North-east Syria Armenians: Turkey founded on Armenians' blood

Remembrance activities were organized in the village of Tel Koran in Tel Tamr district, in the presence of dozens of Armenian families, members of civil institutions, the forces of the Assyrian Khabur Guard Council, and the Martyr Nubar Ozanian Column for Armenians affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces. The place of remembrance was decorated with pictures of the Ottomans' massacres against the Armenians and expressions confirming that the genocide would not be forgotten, demanding to recognize it and hold Turkey accountable. They took all necessary preventive measures to confront the Corona virus.

At the beginning, Martyr Nubar Ozanian Column presented a military parade, after which its commander, Manuel Demir, said in a speech he gave, "This history may not mean anything to some, but for us, the Armenian people, it means a lot, as 106 years ago the Ottomans carried out in full view of the whole world a heinous massacre against our Armenian people, which left more than one and a half million victims, in addition to the arrest and killing of all Armenian scholars and thinkers, as well as the crimes committed against women and children."

He added, "The massacre carried out by the Ottomans aimed at eradicating their ambitions and building their national empire, and if we go back to history, we will find that Turkey established its state on the blood of the peoples it exterminated and through the massacres that it committed."

Demir pointed out, "We find that Turkey has been trying to re-commit these massacres through its regional interventions and conflicts in the Middle East and its targeting of all components, but the components of north eastern Syria and the revolutionary forces stood in the face of the Ottoman thought and its hostility to the peoples of the region."

He stressed, "We, the Armenians of Syria, established the Martyr Nubar Ozanian Column as a military force, and the aim was to confront these interferences and stand side by side with the rest of the components under the roof of the peoples' fraternity."

Then the attendees went inside the village church to light the candles, in conjunction with standing for a minute of silence. After that, the Armenian Social Council delivered a statement in three languages; in Armenian and it was read by Council's member Arsho Berberian, in Kurdish, it was read by member Amina Tatrian, and in Arabic by the member Imad Tatrian.

At its beginning, the statement recalled the Armenian massacre which was committed 106 years ago, the effects of which are still engraved in the mind and heart of every Armenian. "April returns to us again and is still wearing its black uniform stained with Armenian blood, and despite the passage of 106 years since those tragedies and massacres, Our wounds are still bleeding, the groaning of the wounded is heard everywhere, and the bones of our martyrs that are found in the wild still tell us what happened with them."

The statement added, "Most of us know that the Armenian massacre was the first in the twentieth century, and its events took place in front of the world and great powers without taking a movement. The extermination phase was carried out in two phases after the fascism's Sultan Abdel Hamid was able to control the young Turkey and spread his influence in the entire unjust Ottoman Empire."

The statement also mentioned the stages of extermination, "The first stage began with gathering adult males and killing them en masse, and they also gathered Armenian scholars and thinkers to execute them in the squares before everyone's eyes, as the number of Armenian scientists and thinkers at that time reached 250, thinking that by killing young scholars they will exterminate the Armenian nation."

Regarding the second stage, the statement explained, "After they killed all men, women, children and the elderly were forced, according to the laws of forced displacement, to leave their homes amid the crying of children, the screams of women and the whining of the elderly because they were also beaten, killed and raped. Yes, they are the Ottoman Turks."

The statement appealed to the international community and the human rights organization to open the Armenian genocide file, and strongly demanded that the fascist Turkish state be held accountable for its criminal actions and acts committed against peoples and humanity.

The remembrance concluded by chanting slogans that glorified the martyrs.

Two days ago, American media outlets reported that US President Joe Biden is getting ready to acknowledge the massacres that affected Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman forces, and this recognition is scheduled to be today, on its 106^th anniversary, in a step expected to exacerbate tension with Turkey, an ally in NATO which rejects this rating.

D.H

ANHA

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