Kassab's Armenians find safe haven in Turkey
Some Armenians who fled Syria have been pleasantly surprised by how they have been received in Turkey.
VAKIFLI, Turkey — Evicted by Islamist rebels from the last Armenian village in Syria, a group of elderly apple farmers have found an idyllic refuge across the border in the land of their historic enemy, Turkey.
Seated on plastic chairs, three brothers recounted how after years of life in the shadow of conflict, war came knocking at their door in Kassab, a Christian Armenian town just across the border from the village of Vakifli.
"The bearded men gunned down our doors and destroyed our homes," said Asbed Djurian, 68. "Everybody had fled but we had no car to escape, so they caught us."
Djurian said 10 armed men burst into his home at 6 a.m., yelling for him to put his hands over his head. His brothers Babken and Jacob, along with their 92-year-old mother, were rounded up in the same dawn raid. The brothers said they were detained in a small room for 14 days before being handed over to Turkey.
