The latest work by Istanbul-Armenian cartoonist Aret Gicir deals with the developments unfolding in and around Syria’s predominantly Armenian-populated town of Kessab.   

Gicir’s cartoon, which is published in Agos Armenian weekly of Istanbul, is titled “The Ittihat [and] Terakki [i.e., the Young Turks] is in Kessab.”   

Aret Gicir’s earlier cartoons titled “I apologize for subjecting to genocide” and “The silence of the wise men from 1915 onwards” had caused widespread debates.

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.