Author: Badalian Vardan

ENP PROGRESS REPORT: ARMENIA AND EU REMAIN COMMITTED TO FURTHER COOPERATION

19:36 27.03.2014

“Political dialogue with the Armenian Government was intensive in
2013. The EU and Armenia completed negotiations on an Association
Agreement (AA), including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area
(DCFTA), in July 2013, but could not proceed with its initialing,
following Armenia’s decision to apply to join the Customs Union
with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Armenia and the EU remained
nevertheless committed to further cooperation as they jointly stated
in the margins of the Vilnius Summit,” the EU said in the ENP Progress
Report on Armenia.

Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements were both ratified
in 2013 and entered into force on 1 January 2014. While Armenia
continued to address issues related to human rights and fundamental
freedoms, further work remains necessary, especially as regards
the implementation and enforcement of legislation. The February
2013 presidential elections were generally well-administrated
notwithstanding concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

Despite ongoing reforms, public mistrust of the judicial system
remained high and there was a lack of convincing results in the fight
against corruption, including in police and judiciary. Allegations
of use of torture and ill-treatment in police custody were reported.

Armenia addressed some of the key recommendations contained in last
year’s ENP progress report. It notably adopted a law on equal rights
and opportunities for men and women which, however, lacks a mechanism
for complaints. There were limited developments regarding reforms
in the public administration and in the judiciary. Nevertheless,
preparatory works were undertaken to proceed with reforms about the
electoral legislation, the fight against corruption and the Human
Rights protection.

On the basis of this year’s report and with a view to sustained
implementation of the ENP Action Plan in 2014, Armenia is invited to:

cooperate with and protect civil society; investigate the cases of
attacks and intimidation of human rights defenders and ensure that
the perpetrators are brought to justice; implement the OSCE/ODIHR
recommendations concerning elections, in particular ensure a level
playing field for all candidates and avoid the use of administrative
resources for electoral purposes. Moreover, ensure pluralism in
the broadcasting media; fully investigate the deaths that occurred
during clashes following the March 2008 presidential elections and
the allegations of ill-treatment in police custody; finalise the
draft Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religion; ensure respect
for the principle of non-discrimination and adopt comprehensive
anti-discrimination legislation; continue the reform of public
administration; especially intensify the prevention of and the fight
against corruption; intensify the reform of the judiciary and the law
enforcement; strengthen the implementation of governance reforms; work
towards the earliest possible closure of the Medzamor nuclear power
plant as well as speed up the implementation of the roadmap on energy
efficiency and the target of 30 % of generated energy from renewable
sources; step up efforts towards agreement on the Madrid Principles,
as a basis for peace, in accordance with the commitments undertaken
by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan within the Minsk Group;
refrain from actions and statements that could heighten tension and
undermine the peace process; promote an environment conducive to
progress in the conflict settlement, encourage and support related
peace-building activities; ensure unimpeded access for representatives
of the EU to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions in support of
conflict transformation activities in full complementarity with the
efforts of the Minsk Group.

Reforms initiated, carried out or delayed during 2013 in the different
areas of cooperation between the EU and Armenia are described in the
annual country report. Some of the issues reported deserve special
attention.

Despite ongoing progress in the justice sector, delivered with
support from the EU, the influence of the executive over judicial
nominations remains a concern. More reforms are necessary in terms
of access to justice

Freedoms of association and assembly were generally respected.

However, in 2013 there was an increase in reports of violence against
civil activists and human rights defenders, as well as of undue
pressure on peaceful demonstrators. Media independence remained
insufficient and there were no developments regarding pluralism in
the broadcasting media. Armenia has not developed an anti-corruption
strategy, and although the government has mentioned plans for sectorial
measures, there were no concrete developments.

The concluding round of negotiations on a DCFTA took place in July.

However, in September the President of Armenia officially announced
that Armenia would join the Russian-led Customs Union which is
incompatible with the provisions of the DCFTA. Implementation
of the EU-Armenia Mobility Partnership continued. The EU-Armenia
Readmission Agreement was signed in April and was ratified by the
Armenian National Assembly in November, together with the already
signed Visa Facilitation Agreement. Both agreements entered into
force on 1 January 2014.

