Author: Chalian Meline

Scores of people are reported killed in an explosion at an industrial gas plant in south-eastern Nigeria.

A truck is said to have exploded as it was off-loading butane cooking gas in the town of Nnewi in Anambra State, the BBC reports.

Reports of casualties vary from 35 to more than 100 people killed, including factory workers and neighbours.

Local police have confirmed the incident but have yet to provide further details. A huge fire reportedly followed the blast.

The dead and injured were taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi which has a predominantly Christian community.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Nov. 25 that Russia may consider cancelling some important joint projects with Turkey after the downing of the Russian jet by Turkish F-16’s near the Syrian border on Nov. 24.

Turkish companies could lose Russian market share due to the incident, Medvedev said in a statement published on the government website, barring Turkish companies from the Russian market.

“The recklessly criminal actions by the Turkish authorities that shot down a Russianaircraft have led to three consequences. The first is a dangerous aggravation of Russian-NATO relations, which cannot be justified by any rationale, including state border protection. Second, Turkey has demonstrated by its actions that it is, in effect, defending the ISIS [using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] terrorists, which is not surprising, given the available information that certain Turkish officials have direct financial interest in deliveries of oil products from ISIS-owned facilities,” Medvedev said.

Russia may even scrap big energy projects with Turkey, such as the Turkey’s first nuclear power plant for which Russia has been contracted to build.

“And third, long-standing friendly relations between Russia and Turkey, including economic and cultural relations, have been undermined. This damage will be difficult to repair. The direct consequences are likely to be the renunciation of a number of important joint projects and the loss by Turkish companies of their positions in theRussian market,” Medvedev added.

Turkey commissioned Russia’s state-owned Rosatom in 2013 to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors in a project worth $20 billion.

Russia and Turkey are also working on the Turkish Stream pipeline project, an alternative to Russia’s South Stream pipeline, which was to transport gas to Europewithout crossing Ukraine. The South Stream plan was dropped last year due to objections from the European Commission.

French President Francois Hollande has said his country will intensify air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, the BBC reports.

Speaking in Paris after talks with UK PM David Cameron, Mr Hollande confirmed French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would join the military action.

It comes as the Belgian capital, Brussels, remains on the highest level of terror alert for a third day.

Suspected Paris attacks gunman Salah Abdeslam remains at large.

The two leaders agreed to step up co-operation on countering international terrorism, including increased data-sharing and sharing of airline records.

The Islamic State group has said it was responsible for the Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed.

“I firmly support the decisive action taken by President Hollande to strike Isil [IS] in Syria, it is my firm belief that we should do so too,” Mr Cameron said in a statement at a news conference.

Mr Hollande said: “We will intensify our strikes, choosing targets that will do the most damage possible to this army of terrorists.”

Earlier, Mr Hollande and Mr Cameron visited the Bataclan concert hall, where at least 89 people were killed.

Mr Hollande will be meeting the US and Russian presidents later this week.

Mr Cameron said he had offered the French air force the use of the RAF Akrotiri base on Cyprus to mount strikes on IS as well as RAF air-to-air refuelling support.

Photo by Charles Lomodong, AFP

 

Five members of the crew of the cargo plane that crashed in South Sudan today were citizens of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

“According to a preliminary information from the Armenian Embassy in Egypt, five crewmembers were citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” the Ministry said.

Further information about the identity of the victims will follow.

A cargo plane that was reportedly overloaded crashed along the banks of the Nile River after taking off from the South Sudan’s capital.

– The symbol of the confiscation of the properties of Armenian society, Kamp Armen’s deed has been returned to Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation. Foundation’s lawyer Sebu Aslangil declared that the returning process is done.

The most unconscientious confiscation

Kamp Armen is one of the most important memory centers of Armenian society. Tuzla Armenian Children’s Camp, which was bought by Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation with the permission of the governorship and General Directorate for Foundations, hosted children from outside Istanbul for years, including Hrant Dink and Rakel Dink.

The land that was bought by Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation, with its facility that was built by children themselves, was returned to the original owner by the state on the basis of 1936 Declaration. The confiscation process was ended on 1987, when the Supreme Court affirmed the decision.

Administrators of the foundation took all the legal actions they can for getting the camp back, but they obtained no results. Even the law suits that they were opened to get compensation for the facility they built on the empty land remained inconclusive.

With the changes in Law of Foundations in 2011, the process of returning the confiscated properties of the foundations began and an application was made to General Directorate for Foundations for Tuzla Children’s Camp. However, the Directorate didn’t consider the camp as a “confiscated property” because the sale was annulled legally; so, there was no returning or compensation.

175 days of resistance

Fatih Ulusoy, the owner of the camp land, tried to demolish the facilities of the camp, but the demolition was stopped because of people’s reaction. After that, the negotiations between NGO representatives of Armenian society and politicians started; Prime Minister Davutoğlu intervened and the returning process begun. During this process, Nor Zartonk and Kamp Armen Solidarity Movement were on watch on the camp. During this watch, activists were attacked twice.

A part is expropriated

On May 22, Ulusoy declared that he will return the deed to the foundation. However, he didn’t do it despite his announcement. Meanwhile, the meeting with committees including officials from Tuzla Municipality, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and AKP government continued.

