Month: September 2015

In a resolution adopted on Thursday the MEPs call for the release of all political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The European Parliament calls for the immediate and unconditional release from jail of all political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and other civil society activists, including Khadija Ismayilova, Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus, in line with the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights and/or a prompt investigation into the death of the journalist Rasim Aliyev.

It demands that the Azerbaijan government immediately end its crackdown on civil society and human rights work and says that “the negotiations for a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan should be immediately put on hold as long the government fails to take concrete steps in advancing respect for universal human rights”.

The resolution calls on the Commission “to review and suspend temporarily, if needed, all funding not related to human rights, civil society and grassroots level people-to-people cooperation granted to Azerbaijan through the European Neighbourhood Instrument, and recalls Parliament’s decision to send a delegation to Azerbaijan.

The non-legislative resolution was adopted by 365 votes to 202, with 72 abstentions.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

An unknown assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at the Armenian Consulate in Glendale, California, on August 10, an informed source who wished to remain anonymous told The California Courier.

Surveillance video cameras at the Consulate recorded a car stopping next to the Consulate building around 3 am. A passenger got out of the car and threw a bottle filled with flammable liquid after lighting it. The tossed object left burn marks on a small section of the outside wall of the building and scorched the branches of a nearby tree.

Glendale Police arrived at the Consulate moments after the assailants had fled the scene of the crime.

Both the Glendale Police Department and the U.S. State Department’s Security Office are vigorously investigating the attempted arson.

This is the first time that an Armenian diplomatic building has come under attack in the United States, and probably anywhere else in the world.

A Spokeswoman for the Glendale Police Department told The California Courier that she cannot make any comments as the incident is under ongoing investigation.

Ukraine has closed its airspace to Syria-bound Russian planes with humanitarian aid, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday, RIA Novosti reports.

Yatsenyuk said during a meeting with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico that Ukraine would not let Russian aircraft with humanitarian supplies to war-torn Syria use the country’s airspace.

He said that he ordered a Ukrainian state company that services the country’s airtraffic to strengthen control over any flights of Russian aircraft to Syria.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Oleg Belozerov, the newly-appointed president of JSC Russian Railways which has assumed the trust management of the Armenian railway. Armenia’s president congratulated him on his appointment, wished him success and expressed the hope that Mr. Belozerov will use his professional experience and organizational skills to strengthen allied partnership between Armenia and Russia.

The president attached importance to promoting close multi-sectoral cooperation, e.g. transport, to develop and reinforce inter-state relations, and expressed his confidence that under the leadership of new President Sergey Valko, South Caucasus Railway CJSC will continue to consistently implement the works outlined in the concession agreement, thereby maintaining close cooperation on the implementation of promising and mutually beneficial projects.

President Serzh Sargsyan thanked the General Director of South Caucasus Railway CJSC, Victor Rebets, on the end of his tenure and for his constructive and effective work during his time in office aimed at the development of the railway infrastructure in Armenia and the increase of its security level.

Oleg Belozerov assured the Armenian president that he will continue the good traditions of effective joint working and will maintain and develop the positive dynamics of improving Armenia’s railway infrastructure, in which his company, according to him, is greatly interested and has clearly-defined projects.

At the meeting, the interlocutors touched upon the works carried out hitherto aimed at the modernization of the Armenian railway, its technical re-equipment and at the increase of its security level, as well as discussed the current programs, the existing problems and development prospects.

“The Eurasian Economic Union is a purely economic structure and has nothing to do with security. Therefore, no issue of border security can be discussed,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today. He added that the issue will be raised at the forthcoming CSTO summit on September 15.

Does Armenia expect concrete actions from the CSTO? Shavarsh Kocharyan said that we “first and foremost rely upon ourselves on issue of our security and defense.”

“We should understand that if a country relies upon others, the outcome may be sad,” he said. He added, however, that “the role of any country is important to us, and this first of all refers to countries we have agreements with.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister stressed that the settlement of the Karabakh conflict proceeds within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. He said progress is absent because Azerbaijan puts the emphasis on issues favorable to itself. “There will be no progress unless Azerbaijan changes its behavior, while speaking about unilateral concessions is simply strange.”

Referring to reports on the expected visit of Crimean leader Sergey Aksenev to Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan declared that “the Armenian Foreign Ministry has not sent any official invitation to the leadership of Crimea, but added that “any person with a Russian passport is free to visit Armenia.”

