PanARMENIAN.Net
28 Armenians died during 4 years in Iraq
24.03.2007 15:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ After the launch of second Iraqi campaign more than
3 000 Armenians left the country, head of National Management of
Armenians in Iraq Paruyr Hakopian stated. `Four years have passe since
the launch of military campaign in Iraq by Coalition forces. And I
confirm with certainty that the number of Armenians who have
immigrated abroad does not exceed this mark,’ he noted. Mr. Hakopian
said four years ago there were 18 000 Armenians in Iraq and now only
15 000 of them live in the country. Generally during the past 4 years
1500 Armenians immigrated to Syria, about 1000 arrived in Armenia and
about 500 departed for Jordan,’ he stressed.
Hakopian also underlined that during four years 28 representatives of
Armenian community died in Iraq. `This is our information and surely
I am responsible for it to every single community member. All those
who died were not servicemen they were ordinary people of Iraq who did
not have any relation to military actions. During the same period 28
Armenians were kidnapped, 25 of which were returned after paying
ransom, they returned to their families. Fates of other two people are
still unknown, the body of the third captive was returned to his
family,’ Hakopian underscored.
At the same time he noted that the Armenian community of Iraq does not
experience any significant problems. `We do not run for participation
in political life of Iraq, Armenians living in Iraq traditionally deal
with trade, craft and construction. Before the second campaign there
were a lot of physicians, teachers of Armenian origin in Iraq,’
Hakopian said.
He noted Armenians in Iraq absolutely do not have any problems with
either authorities or population of the country. `The same was during
Saddam Hussein’s reign, the same is now,’ he told, `Novosti-Armenia’
reports.