While the meetings were continuing, Tuzla Municipality expropriated a part of the camp land; so, the land that was owned by Ulusoy became smaller. After the expropriation, as a result of the meetings, Ulusoy returned the deed to Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation.

The Islamic State (IS) group captured 19 of Pari Ibrahim’s female relatives when it tore through Iraq last year. Two have escaped, the rest remain in sexual slavery – or worse, Ibrahim told .

On Wednesday, she brought her message to the UN Security Council. She criticised diplomats for failing to show unity against IS atrocities and urged them to refer a case of genocide to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

“For Yazidis, it is very important to secure recognition that a genocide was committed against us,” she said. “The word genocide is important, and starting an ICC case will eventually bring recognition, reparations and ensure the protection of civilians in the future.”

Ibrahim suggested a new draft resolution that would not affect Assad. It would limit the court’s jurisdiction to genocide and other crimes committed against Yazidis in Sinjar and Nineveh Plains, in northwest Iraq, from August 2014 onwards, she said.

It was not immediately clear whether any UN members back Ibrahim’s plan, but divisions in the council over Syria deepened last month with the start of Russia’s airstrike campaign against IS and other opponents of Assad’s forces in Syria.

The Vatican denied on Wednesday an Italian media report that Pope Francis has a benign brain tumor, Reuters reports.

“The circulation of entirely unfounded news regarding the health of the Holy Father by an Italian newspaper is gravely irresponsible and unworthy of attention,” chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

“Furthermore, as is clearly evident, the pope is carrying out his very intense activity in a totally normal way,” he said.

Francis later held his weekly general audience before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and was due to return to a three-week gathering of Roman Catholic bishops from around the world, which he has been attending daily.

The newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale, a national paper based in central Italy, reported on its front page on Wednesday that the 78-year-old pope had secretly flown by helicopter to a small Tuscan town “some time ago” to see a Japanese doctor.

The paper reported that the Argentine pontiff was diagnosed with “a small dark spot on the brain”, but that it was curable.

The pope has appeared to be in good health in recent months apart from some leg pain due to the fact that he suffers from sciatica, for which he undergoes regular physical therapy in the Vatican.

TBS has decided to postpone Conan O’Brien’s Armenia special for a week to avoid Republicans debates. It will air on November 17 instead of 10.

Before that Conan speaks of his 4-day ‘fascinating’ trip to Armenia and tells about the millions of crazy Armenian experiences.

“It’s going to be a great show. The people of Armenia are amazing. It was a glorious experience,” Conan says.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is expected to deliver a judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland on 15 October. On this occasion he Armenian delegation led by RA Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan has left for Strasbourg.

Armenia has been involved in the case as a third party. The involcement of the Republic of Armenia became possible due to the Court’s position not to address the legal wording of the Armenian Genocide, and, therefore,  not address the substantial issues related to the crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in 1915. Nevertheless, in its judgment it has referred to the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide and made evaluative assessments principally unacceptable for Armenia. The judgment also included a number of contradictory assessments.

The Republic of Armenia expects a fair verdict, which will not contain formulations that will cast doubt on the fact of the Armenian Genocide in historical, legal or any other context. The aim is to prevent the judgment of the European Court from becoming a tool in the hands of the Armenian Genocide deniers who will try to use it for their immoral purposes.

Reminder: The case concerns Turkish national Doğu Perinçek and his acts of  spreading racism and nationalism. He is the chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party and represents himself as a doctor of laws. During the months of May, July and September of 2005, Perinçek participated in three public events in cities of Lausanne, Opfikon and Köniz, Switzerland, in the course of which he publicly denied that mass deportations and massacres suffered by the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards had amounted to genocide. More specifically, he qualified the Armenian Genocide as an “international lie”.

On July 2005, the Switzerland-Armenia Association lodged a complaint against Perinçek on account of the content of his statements made at the above-mentioned events. Following this complaint, on 9 March 2007 the Lausanne District Police Court found him guilty of the offence of racial discrimination under Article 261 bis § 4 of the Swiss Criminal Code. The Lausanne District Police Court held that Perinçek’s speech on denial of the Armenian Genocide had racist motives, was nationalistic by its nature and cannot be considered to be within the historical discussion or debate. The Lausanne District Police Court has also mentioned that according to Swiss public opinion the Armenian Genocide is a universally proven event and proven historical fact. With this reasoning the court sentenced Perinçek to imprisonment and fine.

Perinçek appealed against the judgment of the Lausanne District Police Court in different instances, but to no avail.

In his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, Doğu Perinçek has claimed that his criminal conviction and punishment for having publicly denied the Armenian Genocide was in breach of his right to freedom of expression under Article 10.

A Grand Chamber hearing in case of Perinçek v. Switzerland was held on 28 January 2015.

The members of the legal team led by Gevorg Kostanyan, the Government Agent before the ECtHR, RA Prosecutor General are Arman Tatoyan, RA Deputy Minister of Justice, Deputy Agent before the ECtHR, Emil Babayan, Prosecutor General, Geoffrey Robertson, the founder of London Doughty Street Chambers, a well-known international lawyer, Amal Clooney and Toby Collis, well-known international lawyers.