149 children from Syria arrive in Armenia

On August 14, flight "Aleppo-Yerevan" to Armenia brought 149 children of Syrian Armenians. They were greeted by Granush Akopyan, Minister of Diaspora, representatives of the Ministry of Territorial Administration, the Syrian Embassy in Armenia, and their relatives, living in Armenia, and children from summer camp.

According to Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration, a special orientation programme was developed for children from Syria.

"The programme is full of sports and cultural mass events. Absolutely all conditions have been created for the children's vacations. We also take into account their wishes and expectations of staying in their homeland," Vache Terteryan has emphasized.

The children of Syria are being observed by professional psychologists, according to whom, "despite the stress suffered by them, all of the children have good mood."

According to Sergey Manasaryan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, the situation in Syria remains quite complicated; therefore, the Armenian government has decided to take the children out from the dangerous situation by organizing a summer camp. The Minister has noted that, apart from those two groups, the third group of children is also likely to arrive.

Sergey Manasaryan has also added that armed clashes in Aleppo mostly occur in the outskirts of the city, and the situation in the centre is relatively quiet.

Megri Taschyan, a Syrian Armenian, who has transferred his business from Aleppo to Yerevan two years ago, met Arut Taschyan, his nephew. He has noted that he will try to do everything possible to ensure that his nephew will stay to live in Yerevan. "In Syria, people have been already deprived of all normal conditions necessary for life, and I cannot easily consider the fact that my relatives will live in that danger," he says.

"Most of all, my grandmother wants me to stay to live in Armenia and to go to school there. However, everything depends on the situation in Syria. If it does not settle down, I will have to go to school in Yerevan," says a 14-year-old Arut Taschyan, who arrived in Armenia.