IRAQI ARMENIANS SEEK REFUGE IN NORTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY

Armenpress
Jan 09 2006

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS: Armenians of Iraq, concentrated largely
in Baghdad are fleeing their homes to seek refuge in a formerly
Armenian-populated village of Hadresk near the border with Turkey
and Syria. The village was depopulated during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Paruyr Hakobian, chairman of the Iraqi Armenian National Council, was
quoted by RFE/RL as saying that some 70 Armenian families expressed
strong desire to move to this village.

He said other Armenians are moving to the Kurdish-populated regions
in the northern parts of the country which are safer.

"The town of Erbil in the north had once only few Armenians families,
now there are about 70 Armenian families there," Hakobian said, adding
that these families moved to Erbil from Baghdad and Mosul. He said
these families even asked the National Council to send an Armenian
priest.

There are no exact figures about how many Armenians fled Iraq since
the U.S. invasion of the country, but Paruyr Hakobian estimates that
some 2,500 of them have left the country.

He said the Armenian community has always maintained neutrality in
disputes between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis. "The first thing we want
for Iraq is peace,’ he said.