Author: Babajanian Karo

NO ARMENIANS REPORTED AMONG EGYPT BUS CRASH VICTIMS – PRELIMINARY REPORT

12:10 22/08/2014 ” SOCIETY

So far, there have been no reports about Armenians or Armenian
citizens killed or injured in the bus crash in Egypt on Friday,
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told Panorama.am.

33 people were killed Friday morning in a collision of two buses in
the south of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. One of the buses involved
in the incident was carrying tourists, who were on a vacation in the
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The accident took place about 30 miles
away from the resort.

Source: Panorama.am

TURKISH GROUP WANTS TO PERFORM FRIDAY PRAYER IN ARMENIA

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 21 2014

ISTANBUL

A group of Turkish NGOs have applied to the Foreign Ministry asking
permission to perform the Friday prayer at the Blue Mosque of Yerevan
in the Armenian capital.

Led by the “Organization for Fighting Against Baseless Armenian
Allegations” (ASÄ°MDER), the NGOs released a statement saying they
would like to perform Friday prayer on Sept. 5, 2014 in Yerevan.

The Head of ASÄ°MDER, Göksel Gulbey, said the move is “a step toward
dialogue and overcoming problems between Turkey and Armenia and we
now expect Armenia to make a [friendly] gesture toward us.”

The group made an official application to the Turkish Foreign Ministry
on Aug. 16, disregarding the fact that the majority of Muslims in
Turkey adhere to the Hanefi Sunni tradition, though the mosque is
primarily open to service Shiite Muslims.

“We, as the grandsons of Muslim Turkish families that were forced to
migrate from the place formally known as the Erivan Khanate, we would
now like to pray in the Blue Mosque in Yerevan,” he said.

“In Turkey, the Armenian community is practicing their religion in a
free and secure way. Why can we not practice our religion on those
lands, from whence our ancestors were forced to migrate? We grew
up with the stories of those lands and now we want to see them and
perform prayers there,” Gulbey added.

August/21/2014

GEORGIAN MILITARY ROAD TO OPEN IN TWO WEEKS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 21 2014

21 August 2014 – 2:36pm

The Georgian Military Road will be restored in two weeks, said Georgian
President Georgy Margvelashvili who has visited the disaster-struck
area today, News Georgia reports.

The pipeline supplying Armenia with Russian gas was damaged by a
mudslide that blocked the road in the Darial Gorge yesterday.

Margvelashvili reminded that the pipeline had been fixed quickly last
time. The Kazbegi / Verkhny Lars Checkpoint will remain closed for
an indefinite time.

ARMENIA FEARS TO LOSE RUSSIAN MARKET TO TURKEY

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 21 2014

21 August 2014 – 12:28pm

Artur Atoyan, the head of the Armenian Fishermen’s Union, said that
Armenian fish traders were worried that Turkey will oust them from
the Russian market with cheaper trout, News.am reports.

So far, Armenian fishermen have no problems with exports to Russia,
the embargo on Norwegian fish will only increase demand.

Ilya Shestakov, the head of the Rosrybolovstvo Russian Federal Agency,
said on August 19 that Norwegian fish will be replaced with products
from the Faroe Islands, Turkey and Tunisia.

Russia imported 130,000 tons of Norwegian salmon in 2013. Less
than 2,200 tons of salmon and 4,300 tons of crayfish were imported
from Armenia in 2013. Armenia exports about 100% of fish and 90%
of crayfish to Russia.

AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN MEDIA WAGE VIRTUAL WAR

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #749
Aug 21 2014

Heightened tensions lead to online battles, disinformation and website
takedowns.

By Gohar Abrahamyan – Caucasus

The recent spike in violence around Nagorny Karabakh has been
accompanied by an upsurge in information warfare as hackers attack
websites in both Armenia and Azerbaijan and news outlets are recruited
to spread disinformation.

The web attacks came as localised clashes – and casualties – increased
on the front line around Armenian-controlled Karabakh and on the
border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Both sides have expressed
concern about breaches of the 1994 ceasefire that ended the Karabakh
war but has never led to a formal peace deal. (See Azeri-Armenian
Conflict Fears as Death Toll Rises.)

