Author: Badalian Vardan

2014 Important year in Genocide recognition campaign – Turkologist

13:16 * 07.01.15

The year 2014 marked an important divide in the Armenian nations’
decades-long campaign towards the recognition of Genocide, a
Turkologist has said, stressing the importance of the higher degree
of concentration on the question’s legal aspect.

Ruben Melkonyan, who is a deputy dean at the Yerevan State
University’s Department of Oriental Studies, made the remark as he
commented upon the Genocide issue’s predominance on the 2015
international agenda and the directly interrelated developments around
the Armenia-Turkey relations and Armenia’s blockade.

“We saw that the Turkish politics did not absolutely change in 2014;
what changed was only the packaging which represents that politics on
both the international arena and in Armenia,” the expert told Tert.am,
pointing out to the Turkish propaganda’s strong efforts towards
denying the Genocide and mitigating the ensuing negative consequences
as major developments of last year.

“For the first time ever in 2014, we became the eyewitness of a
condolence address by a Turkish premier, but only its title actually
reflected condolence as such, with all the rest being propaganda and
the repetition of Turkey’s preconditions with a slightly different
wording,” he said.

Melkonyan said he feels that Armenia is taking a tougher and tougher
stance on the Genocide recognition issue and the Armenia-Turkey
relations. As a glaring example, he cited Serzh Sargsyan’s UN speech
where the Armenian leader plainly “sent” the 2009 Zurich protocols “to
hell”.

“The Armenian society developed an essentially progressive
understanding to shift the moral aspect of the Armenian Genocide issue
to the legal domain,” he noted.

The expert said he thinks that the above developments will continue in
2015 which marks the big tragedy’s centennial.

“I predict a continuation of Turkey’s aggressive policies and an
involvement of maximum number of partners in that. And I do not rule
out the possibility of different statements by Turkic-speaking states.
Also, Turkey’s ‘soft’ propaganda will continue with different methods,
as they will try to feign certain processes very far from actual
developments,” he added.

Melkonyan said he expects the international community’s strong-worded
statements on the Genocide in 2015. “I further do not rule out a
recall or suspension of the Armenia-Turkey protocols by the Armenian
authorities, as they have become an end in themselves. The tough
rhetoric on the part of Armenia will continue. I also do not rule out
the recognition and condemnation of the fact of the Armenian Genocide
by several other states or authoritative organizations,” he noted.

As for a possible opening of the Armenia-Turkey border, the expert
said he doesn’t find such a scenario realistic in the present
circumstances.

“2015 is the year of commemorating our pan-national tragedy’s
centennial, so the Turkish propaganda tricks will be more than visible
now. No Turkish moves towards opening the border or anything like that
will be accepted. So no need to exaggerate the developments in an
insignificant part of the Turkish society, ignoring the essentially
negative anti-Armenian mindset that dominates the major part of that
society,” Melkonyan noted.

TURQUIE
La Turquie ne permettra pas à l’Arménie de promouvoir les événements
de 1915 comme un génocide selon le chef de la diplomatie turque

La Turquie ne permettra pas à l’Arménie de promouvoir les événements
de 1915 comme un génocide a déclaré le ministre turc des Affaires
étrangères Mevlut Cavusoglu dans une interview à la chaîne TRT Haber
TV.

Il a dit que la Turquie observe les activités de l’Arménie sur cette
question, ajoutant que ” l’Arménie et le lobby arménien ont été
particulièrement actifs sur cette question en 2014. Mais cela ne
signifie pas que la Turquie va laisser cela sans réponse”.

Mevlut Cavusoglu a déclaré que la Turquie est prête à créer une
commission pour enquêter sur les événements de 1915.

mercredi 7 janvier 2015,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Ex-Soviet countries on front line of Russia’s media war with the west
By Alec Luhn in Moscow
Tuesday 6 January 2015

[Summary: The Kremlin’s plans for the global expansion of state media
have been greeted with suspicion, especially in the countries of the
former USSR.]

When Dmitry Kiselyov, the Russian state television presenter known for
his scandalising monologues, announced the opening of the Kremlin’s
new website and radio service Sputnik News, he stressed that it would
continue the tradition of Soviet propaganda to counter what he called
the `aggressive’ pro-American bias of the western media.

Unveiled as a replacement for the government’s international radio
broadcasting service Voice of Russia, Sputnik News primarily differs
from its predecessor in sheer size–the new outlet’s content will be
produced in 130 cities in 34 countries around the globe, according to
Kiselov.

Each Sputnik hub will employ between 30 and 80 staff members, and an
expanded team of 100 will reportedly work in the office in the
Ukrainian capital Kiev, where a new government that Russian state
media decried as a `fascist junta’ has adopted an association
agreement with the European Union and is fighting a simmering conflict
with Russia-backed rebels in the country’s east.

`The majority of [Sputnik News] content ¦ will be prepared locally, by
local journalists, taking into account local discussions and the
demands of the local audience,’ Kiselyov said, announcing the changes
in November.

