Kessab: The three fateful days in March 2014 and their aftermath.
Vaհe H Apelian
March 20, 21, 22, 2014 will remained etched forever in the memories of those who lived through those three days. Those three days in turn and their aftermath will go down in the history of Kessab, the only Armenian speaking enclave from historical Cilician (Western) Armenia.
The three days presented here are personal accounts from the ground zero, as the events were unfolding, on those very same days. The unfolding of each day was posted separately. I summarized in this blog those three fateful days of Kessab, and their aftermath as a continuum
March 20, 2014, an ordinary day, the day before the exodus.
The Teachers' Day in Syria, is typically celebrated on the third Thursday in March. As teachers’ Day goes, it is meant to honor the dedication of educators to building the nation's future. It is not a public holiday, but schools and communities celebrate with special events. In that fateful month, the Teachers’ Day in Syria was on March 20, 2014.
But in 2014, the Kessabtsis celebrated the Teachers’ Day a few days earlier on March 16. Ani Apelian had been the principal of the Armenian Evangelical School for many years. The celebration had happened in their house and Stepan J Apelian had taken that historic picture posted above.
My Facebook records indicate that I had been chatting with Stepan on March 20, 2014, at 3:40 pm, local U.S. Eastern Daylight time. I was in Cincinnati, OH. My cousin Stepan J Apelian, was in Keorkune, Kessab, Syria. The local time there was 10:40 p.m. It was an ordinary evening. We seem to be chatting about my friend Hratch Bedoyan who had passed away in 1992 due to a heart attack. Hratch and I had had visited Keorkune and had spent a few days at our family’s ancestral home, with my paternal uncle and his family.
I do not know when we ended our conversation, but it sure was later in the afternoon local U.S. time and late into the night in Syria.
March 21, 2014, The day of the exodus,.
Late in the night of the same day of March 20, 2014,, I received a message from Sevan Apelian from Anjar, that her brother had left Keurkune in haste, because Kessab was under attack.
It turned out that a few hours after Stepan and I ended our chat, on the wee hours of the early morning on Friday March 21, 2014, the first day of spring, hell had broken loose over Kessab
Heavily armed extremists had attacked Kessab from Turkey accompanied by artillery fire. In a matter of hours, the overwhelming majority of some 2,000 or so Armenian inhabitants of the greater Kessab, along with those who had taken refuge there from the civil war raging in Syria, had fled for their safety to the coastal city of Latakia, some 35 miles away.
So had Stepan, Ani with their son Hovag, who was in his early teens, and Stepan’s mother, my aunt Asdghig. They had hopped into their car, carrying with them their essential personal documents, fand had fled Kessab, with the rest of the Kessabtsis, to Lattakia.
Kessab borders Turkey. This onslaught of extremists on Kessab from Turkey, surely happened with the assistance and the permission of the Turkish government. Many, if not most, of the extremists who attacked Kessab were later reported not to have been Syrian nationals but were mercenaries recruited from elsewhere. The attack on Kessab was termed the “Anfal” campaign. I quote, “Anfal, which is Arabic for the spoils of war, is the name of the eighth sura, or chapter, of the QurÂ’an. It tells a tale in which followers of Mohammed pillage the lands of nonbelievers. “Basically, the attackers were sanctioned to loot Kessab and looting they did. They also killed the few able-bodied young Kessabtsis who stayed behind to support their elderly family members who could not leave during the mayhem.
March 22, 2014, the day after the exodus.
Kessabtsis had become refugees in their own country. Some of them found shelter with family members, relatives, and friends they had in Lattakia. Stepan had the family settled in an apartment, he had his Lattakia based business lawyer, whom he had befriended over the years, rent for them. Not all had these connections and had to stay in the church compound. The Kessabtsis organized a relief committee to oversee the fair distribution of aid.
Stepan posteտ the following on his Facebook page.
Stepan’s comment.
"To all our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora and mainland Armenia.
It is a very sad day for Kessab.
The first day of spring - 2014, March 21 - the barbaric enemy with the full support of Turkey as government; logistically, militarily, and even participated in military action and attacked Kesssab early morning at 4 a.m. The attack started with a heavy shelling of the peaceful village, with mortars and grads, creating a chaotic state.
The civilians fled to Lattakia, but no one can assure safety in Lattakia too.
This aggression of Turkey is not justified in any way. The extremists are hopeless and frustrated. They could not sustain their existence in many parts of Syria, so they poured their venom on a peaceful, farming, and touristic area – Kessab – and its peaceful people who had no inclination to politics and power, whatsoever. All through the 3 years of dirty (civil) war, we stayed very peaceful, created no friction with any party, showed military activities against no one. All were busy supporting their families and gave a safe haven to more than 1000 displaced families from all over Syria, of all denominations and faiths without any discrimination. These people are now being penalized for such a peaceful stand.
The super powers of West are making humanitarian and human rights declarations as the safeguards of all values. But in fact, are blindfolded and deaf to all such act s that they secretly support as well. President Obama in his presidency oath clearly declared that the U.S.A. will return back to its ancestors’ and founding fathers’ values. Wonder if he really did fulfill his promise.
We ask all living world of conscience to raise their voice against all aggressions at peaceful and life loving civilians.”
March 2014, and beyond.
Most Kessabtsis remained in Latakia during the ordeal. On June 15, word reached them that the extremists had left and that regular Syrian soldiers had entered the Kessab. Following the news Stepan and many other Kessabtsi men started returning to check on their houses, businesses, orchards. The found the Missakiian Cultural Center in the the center of Kessab still smoldering.
They found their homes, businesses, churches, community centers looted and mostly torched. They found cemeteries desecrated. Some started rebuilding their shattered lives. But some left for overseas. Most of the latter group claimed their departure oversees was temporary and that they will when law and order prevail in the region to secure their and their families’ safety.
 |
| Stepan J Apelian inspecting his sacked and looted house and soap factory |
For Stepan, Ani, Hovag and Stepan’s mother Asdghig, that, would be it. They would not return to Keurkune again, let alone resume their lives anew in Keurkune, Kessab.
Stepan returned to Keurkune visiting their ransacked house and businesses and made arrangements for essential repairs to save their home and businesses from the elements of nature.
Ani, Hovag and Stepan’s mother Asdghig, went to UAE to be with their daughter and her family and from there onto the United States. The family settled in Corona, California. Stepan and Ani continue to live there.
Hovag graduated from college with distinction into a fine young man.
My paternal aunt Asdghig, Stepan’ mother was born in Keurkune on May 5, 1931. She married my uncle Joseph in Keurkune, where he too was born and lived all his life. They raised their family in Keurkune and buried their elders there. My uncle Joseph had passed away in May 1988, in Keurkune. My aunt Asghgig passed away on May 29, 2025, in Corona, CA.
The Muslim extremists wiped a century long hard work by the Kessabtsi Medz Yeghern survivors and their descendants. The blow the Muslim extremists had inflicted on Kessab was existential. Kessab has not fully recovered but it and Kessabtsis endure.
 |
| Celebrating Hovag's engaement |
