Christians have been present in Syria since the inception of the religion, and Armenians are descended from people present in the area since the 6th century BC. Armenian Christians are, therefore, a well established minority group in Syria.
However, they have retained many of their own customs, run several schools, and publish newspapers in their own language.[1]
Demography
Christian groups make up approximately 10 percent of Syria’s 19 million people, but Armenians constitute only a fraction of this group. The largest Christian denomination is the Greek Orthodox Church, and there are also other Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Mormon denominations.[2]
The country is made up of 90 percent Arabs and nine percent Kurds, with the remaining one percent consisting of Armenians, Circassians and Turkomans. [3]
Though small numbers of Armenians have been present in Syria for centuries, their population drastically increased with the arrival of successive waves of refugees from Turkey between 1925 and 1945.[4]
About 150,000 Armenians lived in Syria in the mid-1980s. Most Armenians belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church, but about 20,000 belong to the Armenian Catholic Church.[5]
Geographic Distribution
Christians tend to live in urban areas, primarily Damascus, but also Aleppo, Hama, and Lattakia. Significant numbers also live in the Hasaka governorate in the northeast.[6]
Historic Hardship
Syria saw the birth of Christianity as an organized religion and, although there have been centuries of religious turbulence, its history in the region means that it is an established part of Syrian society.
Article 35 of Syria’s current constitution states that “(1) The freedom of faith is guaranteed. The state respects all religions. (2) The state guarantees the freedom to hold any religious rites, provided they do not disturb the public order.”[7]
Armenians therefore, given their history in the region and the established, traditional nature of their churches, are able to practice their religion – including running schools and teaching the Armenian language – with relative freedom in Syria.[8]
Ongoing Hardship
While there is relative freedom of religion for recognized groups, it cannot be said that real religious freedom is in place. Those recognized by the government receive free utilities and are exempt from certain taxes, constituting discrimination against non-religious and unrecognized groups. Certain groups, most notably Jehovah’s Witnesses, are banned from practicing.
There is no law against proselytism, but it is discouraged; in the past there have been occasional cases of missionaries being prosecuted for “posing a threat to the relations among other religious groups.” Missionaries are present in the country, but operate discreetly. All religious groups have to register with the government, and their activities are monitored.
The government is intolerant of, and in fact suppresses, extreme forms of Islam, but the religion has a considerable profile in the public life of the country. The Syrian legal framework is based on Islamic jurisprudence with some limited exceptions. For all citizens except Catholics, inheritance law is based on Sharia, meaning that women are at a severe disadvantage.
There have in fact been some signs over the recent years that, following a trend across the Middle East, secularism is on the decline. The April 2007 parliamentary elections for the Peoples Assembly saw an increase in the number of Islamic clerics elected to the Parliament from one in 2003 to three. Government increased its support for the practice and study of government-sanctioned, moderate forms of Islam, and Syrian state radio also began broadcasting the dawn and afternoon Muslim prayers, in addition to its traditional broadcast of noon prayers.[9]
Due to the pervasiveness of Islam in Syrian society, religious minorities – including Armenians – do not have full freedom of religion.
Syria’s human rights record is in general very poor, and has deteriorated in recent years. The government severely limits freedom of expression, association and assembly.[10] People are regularly arrested and detained for political reasons, facing unfair trials, torture and other ill-treatment.[11] There have been reports of nongovernmental organizations being closed down after engaging in activities deemed unsuitable by the government, one example being of a group dissolved in February 2007 after it distributed a questionnaire asking women their opinions on a personal status law.[12]
The political climate is one in which freedom of religion is in existence to the extent that one belongs to a recognized, established, traditional group and does not question the political status quo. Due to social convention and the proscriptions of traditional interpretations of religion, conversion between religions or away from religion altogether is rare. Therefore, as in many countries across the Middle East, evangelism is frowned upon and discouraged.
The problems faced by Armenians in Syria are those associated with any member of minority religious group in a country with a poor human rights record that does not fully respect freedom of religion and expression. As most Christians in Syria are members of traditional Orthodox churches, the problems associated with changing one’s religion do not necessarily apply. However, the stigma attached to changing or denouncing one’s religion, and the limits imposed by the Syrian government on expression, constitute major limitations of the freedoms of Armenians, other minority groups and the population at large.