The Kremlin’s media strategy

Amid tensions on a scale not seen since the Cold War, the plans for
Sputnik News are just one component of the Kremlin’s changing
international media strategy. Moscow has greatly increased projected
spending for its foreign-focused media outlets for 2015, budgeting
$400 million for its RT television channel and $170 million for
Rossiya Segodnya, the state news agency that includes Sputnik News and
is headed by Kiselyov.

The expansion of Russian state media and its increasingly anti-Western
content has prompted European Union lawmakers to propose creating a
joint Russian-language television channel to provide an alternative
source of information.

A communications researcher with close ties to the Estonian government
also told the Guardian that Estonia’s public broadcasting company
plans to launch a Russian-language television channel next autumn to
counter pro-Kremlin media.

`Free media made according professional journalistic standards is the
best antitoxin to disinformation and propaganda,’ said the researcher,
who did not want to be named.

While some argue that Sputnik News and other Russian media initiatives
will promote debate, concerns have also arisen that the
`decentralisation’ of state media represents a huge expansion of the
frontline in what many are calling an information war between Russia
and the west.

And for some, that front line appears to fall across Russia’s
neighbours–the countries of the former Soviet Union–where many have
watched events in Ukraine with growing concern.

Sputnik News

Sputnik News will have hubs in major capitals including Beijing,
Berlin, London, Paris and Washington DC, but its offices are
especially concentrated in Russia’s near abroad; with the exception of
Turkmenistan, all former Soviet republics will host a Sputnik hub, as
well the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
which Georgia considers to be under Russian military occupation.
Besides English, the Sputnik News website now has local-language
versions for Abkhazia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, China, Germany, Spain, and
Turkey.

[Map: 130 cities covered in 34 countries worldwide. Georgia includes
stations in Sukhumi, Tskhinvali, Yerevan and Tbilisi. Baku has a
separate station, Yerevan does not. ]

In Tajikistan, Rossiya Segodnya has already been aggressively hiring
the `best local journalists and prominent human rights activists, as
well as journalists from the western media, with the promise of higher
salaries and professional development,’ according to the editor of a
local independent media outlet who asked not to be identified.

Rossiya Segodnya and Sputnik News declined to comment for this article.

Proponents have argued that initiatives such as Sputnik News are no
different than the United States’ long-running Voice of America and
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty services, which are funded by the US
government.

`I don’t know of one large country that hasn’t engaged in
foreign-language broadcasting,’ said Andrei Bystritsky, former Voice
of Russia chairman who is now dean of the communications, media and
design department at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.
`Broadcasting in the languages of its neighbours is an absolutely
logical part of Russia’s open, transparent foreign policy.’

Journalism standards

But the journalistic standards of Russian government-owned media have
been questioned, especially during the Ukraine crisis. Britain’s
broadcasting regulator issued a warning to RT in November after
concluding that it had `failed to preserve due impartiality’ in four
broadcasts about the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

On Thursday, the National Radio Company of Ukraine announced it was
beginning broadcasts in the Russian language that would reach Ukraine
and the European part of Russia. Officials in Kiev have said Ukraine
is ramping up its foreign broadcasts to improve the country’s image in
Russia and Crimea.

A recent report on Russia’s `weaponisation of information’ published
by the Institute of Modern Russia, a New York-based think tank run by
the son of former oligarch and Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
argued that the Kremlin is wielding outlets like Sputnik News to not
just persuade, but also to `sow confusion via conspiracy theories and
proliferate falsehoods.’

`To compare Voice of America and RFE/RL with Russian propaganda is not
right,’ said Belarusian politician and economist Yaroslav Romanchuk,
who heads Mises Centre, a think tank that promotes laissez-faire
capitalism. `On the one hand we are talking about mass media that are
putting out certain point of information but with standards and
multiple voices. On the other hand, we have the promotion of military
actions and an information war.”

In its 85-year history, Voice of Russia–known in Soviet times as
Radio Moscow–broadcast in Russian and a variety of foreign languages,
but it wasn’t until 2008 that it started broadcasting in some of the
languages of the newly independent countries of the former
USSR–specifically Armenian, Kyrgyz and Moldovan. Sputnik News,
however, will publish and broadcast in 30 different languages,
including English and the languages of all former Soviet republics
except Turkmenistan, Belarus and Lithuania, according to its website.

Its broadcast languages will also include Abkhaz, Ossetian and Crimean
Tatar, which is spoken by the Muslim minority whose leaders objected
to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula this year.

Pro-Russian media already reaches a huge number of homes across the
former Soviet region. In the Baltics, the First Pribaltisky Channel
rebroadcasts Russian state-owned Channel One, which claims to reach
250 million viewers around the world. Russia’s population is about 143
million.

Unlike the previous generation, however, many young people born after
the fall of the Soviet Union in the Baltics don’t learn Russian.
Nerijus Maliukevicius, a political science lecturer at Vilnius
University who studies Russian media, believes this could partly
provide the rationale for Sputnik’s expansion into English and local
language programming.

`I consider the coming of Sputnik to our region to be a twist in the
overall propaganda strategy,’ said Maliukevicius. He believes the move
indicates that `Russia is worried about the younger generation, the
English-speaking generation, and that they would use narratives and
techniques similar to RT to gain ground in this segment.’