The stalemate in the Minsk Process aiming at settling the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued for most of 2013. However,
the Presidents of the two countries reconvened in November 2013 for
the first time since January 2012 in a summit in Vienna, mediated
by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, at which they agreed to advance
negotiations towards a peaceful settlement and to meet again in the
months ahead. An upsurge of violence along the line of contact was
nevertheless witnessed early 2014. The EU continued to give its full
support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in their work to facilitate
a lasting settlement.

DEMOKRAT HABER: LOOTERS OF ARMENIAN HOUSES IN KESSAB SPOKE TURKISH

14:40 27/03/2014 ” SOCIETY

Opposition Turkish media actively cover the events in the
Armenian-populated town of Kessab in Syria neighboring with the
Turkish province of Hatay and in nearby districts.

Citing information received from Syrian Armenians, Demokrat Haber
reports that looters of Armenian houses in Kessab speak Turkish.

When Kessab resident Ani Boymushakyan called the office of the
Armenian Evangelical Church in Kessab, jihadists fighting against
Assad answered in Turkish. According to another Armenian, when he
called his apartment after moving to Latakia, rebels answered, who
he said also spoke Turkish.

On March 21, the Armenian-populated town of Kessab in Syria was
attacked by armed bands from three points in Turkey. The Armenian
residents were forced to abandon the town and were evacuated to
neighboring Latakia.

TURKEY SHUTS OFF YOUTUBE AFTER ‘SYRIA INVASION PLAN’ LEAK

Published time: March 27, 2014 15:00
Edited time: March 27, 2014 17:40

Reuters / Eric Gaillard

Access to YouTube has been cut off in Turkey after an explosive leak
of audiotapes that appeared to show ministers talking about provoking
military intervention in Syria. Other social media have already been
blocked ahead of tumultuous local elections.

The latest leaked audio recording, which reportedly led to the ban,
appears to show top government officials discussing a potential attack
on the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the
Ottoman Empire.

The tomb is in Syrian territory, but protected by Turkish soldiers.

On the tape, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is heard to
say that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees any attack as an
“opportunity” to increase Turkish presence in Syria, where it has
staunchly supported the anti-Assad rebels. Security chief Hakan Fidan
then goes one step further, and suggests staging a fake attack to
give Turkey a casus belli to intervene in the conflict.

Turkish officials have recently vowed to protect the tomb as its
“national soil.”

The Foreign Ministry in Ankara reacted to the tape by issuing a
statement, calling the leak a “wretched attack” on national security.

It also claims the tape was “partially manipulated.”

“These treacherous gangs are the enemies of our state and people. The
perpetrators of this attack targeting the security of our state and
people will be uncovered in the shortest time and will be handed over
to justice to be given the heaviest penalty,” the ministry said.

A source inside the office of President Abdullah Gul, who has taken
a softer line than Erdogan over the series of government leaks,
told Reuters that access to YouTube may be restored if the sensitive
content is removed, even though the original video has been deleted.

Invoking national security and privacy concerns has been the
government’s tactic in fighting off a stream of leaks showing top
officials engaging in unsavory or downright illegal practices.

Erdogan has also repeatedly claimed that most of the audio recordings
are fakes. He labeled the latest audio revelation “villainous” during
a stump speech in Diyabakir.

Twitter, another popular source for leaks, has already been shut down
in Turkey since March 20, after a court order.

Since then, the California-based social network and organizations have
fought in several courts to have the decision reversed, calling it
“disproportionate and illegal.”

A court ruling in Ankara on Wednesday supported the appeal, but
the country’s regulator has a month to unblock Twitter, leading
to speculation that any such move would only take place after the
election.

The incumbent party also enjoys the benefit of robust privacy
legislation passed last month, which makes it easy to cut off any
website even before any violation has been legally proven.

The US has led the chorus of international condemnation, calling
the government’s moves”censorship” tantamount to “21st century
book-burning.”

