YEREVAN. – Human Rights Defender of Armenia Karen Andreasyan on Monday issued an urgent message.

Andreasyan addressed the message to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, International Ombudsman Institute, European Ombudsman Institute, International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House.

The Armenia Ombudsman’s message is with respect to the ongoing events in and around Syria’s predominantly Armenian-populated town of Kessab.

“It is unfortunate, but the events similar to those in Kessab occurred in 1909 and 1915, when the Turkish troops had forced the Armenians to leave Kessab. Today’s killings and displacement of Kessab Armenians are the third in their history.

“The intent of complete or partial extermination of national, ethnic, racial or religious groups is at the basis of these incidents. These actions should be accepted as the most serious challenge to, and peril against, the international community as well as the fundamental principles of human rights.

“We call on the international community and international organizations to launch a thorough investigation to find out the extent the neighboring countries, or other states (Turkey, in particular), have controlled the situation in Kessab, [and] what accountability they bear for the human rights violations there,” Andreasyan’s message specifically reads.
In the early morning on March 21, armed militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra Islamic terrorist group infiltrated into northern Syria’s Latakia Governorate, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians and Alawites, from four directions. Two large groups of terrorists had launched the attack from Turkey. About 600 Kessab-Armenian families are currently sheltered in Latakia city. On March 23, Turkish fighter planes downed a Syrian military aircraft that was conducting a mission against the Islamic terrorists in Kessab. A group of Armenia parliament members recently visited Syria to assess the situation in the region.