“From July 27, when it was already clear that the situation was
evolving further and that there was a chance of war, it appears that
the media changed and went to war,” said Laura Baghdasaryan, director
of the Region think tank in Yerevan. “All other issues faded into the
background, and everyone discussed what was happening on the border.”

Edgar Chraghyan of Cyber Gates, an internet security company in
Armenia, told IWPR that says that hackers in Azerbaijan disabled 15
Armenian websites over a period of two weeks. Armenians took down 13
sites in Azerbaijan, he added.

In one attack, on the Russian-language section of the news site
, Azerbaijan hackers replaced an August 2 interview with
Senor Hasratyan, a spokesman for the Karabakh defence ministry, with
a press release purporting to be from the Armenian defence ministry.

Hasratyan’s statement that his forces were in full control of
Karabakh’s airspace were removed and in its place there appeared a
fictitious news story of an artillery bombardment said to have killed
20 Armenian soldiers and injured 26. In fact, one died and one other
was injured.

The website published a correction within minutes, but Azerbaijani
news outlets had already picked up the fake report, and subsequently
interpreted its removal as evidence of Armenian censorship.

David Alaverdyan, editor of the Mediamax news agency and a journalism
lecturer at Yerevan State University, said the key aim for a government
fighting an information war was to ensure that its point of view
drowned out all opposing opinions.

He said that within Armenia, the defence ministry had more or less
achieved that goal, and that its Azerbaijani counterpart, too, had
been successful in dominating the narrative in that country.

To illustrate the point, Alaverdyan cited the case of an Armenian
national who died after crossing the border into Azerbaijan. At first,
Azerbaijan described the man as a civilian, but then changed tack
and followed the defence ministry’s lead, calling him a saboteur.

A number of websites aimed at Armenians but backed by Azerbaijan
published reports of the death of Armenian troops that turned out
to be false. Given the source, most Armenians would realise this was
propaganda, but they are more liable to believe stories that appear
in the Russian media.

On August 12, when tensions had somewhat subsided following a meeting
between Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilham Aliyev, chaired by President Vladimir Putin in
Sochi, the Russian website ran a story claiming that
Azerbaijan planned to “buy” Karabakh for five billion US dollars.

“This is clear sabotage by Russian media,” said Baghdasaryan. “The
article did not carry the usual byline, and just said it was by
‘politrus’. [Azerbaijani website] then reprinted the
article, and it spread.”

On August 2, the Russian news agency Regnum published a story claiming
that Azerbaijani armoured vehicles were advancing along the whole
front line, and carried three photographs showing dozens of tanks.

Many Armenians panicked, believing the photographs were of tanks
actually deployed in the field, whereas in fact they were taken last
year when Russia delivered a shipment of armoured vehicles to Baku.

Samvel Martirosyan, who lectures on blogging and new media at Yerevan
State University, says Armenian journalists have grown increasingly
careful about sifting fact from fiction.

“An interesting thing has happened to the Armenian media, which are
normally very poor at checking information. They have always happily
accepted disinformation spread by Azerbaijan. But this time they have
orientated themselves very quickly, and most of the media have been
very careful about spreading information,” he said.

Gohar Abrahamyan is a correspondent for in Armenia.

DAVUTOGLU: CONTROVERSIAL ARCHITECT OF TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY

NaharNet, Lebanon
Aug 21 2014

by Naharnet Newsdesk

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who will be Turkey’s next prime
minister, is a loyal ally of incoming president Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and the chief architect of an assertive but increasingly controversial
foreign policy.

Davutoglu was named by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
as its sole candidate to be new leader and prime minister to replace
Erdogan. He will take office on August 28.

He will be just the third prime minister since the AKP came to power
in 2002 after outgoing president Abdullah Gul and Erdogan, who has
been premier sice 2003.

Davutoglu’s mild-mannered and smiling demeanor belies his abilities
as a tough negotiator and strategic thinker, who has been at the
heart of government since Erdogan first came to power.

His foreign policy defined Ankara as a regional power broker but
Davutoglu, 55, has come under fire in recent months over Turkey’s
increasing diplomatic isolation.

After an academic career as a professor of international relations,
Davutoglu became one of Erdogan’s top advisors in 2003, the year
Erdogan took the post of prime minister.