A Sputnik News radio host in Moscow who previously worked at Voice of
Russia said the new outlet seemed to be more `politicised’, as are
other state-owned media. The host asked to speak anonymously out of
concern for job security, since the Moscow office has been cutting
staff in departments such as sport, culture and Arabic language.

Broadcasting in the languages of its neighbours is an absolutely
logical part of Russia’s open, transparent foreign policy

In its first month, Sputnik News–whose tagline is `Telling the
untold’–has given extensive coverage to the Ferguson protests against
police brutality in the US, criticised policies such as Washington’s
embargo of Cuba, argued that Russian gas is the best option for Europe
and that France should complete the sale of two Mistral warships to
Russia despite international sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine
crisis. But on its debut, it also featured an interview in which
Polish white supremacist Mateusz Piskorski claimed that the United
States’ secretly `Trotskyist’ foreign policy had grown into a global
threat.

`Previously, you didn’t hear as much of this intonation that takes you
back to the Soviet Union,’ the host said. `I hear how my producer
interviews an expert, and before each question he describes the
situation in the way he wants to hear commentary about it. It seemed
that earlier the questions weren’t phrased in such a way.’

Suspicion

Concerns about the aims of expanding Kremlin-backed media outlets are
especially palpable in Russia’s EU member neighbours, the Baltic
states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all have significant
Russian-speaking minorities, as does Ukraine.

Sputnik has not yet begun broadcasting in these countries, but the
communication researcher said Sputnik has been setting up a web-based
service in Tallinn and is quietly recruiting journalists.

Previously, you didn’t hear as much of this intonation that takes you
back to the Soviet Union

The researcher said the website would be especially effective if used
as a `source-laundry asset’–putting out viral web stories that would
then be republished by local news outlets and on social media.

`Journalists working in Estonian-language media are rather suspicious
of Russian messaging,’ the researcher said. `This would not be always
the case if Estonian language content reaches them via their social
media contacts.’

Yevhen Fedchenko, director of the journalism school at the National
University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, agreed that local-language internet
content from Sputnik would be more effective than radio broadcasts.

`The Russian information on Ukraine is coming from suspicious websites
like Russian Spring, and you can say this is propaganda,’ Fedchenko
said. `But if it’s coming from other sources and would attract eyes of
web users, it would dilute information available in Ukrainian
throughout the web.’

In such a sensitive political climate, there are concerns that Kremlin
media outlets could spark tensions between ethnic Russians and
national majorities. After signing the EU association agreement, Kiev
has toyed with the idea of Nato membership, and the Baltics have
welcomed increased numbers of US and Nato troops in recent months,
moves that Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced in a recent
German television interview. A government poll in Latvia recently
found that ethnic Russians are more supportive of Moscow’s position
over Ukraine than that of the west.

`This agenda to also have an information channel broadcasting in local
languages is probably a solution of how to talk not only to the
Russians but also to the Latvians and Estonians in Latvia and Estonia,
to change their opinions or ¦ get them to ask more questions about
things like Russia’s actions in Ukraine,’ said Maris Cepuritis, a
political science lecturer at Rigas Stradins University who has
studied the Russian media.

`In the last few years there have been lowered tensions in society.
Both Latvian- and Russian-language speakers are moving toward centre,
and there are only some limited radicals on both sides,’ Cepuritis
said. `If the presence of Russian television and Sputnik are
increasing and continuing the propaganda, they could change this.’

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 6 2015

Racism in Germany has reached a desperate level

OZAN CEYHUN @ozanceyhun
Published19 hours ago

When taking into consideration the question of racism in Germany, I
think it should not be compared with racist parties or movements in
other countries such as Golden Dawn in Greece and the National Front
Party in France.

There is a saying in German: “Bevor wir andere kritisieren, sollten
wir erst einmal vor der eigenen Tür kehren,” which translates as, “We
should first clean our own doorway before criticizing others.” And
Germany urgently needs to take its own advice.

Now, when certain groups with close relations with the Armenian
diaspora, and groups who are against Turkey in Germany were preparing
to stage demonstrations against Turkey in May, Prime Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu met the representatives of the non-Muslim minority
communities at a lunch in Istanbul. Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomew, Deputy Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church Peter
Stefanos, Vicar-General of the Chaldean Catholic community of Turkey
Francois Yakan, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syriac Orthodox Church Yusuf
Çetin, Turkish ambassador to the Vatican Mehmet Paçacı, Patriarchal
Vicar of the Syrian Catholic Church in Turkey Yusuf SaÄ?, Apostolic
Administrator of the Armenian Catholic Archbishop Levan Zekiyan, Chief
Rabbi Ä°shak Haleva and Archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Aram AteÃ…?yan attended.

During the meeting, it was decided to construct a new church in
Istanbul’s YeÃ…?ilköy neighborhood, and a fact that some circles in the
EU insist on ignoring was once again underlined ` non-Muslims living
in Turkey are content with the new Turkey.

However, Muslims living in Germany are anxious.

The members of a new German “intellectual,” racist organization, the
Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (PEGIDA),
gather every Monday and march against Islam. And they have recently
drawn swastikas and written racist slogans such as “down with Islam,”
“Turks will be killed” and “swine Turks” on the walls of Burg Primary
School, Leibniz High School and other buildings located in
Schüztenplatz Square in the town of Dormagen, which is 593 kilometers
from Dresden where almost no Muslims live.

