President Sarkisian Discusses Syrian-Armenians\’ Issue With Aram I and Karekin II

YEREVAN — President Serzh Sarkisian had a phone conversation with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the state of the Syrian Armenian community and the security of the Armenian diplomatic representation in Syria.

Among other things they referred to the ways of providing maximum possible assistance to Syrian Armenians under the conditions of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.

Thousands of Syrian-Armenians remaining in Syria have braced themselves for a further escalation of the bloody conflict in their country  amid growing talk of U.S.-led military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The prospect of U.S. air or missile strikes on Syrian government facilities has also left Syrian Armenian refugees in Armenia worrying about the plight of their loved ones remaining in the war-ravaged country.

There were an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians in Syria before the outbreak of the conflict there more than two years ago. About 10,000 of them have since taken refuge in Armenia, according to the authorities in Yerevan. An even larger number of Syrian Armenians is thought to have fled to neighboring Lebanon.