He was promoted to foreign minister in 2009 and since then has overseen
Turkish policy on the string of crises which exploded since the Arab
Spring, including the Syria conflict.

– Zero to multiple problems –

Encouraged by Erdogan, who has always pushed for Turkey to become a
world power, Davutoglu has sought a pivotal role for the country as
a mediator in conflicts in the Middle East.

This new policy was not always welcomed and sparked accusations that
the Islamic-rooted government is promoting “neo-Ottomanism” and even
“pan-Islamism” in seeking to restore Turkish influence throughout
the former Ottoman Empire.

He was listed in Foreign Policy magazine as one of the “Top 100
Global Thinkers of 2010” for repositioning Turkey as a “central”
country and dismissing post-Cold War cliches of a bridge country
between East and West.

He has rejected accusations that the country — a NATO member and a
candidate for European Union membership — is shifting away from the
West, arguing instead for an integrated foreign policy.

“Turkey cannot prioritize its relations with the East or the West,”
he once said.

Davutoglu has advocated a policy of “zero problems” with neighboring
countries and embarked on fence-mending efforts with Armenia, with
whom Turkey has no diplomatic ties.

But the Arab Spring shattered this policy, leaving Turkey with a
myriad of problems with neighbors.

Relations with Egypt strained following Ankara’s support for ousted
Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and disputes with Israel reached new
heights in the wake of the Gaza assaults, making any rapprochement
unthinkable in the medium term.

Turkey now has no ambassadors in three key regional states — Egypt,
Israel and Syria.

With the West worried about authoritarian tendencies in Turkey,
relations with the United States have cooled and momentum towards
eventual EU membership has been lost.

– ‘Strategic Depth’ –

Even Davutoglu, a pious Muslim, has now on occasion dropped his smiling
demeanor to make comments reminiscent of Erdogan’s own outbursts.

“Apparently, some are asking us to be impartial! Some also ask to
stay away from the Middle East ‘swamp.’ For us, what they call a
swamp is the center of sacred revelation!” he said to cheers in an
impassioned speech during Ramadan in July.

“With the will of God, we’ll hold up a huge torch of civilization in
the Middle East.”

A fluent speaker of English, German and Arabic, Davutoglu was born
in Konya, one of Turkey’s religiously most conservative provinces
and a bedrock of support for the ruling AKP.

Davutoglu, married with four children, dedicates time to his family
outside of work although he is also known to share Erdogan’s passion
for football.

“We like very much driving by car. Ahmet Bey drives himself. We
sing songs with the children,” his wife Sare, a doctor, said in an
2011 interview.

“I can say the only thing he likes doing at home is to open boxes of
books and arrange them,” she added.

LE KARABAGH PRET A ACCEPTER SUR SON TERRITOIRE LES REFUGIES YEZIDIS

Irak

Davit Babayan, porte-parole du president du Karabagh Bako Sahakian,
a exprime hier sa volonte d’accorder l’asile aux Yezidis qui ont ete
forces de fuir leur maison dans certaines parties du nord de l’Irak
contrôlees par l’Etat islamique.

Davit Babayan a evoque les Yezidis comme des “frères” confrontes a
un genocide des mains des insurges sunnites radicaux.

“Le peuple armenien ne peut pas etre indifferent a ce qui se fait
actuellement pour les yezidis”, a declare Babayan. “Les Yezidis
sont les seules personnes qui sont devenues une partie integrante du
peuple armenien.”

Le Haut-Karabagh est donc pret a accueillir des refugies Yezidis.

“L’Artsakh a de nombreux problèmes socio-economiques”, a t-il dit, en
utilisant le nom traditionnel du Karabagh. “Mais s’il y a de telles
demandes que nous, en tant qu’Etat commis aux normes democratiques
et humanitaires, nous essayons d’aider les gens autant que nous
le pouvons.”

Interroge pour savoir si les Armeniens du Karabagh sont prets a
reinstaller les Yezidis irakiens dans les territoires sous leur
contrôle, Babayan a dit : “Si de telles demandes ont lieu, nous
verrons dans quelle mesure nous sommes en mesure de leur accorder.”