A British Airways plane bound for London caught fire at Las Vegas airport, forcing the evacuation of 172 people on board on emergency slides, the BBC reports.

Airport officials said at least 13 people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the left engine of the Boeing 777-200 caught fire before take-off.

The plane was seen engulfed in flames and smoke. The fire was later put out.

There were 159 passengers and 13 crew members on board.

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Turkey has not only refused to join its NATO allies in fighting against ISIS, but has trained, armed and facilitated the infiltration of thousands of terrorists into Syria and Iraq.

The British Guardian reported that, in May when U.S. Special Forces raided the compound of ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf in Eastern Syria and killed him, documents seized during the raid revealed Ankara’s close collaboration with ISIS. Hundreds of articles have been published around the world describing various aspects of Turkish assistance to ISIS. Daniel Pipes in his Washington Times article, “Turkish Support for ISIS,” reported that “Turks offered far more than an easy border crossing: they provided the bulk of ISIS’ funds, logistics, training, and arms.” Pipes also revealed that wounded ISIS fighters are treated in Turkish hospitals, and Turkey has paid $800 million to ISIS for illicit oil shipments.

Vice President Joe Biden confirmed Turkey’s sinister role in helping Islamist terrorists at a Harvard University speech last October: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates “poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad — except that the people who were being supplied were all Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.” The Vice President also revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told him privately: “You were right. We let too many people through.” Biden later apologized for his public remarks to soothe Erdogan’s wrath.

In an astounding revelation, Mitchell Prothero of McClatchyDC.com reported on August 24 that Turkish intelligence had alerted Islamist terrorists that a group of U.S.-trained fighters was about to cross from Turkey into Syria. Upon arrival, many of the 54 graduates of the $500 million U.S. training program were promptly intercepted and kidnapped by al-Qaida’s Nusra Front!

Last month, when Turkey finally agreed to join the war against terror and ‘allowed’ the United States to launch airstrikes on ISIS targets from Incirlik Air Base, U.S. officials’ initial delight turned into dismay when they realized that the Turkish military’s priority was attacking the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, not ISIS. By going after Kurdish militants, Turkey was in fact helping ISIS because the Kurds were the only reliable U.S. military partners on the ground.

Beyond wishing to undermine long-held Kurdish aspirations for an independent Kurdistan, by unleashing large scale bloody attacks against Kurds in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, Erdogan is hoping that on November 1 Turkish voters would help his party regain the parliamentary majority it lost in the June elections. Unfortunately for Erdogan, the attacks on Kurds have created a widespread backlash among many Turkish citizens who lost their loved ones serving in the military, simply to boost the President’s political rating!

In desperation, Erdogan may well resort to one more trick in the coming weeks. Seeing that bombing Kurds is not generating the expected public support in the upcoming elections, he could order massive attacks on Kurds throughout Eastern Turkey. He would then use the excuse of an all-out civil war to declare a state of emergency, suspend Parliament, and rule with the iron fist of a theocratic Ottoman Sultan!

The United States and its NATO allies have an obligation to do everything possible to stop the monster they have created before he destroys everything on his path. Erdogan is a serious menace to his own citizens — Turks, Kurds, and others — as well as a destabilizing force to the entire region! The vicious attacks on the Kurdish population in Eastern Turkey makes the best case why Kurds deserve independent statehood and can no longer tolerate the brutal Turkish regime!

The Obama administration should follow the wise counsel of Eric S. Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and under secretary of defense from 2005 to 2009. In a commentary published in The New York Times on August 27, Edelman suggests that the United States “restrict Turkey’s access to senior-level meetings; reduce intelligence cooperation; and withhold American support for Turkey in international financial institutions.” These steps and many others must be taken in the next few weeks before November’s parliamentary elections.

In an August 31 editorial, The New York Times Editorial Board described Erdogan’s political shenanigans as an attempt to “salvage his ambitions for continued authoritarian rule and greatly expanded powers.”

To bring the problem of terrorism in Syria and Iraq under control, restore stability in these countries, and stop the escalating bloodshed inside Turkey, the Turkish people must ensure that Erdogan’s party does not regain its lost parliamentary majority!

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit London September 9-10 at the invitation of the Philip Hammond, UK Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs.

Minister Nalbandian will have meetings with his British counterpart Philip Hammond, Minister for Europe David Lidington and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport John Whittingdale.

Within the framework of the visit Minister Nalbandian will speak Armenia’s foreign policy priorities at the Chatham House.