LE MEDIATEUR AMERICAIN EST OPTIMISTE SUITE A CES RENCONTRES AVEC LES CHEFS DE LA DIPLOMATIE ARMENIENNE ET AZERIE

USA

Le co-president americain du Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE James Warlick
a parle de > qu’il a eues dimanche avec les
ministres des Affaires etrangères de l’Armenie et de l’Azerbaïdjan,
Edouard Nalbandian et Elmar Mammadyarov.

Le mediateur americain a fait cette annonce via son compte Twitter
plus tard le meme jour.

Auparavant, il avait tweete qu’il etait impatient d’avoir une reunion
aussi avec les presidents de l’Armenie et de l’Azerbaïdjan a la Haye,
qui est le lieu de l’ouverture du Sommet sur la securite nucleaire.

Remarquablement, Warlick a aussi laisse un autre tweet lie :

SARKISSIAN REPOND AUX PREOCCUPATIONS DE SÛRETE NUCLEAIRE SOULEVEES PAR ALIEV

Energie

L’Armenie coopère etroitement avec l’Agence internationale d’energie
atomique (AIEA) pour assurer la securite de sa centrale nucleaire
a travers la mise en oeuvre coherente des exigences fixees par
l’organisme, a declare mardi le president Serge Sarkissian, en reponse
aux preoccupations exprimees par son homologue azerbaïdjanais.

Dans sa declaration au Sommet sur la securite nucleaire a La Haye,
le leader armenien a egalement aborde les allegations au sujet des
problèmes lies aux dechets radioactifs.

” Aujourd’hui, le president de l’Azerbaïdjan a souleve la question
de la securite de la centrale nucleaire armenienne de Metsamor. Je
tiens a souligner que nous travaillons en etroite collaboration avec
l’AIEA pour assurer la securite de la centrale nucleaire armenienne
par la mise en oeuvre coherente des exigences prevues par le document
technique de l’Agence. Les resultats de la mission OSART le confirme
“, a souligne Sarkissian.

” Se referer aux rumeurs selon lesquelles nous avons eu des problèmes
lies aux dechets radioactifs, est tout d’abord un mensonge, mais
avant tout une manifestation de non – confiance envers les structures
internationales, puisque nous coordonnons tous nos programmes avec
l’AIEA. ”

Dans son discours lors du meme sommet, le president azerbaïdjanais
Ilham Aliev a declare que la centrale nucleaire d’Armenie etait situee
dans une zone sismique active et etait deja use ce qui, selon lui,
est une source de grave menace pour l’ensemble de la region.

Dans sa declaration a La Haye diffusee par le service de presse
presidentiel, Sarkissian a egalement declare : ” L’Armenie est
activement engagee dans les processus internationaux pour trouver
des solutions aux questions de securite nucleaire. À la suite
du Sommet de Seoul, l’Armenie a pris des mesures pour la mise en
oeuvre des objectifs convenus. En mai 2013, l’Armenie a ratifie
l’amendement de 2005 de la Convention sur la protection physique
des matières nucleaires et la Convention commune sur la sûrete de la
gestion du combustible use et sur la sûrete de la gestion des dechets
radioactifs. Les instruments de ratification de ces deux conventions
ont ete deposes auprès de l’AIEA. En outre, nous avons consolide les
outils juridiques pour la comptabilite et le contrôle des matières
nucleaires par la modification de la loi sur l’exploitation sûre de
l’energie nucleaire a des fins pacifiques “.

Le leader armenien a egalement indique que, pour neutraliser la menace
du terrorisme nucleaire, un laboratoire nucleaire et radiologique
criminalistique a ete cree en Armenie avec l’aide des Etats-Unis
en janvier 2013. Le laboratoire, selon lui, a contribue de manière
significative a l’amelioration de la capacite de l’Armenie a repondre
a la menace de la contrebande nucleaire transnationale.

