An Armenian Christian couple in Jarablus town in the Turkish so called “Safe Zone” were forced to convert to Islam while they lived there.
The Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) reported today the story of this last Armenian couple in the town of Jarablus under the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army.
“Artin, an Armenian elderly born in 1943, with his wife Siron, were forced to convert to Islam under the threats of detention, deportation and slaughter…” The report said.
The report added that Artin changed his name to Maarouf, and his wife Siron changed her name to Fatima. Both of them are descendants from families flew the Armenian genocide carried out by the Ottomans a century ago.
Turkey took control over large areas in northern Syria during the last few years, starting with Jarablus town and its surroundings in August 2016, followed by the occupation of the Kurdish region of Afrin on March 2018, only to expand its incursion to the east of the Euphrates river on October 9 this year.
Erdogan’s government has kept strong ties with the Syrian Islamic armed opposition who are accused of harboring some of the most radical jihadist ideology, and turned the regions under their control into safe havens for the most wanted jihadists, as Al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and the organization’s second-in-command, Abu Hasan Al-Muhajer, were both killed last month in Syrian regions controlled by Turkey.