Aleppo Speaks

Hello Readers, I am sure many of you watched on the Al Mayadeen TV Network an episode dedicated to the Syrian Armenians especially from Aleppo who were sadly compelled to leave their country and move to Armenia. The episode was titled "Syrian Armenians" aired on Thursday 29/9/2015 and then was put on YouTube to be watched by approximately 4.966 and counting. A Madden journalist flew to Yerevan, Armenia to start an investigation into the levies of Syrian Armenians who moved to Yerevan, Armenian and to touch base with their lives, straggles and hopes for their Aleppo if their where any to be found.
The Episode started in the Public Armenian State Garden where the journalist caught up with Syrian Armenians who are starting small in Armenia after their businesses went crashing down as the situation in Aleppo escalated, the journalist came to them greeted them in Arabic and immediately they knew in their heart that the interview is going to be all about their homeland and most importantly their home city Aleppo. All of them where happy they are given the opportunity to speak up about Aleppo and their opinions to be heard. They all expressed their repulse to the continence of violence in Syria and specially their home Aleppo, the day when they departure is a day that will always remain in their memory, a memory which always keep reminding them of Aleppo city, it's people, the food ,humor, laughter and joy once was filling their hearts. It was hard to talk about Aleppo without their tears involuntarily runs over their faces, it is hard for them, Aleppo is not only just a place where they once lived in, it was their life and the place they once thought will grow old in, their eyes tells it all and screaming their longings to see Aleppo once again. The first question the journalist asked them "do they miss Aleppo?" And surprisingly too many who advocate the opposite, they all say yes. All Syrian Armenians told the journalist they are grateful for the support of the Armenian Government and how much Armenia holds in beauty in her landscape .Nonetheless, they all agree Aleppo is their home and will continue to be, and when asked about any hopes of returning, some and with tears in eyes and out of pure honesty said I doubt we will get our Aleppo back and if it was achieved and indeed our Aleppo once again returned to us both Humanitarian firstly and economical second, then a considerable number of them will buy a ticket to Aleppo and return but until that happens they will go nowhere. They said it is hard to cop in Armenia, it is their home country still but the native Armenians here have a different mentality and way of thinking that was difficult for their fellow Armenians from Syria to fully grasp, one citizen best described it in the Episode as " we Syrian Armenians are Eastern oriented. On the other side, Native Armenians are 100% western oriented and because of that it is hard for us to both blend with each other. Furthermore, he told the journalist that it been a year since he first came to Armenia, and after a year here he quite began to understand his fellow native Armenians and he admits he still have a lot lot more learning in head of him.
I was watching this episode in my house and one of our acquaintances happened to be present in that time, an Armenian Madame with two sons who are abroad. From the moment the journalist asked the interviewers about whether or not they can consider returning to Aleppo after the war is all over, and before they got to open their mouth and before we got to hear their answers, she started to answer for them and gave us a straight "not in a million years will any one of them set foot in Aleppo" and her reasoning behind that is the following " this city is no longer our city, we do not belong here anymore, it is filled with religion extremists that we are like dust in their air, they give birth to ten children and still counting but we give birth to only two or three and now God forbid we have more than one; that is first; second, they control everything in the city and now their grip became even more tighter and their present is more dominate, her words are still in my ear as I am writing this article, and if I were to answer her, I would tell her that what she is stating is true and it was true long before the war that is one and moving on to the family members matter, well that is a personal decision that is based between the wife and her husband, my father has four children but my uncle has only two. Moreover, we are more into the quality of life we can provide for our children and less interested in the numbers and that is for my opinion the fundamental difference between our mentality and those who she just mentioned in addition to the fact that some Husbands as the sole provider of the family are in fact of no competence what so ever to take the financial responsibility of a family so and out of their narrow-minded mentality combined with their pure selfishness decide to have children solely for them to work for him and bring in the cash at the end of the day for him to live by.
Moving on to her next argument of "they have everything and concur Aleppo with their presence, well that is because we gave our place to them on a sliver plate only for them to generously agree on taking it, please reader do not fool yourself for a second thinking that they have forced their way, on the contrary we gave our place to them by our will. Furthermore, this Madame saying could be most correct if whoever left has the intention to leave for good and close the door at any opportunity to come back. However, Many of Syrian Armenian citizens who were interviewed all of them still got the keys to their shops, homes…etc. it is true that they left but their property remains theirs within the eyes of the law ,they are the righteous owners. Thus, no one is going to Seizes any property unless and I will put two lines under UNLESS, we voluntarily gave it to them and I may add many are on the hope that this will be the case and if we are on the same page great we hit the grant prize we and they could not be happier. However, a decision of this importance (whether to return or not if the war finished and Aleppo returned the city we know) cannot be done due to this nonsense propaganda that this lady and many other are mumbling , spreading and promoting, it is rather should be based on logic of the husband and wife, the providers of the family for only they can know for certain how to measure and assist the downs of such a decision verses the ups and it's following impacts on their family and with this in mind they can make up their decision although maybe for some is harder than others but at the end of the day it all goes down to the family's interest, and what is best for the family future financially, socially and morally speaking.
In conclusion, "Syrian Armenians" Episode was certainly hard to watch as it started to bring tears to my eyes and surly eyes of many who watched this program as well. I learned that many share the same strong feeling I have though Aleppo and still consider it to be their homeland, when the war is over I hope I see some of them here in Aleppo once again and have a chance to teach their children and surly will wish the best of luck to those who decided to stay in Armenia. Here is Aleppo with tears in her eyes over the departure of her Armenian citizens who she considers as a major loss for the country and mostly for its first industry city Aleppo and from here farewell and God Bless.

Written By:

Nora Bulbulian