Tel Abyad Armenian church opens for worshipNovember 11, 2019 - 10:32 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey has restored an Armenian Orthodox Church that was used by the People's Protection Units (YPG) as a military base in Syria's Tal Abyad and re-opened it for worship, Daily Sabah reports. The Turkish Defense Ministry announced that the first church service since the YPG's occupation was held Sunday, November 10 during which Armenians prayed in the church. "While maintenance and renewal works are being undertaken in all fields to meet the needs of the locals, the Armenian Church in Tal Abyad which the YPG had extensively damaged after using it as a military HQ, is being reconditioned from top to bottom," said the statement. Ankara’s military offensive, dubbed ‘Operation Peace Spring’, began on October 9 with the stated aim of creating a ‘safe zone’ in north-eastern Syria by removing Kurdish forces, who Turkey regards as terrorists. Turkey agreed to pause the assault after reaching a deal with Russia over the conditions for the ‘safe zone’ on October 22. Top stories The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the city’s Genocide monument was vandalised. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. Armenia to sing in 2nd semi-final of Eurovision The organizers of Eurovision 2024 have revealed the running order of the countries in the two semi-finals. |