This is not the first ugly attack in Dormagen. On Dec. 21, 2014, at
around 4:20 a.m., the Dormagen Ditib Mosque was the target of a racist
attack. The Police launched an investigation into the attack, in which
racist and hateful words were written on the walls and the minaret of
the mosque. The Düsseldorf Prosecutor’s Office, coordinating the
investigation, announced a reward of 1,500 euros in order to identify
the offenders and shed light on the incident.

According to 2013 statistics, 62,521 people (30,730 male and 30,791
female) live in Dormagen. It is quite a small town. And the total
number of foreigners living in Dormagen is 6,623. In Dormagen, which
has 25 churches including 14 Catholic, nine Protestant and two other
churches, there are only four mosques, and one of them is under
construction. Seemingly these mosques have annoyed someone.

The investigation launched after the Dec. 21 attack in Dormagen
seemingly could not yield tangible results. Roughly two weeks later,
the skinheads of Dormagen made their second move.

Dormagen is only one instance. If racists and neo-Nazis could
comfortably act in a small town like Dormagen, then what is the
general picture in Germany overall, whose population is 82 million?

Muslims living Germany are rightfully anxious. Between August and
December 2014, a total of 15 attacks were organized in Germany, 11 of
them targeting mosques.

Turkish-origin Muslims in Germany still anxiously read the writing on
the backs of members of the neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist
Underground (NSU), which is notorious for the murders publicly known
as “döner killings,” which are not yet solved.

The situation is also grave in other parts of the EU. According to the
latest report by the Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, “in
2014, 38 attacks were organized in Germany, eight attacks were made in
Austria, seven in Bulgaria, two in Belgium, Netherlands and Swede, and
one in France.”

Racism and xenophobia in Europe have evolved into Islamophobia in recent years.

Formerly, racists and neo-Nazis used to write “Turks, get out!” and
now they are writing slogans such as “down with Islam” or “get out,
Muslims!”

Calling innocent Muslims peacefully living in EU countries to account
for the deeds of the terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq
and al-Sham (ISIS), is the greatest harm that could be done to them.
But unfortunately, this is the current case.

As PEGIDA emerged in Dresden, the assaults against Muslims and mosques
have increased in Germany.

All EU countries, particularly Germany, should not keep their heads in
the sand, but must realise the level Islamophobia has reached. Not
acknowledging racism will not make it go away.

Not only the EU Commission and the European Parliament, but also the
governments and parliaments of all EU member countries must decide on
urgent measures and immediately implement them.

The counter-protests staged by thousands of people against PEGIDA and
racism raise hopes. However, an increase in effective police measures
is critical. Just like the ongoing determined fight against ISIS, a
determined fight is also required against the racist terrorists and
their proponents who adopt violence as a fighting technique.

Times of Central Asia
Jan 6 2015

Eurasian Economic Union expands with accession of Armenia

Tuesday, 06 January 2015 07:21
Written by Alexan Talin

YEREVAN (TCA) — Armenia is now the fourth member country of the
Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, joining with Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan.

To become a full fledged member, Armenia had to take 126 measures out
of 267 “prior to accession”. All of them have been taken. Certain
provisions relating to the implementation of these items are included
in the Treaty on Accession. Within the frameworks of the accession
procedure the experts of the Eurasian Economic Commission made more
than 40 visits to Armenia.

Armenia has become part of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union,
signed by the Presidents of the EEU member states — Alexander
Lukashenko, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin — on May 29, 2014
in Astana, as well as other international treaties forming the EEU
legal framework. From now on, Armenia undertakes corresponding
obligations, and therewith gets access to the EEU single market with
170 million citizens.

By joining the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia gets fully involved
into implementation of the Eurasian project aimed, on one hand, at
forming of four freedoms: free movement of goods, services, capital
and labor force; and on the other hand, at creation of one of the key
economic centers of evolving architecture of the multi-polar world.

The fourth partner expects a number of positive effects from
integration. Among the key ones are an increase of goods turnover due
to elimination of barriers and minimization of administrative
expenses, increase of mobility of labor force due to introduction to
the single labor market, increase of stability of economic development
due to reduction of economic isolation effect, development of
infrastructure projects, participation in drawing up of the agenda
using the mechanisms of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The Treaty on accession provides for full involvement of Armenia’s
representatives into the activities of the EEU governance. Upon entry
of the Treaty into force the President of Armenia becomes a
full-fledged Member of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, and the
Prime Minister becomes a Member of Intergovernmental Council; the
full-fledged representative joins the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Armenia will be represented by three Members in the Board of the
Eurasian Economic Commission.

The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) is a supranational governing
body of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (CU) and
the Single Economic Space (SES) of the Eurasian Economic Community.
The main task of the EEC is to ensure conditions for the CU and SES
operation and development as well as to elaborate economic integration
initiatives within the framework of the CU and SES.

Other countries that are supposed to join the Eurasian Economic Union
in the near future are the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.

