Yerevan, Moscow discuss creating new Armenia national air carrier Yerevan, Moscow discuss creating new Armenia national air carrier
18:03, 21.12.2017
The governments of Armenia and Russia have discussed the matter of creating a new national air carrier in Armenia, according to RFE/RL Armenian Service.
“There was a preliminary discussion, after which no substantial step has been taken,” said Sergey Avetisyan, Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation (GDCA) of Armenia, speaking to RFE/RL.
Earlier, Denis Manturov, the Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, had announced that discussions were held with the Armenian side for already a year now, and noted that this new airline will be operated with Russian production aircrafts.
The Armenian GDCA chief on Thursday confirmed that the matter of these Russian airplanes was conferred on, but added that everything is preliminary.
The Russian side was the first to announce about the talks with respect to creating a new Armenian national air carrier.
Sergey Avetisyan said there are no discussions at this time, and he cannot say whether there will be discussions in the future.
Revealed: Why Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s exile at Manchester United may be a clash of styles rather than work ethic
The image that sums up Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s time at Manchester UnitedCredit: ACTION IMAGES
It was around this time last year that Jose Mourinho kept reiterating that he was not trying to push Morgan Schneiderlin or Memphis Depay out of Old Trafford when, in reality, their positions at Manchester United had become hopeless and a move was the only logical solution.
It is a tried and trusted tactic – put the onus on the player at the same time as creating circumstances that leave him with his back against a wall.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not quite at that point, but his United career is at a crossroads 18 months after his £26.3million move from Borussia Dortmund. The question is now less about his role in Mourinho’s starting XI and more about whether his exile from the Portuguese’s 18-man squad is temporary or something more serious. The Armenian playmaker has been omitted from seven of the past eight squads, and few will be surprised if he is left out again against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns today.
Mourinho has taken to tiptoeing around the Mkhitaryan debate, instead talking generically about others being more deserving of their place, but he had no qualms about going in with two feet last month when he accused the player of a gradual “disappearing” act.
“His performance levels in terms of goal-scoring and assists, high pressing, recovering the ball high up the pitch, bringing the team with him as a No10, were decreasing step by step,” Mourinho said. But is it as clear-cut as that? Or might there be a fundamental clash of philosophies and styles here, as Alan Smith, the former Arsenal striker, suggested this week. “He has not been playing well enough, but maybe the system doesn’t suit him,” Smith said.
It has long been fashionable to compare and contrast Mourinho and Pep Guardiola’s brands of football, but it is not unreasonable to wonder if Mkhitaryan’s skill set, turn of speed and technique would be better suited to Manchester City’s attacking system than United’s more rigid set-up.
There was never any chance of City’s creative sparks being asked to tackle Spurs last night in the way Mkhitaryan was predominantly tasked with trying to cut off Tottenham’s out-ball to Harry Winks at Old Trafford in October, for example. Creator effectively became makeshift destroyer – chasing, screening, harrying, grappling. This reactive role was not what Jurgen Klopp or Thomas Tuchel envisaged for their creative fulcrum at Dortmund.
Mkhitaryan created one chance, attempted 37 passes, made three recoveries and ran 8.2 kilometres in that Spurs game compared with averages of 10.54 kilometres covered, 50 passes made, 5.8 recoveries and 3.4 chances fashioned in his opening five league games of the campaign when the accent was on attack. Against Liverpool and Chelsea, he made an average of 28.5 sprints compared with 51.6 in those first five fixtures.
Stories about Mkhitaryan going in on his days off or doing extra work to win back Mourinho’s trust ignore the fact that he has always done that.
Tuchel tells how at his time at Dortmund they had returned home from a European game in the early hours and noticed Mkhitaryan’s car at the training ground long after everyone had gone home. Curious as to what was going on, Tuchel found Mkhitaryan sat in an ice bath at 4am. Klopp spoke of a player who was the harshest of selfcritics. Professionalism has never been an issue. Whether Mkhitaryan and Mourinho’s footballing attitudes are compatible, though, is another matter.
Mhkitaryan’s snub of Mourinho in the FIFA Best Coach awards may have had serious repercussions
By Andrew Butler
16th December 2017,2:18 pm
Things are not going well for Henrikh Mkhitaryan right now.
