Your trusted source

In his workshop in the suburb of Yerevan, Shant Khayalian carefully slices the soap he made himself. One would think Shant has been in the soap business all his life. But he just started it here in Armenia and the way of doing business in Yerevan is very different from that in his native Aleppo. Syrian Armenians, like Shant, are not refugees here. The government considers them citizens returning to their homeland after hundreds of years of displacement. The Armenian government is trying its best to help them, the reportage of BBC correspondent Reda El Mawy says.

Over 15,000 Syrian Armenians fleeing the war in their country have been welcomed by the Armenian authorities who have given them citizenship and helped with their resettlement.

''We’ve allocated a fund of half a million dollars to help Syrian Armenians to start small and medium enterprises. We also amended some of our laws to accommodate them,'' Minister of Armenian Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan tells BBC.

It is noted in the reportage that Armenia is the first place of refuge for those returning from Syria. But there might be other opportunities as well. Up to forty Syrian-Armenian families have been welcomed in Nagorno Karabakh as settlers. 

''They gave us a house, they gave others farmland but the resources are limited here,'' Ara Kashashain, one of the settlers, says.

The reportage also says that confrontations are frequent in the line of contact with Azerbaijan. Ara's family is trying to start a new life here but the looming conflict is a constant reminder of what they left back home in Syria. ''Every time my children see a plane they are scared. They say ‘o Mommy there is a plane’ and they rush hiding inside,'' Ara’s wife, Vano Kashashain, says. 

Related:

TV channel BBC tells about Armenians’ lives in NKR under Azerbaijan’s permanent threats

HAARETZ: Western leaders are happy to trade with Aliyev, but less keen to be seen with him in public