New Reaction of United States to Latest Sabotage Against Artsakh

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – 06 January 2015, 00:33

The American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick twitted:
“2015 should be a year for NK peace and a lasting settlement. Renewed
violence is not the answer.”

Note that on January 3 Azerbaijan attacked in two directions, killing
two Armenian soldiers and injuring one. According to the Armenian
side, Azerbaijan also had losses.

Since his appointment James Warlick has been quite active and makes
interesting tweets, responding to developments in the conflict area.
He thus differs from Russian and French co-chairs who do not have such
practice. In addition, he differs positively because sometimes he
makes “preventive” statements. Warlick often makes transparent hints
in his tweets which are not typical of the non-transparent activities
of the Minsk Group.

For example, after the downing of the Armenian helicopter in November
he announced that there is not a neutral area in the Karabakh conflict
but a territory which does not belong to anyone and which divides the
armed forces. Note that the Armenian side announced that the
helicopter fell in the neutral territory while in international law
“neutral territory” means legal and political recognition of sides.

At the same time, however, the United States announced that they were
following the actions of the Armenian side for recovering the crew and
remnants of the helicopter and admitted these actions.

Earlier in September 2014 Warlick announced that it is time for the
negotiations for the Karabakh settlement reach another level. This was
followed by the war in August and the victory of the Armenian side
when it was clear that Azerbaijan and Russia were acting according to
a certain agreement aimed at deployment of Russian troops in Karabakh.

In fact, the Armenian army thwarted this plan, and the U.S. co-chair
hinted at the necessity to change the level of negotiations and
involve Artsakh.

Earlier Warlick announced that the issue of Artsakh is a black stain
on the track of sustainable and peaceful Europe and the United States
wants to see a free, intact and peaceful Europe by a peace settlement
of the Issue of Artsakh. In other words, Artsakh was actually meant as
part of Europe in this statement.

Earlier Warlick “provoked” an interesting incident in Berdzor,
Artsakh. Before leaving for Artsakh he made some statements and by the
time the co-chairs arrived there, there was an action of protest
against his statements. In this regard, Warlick said that people have
the right to know about the problem and express their agreement or
disagreement. Warlick said they could expect similar actions in any
territory of Artsakh, adding that he was looking forward to the other
visits.

In fact, Warlick thus got people of Artsakh up to their feet, urging
them to care for their own destiny and be aware of the settlement
diplomacy which is, in fact, against the interests of Artsakh.

In this respect, Warlick’s response to the attacks sounds trivial.
However, considering that the Russian-Azerbaijani alliance is already
in place, sudden aggravation of the U.S.-Azerbaijani relations and the
end of the Russian-Armenian “strategic partnership” which was marked
by the EEU summit of December 23 in Moscow, this statement becomes
interesting. Who and what is Warlick hinting when he announces that
“renewed violence is not the answer”? Who wants renewal of violence,
who is provoking renewal and who is he addressing?

Warlick’s fast responses and activity demonstrates that the Karabakh
“settlement” is always at the focus of the United States, and
single-handed decisions are ruled out. Of course, if the Armenian side
is able to be adequate to this setting.

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 4 2015

Syriac Christians to build Turkey’s first new church

DAILY SABAH

The government will permit one of Turkey’s Christian communities to
build a church, the first such house of worship to be built completely
from scratch in the Republican Era. According to Vatan newspaper’s
Emre Eser, the church will be built in the YeÅ?ilköy district of
Istanbul with funds provided by the Mardin Syriac community.

The Virgin Mary Syriac Church will cost $1.5 million, and according to
sources from the Prime Ministry who spoke with Anadolu Agency (AA),
the decision to approve the building of the church was made during the
luncheon Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu held with minority leaders on
Friday at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. There are 25,000 Syriac
Christians in Turkey, 18,000 of whom live in Istanbul, and the church
will be built within the confines of the Catholic Cemetery in
YeÅ?ilköy.

One of the oldest Christian denominations, Syriac Christians use a
language related to the ancient Aramaic of Jesus Christ in their
liturgy.

The project for the church has been ongoing since 2013 and building
plans were completed by architecture company Ergün Mimarlık, which
sent a delegation to Mardin to assess the special Syriac architecture.

According to AA, DavutoÄ?lu listened to the grievances aired by the
representatives of minorities during the luncheon. When the turn came
for the Syriac Metropolitan in Ankara and Istanbul, Yusuf Çetin,
DavutoÄ?lu said, “I know what you want. Let me tell you before you say
it. We will take the necessary steps to resolve the church problem.”

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality allocated the Catholic
Cemetery, located on YeÃ…?il Zeytin Street, to the Syriac community. The
land allocated to the church includes ancient tombs, and the church
building necessitates approval by the Monuments Board.

The project includes three subterranean floors, two of which will be
allocated to parking. Additionally, the church will have three floors
above ground.

MINORITIES THANK PM

According to sources from the Prime Ministry, the representatives of
the minority communities shared the problems faced by their people in
the past during the luncheon and thanked the prime minister for the
progress that has been made in the past decade.

Among the grievances aired was the ban on religious officials teaching
at minority schools and the passport problems such officials
encounter. According to one complaint, religious officials were given
passports that expired after just six months.