” Je crois que la cooperation regionale est essentielle en
matière de prevention. En juin 2012, nous avons mene un exercice
transfrontalier commun avec notre voisin, la Georgie, sur la lutte
contre la proliferation des armes de destruction massive “, a declare
Sarkissian. ” L’Armenie a entrepris l’elaboration d’un plan d’action
national sur la mise en oeuvre de la Resolution 1540 du Conseil de
securite de l’ONU avec la participation de l’OSCE, d’experts de la
resolution 1540 du Comite du Conseil de securite des Nations unies
et de l’Union europeenne. ”

jeudi 27 mars 2014, Claire (c)armenews.com

CANADA CONCERNED BY ATTACKS ON ARMENIAN TOWN IN SYRIA

Government of Canada
March 25 2014

March 25, 2014 – Andrew Bennett, Canada’s Ambassador for Religious
Freedom, today issued the following statement:

“Canada is deeply concerned by the recent attacks by al Qaeda
affiliated armed groups on the ancient Armenian town of Kessab in
the Latakia district of northern Syria during which Armenian churches
were reportedly desecrated and Armenians driven from their homes.

“The continued attacks against Christians, including Armenian Apostolic
Orthodox Christians and Armenian Catholics, in Syria are unacceptable.

“We stand determined that the perpetrators be brought to justice for
such acts and to stem the rising tide of sectarian violence.

“Canada remains deeply concerned by the suffering of the Syrian people
from all communities and by widespread reports of violations of human
rights, including reports of churches and mosques being destroyed or
used for military purposes.

“Canada stands by the Syrian people and will continue to push for
pluralistic, democratic development that protects the rights of all
Syrians, regardless of faith, allowing them to live in peace.”

– 30 –

For further information, media representatives may contact:

Media Relations Office Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
613-995-1874 [email protected] Twitter: @FreedomReligion and
@DFATDCanada Facebook: Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom

AL QAEDA-LINKED ISLAMISTS CAPTURE SYRIAN CHRISTIAN VILLAGE

Christian Post
March 26 2014

By Morgan Lee , Christian Post Reporter
March 26, 2014|3:59 pm

Syrian Islamist forces have killed Hilal Assad, a relative of Syrian
President Bashar al Assad and key commander of the government military
forces who was defending the Armenian Christian city of Kassat last
weekend.

Led by Al-Nusra forces, fighters from Ahrar al Sham, the Islamic Front,
and others affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took
over the 1,700 person town on Sunday, filled with many believed to
be backing President Bashar al Assad in hopes that he could better
ensure their safety than Islamist rebels, according to the AP. The
victorious rebels walked through the streets shouting and praising
Allah, the Christian Broadcasting Network has described.

Many of the Armenian-Syrians subsequently lashed out at Turkey
for allowing Islamists to cross and transport weapons across the
Syrian-Turkish border with few repercussions, and expressed anger
towards Turkey shooting down a Syrian war plane the same weekend.

“The Turks are [working against] us again,” a Kassab resident tweeted.

“This is unacceptable considering history. Genocide repeat [in]
Kassab. What a bad day this has been. God bless everyone who is
defending the beautiful village of Kassab.”

Armenian-Syrians are descendants of those who fled a genocide
that came at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915, killing 1.5
million of their people, and resettled in Syria. Triggered by the
increased violence in the region, Armenian-Syrians have seemingly
begun to conflate the actions of Turkey and Al-Qaeda-linked groups
like al-Nusra.

A Kassab student now living in the United Arab Emirates told the WSJ
that many of the town’s residents are now “living in the Armenian
church of Latakia [city] where they receive food from the Armenians
living there.”

“The place we used to spend our summer memories has turned into a war
zone….the Free Syrian Army is bombing the place while the Syrian Army
is doing all they can do to save Kassab…The only positive thing is
that the people in Kassab, including my friends and family, escaped
just in time. They will surely going to be homeless after the battle.”

Christians, who make up around 8 percent of the Syrian population,
have suffered heavily, with Islamic rebel groups destroying churches
and sometimes entire towns, murdering dozens of followers of Christ.

Syrian president elections will be held in July.

SYRIA REBELS ADVANCE IN LATAKIA, ESTABLISH FIRST COASTAL TOE-HOLD

Christian Science Monitor
March 26 2014

Syrian rebel advances into Latakia, a bastion of support for Bashar
al-Assad, prompted a furious government response and fears among
religious minorities.