The Manchester United midfielder hasn’t started a match for the Red Devils since November 5 and is reportedly close to a January exit from Old Trafford.
Having played a big part for United last season, he finds himself well out of favour with his manager with fans questioning why.
Now it appears there’s an interesting theory doing the rounds that suggests Mkhitaryan may have put his foot in it back in October at FIFA’s ‘The Best’ awards.
Matt Hughes of The Times notes that Mkhitaryan’s snub of his current manager at FIFA’s ‘The Best’ awards may have led to his freezing out at the club.
As captain of Armenia, Mkhitaryan was given a vote for the best three managers in the world, and he opted for Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane, Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri and Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim.
Fair enough you might think, but it is common for players to go the easier route and simply vote for their club manager in this sort of thing.
For example, Eden Hazard chose Antonio Conte while Lionel Messi opted for Luis Enrique – but Mkhitaryan went for the coaches he probably genuinely believed are the top three – and it didn’t feature Mourinho.
In The Times, Hughes notes Mkhitaryan has only made two starts since the vote was made public on October 23, and adds that his paranoia may be understandable.
The employees of the State Food Safety Service of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia, within the framework of state control, conduct regular visits to the meat market.
The State Food and Drug Administration informs that 880 kg of meat of unknown origin without veterinary accompanying documents was found today at the sales point of Mekhak Grigoryan, an individual entrepreneur operating at 16 Zavaryan Street, of which, according to external inspection, about 200 kg is horse meat.
According to the order of the inspector of the service, the sale of the specified batch of meat was suspended. sampling was done and sent for laboratory testing.
GLENDALE—The All-Armenian Student Association is appalled and dismayed at the appointment of Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, to the Selection Committee for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. As a notable scholar with expertise in human rights, Power continuously failed to use her high-level position in the Obama administration to hold President Obama to his campaign promise regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Samantha Power began her career as a war correspondent in Bosnia during the civil war, where she became critical of the Clinton administration’s near-paralysis in the face of ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian population. Her observations were summarily collected in her Pulitzer-Prize winning book, “A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide,” in which she firmly concludes that despite the outcry of “never again” following the Holocaust, the international community, particularly the United States, remains idle and ineffective in putting an end to mass atrocities.
Nevertheless, her ardent advocacy for human rights became stymied upon her appointment as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Power joined Obama’s campaign in 2008. A week before the presidential election, she released a video directed specifically to the Armenian-American community, urging them to vote for Obama because of his firm promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide once he is elected. During his eight years in office, President Obama dishonored his campaign pledge and Samantha Power – a person who knew all too well the gravity of this decision for the international community – did nothing to reverse his course.
In April 2017, Power took to social media to express regret for her failure to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide during her time on Obama’s cabinet. “I am very sorry, that, during our time in office, we in the Obama Administration did not recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Power said on Twitter. During her tenure, Power clearly prioritized political expediency over properly advocating for the issues she believes in. An _expression_ of regret, stated at a time when she has seemingly less power, is nothing but a missed opportunity. It is a disappointment not only for the Armenian community, but for the international community as a whole.
Further, it is even more disappointing that the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, which was “founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors,” would reward Samantha Power with a seat on their Selection Committee. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is designed to raise public awareness and address some of the world’s most pressing humanitarian issues. At the forefront of these issues should be the need to hold public officials accountable for the decisions they make in protecting vulnerable communities.
The founders of the Initiative – Noubar Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian, and Ruben Vardanyan – have made a misguided decision in appointing Samantha Power to the Selection Committee. They have selectively praised her unparalleled expertise on human rights, while not recognizing that expertise alone does not justify her silence and inaction. We cannot merely praise her influential work in the past, while ignoring the fact that she fell extremely short at a time and stage that mattered the most. The All-ASA condemns the appointment of Samantha Power to the Selection Committee of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. We urge the Founders of the Aurora Prize, Noubar Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian, and Ruben Vardanyan, to reverse this decision.
