving. “Nobody has the right to tell them to stay or leave. They are free. They tell the Syrian-Armenians that if they want to leave, they should go to Armenia,” she said during the press conference.

She also provided a historical background, saying that even though Lebanon was in a civil war for 25 years, it still had an active community and an active Catholicosate that remains active to this day. “The problem is that we will be hurting the sons of the Armenian nation by transferring several Armenian families,” she said.

According to her, the Syrian-Armenians are free and nobody has the right to force them to do anything, but stated that even if there is a state strategy on transfer, it has to be done in a way to make sure the people who stay aren’t hurt.

When asked who can hurt the community when the country is in a war and the Armenian community has suffered nine casualties over the past two weeks, Haladjian said that the Armenian community is one of the communities that has suffered the least, adding that the Armenian-populated districts are under the government’s protection and that the militia don’t even want to have hostile relations with minorities.

When told that 600 Armenians want to move to Armenia, Haladjian considered this inaccurate and viewed this as the PR of the organization that had spread the news. Lena Haladjian said that the Center’s sources say that 428 Syrian-Armenians have moved to the Republic of Armenia in the past ten months and that among them are Syrian-Armenians who have come to see their relatives and have returned.

The President of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO stated that the embassy, the emergency unit, Armenian organizations and the local Armenian authorities help those who wish to come, but don’t have money.

President of the Union of Syrian-Armenians NGO Nerses Kivoyi stated that the goal of his organization is to contribute to the Syrian-Armenians’ economic integration. “We are trying to improve the Syrian-Armenians’ economic situation. We provide them with consulting (legal, customs, taxation, accounting) so that Syrian-Armenian immigrants can settle and not emigrate,” he said.

According to him, the statements that Syrian-Armenians are discontent with taxation are inaccurate. “Paying taxes is not a problem for the Syrian-Armenians. There are many Syrian-Armenians who are settling in Armenia. We have various programs, and there are also new ones,” Kivoy said and stated that there are cases when a Syrian-Armenian stops doing business, but all Syrian-Armenians want to settle in the Republic of Armenia, according to tert.am.