By Ariel Zirulnick, Staff writer / March 26, 2014

Syrian rebels took parts of Latakia Province this week, securing their
first coastal foothold and one in the heart of a regime stronghold.

Latakia is President Bashar al-Assad’s home province.

The offensive there began on Friday, when Islamist rebels took a
Turkish border crossing and the nearby village of Kasab, Reuters
reports. Latakia and neighboring Tartous Province are Syria’s Alawite
heartland. The Alawite faith, which the Assad family and many members
of the regime inner circle belong to, is an offshoot from Shiite Islam.

The regime has responded to the offensive with reinforcements and
airstrikes. Reuters cites the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
as reporting that 14 regime fighters and six rebels were killed in
fighting Tuesday and 75 wounded rebels were brought across the border
to Turkey for treatment.

The border crossing adjacent to Kasab gives rebels easier access to
regime territory from Turkey. Most of the border region is already
under rebel control.

The Associated Press reports that the rebel push on the coastal
region is an effort to draw regime power away from other parts of
Syria where rebels have faltered:

Rebels were hoping that the clashes would draw more Syrian soldiers
to the area, relieving some pressure on the opposition fighters who
have been badly weakened elsewhere in the country, said an activist
in Latakia who identified himself as Mohammed Abu al-Hassan.

“The thinking is to open a battle that will make the regime rush to
fight,” Abu al-Hassan said. “The regime can’t imagine losing the sea
(of Latakia). They will bring reinforcements, and that will lessen
the pressure (elsewhere).”

The opposition recently lost its foothold in the Qalamoun region,
adjacent to the Lebanese border, just north of Damascus. The defeat,
which sent thousands of refugees and likely many rebel fighters fleeing
into Lebanon, cut the Syrian rebels off from critical smuggling
routes used both to send supplies to rebels and to ferry fighters
back and forth.

Much attention has been given to Kasab, where support for the regime
runs deep, borne out of fear of persecution by rebel elements. The
village is made up largely of Armenian Christians, who had a fraught
history in the region, particularly Turkey, long before the Syrian
war broke out.

Christians in Syria typically back the regime, which, made up largely
of members of the Alawite minority, has a reputation for protecting
religious minorities, The Wall Street Journal reports:

For many of Kassab’s Armenian-Syrians, the Nusra Front occupies one
side of the same coin the Turks do as well – an existential threat
in a war where initial concepts like freedom and democracy have been
sidelined by minorities’ concerns, steeped in thousand-year-old
memories of past injustices perpetrated across the region. Better
the devil you know, than the one you don’t, is the common Christian
refrain.

Armenian-Syrians expressed outrage Sunday over radical Islamist
rebels taking over Kassab, which they said would threaten the town’s
Christian inhabitants, many supporters of President Bashar al Assad’s
forces. Kassab residents cheered on Damascus in the fight against
rebels this weekend, believing the alliance with Mr. Assad — an
Alawite, another religious minority — a safer bet to protect their
interests.

Armenian-Syrians blamed Turkey for rebel advances in Kassab — as
Ankara has long turned a blind eye to rebels crossing their borders and
weapons flows — and equated a win by Nusra with the Armenian genocide.

Islamist rebel groups have become notorious for brutal tactics
and hardline Islamist rule, which has eroded their support among
anti-Assad Syrians. However, perhaps cognizant of Kasab residents’
fears, they released videos of fighters protecting a church and
helping local elderly residents, Reuters reports.

The Associated Press reports that, according to antigovernment
activists, the rebels also captured a coastal tourist area named
Samra on Tuesday. It is tiny and lacks a port, so its capture is more
symbolic than strategic — the first holding with direct access to
the Mediterranean. The rebels posted a video of themselves sitting
by the sea.

Mr. Hassan, mentioned in the first AP report, said that Samra could
be used to smuggle weapons, and that it has been a popular smuggling
point for decades.