The All-Armenian Student Association (All-ASA) works to unite various Armenian-American college student organizations and serve the greater Armenian-American community through cultural, social, educational, and activist programming. As the largest confederation of Armenian student organizations in the nation, All-ASA is dedicated to collaboration among its constituent organizations, leadership development of its members, and community service.
L’Express s’est entretenu avec Bako Sahakian, le président du Haut-Karabagh. Une république auto-proclamée située sur le territoire de l’Azerbaïdjan, non-reconnue par la communauté internationale.
Quand les armes se tairont-elles? Des combats de tranchées ont encore lieu, sporadiquement, entre les armées de l’Azerbaïdjan et du Haut-Karabagh, une région qui a souhaité s’en détacher lors de l’éclatement de l’URSS, avec le soutien armé décisif de l’Arménie, que Bakou reconnaît comme seul belligérant.
La guerre pour le contrôle de ce territoire, peuplé majoritairement d’Arméniens, a fait 30 000 morts et des centaines de milliers de réfugiés. Et depuis le cessez-le-feu de 1994, rien n’a changé, la signature d’un traité de paix se faisant toujours attendre – cette république auto-proclamée n’est reconnue par aucun Etat membre de l’ONU.
Une signature qui ne devrait pas intervenir tout de suite considère le président du Haut-Karabagh, Bako Sahakian. De passage en France cette semaine pour le lancement des “Journées de l’Artsakh”, L’Express l’a rencontré.
Le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergueï Lavrov, a déclaré cette semaine que les négociations pour la paix entre le Haut-Karabagh et l’Azerbaïdjan “ne se termineront pas de sitôt”…
Bako Sahakian: Je préfère des analyses réalistes comme celle-ci aux déclarations de haut-responsables politiques de tel ou tel pays annonçant que la solution est proche. Mon pays est la partie la plus intéressée pour une paix définitive dans la région. Le seul fait que l’Artsakh (nom officiel du Haut-Karabagh depuis un vote en 2017) ne soit pas reconnu par d’autres pays est pénalisant pour notre population.
Pour arriver au début de l’établissement d’une paix, il faut établir des relations de confiance entre les parties. Ce qui n’existe pas du tout aujourd’hui. En tout cas, l’accord obtenu avec les médiateurs du conflit, qui concernait la mise en place de mécanismes d’enquête pour éviter toute violation du cessez-le-feu, n’a pas été respecté. Il aurait pu influer d’une manière positive sur l’établissement d’une relation de confiance et permis qu’on ne s’entre-tue plus.
Qu’attendez-vous de la France, dans le groupe de Minsk avec les Etats-Unis et la Russie, chargé de faciliter une issue pacifique du conflit?
La France est un pays ami pour les Arméniens. Et notre première volonté, dans le contexte du conflit, n’est pas que la France devienne un ennemi de l’Azerbaïdjan.
LIRE AUSSI >> “Diplomatie du caviar” en Azerbaïdjan: une enquête anti-corruption en Europe
Mais en même temps, nous ne souhaitons pas que des relations s’établissent entre l’Azerbaïdjan et un certain nombre de responsables politiques sur la base de mensonges, de corruption et de fausses valeurs. Cela se fait en grande partie au détriment de notre pays.
L’Azerbaïdjan a acheté beaucoup d’armements sophistiqués ces dernières années. Craignez-vous une attaque d’envergure?
Que ce soit avant l’achat de ces armes sophistiquées ou après, l’Azerbaïdjan a toujours été dans la logique de les utiliser contre le Haut-Karabagh. Elle ne s’en est jamais cachée et son président, notamment, profère assez régulièrement des menaces. Quand il y a eu l’agression azerbaïdjanaise de quatre jours en 2016 (110 morts, dont des civils, de part et d’autre), une partie de ces armes a été utilisée contre le Haut-Karabagh.
Une grande partie de ces armes a été vendue par la Russie, pourtant partenaire stratégique de l’Arménie et amie du Haut-Karabagh. Vladimir Poutine ne joue-t-il pas un double-jeu?
