YEREVAN. – The first part of Kessab film series was screened at the Media Center in Yerevan on Friday.

The first film presents history of ancient Armenian regions located on the coast of Mediterranean Sea on the border with Syria and Turkey.

The main characters are people of a unique Armenian cultural island – Kessab. They represent their history from the time of Tigranes the Great till the 21st century. They also touch upon deportation and robbery organized byTurks in 1909, the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and return to native lands three years later.

The native of Kessab, ethnographer Hagop Cholakian, Arabic scholar Nizar Khalili tell the story of  Kessab based on facts. The inhabitants of Armenian-populated settlement from small children to the elderly present their stories and cultural traditions.

A 102 -year-old native of Kessab Galil Nana (Galiliya Manchikyan) tells about her memories connected with the genocide.

The authors of documentary filmed in 2009-2010 are Hamazasp Keshishian, Nane Bagratuni, Liparit Asatrtyan.

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.