SYRIAN CIVIL WAR SPREADS TO ISRAEL, TURKEY

Christian Broadcasting Network
March 26 2014

By Chris Mitchell and John Waage

JERUSALEM, Israel – When the Syrian uprising turned into a civil
war in 2011, most of the trouble stayed inside Syria’s borders,
but that’s changing.

This week armored personnel carriers rushed to Beirut, Lebanon, to
prevent fighting between supporters and opponents of Syrian President
Bashar al Assad. It’s a sign the war has spread well beyond Syria’s
borders.

Another sign: at an election rally last Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan praised the Turkish air force for shooting down a
Syrian plane after it violated Turkey’s air space.

“If you violate our border, our slap will be hard. Therefore, I
congratulate firstly our chief of general staff, and our pilots,”
Erdogan said.

Also last week, Israeli warplanes struck Syrian military posts in the
Golan Heights after a roadside bombing wounded four Israeli soldiers.

It was some of the worst fighting on Israel’s border with Syria
in decades.

Israel doesn’t want a war with Syria, and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s government has tried to steer clear of the fight between
Assad and his opposition. But the conflict is expanding anyway.

“I think we can already consider now that the Israeli-Syria border is
back, is a conflict border once again,” Middle East expert Jonathan
Spyer, with the Gloria Institute, said.

“And what we’re going to see I think as in common with Israel’s other
conflict borders — for example vis-a-vis the Hamas statelet — is
that we will have periodic rounds of violence in which the Hezbollah
or the Assad regime or whoever it is or perhaps in other sectors of
the border the Sunni jihadists on the rebel side will try and redress
the balance against Israel,” he explained.

Muslim rebel groups, some backed by al Qaeda, are gaining ground
near the Turkish border. Recently, they entered a deserted Armenian
Christian town.

“Victory from God, we shall soon conquer!” they shouted.

A short time later, they gained their first foothold on the shores
of the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, Israel has been treating Syrians injured in the fighting.

In February, Netanyahu visited a field hospital and met with some of
the Syrian wounded. He also pointed to Iran as Assad’s chief sponsor
in the widening war.

“Who is supplying these bombs? Who’s supplying these weapons? Iran.

Who’s giving the instructions? Iran. Who’s giving the backing for
this butchery? Iran,” the prime minister said.

Middle East analysts like Spyer warn an Assad victory in Syria is a
victory for Iran.

“This would be an enormous victory for the Iran-led regional block. It
would mean Iran then conclusively established of a single pro-Iranian
block stretching effectively from western Afghanistan from the
Iranian-Afghan border all the way to Mediterranean Sea,” Spyer said.

“This would be an immense victory for the Iranians, and therefore,
an immense defeat for the U.S. interests, which sees, or at least
ought to see – I’m not quite sure if the U.S. does right now see it
this way – but ought to see the Iranian regional block as the most
potent and powerful challenge to Western interests and Western allies
in the Middle East,” he warned.

EXCLUSIVE: TURKISH MILITARY POUNDS SYRIAN ARMY BASES NEAR BORDER

Al-Alam, Iran
March 26 2014

Turkish military tanks have targeted Syrian army bases in the Kasab
border town, where the Syrian army has been battling numerous militant
groups to secure the border.

According to Al-Alam reporter in Syria’s Latakia, a huge explosion
was heard at a Syrian army base near Kasab after Turkish military
targeted the area.

The explosion has been followed with Turkish military firing several
other rockets at Syrian army bases, the reporter said citing military
sources.

The report said, Al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra front have raised their flags
over several Turkish military tanks near Kasab, as a sign of having
the area under their control.

Syria has been criticizing Turkey for ‘covering for’ militant groups
and helping them occupy the Syrian border.

On Sunday, Turkish military shot down a Syrian fighter jet at the
Syrian side of the common borders with Turkey, as it was engaged in
fighting with extremist foreign-backed militants.

Kasab and its surrounding villages are Armenian Christian-dominated
areas, and their value is primarily because of their location near
the Turkish border.

Having the town in their control, militant factions not only are able
to smuggle in arms for themselves, but are able to demand a cut when
other factions use those crossings.

SHI/SHI