L’Azerbaïdjan en achète également à Israël, la Biélorussie, l’Ukraine et d’autres pays. L’occasion nous a été donnée à plusieurs reprises de dire que ces ventes à l’Azerbaïdjan sont inadmissibles, sachant qu’il promet leur utilisation contre le Haut-Karabagh. Il y a des négociations auxquelles l’Azerbaïdjan participe, mais parallèlement, il ne cesse pas les menaces d’une reprise de la guerre. C’est un pays qui se durcit, dont on connaît la situation en matière de liberté [en régression]. Nous considérons que cette menace n’est pas uniquement contre les Arméniens, mais aussi contre la communauté internationale dans son ensemble.
Des canons arméniens, pointés vers l’armée de l’Azerbaïdjan, le 8 avril 2016, au Haut-Karabagh.
REUTERS
Le régime en place en Azerbaïdjan, incarné par le clan Aliyev, vous paraît-il durable?
L’actuel président azerbaïdjanais (Ilham Aliyev) a hérité son pouvoir de son père (Heydar Aliyev, président de 1993 jusqu’à sa mort en 2003 à 80 ans). Récemment, il a nommé son épouse comme vice-présidente du pays (Mehriban Aliyev). Cette famille veut rester coûte que coûte au pouvoir. Je parie que quand le fils aura l’âge de prendre le pouvoir, il trouvera une fonction qui garantira à cette famille de le conserver.
La restitution à l’Azerbaïdjan de certains districts qui ne sont pas peuplés par des Arméniens vous semble-t-elle, à terme, envisageable?
Ce n’est évidemment pas la première fois que l’on me pose la question. Voici ma réponse: l’Azerbaïdjan a été artificiellement créé au début du XXe siècle sur une partie de notre territoire, le Haut-Karabagh, sur décision du parti bolchevique. Je suis en désaccord avec l’affirmation d’une “occupation” par l’armée du Haut-Karabagh. Le conflit qui a surgi entre l’Azerbaïdjan et le Haut-Karabagh a été la conséquence de la politique des bolcheviques. Nous ne pouvons pas trouver de solution si on continue à réfléchir comme eux.
Et concernant les ex-zones de peuplement azéri sous votre contrôle?
Le malentendu existe avec la communauté internationale parce qu’elle met la question des frontières et du statut des territoires au centre des solutions. Pourquoi, dès lors, ne pas parler des territoires peuplés d’Arméniens et qui ne le sont plus, à la suite de nettoyage, comme à Chahoumian, dans la partie nord du Haut-Karabagh (sous contrôle azéri depuis la guerre). Nous sommes d’accord pour discuter des territoires évoqués, mais il faudrait discuter de l’ensemble de ces territoires d’une manière globale.
La ville fantôme d’Agdam, à présent sous contrôle arménien, a compté près de 30 000 habitants, majoritairement azéris. Ici le 29 octobre 2009.
REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili
Quelle est votre position concernant la Catalogne, dont l’autorité régionale a vainement proclamé son indépendance?
Mon pays exprime sa solidarité envers tous les peuples qui luttent pour leur liberté et leurs droits. Certains processus sont irréversibles, à partir du moment où tout un peuple aspire à la même chose. S’il y a des divergences de points de vue, il faut les régler de manière pacifique. La guerre ne règle rien. Ce que je souhaite au peuple catalan, s’il souhaite, sur la base de son droit à l’autodétermination, changer de statut, c’est qu’il le fasse d’une manière pacifique.
Pas question donc de reconnaître à ce stade une indépendance catalane?
L’établissement de relations normalisées entre les Catalans et l’Etat espagnol est dans l’intérêt des deux entités. C’est à eux de s’entendre. S’ils ne s’entendent pas, nous pourrions voir, en fonction des relations que nous pourrions établir, qu’elle sera notre position. Mais je ne suis pas favorable à une reconnaissance par principe. Ce n’est que déclaratif et cela n’apportera rien de substantiel.
The film was shot both in Manchester and Yerevan. Mediamax Director Ara Tadevosyan also features in the documentary, speaking about Mkhitaryan’s status in Armenia.
“He is the hero of this country. Everyone is proud of him. Even people who don’t normally watch football every day, even they started to watch the Premier League and follow Manchester United. He is a very important man for this country, not as a footballer but as a guy who symbolizes the Armenian dream,” said Tadevosyan.
