The Armenian community of Syria is one of the oldest and most traditional Armenian communities in the Middle East where Armenians have been living since ancient times. The Syrian-Armenian community was highly replenished with the migrants having escaped the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In spite of the hardships they faced in the beginning, they managed to adapt to the new country. Over time, they began to be self-organized as a community that aspired to do everything possible to preserve the national identity.

The Syrian war that broke out in 2012 changed the lives of the Syrian-Armenians. They gradually began to migrate to different countries, and most of them preferred to take shelter in Armenia, their Mother Homeland. Although the environment in Armenia was familiar, the Syrian-Armenians had a problem with integration and faced other hardships.

For many Syrian-Armenians, the main problem is the difference between Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, and this became a reason for Lucy Vana Garabedian, who moved to Armenia four years ago, to look at the problem from her perspective through a short video. “I am a member of the Armenian community of Syria and currently live in Armenia. I also underwent all the trials and tribulations that Syrian-Armenians living in Armenia face today. Since I am a future journalist, I have tried to observe this problem from different angles through a video called “Kroonk” (Crane),” Lucy Vana Garabedian said in an interview with Hayern Aysor. Garabedian noted that she had called the video “Crane” because the crane has become the symbol of patriotism and the longing for the homeland for the Armenian nation.

“Loving the nation and being patriotic is not enough. Armenians also have to love the Armenian language. They need to love, worship and coddle the familiar language of their mothers. Only this kind of a love will show the luxuriance, delicacy and sweetness of our language,” Lucy Vana Garabedian said and added: “I would like to listen to spoken Western Armenian in Armenia and on radio and television stations in Armenia.”

Photo by Sahak Muradyan