YEREVAN. – The Government of Armenia focuses on the problems of Kessab Armenians, and it tries to address and solve these problems in an operative manner.     

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted the abovementioned at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

For her part, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan provided detailed information on the latest developments concerning the Armenians of Syria’s predominantly Armenian-populated town of Kessab.

“Our MPs’ view was such that the main wish of the Kessab Armenians was to return to their homes.

“Our citizens must be confident that the government will do everything so that the problems, which have fallen today on the shoulders of our compatriots, are solved, and we need to stand with them,” PM Sargsyan said, in turn.

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 were initially 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.