Karabakh President receives Consul General of Armenia to LionKarabakh President receives Consul General of Armenia to Lion
22:18, 16.11.2017
STEPANAKERT.- Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan received on Thursday Consul General of the Republic of Armenia to Lion, philanthropist Nikolay Sarkisov.
Issues related to the realization of various programs in Artsakh and the Motherland-Diaspora ties were on the discussion agenda.
The Head of the State expressed gratitude to Nikolay Sarkisov for consistent support to Artsakh, his active participation in its development and handed him the “Vachagan Barepasht” medal for substantial contribution to the recognition of the NKR independence with which he was awarded in connection with the 25th anniversary of the NKR proclamation.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu on Tuesday
Israel’s continued arms sales to Azerbaijan and its refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide still seen as obstacles
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Israel and Armenia want to bolster and expand relations. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Tuesday, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu, said that such meetings will bring “new impetus” to Israel-Armenia ties.
During their meeting, the two explored intensification of trade and economic relations, expansion of the legal framework, the perspectives of implementing joint programs in the fields of information technologies, education and science, tourism and agriculture.
Reportedly, the two also touched on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process, with Nalbandian briefing Netenyahu on the most recent developments on that front. Wider regional issues were also discussed, with Netenyahu expressing concern about Iran’s “attempts to establish a military presence in the region.”
“We’ll strengthen relations between Israel and Armenia in tech, cyberspace and agriculture,” Netenyahu, who is also Israel’s foreign minister, tweeted after talks with Nalbandian.
Nalbandian’s trip to Israel is considered important for advancing relations between the two countries.
Bolstering Armenia’s relations with Israel, which does not have an embassy in Yerevan, was also high on the agenda of a visit to Yerevan by Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi in July when the two signed agreements on visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic passports and abolished double-taxation between the two countries—an issue being raised with United States administration officials as a next step in advancing U.S.-Armenia relations.
Soon after Hanegbi’s visit to Armenia, the Israeli defense ministry announced an investigation into an Israeli defense manufacturer, which allegedly live-tested its suicide drone, purchased by Azerbaijan, on Artsakh targets. The contract has been suspended until the investigative body of the Israeli defense ministry completes its probe on the matter, which if proven true, could place Israel in the middle of the Karabakh issue as a side to the conflict.
Despite the optimism over advancing relations between Israel and Armenia, Hakob Sevan, the chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem spoke to Armenpress and cited Israel continued and growing arms supply to Azerbaijan as a potential obstacle in advancing those ties.
“We know that Israel continues to supply arms to Azerbaijan which carries out an anti-Armenian policy,” Sevan told Armenpress on Tuesday.
The Jerusalem ANC leader also pointed out another obstacle: Israel’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Official Tel Aviv has often used the so-called “Genocide card” when its relations with Turkey have been frayed
“On the other hand, we have the issue of [Israel’s] non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We cannot rule out that the steps aimed at bolstering relations with Armenia are being done within the context of [Israel] not having such good relations with Turkey,” added Sevan in his interview with Armenpress.
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian meets with Knesset leader Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday
The Genocide issue came up in Nalbandian’s discussions with Yuli Edelstein, the leader of the Israeli legislature, the Knesset.
Edelstein told Nalbandian his view that the Genocide must be acknowledged, but no concrete pledges were made that Israel would finally recognize the Genocide.
Nalbandian visited Yad Vashem, laid a wreath at the Memorial to the Holocaust victims and toured the Israeli national Holocaust Museum, where he left a note in its guestbook.
“The most important lessons that Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan tell us is that new genocides, crimes against humanity can be prevented only by combined efforts of the international community. It is the moral obligation of Armenians and Jews, the nations that passed through the horrors of genocide, to stand at the forefront of such efforts,” Nalbandian wrote in the memorial book.
During his visit, Nalbandian also visited the Jerusalem Patriarchate and met with Patriarch Archbishop Nurhan Manukian.
