He met with Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani for what were the first talks between Yerevan and the Syrian government which the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist militant group formed last month after toppling President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Kostanian said his country is ready to “develop bilateral relations with the Syrian side” and assist it “in the humanitarian area and implementation of reforms.”
“Both sides emphasized the strong historical ties between the peoples of Armenia and Syria,” the ministry said in a statement. “In this context, they expressed support for the efforts aimed at creating an environment of solidarity and inclusiveness in Syria.”
The Armenian government maintained a cordial relationship with Assad’s regime up until its unexpected downfall. In 2019, it deployed, with Russia’s support and encouragement, more than 80 demining specialists, army medics and other servicemen to the Aleppo region. Yerevan withdrew the small noncombat contingent as HTS-led rebels entered the northern Syrian city in late November.
The rapid rebel advance also forced it to briefly close Armenia’s embassy in Damascus and consulate in Aleppo. Both diplomatic missions functioned throughout Syria’s s bloody civil war in large measure because of the existence of an ethnic Armenian community there.
An estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians, most of them descendants of survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, lived in Syria before the outbreak of the war in 2011. At least half of them reportedly fled the country during the fighting. Thousands took refuge in Armenia.
The new government has assured the remaining Syrian Armenians and other minorities that their security and rights will be protected. So far have been no signs of an Armenian exodus from Syria.