The representative from the Armenian community thanked the government
for the restoration of the church in Ä°skenderun previously used as a
cinema theater and its handing over to the community. The
representatives also thanked the government for issuing its call for
those who had left the country to return.

DavutoÄ?lu said that when some state officials mentioned minority
communities, they talk about them as if these citizens were linked to
foreign countries. “Everyone who is sitting around this table is an
equal citizen of the Republic of Turkey,” he said.

20 Coptic Christians abducted in Libya

January 4, 2015 – 11:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Masked gunmen in central Libyakidnapped 13 Coptic
Christians on Saturday, Jan 3 after seven were abducted days earlier,
said a witness and a priest, in a new wave of assaults against Egypt’s
Christians working in the war-torn North African nation plagued with
Islamic extremists, the Associated Press reported.

Witness Hanna Aziz told the AP that the gunmen in the Libyan city of
Sirte went room to room in their residence at 2:30 a.m. Saturday and
asked for identification papers to separate Muslim workers from
Christians. Aziz says the gunmen handcuffed the Christians and drove
away with them.

“They were 15 armed and masked men who came in four vehicles. They had
a list of full names of Christians in the building. While checking
IDs, Muslims were left aside while Christians were grabbed,” Aziz
said, adding that he survived simply because he didn’t open his door.

“I heard my friends screaming but they were quickly shushed at
gunpoint. After that, we heard nothing,” said Aziz who said he has
three relatives among the hostages. “I am still in my room waiting for
them to take me. I want to die with them,” he added.

Abu Makar, a Coptic priest in the workers’ hometown of Samalout in
southern Egypt, confirmed the abduction took place. He said seven
other Coptic Christians from Samalout were taken while trying to
escape Sirte a few days earlier.

Sirte has become a safe haven for extremist Islamist groups like Ansar
al-Shariah, blamed for the September 2013 attack on the U.S. Consulate
in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The abduction came on the heels of the killing of a Coptic couple ?
who used to work as doctors in Sirte? and their daughter.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it is following
up on the case, urging Egyptians in the city to stay indoors until the
government can facilitate a safe return home. Ministry Spokesman Badr
Abdel-Atti said that Egypt can’t send a diplomatic mission to Libya
because “many of the regions are out of state control.” Egypt closed
its mission in Tripoli last year and withdrew its ambassador after his
own abduction at the hands of militiamen, disgruntled at the arrest of
a top Islamic militia commander in Egypt.

In March, the bodies of seven Christian Egyptians were found in the
eastern city of Benghazi, killed by gunshots to the head while
handcuffed.

In March 2013, dozens of Coptic Christians were tortured inside a
detention center run by a powerful militia in Benghazi. The men, who
were suspected of proselytizing, were rounded up in a market by gunmen
who checked their right wrists for tattoos of crosses, a common mark
worn by many Egyptian Christians.

Islamic extremist militias have been targeting Christians, women,
journalists, refugees and those considered former loyalists of Moammar
Gadhafi, who was toppled and killed in Libya’s 2011 civil war.

Egyptians became a top target for the militias after the Egyptian
government began supporting the Libyan army battling Islamic
militants.

“We are witnessing a pattern of persecution against Christians in
Egypt; I fear for the lives of the hostages,” said Magdi Malak, a
Cairo-based activist involved in the case.

Huffington Post
Jan 4 2015

Ten Days in the Life of Ilham Aliyev, President of Absurdistan

by Till Bruckner , policy entrepreneur

While politicians elsewhere were singing carols and carving turkeys,
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan stayed on the job throughout the
season of love.

Concerned calls from America, foreign aid windfalls, inspection visits
to mega-projects, crackdowns on his critics….

Ten turbulent days in the life of the de facto President-for-Life of
Absurdistan.

…one day at a time…

Sunday, December 21, 2014

President Aliyev got a call from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
who was ringing to share his “concerns” about oil-rich Azerbaijan’s
ever-increasing crackdown on civil society. When the conversation
became public knowledge eight days later, it set off a lively Q&A at
the State Department’s daily press briefing.

Journalist:

“Are the calls you’re having with Azerbaijani officials, are they of
concern or are you actually making efforts to tell them to stop doing
this and coercing people?”

State spokesperson:

“I think you can be assured that when the Secretary of State takes
this under consideration and raises it with one of his foreign
colleagues, including the president of a country, that he makes his
view known.”

What were Kerry’s “concerns”?

President Aliyev had spent much of the year harassing, persecuting and
locking up journalists, pro-democracy activists, and human rights
advocates.

Over the past 12 months, many of the people featured in the video
above, including its star Khadija Ismayilova, have been put behind
bars.

The State Department spokesperson’s refusal to comment on her case
raised some eyebrows in the room. One anonymous source whispered that:

“The embassy didn’t like her critiques of U.S. policy.”

Were diplomats still upset about the infamous interview in which she
had mercilessly grilled then ambassador Richard Morningstar about
America’s stance on human rights violations in the country?

Monday, December 22, 2014

Azerbaijan is a proud and independent nation with a long history.

Since its independence, thanks to the firm guidance and thought-out
reforms of the late president Heydar Aliyev and his son, the current
president Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has achieved many great things,
like erecting the world’s tallest flagpole.

