Armenia Ready to Receive Assyrian Refugees

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Head of the State Migration Service of Armenia Gagik Yeganyan
YEREVAN (Armenpress)—The Armenian authorities on Friday immediately responded to calls by the Assyrian community to host Assyrian refugees who have been displaced from their native lands in Syria at the hands of the Islamic State.

Head of the State Migration Service of Armenia Gagik Yeganyan said during a press conference that the Republic of Armenia is committed by law to protecting persons subject to persecutions, irrespective of nationality, granting them the right to legal residency and social rights. “The problem is that those people have to reach Armenia in some way so that they can present their problems to the Armenian authorities,” Yeganyan said. “They have to write an appeal at the border, after which the process prescribed by law begins.”

Representative of the Assyrian community of Armenia Razmik Khosroev called on the Government of Armenia to take an adequate decision and allow the Assyrians having been displaced from their homes in Syria by the Islamic State to freely enter Armenia. Professor of the University of Chicago and expert on genocide studies Anahit Khosroeva mentioned that on the night of February 22, the Islamic State attacked nearly 32 Assyrian-populated villages along the Khabur River in Syria, after which nearly 1,200 Assyrian families became refugees.

Assyrians have applied to the Armenian government with a request to give shelter to Christian Assyrians. Also, they have called on the world powers to save the Assyrian people from genocide.

Assyrians say what has been happening in the Middle East since August 2014 is a classic example of genocide.

Speaking about the situation in the Middle East, genocide scholar Anahit Khosroeva reminded that on the morning of February 23 militants from the Islamic State attacked over 30 Assyrian villages and abducted hundreds of Assyrians.

“Assyrians intend to release a video, urging US President Barack Obama to stop the military strikes against the Islamic State, as otherwise the captives will be killed,” she said.

“What’s happening in the Middle East should become a priority issue not only for Assyrians and Yazidis, but also the whole Christian world,”Razmik Khosroev said.

http://asbarez.com/132212/armenia-ready-to-receive-assyrian-refugees/