Les fonctionnaires de l’Armenie, qui abrite une communaute de Yezidis
importante, ont ete plus prudents. Selon le ministère armenien des
Affaires etrangères, aucun Yezidi irakien n’a trouve refuge ou n’a
demande asile dans le pays jusqu’a present.

Boris Murazi, un militant yezidi, a confirme cela. Il a fait valoir
qu’aller en Armenie n’est pas facile pour les siens car ils ne peuvent
pas recevoir des visas armeniens a la frontière et doivent faire un
long voyage a travers la Turquie et l’Iran ou la Georgie. Dans les mots
de Murazi, les Yezidis irakiens sont restes loin de l’Armenie jusqu’a
present aussi a cause du “retard” de la reaction du gouvernement
armenien a leurs souffrances.

Ce n’est que lundi que le president Serge Sarkissian a exprime sa
vive preoccupation au sujet des massacres et des deportations de
Yezidis irakiens.

“Mieux vaut tard que jamais”, a declare Murazi. “Il est bon que les
autorites aient pris conscience qu’ils ne peuvent pas etre indifferents
au sort non seulement des Yezidis, mais aussi des citoyens de l’Armenie
qui ont exige que les autorites cessent d’etre indifferentes”.

En effet, un nombre croissant de militants civiques armeniens
ainsi que les medias demandent a Erevan a adopter une attitude plus
proactive. Plusieurs militants ont mis en place un groupe Facebook
pour recueillir des fonds pour les Yezidis irakiens prets a passer
en Armenie.

“L’Armenie doit ouvrir ses frontières aux refugies Yezidis et accepter
le plus grand nombre possible d’entre eux”, a declare Bayandur
Poghosian, membre du groupe “Aider vos frères yezidis”. Poghosian a
reconnu que le gouvernement armenien est a court d’argent pour etre
en mesure de les aider financièrement. C’est pourquoi, dit-il, les
militants demandent des dons prives.

mercredi 20 août 2014, Claire (c)armenews.com

LE HCR VA ENVOYER DE L’AIDE POUR UN DEMI-MILLION DE DEPLACES DU NORD DE L’IRAK

IRAK

(AFP) – Le Haut-Commissariat de l’ONU pour les refugies (HCR)
a annonce mardi la mise sur pied d’une importante operation d’aide
humanitaire dans le nord de l’Irak pour venir en aide a un demi-million
de deplaces.

“Face a la deterioration de la situation dans le nord de l’Irak, le HCR
lance cette semaine une de ses plus importantes operations de soutien
pour aider près d’un demi-million de personnes qui ont ete forcees de
fuir leur foyer”, a declare un porte-parole de l’organisation basee
a Genève, Adrian Edwards.

Cette operation d’envergure, par voies aerienne, maritime et routière
commencera mercredi, a-t-il precise, soulignant par ailleurs que
l’Irak vit une “crise humanitaire majeure”.

Un pont aerien d’aide humanitaire sera ainsi etabli pendant quatre
jours entre Aqaba en Jordanie et Erbil, la capitale du Kurdistan
irakien (nord). En outre, dans les dix jours suivants, le HCR va
acheminer de l’aide grâce a des convois terrestres venant de Turquie
et Jordanie. Enfin, de l’aide sera envoyee par mer et terre depuis
Dubaï via l’Iran, a explique M. Edwards.

Quelque 3.300 tentes, 20.000 couvertures en plastique, 18.500 kits
d’ustensiles de cuisine et 16.5000 jerricans seront envoyes dans un
premier temps.

A ce jour, le HCR estime a 1,2 million le nombre d’Irakiens deplaces
par les combats en 2014 en Irak.

L’Irak est plonge dans le chaos depuis le debut le 9 juin d’une
offensive d’insurges sunnites menes par les jihadistes de l’Etat
islamique (EI) au nord de Bagdad, qui s’est etendue debut août dans le
nord de l’Irak, poussant a la fuite quelque 200.000 personnes. Parmi
elles se trouvent une majorite de Yazidis, une communaute kurdophone
non-musulmane, et de chretiens.

Selon le HCR, les defis humanitaires en Irak “sont immenses”, alors
que la majorite des deplaces vivent toujours dans des ecoles, des
mosquees, des eglises et dans d’autres bâtiments.