Shortly after, the proud and independent nation of Tajikistan erected
an even taller flagpole.

Never mind.

Azerbaijan also excels at sports, AzerNews reports.

Chairman of the National Olympic Committee Ilham Aliyev has awarded
sportsmen and specialists in accordance with results of 2014… “In
international competitions, world and European championships we have
won 805 medals, including 275 gold. Compared to last year, the number
of medals has increased again.” The number of medals is the main
indicator of the development of sport, he added.

Olympic Chairman Aliyev then looked ahead to 2015.

“It is no coincidence that the first European Games will be held in
Baku.. These Games are a historic event because, as you know, such
games are to be held in Europe for the first time and this
responsibility falls on us… These games also demonstrate the
strength of our country…We have a strong economy and the political
processes are going in a positive direction.”

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it had allocated 752
million dollars to Azerbaijan for “economic diversification and
private sector development”. According to its man in Baku, Olli
Naojono:

“The new strategy attaches great importance to regional cooperation,
governance, environmental sustainability, climate change and effective
implementation of projects.”

ADB did not explain how good governance could work without an
independent media, or how an economy built on hydrocarbon exports
could possibly be environmentally sustainable, let alone why public
money was being lavished on financing projects in a petro-dictatorship
that claims to hold over 50 billion dollars in foreign currency
reserves.

But ADB did upload a video onto YouTube to let locals know how much it
loves being part of the success story that is Azerbaijan.

(Note: This video was not paid for by Aliyev. It was paid for by
taxpayers abroad.)

The development bank’s 2015 annual meeting will be held in Baku.
According to ADB’s president, Takehiko Nakao:

“[It] will showcase Azerbaijan’s appeal to investors and other
governments… After seeing firsthand the extensive preparations, I am
confident it will be a highly successful event.”

Given Aliyev’s penchant for blowing billions on prestige projects and
high profile events, he is probably right.

Wednesday, December 24 2014

Christmas Eve! Now that ADB had pledged to take care of economic
diversification and basic rural infrastructure on his behalf, and fish
farms across the country were booming thanks to American economic aid,
President Aliyev was free to redouble his focus on spending
petrodollars on representational urban infrastructure.

He called for First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, Chairwoman of the
Organizing Committee of the European Games.

The First Couple went to admire a model of the White City.

Bigger than the principality of Monaco, with enough space to house the
entire population of Monaco, and with a “Fountain Square [that] will
be twice the size of the current Fountain Square”, this mega-project
is guaranteed to buy the banana-importing republic the global respect
it craves.

And if it doesn’t?

Then the multi-billion-dollar 2015 European Games certainly will.

President Aliyev hopes that during the 2015 European Games, thousands
of foreigners will come from all around the world and see all his
favorite mega-projects in Baku with their own eyes.

Then, finally, the world will stop laughing
about Azerbaijan and its ruling family!

But the regime’s critics could spoil the pomegranate-and-gazelle
themed party by talking to the foreign guests about police beatings,
show trials and torture in prisons. That’s why Aliyev decided to lock
them all away well in advance.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Day! The Head of the Political and Public Affairs Department
at Aliyev’s presidential administration, Ali Hasanov, gave a festive
speech at the award ceremony for the winners of a journalism
competition sponsored by the Fund of State Support for the Development
of Mass Media under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He told the assembled journalists that:

“No one can say any journalist has ever been prosecuted by the state
or its structures. But unfortunately, today we have some NGOs and
different international organizations trying to vilify Azerbaijan’s
free media atmosphere whose foundations were laid by national leader
Heydar Aliyev… The Azerbaijani government doesn’t imagine its
domestic life without free media.”

Hasanov added that Azerbaijan was the only country in the world where
the state provided housing to journalists. His words are only
preserved in written form, so it is unclear whether he was trying to
sound threatening or not.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Aliyev sent his prosecutors and armed police to shut down the offices
of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Khadija’s former
employers and one of the last platforms for critical opinions left
inside the country.

Shortly after the bust, President Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of
Baku’s brand new Heydar Mosque, named after his late father.

It’s the biggest mosque in the South Caucasus, AzerNews reports.
It covers 12,000 square meters and has four 95-meter-high minarets.

The president gave a rousing speech:

“All the freedoms — freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom
of assembly, freedom of conscience – are guaranteed in Azerbaijan. All
religious freedoms are fully provided in Azerbaijan.”

It was a truly historic speech. No world leader before Iham Aliyev has
ever opened a place of worship without once mentioning God. He did
mention his late father nine times, though.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Aliyev’s prosecutor ordered dozens of journalists to turn themselves
in for questioning in an apparent effort to bringing some DIY spirit
into the national-level extraordinary renditioning process.

Half a world away, the State Department said that it was “concerned”,
and called on Azerbaijan to conduct a “transparent” investigation in
line with Baku’s “international commitment to protecting media
freedom.”

Human rights activists were not impressed.

Around the same time, Daniel Baer, the U.S. Ambassador to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), decided to
break ranks by sending out remarkably undiplomatic tweets.