THE KOREA HERALD
November 1, 2017 Wednesday
Like the Palestinians, the Kurds deserve a state
[Shlomo Avineri]
Nowadays, almost everyone agrees that the Palestinian people deserve a
state, and that they should not live under Israeli rule. Most Israelis
share this view, including even Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who
has reluctantly stated his own commitment to a two-state solution. And
in many Western democracies, a strong left-wing constituency regularly
organizes demonstrations in favor of Palestinian independence.The
argument for Palestinian statehood is anchored in a fundamentally
moral claim for national self-determination. Yet when it comes to
securing the same right for the Kurdish people, the West has been
shamefully and strangely silent.
Western democracies offered no support for the Kurdistan Regional
Government��s independence referendum in late September, and they
have not spoken out against the Iraqi and Turkish governments��
threats to crush the KRG��s bid for statehood by force.When
officials in the European Union or the United States give a reason for
opposing Kurdish independence, it always comes down to realpolitik.
Iraq��s territorial integrity must be preserved, we are told, and
independence for the KRG could destabilize Turkey and Iran, owing to
those countries�� sizeable Kurdish minorities.But these arguments
merely underscore a double standard. Moral claims for
self-determination are justly raised in the case of the Palestinians,
but they are entirely absent from the international discourse about
Kurdistan. Worse still, the brutal oppression of the Kurds over many
generations has been totally overlooked. In Iraq under Saddam Hussein,
the Kurds were subjected to genocidal chemical-weapons attacks. And in
Turkey, the military has razed hundreds of Kurdish villages.Among the
arguments used to deny the Kurds their right to self-determination,
the defense of Iraq��s territorial integrity is the most spurious
and hypocritical of all. When British statesmen established Iraq as a
distinct political entity after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in
World War I, they did so in accordance with their own imperialist
interests. Accordingly, they disregarded the territory��s history,
geography, demography, and ethnic and religious diversity.The
residents of this newly conjured state were never actually asked if
they wanted to live in a country with an overwhelming Shia majority
and large Kurdish and Christian minorities. And they certainly were
never asked if they wanted to be ruled by a Sunni dynasty that the
British had implanted from the Hejaz, now a part of Saudi
Arabia.Initially, under the Treaty of Sevres, which the defeated
Ottoman Empire signed in August 1920, the Kurds, like the Armenians,
were promised an independent state. But the victorious Allied powers
later abandoned this promise, and the Kurdish people have lived under
constant oppression ever since.In what became northern Iraq, the
Kurds, like the country��s Assyrian Christians, were for decades
denied recognition of their distinct language and culture by hegemonic
Arab rulers in Baghdad. In this context, ��territorial
integrity�� is nothing more than an alibi for ethnic or religious
oppression.Similarly, the tens of millions of Kurds living in Turkey
and Iran have also long been denied basic human and cultural rights.
It is thus understandable that the Turkish and Iranian governments
would object to the KRG��s independence bid: they fear the
emergence, if it succeeds, of similar movements among their own
oppressed Kurdish populations.But the prospect of an independent
Palestine destabilizing Jordan is never offered as an argument against
Palestinian statehood, and nor should such an argument be used against
Iraq��s Kurds. Moreover, the KRG has already established a
relatively open and pluralistic society. As a semi-autonomous region,
Iraqi Kurdistan operates under a multi-party system the likes of which
one will not find in neighboring Arab countries, let alone in Iran or
Turkey, which is increasingly turning toward authoritarianism.National
self-determination is a universal right that should not be denied to
populations suffering under oppressive non-democratic regimes. The
same arguments that rightly apply to the Palestinians should apply
equally to the Kurds. Human-rights activists who demonstrate for
Palestinian statehood should be no less vocal on behalf of Kurdish
statehood. And human-rights claims - unless they are applied
selectively as part of a hypocritical sham - should always trump
realpolitik.Throughout their long, tragic history, the Kurds have
repeatedly been abandoned by the West, to its great shame. This must
not happen again. Kurdish Peshmerga have been Western
democracies�� staunchest allies in the fight against the Islamic
State. It would be a bitter travesty to abandon the Kurds to the mercy
of the Iraqi or Turkish governments in their time of need.By Shlomo
Avineri Shlomo Avineri, Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, is a former director-general of Israel��s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. -- Ed.(Project Syndicate)