M. Edwards a indique que de nouveaux camps vont etre mis en place dans
les provinces kurdes de Dohuk et Erbil dans les prochains jours. Dans
un premier temps, le HCR espère ainsi pouvoir accueillir quelque
140.000 personnes dans cette region, dans 12 a 14 sites.

Les jihadistes de l’EI ont reussi a s’emparer de larges pans du
territoire irakien dans le nord, l’ouest et l’est et sont egalement
presents dans le conflit multiforme qui dechire la Syrie voisine.

Des dizaines de milliers de Yazidis avaient fui leur bastion de Sinjar
(Syrie) pris le 3 août par l’EI, se refugiant dans les montagnes
environnantes ou dans le Kurdistan.

Le nombre de personnes fuyant la region de Sinjar et se rendant a
Dohuk a diminue ces derniers jours a environ quelques centaines par
jour contre plusieurs milliers au debut du mois, selon le HCR.

mercredi 20 août 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

UPPER LARS CLOSED FOR TRAFFIC DUE TO LANDSLIDE -ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF EMERGENCIES

YEREVAN, August 21. /ARKA/. The Upper Lars checkpoint on
Stepantsminda-Lars road is closed for traffic as from 22:30 August
20 because of the landslide, the press office of Armenia’s ministry
of emergencies reported.

No certain dates have been mentioned by the ministry for resumption.

The previous incident occurred at Kazbegi-Upper Lars checkpoint on
May 17 when the mudflow blocked the road and left Armenia with no
ground communication with Russia via Georgia for a month. -0-

FRENCH REPORT ISIL LEADER MOSSAD AGENT

Monday, August 4th, 2014
Simon Elliot, aka Al-Baghdadi, son of Jewish parents, Mossad agent

In French

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, so-called “Caliph,” the head of ISIL (Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant is, according to sources reputed to
originate from Edward Snowden, an actor named Elliot Shimon, a Mossad
trained operative.

Simon Elliot (Elliot Shimon) aka Al-Baghdadi was born of two Jewish
parents and is a Mossad agent.

We offer below three translations that want to assert that the Caliph
Al-Baghdadi is a full Mossad agent and that he was born Jewish father
and mother:

The real name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is “Simon Elliott.”

The so-called “Elliot” was recruited by the Israeli Mossad and was
trained in espionage and psychological warfare against Arab and
Islamic societies.

This information was attributed to Edward Snowden and published
by newspapers and other Web sites: the head of the “Islamic State”
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has cooperated with the U.S. Secret Service,
British and Israel to create an organization capable of attracting
terrorist extremists from around the world.

Source: Radio ajyal.com

Another source corroborates this statement, the site Egy-press:

With photo support, a Iranian media discovers the true identity of
the Emir Daash, a trained Zionist agent.

Iranian intelligence discovered the true and full identity of the
Emir Daash, which is known under the name Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi; his
real name is Elliot Shimon. Its role in Mossad secret agent in the
Zionist espionage. His false name: Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim Al
Al Badri Arradoui Hoseini.

The plan: get into the military and civilian heart of the countries
that are declared as a threat to Israel in order to destroy to
facilitate thereafter, the takeover by the Zionist state on the entire
area of the Middle East in order to establish Greater Israel.

Here are the borders of the Zionist project, the “Greater Israel” or
“Eretz Israel” for short.

These facts confirm the first that came out a few days ago, confirming
that the Caliph Rolex is sent to Israel to sow chaos in neighboring
countries the Zionist entity. Please note that EIIL announced it
a few days ago that, to want to now take the “barbarians Jews”,
a reference to Zionists besiege Gaza.

Practice! Having devastated the area of Israel, it will now allow the
Americans and the Israelis to show the fingers as bloody terrorists
to shoot at faster to defend the Zionist state, while the same
let them proliferate and act with impunity for over two months
now. Prepare a project they probably from the famous Arab Spring with
the destabilization of Iraq, Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and
Mali (among others). Clever!

Listen and listen again Bernard-Henri Levy on these so-called Arab
Spring:

YouTube – Veterans Today –

After gathering the most fanatical of the world in one place, a
veritable army of the devil is formed, filled with bloodthirsty
murderers without mercy for their victims, they murder with a
vengeance and in cold blood, filming their atrocities and relaying
on social networks.