Meanwhile, the man who had denounced journalist Khadija Ismayilova for
supposedly “inciting him to commit suicide” (the ostensible reason for
her arrest) publicly withdrew his claim, noting at the same time that
he expected to be imminently arrested. The accuser’s recantation meant
that the original justification for detaining Khadija had evaporated.

She remained locked up anyway.

Across town, the First Couple inspected the gigantic Baku Olympic Stadium.

Baku’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics failed.
Baku’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics failed.
Baku’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics will be launched later this year.

Anyway: The stadium is already as good as finished.

It’s very modern. It will definitely place Baku dead centre on the
global sporting map.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

What did President Aliyev do on Sunday?

He didn’t give any rousing speeches.
He didn’t inspect any mega-projects.
He didn’t open any new buildings.
He didn’t order any additional arrests.

What on earth could he have been doing all day?

Monday, December 29, 2014

Western politicians returned to their desks, and many were not amused
when they heard about Aliyev’s Christmas media bust. Even the
Americans were starting to make some disapproving noises.

Armenia hates him, Iran hates him, and a world in which your only
friend is called Vladimir Putin…

…is not a world worth living in. If you survive.

Ilham Aliyev blinked. The thought of being left all alone with his
angry neighbours was just too scary.

The president decided to end the year on a positive note and ordered
the release of a few political prisoners. After all, he could always
lock them up again before the start of the European Games.

And then the president went off to inspect his newest acquisition — a
sparkling new jet liner freshly arrived from America.

Shortly after, half a world away, for the first time since Khadija’s
arrest, the State Department made a public statement about the ongoing
crackdown in Azerbaijan without needing to be prodded first.

A spokesperson opened the daily press briefing with the following words.

“We are alarmed by the Government of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil
society. The Secretary raised our concerns in his December 21st phone
call with President Aliyev. Since then, we have seen the closure of
RFE/RL’s offices, the seizure of its property, and RFE/RL employees
forcibly taken from their homes for questioning by local law
enforcement on unspecified charges. Contractors and others
tangentially connected to RFE/RL are also being interrogated by
authorities. These actions, along with the denial of access to legal
counsel during these interrogations, is further cause for concern. We
call again on Azerbaijani authorities to adhere to their OSCE and
other international commitments to uphold human rights and basic
freedoms, including freedom of the press.

In this regard, President Aliyev’s decision today to pardon 87
individuals, including 10 considered to have been imprisoned for civic
activism, is a step in the right direction. We urge Azerbaijan’s
authorities to build on these pardons by releasing others incarcerated
in connection with exercising their fundamental freedoms.”

President Aliyev had already moved on. He’d finished unwrapping the
new jet liner and was busy opening yet another new building.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The prisoners walked out of jail. The group included a couple of youth
group activists, a few journalists, and eight people who had been
locked up since 2012 for protesting against the ban on wearing head
scarves imposed by their modern and secular president.

(Note on State Department figures above: people who protest against
head scarf bans apparently do not count as “civic activists”.)

Over 90 political prisoners remain in jail, including all of those who
were arrested over the course of 2014.

Aliyev might let some of them out during 2015, perhaps before the ADB
meeting, or after the European Games. If America has another one of
its moments of “concern”.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy New Year!

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s congratulations to the
Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the Day of Solidarity of World
Azerbaijanis and the New Year:

“Ladies and gentlemen! Dear compatriots!

2014 is being left in the past. 2014 was a successful year for our country…

As you know, in 2012-2013 Azerbaijan was represented in the world’s
most influential organization, the UN Security Council. We won this
right with the support of 155 countries. And this year Azerbaijan
chaired the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, making a
valuable contribution to the development of democracy and protection
of human rights in Europe…

Azerbaijan is a country that successfully goes down the path of
democracy, freedom, independence, progress and development. I am sure
that all Azerbaijanis of the world are proud that there is a country
such as Azerbaijan on the world map…

I heartily congratulate all Azerbaijanis on the Day of Solidarity of
Azerbaijanis of the World and the New Year holidays. I wish every
Azerbaijani family happiness, prosperity and continued successes.”

That night, there was a spectacular fireworks show in Baku.

Press TV, Iran
Jan 3 2015

Armenia army says two soldiers killed in Karabakh clashes

At least two Armenian soldiers have been killed and another injured in
the latest round of clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in
the disputed mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian army announced on Saturday that Karen Grigorian and
Vartan Mkrtchian were shot dead. The wounded was identified as Volodya
Harutiunian.

The soldiers were repelling Azerbaijani commando raids in two sections
of the Line of Contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

Following the incident, Armenia’s Defense Ministry issued a statement
warning that any “provocation by Azerbaijan…will be strictly
punished….”

Multiple confrontations between Baku and Yerevan over Nagorno-Karabakh
left tens of troops dead from both sides last year.

The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations claim the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is largely populated by Armenians but located
in Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenian forces took control over the enclave, which accounts
for 16 percent of Azerbaijan territory, in the early 1990s during a
six-year war that took place from February 1988 to May 1994.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million
displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. A
permanent peace accord has never been inked and the dispute still
remains unsettled.

Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the region by force if
negotiations between the two sides fail to yield results.

MP/HSN/SS