VAHAKN KEŞIŞYAN

On November 12, one day before Paris attacks, two explosions took place in Burc Al Barajine which is located on the southern suburbs of Beirut. This region is densely populated by Shiites and the center of Hezbollah, which is the major party of Shiites, is also there. 44 people were killed and over 200 people were injured due to the attack.

Would they prefer continuing their lives by maintaining the rights and status that they gained so far or going on with a new and smaller system, i.e., with a broader presence in Rojava, by demanding those rights all over again? People of Christian communities ask those questions themselves every day.

There are Aleppo Armenians who stay there; they are resisting and struggling for their lives… Maybe they have to stay there, though they would prefer to leave; maybe they don’t have anywhere else to go or they don’t want to be refugees no matter what…

Media in Armenia and the Diaspora have been rocked by the claim of Nabil Na’eem, the founder of the Democratic Jihad Party in Egypt, who stated that the Muslim Brotherhood received a payment from Turkey to incinerate documents related to the Armenian Genocide. There was a fire at the building where the documents are held; however Armenians in Egypt treat the claims with caution.

People continue their struggle to survive in Kessab, a town on the border of Syria with Turkey in the Hatay province area. Following the occupation of the town by Al-Nusra forces last year, the Armenians in the town had been dispersed, with most of them coming to Vakıflı Village in Hatay, and had returned after the Syrian army had retaken the town. However, the people of Kessab now face the threat of ISIS.