Arman Babajanyan, chairman of the “For the Republic” party, wrote on his “Facebook” page:
In 2011, I was the first journalist from Armenia to visit Syria since the beginning of the war. In those days, almost no one believed that Damascus could fall and Bashar Assad could leave the country. Armenians deeply trusted Putin and his “almighty power,” convinced that Russia would not hand over Syria.
The developments of the Arab Spring made the inevitability of such developments immediately apparent. Aleppo and other Armenian-dominated cities were gradually immersed in uncertainty and instability. The main goal should have been the salvation of the Armenian people.
Having learned about our goal, the allied structures warned the Syrian special services to constantly detain our group, preventing us from meeting and interacting with larger sections of the community.
At that time, the Armenian authorities, led by Hranush Hakobyan, considered any attempt to transfer Syrian Armenians to their homeland as treason. Today, we are facing the need to evacuate about ten thousand compatriots in Aleppo. The fate of our compatriots living in Damascus, among others, remains uncertain.
In 2019, the current authorities of Armenia made significant efforts to establish contact with our compatriots, mostly from rural areas, living under the control of Syrian Kurdish and opposition forces.
Now, the rescue of our fellow citizens should become a priority.
It is necessary to establish contact with the Syrian Kurds through the mediation of the USA and with the opposition of Syria with the support of Turkey and try to get our compatriots out of the occupied settlements.
Armenia must become the safest haven for Armenians. There is simply no other way out.
