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Kim Kardashian comments on Syria: Armenian reality TV star takes break from selfies to pledge support to #SaveKessab campaign

The reality TV star takes a break from posting selfies to take part in geopolitical debate. Sort of.

Wednesday 02 April 2014 08:16 BST

(FilmMagic)

What’s on your mind after reading that headline?

“Oh, God, what on earth has she said now,” is highly likely. Or perhaps you’re asking, “Can she even point out where Syria is on a map?” or even “Has she mistaken Kessab for an exotic designer beauty brand?”

But love or loathe Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star has taken a break from her usual social media fodder of selfies, belfies and pictures of North West to pass comment on the ethically controversial Syrian civil war.

OK. So not a particularly in depth one. But a rare word on a geopolitics none-the-less.

Kardashian’s three-tweet series made what appears on the surface to be a simple appeal for the citizens of the Syrian town of Kessab, which has seen fighting intensify over the last couple of days.

Until very recently, Kessab was a stronghold for Bashar al-Assad, the Damascus dictator.

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A young Syrian refugee stands near jerry cans used to collect water at Al-Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria. The United Nations hopes that political talks between the warring sides in Syria will clinch local ceasefires to allow vital food and medicines to reach millions of civilians

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Syrian refugees transport small stones for their tents at Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria

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Syria's air force struck rebel-held areas around Damascus and Aleppo as face-to-face peace talks tentatively began in Switzerland

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Syrian refugees look out from an evacuated house in the Kucukpazar district of Istanbul. Syrians fill houses which have been evacuated for urban development projects. Destitute Syrian refugees who have fled the war in Syria and camps in Turkey are fighting for their lives in different parts of Istanbul

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Refugees who moved into the houses in Kucukpazar neighbourhood near the historic Suleymaniye mosque, are struggling to live without water and heating

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Damaged buildings line a street in the besieged area of Homs

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Children cut wood pieces in the besieged area of Homs. Efforts to get food and medical aid into Homs have become a test case on whether peace talks in Switzerland can produce any practical results almost three years into the Syrian conflict

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Boys walk along a street past damaged buildings and vehicles in the besieged area of Homs

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Syrians stand in a destroyed street following a reported airstrike by government forces on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo

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A view of destruction in Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque, in the UNESCO-listed northern Syrian city. The mosque's minaret was blown up during clashes between opposition and government forces

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Syrians attend the funeral of victims who reportedly died of hunger in the besieged Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus

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A man holds the corpse of one-year old baby Adbul Jalil Mohamed Hamis wrapped in shrouds, who reportedly died of hunger in the besieged Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus during a funeral ceremony

And while she wasn’t the only household name to lend her influence to #SaveKessab, the cause is one that is closer to her than most because of her Armenian background.

The Kardashian family originate from Karakale, which is a village in East Turkey, close to the Armenian border and largely populated by ethnic Armenians.

A number of her relatives, including her great grandfather and great-great grandparents, were forced to flee their homes during the Armenian genocide in the years after World War 1.

The events that unfolded in Syria last week reminded many – presumably including Kardashian – of the plight of the Armenian people in the 1900s.

Syrian rebels advanced into the northwestern coastal province of Latakia, which is the ancestral home of the Assad family. The rebels included a number of hardline fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian franchise of al-Qaeda.

Since then, there have been several clashes between the rebel fighters and loyalists to the Assad regime in Kessab, which has prompted the flight of hundreds of Armenian Christians to Latakia.

Kessab has since been overtaken by the rebels.

Her backing of #SaveKessab has therefore received a mixed reaction from her followers. On the one hand, her passive involvement has been praised by the Syrian National Coalition.

“We are glad Kim Kardashian is taking an interest in this issue, as we too are concerned about extremist groups’ persecution of minorities,” a spokesperson for the group told The Daily Beast.

“The Free Syrian Army has put out a statement committed to protecting of citizens of Armenian descent and to maintaining the integrity of their religious sites and protecting them from the Assad's attacks and use of indiscriminate fire, which continue against innocent people.”

On the other, she - along with hundreds who succeeded in getting the hashtag trending worldwide - was criticised for promoting what some claim to be part of a stealth moment to support the Assad regime, using fake images of conflicts dating back to 2012 to exaggerate the extent of the fighting in the area: