Author: Jagharian Tania

Former Turkish Colonel Dursun Çiçek, who spent years in jail for allegedly masterminding a plan to defame the ruling party and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, admitted that the army had been running web-sites to defame and discredit the government as well as Kurds, Armenians and the Gülen movement, reports. 

The web-sites, which date back to early 2000s, were seen as part of an Internet campaign to discredit the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Islamist politicians before it came to power. The military had intensified its campaign to defame the government led by late Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and eventually forced him to resign in 1997.

Most of the 42 web-sites were shut down in 2007, but the investigation into these propaganda sites were launched in 2011, when at least 22 army personnel, including generals, were taken into custody. Ret. Col. Çiçek was among the chief suspects. He is now a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Çiçek told reporters on Tuesday that the propaganda websites document was “authentic” and that military intelligence chief İsmail Hakkı Pekin, who earlier accused Çiçek of masterminding the plot, approved the document.

The propaganda web-sites were mostly run by Çiçek since 2007 and the military allegedly spent a lot of time and effort to run them. Most of them included contents that are aimed at defaming the government, Gülen, Armenians and Kurds.

The Ministry of Education and Science has announced Armenian schoolchildren will not participate in the 47^th International Chemistry Olympiad to be held in Baku from July 20-29.

It was initially reported that Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan would lead the team to Azerbaijan.

However, the Azeri side failed to provide security guarantees to Armenia before June 15 – the deadline for registration.

Minister Ashotyan today called on international organizations to take note of this particular case and refuse from organizing international scientific-educational events in Baku in the future.

A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane has made an emergency landing in Melbourne, Australia after reporting a possible engine fire, the BBC reports.

Flight MH148 had just taken off from Melbourne for the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Plane tracking sites showed the Airbus 330 circling Melbourne airport several times before turning back.

Fire engines were on site but airport officials said it landed safely at 15:00 local time (05:00 GMT).

A spokeswoman for Airservices Australia, the government’s aviation safety body, said the plane had reported an “engine fire” alert in the cabin.

“The plane proceeded to dump the fuel and returned to land and it landed safely at the aviation rescue sites,” she told Reuters news agency. Officials said this was standard procedure for an emergency landing.

Through July 9, 2015, Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) will host “Ashfall,” an art installation and exhibit by Dallas-based artist Robert Barsamian that poignantly tells the story of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, the reports.

A 16’x16’ structure erected within the university’s Buley Library gallery space with the help of Southern art students, “Ashfall” contains its own lighting and sound system. Inside the structure are portraits on lace, framed by branches—elements from Armenian culture—along with a bench that allows visitors to pause and contemplate the exhibit, which has been called a “sacred space.”

In addition to the structure, the gallery displays text panels that speak to the violence and loss the genocide engendered. A smaller installation in the gallery space, called “Road to Aleppo,” is a boat with a figure lying on a funeral pier, representing the spirits of those who died on the death marches through the Syrian desert to Aleppo. Large drawings on silk are draped behind this piece.

“Ashfall” is open to the public through July 9, and admission is free. The gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 1-4 p.m., or by appointment. For more information about visiting “Ashfall,” which is being displayed in New England for the first time, call (203) 392-5768.

Artist Barsamian grew up in Whitinsville, Mass., the son and grandson of survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. In the 1990’s, Barsamian recalled the stories his grandmother had told him about her experiences escaping the genocide, and became inspired to depict such atrocities in his art. He eventually began to create art installations to convey the feeling of inhumane acts perpetrated by man against man and began expressing the injustices of the genocide with his multimedia installations. “Ashfall” is one such installation.

An opening reception for “Ashfall” on April 24 was one of several events held at Southern to mark the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. On April 23, the SCSU Symphonic Band presented a concert entitled “Music of Armenia,” featuring folk music by composers Hovhaness, Reed, Khachaturian, Komitas, and Strauss. The following day, guest musicians Anna Hayrapetyan and Tatev Amiryan performed a recital featuring pieces connected specifically with the genocide theme by Armenian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Komitas, Mirzonyan, Kanachyan, and Amiryan.

“Southern’s commitment to social justice is very much animated by the recognition of man’s inhumanity to man,” said SCSU President Mary A. Papazian. “The Centenary of the Armenian Genocide gives us pause to recall the mass suffering that occurred at that time and at other periods throughout history. By remembering the past, we can work to build a better future for all.”

“Art and music are highly effective media to tell this heart-wrenching story and touch our emotions,” Papazian said.

President Serzh Sargsyan received Satoshi Tsunakawa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation.

The president welcomed the guest and noted that he is happy about the activities carried out by Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation – a leading international healthcare services company – in Armenia and its intention to promote cooperation with Armenian companies.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed the hope that Mr. Tsunakawa’s visit will give impetus to the promotion of collaboration and inclusion of new dimensions and programs therein. The Armenian president underscored that he remembers with pleasure his visit to Japan in 2012 during which he had the chance to visit the Toshiba Science Museum which was very impressive.

The Armenian president attached importance to the active work of the Japanese and Armenian embassies to boost Armenian-Japanese relations in various spheres.

At the meeting, the president introduced the guest to the favorable business and investment climate in Armenia and the conditions therein to attract foreign investments which Toshiba might also be interested in.

Satoshi Tsunakawa expressed satisfaction with the fact that Toshiba Medical Systems continues to expand its activities in Armenia and stressed that his company will keep on supporting the development of healthcare in Armenia. He mentioned that the company is also interested in some other dimensions making up a part of the company’s activities; e.g. nuclear energy, seismology, as well as cooperation development and exchange of experience with Armenia.
The RA president and the president of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation attached great value to the work and development of cooperation aimed at the provision of quality services through the use of modern technologies and, hence, at the protection of human health and the increase in living standards.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly criticized his predecessor for attending a football match between Turkish and Armenian national teams in 2008, which was then dubbed “football diplomacy” between Turkey and Armenia, reports. 

Speaking to a group of nationally respected historians at the presidential palace in Ankara on Thursday during a meeting to discuss the 1915 killings of Armenians, President Erdogan this time targeted former president Abdullah Gül for visiting Yerevan to attend a soccer match several years ago, becoming the first Turkish president to set foot in Armenia since the ex-Soviet nation gained independence in 1991

According to Erdogan, Gül’s visit played into the hands of Armenians and failed to yield any substantial result on the diplomatic front, a historian who attended the meeting told the media.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan invited Gül to watch a World Cup qualifying match between the Turkish and Armenian national teams in Yerevan in September 2008. Gül’s landmark visit to Yerevan paved the way for a diplomatic breakthrough for both countries, which have no diplomatic relations even though Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence.

Following Gül’s visit, both countries embarked upon a number of diplomatic meetings mediated by Switzerland, resulting in the Zurich protocols to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia. The protocols were signed in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009 with the aim of establishing diplomatic relations and opening the two countries’ land border.

The process for reconciliation between the two countries has been deadlocked since then.

The co-pilot of the Germanwings plane which crashed in the French Alps in March may have practised a rapid descent on a previous flight, a report by French investigators has said, the BBC reports.

The report said Andreas Lubitz repeatedly set the plane into an unauthorised descent earlier that day.

Lubitz is suspected of deliberately crashing the Airbus 320, killing all 150 people on board.

The plane had been flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf on 24 March.

The descent occurred on the plane’s outbound flight from Duesseldorf to Barcelona on the same day, the report said.

The co-pilot is known to have suffered depression in the past.

Last month German prosecutors revealed that Lubitz had researched suicide methods and the security of cockpit doors.

Voice recorder findings suggest he locked the pilot out of the cockpit on the doomed flight.

news.az, Azerbaijan
May 22 2010

‘Armenia avoids serious steps towards peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict’
Sat 22 May 2010 | 07:31 GMT Text size:

Asim Mollazade ‘At present a document, designed by the Minsk Group, is
not accepted by Armenia.

Turkey has made it clear that it would not sacrifice its national
interests for the sake of America and open borders with Armenia until
the Armenian forces withdraw from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

And to this day it holds its position’, said chairman of the Party of
Democratic Reforms, deputy Asim Mollazade.

‘This proves that in a democratic country like the United States, the
corresponding lobby organization of the ethnic diaspora, especially
such a politically active diaspora as the Armenian, succeed in
damaging the public interest of the United States, the national
security interests of this country. In my view, the essence of this
the problem lies precisely in this.

And this is Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani politicians were concerned
about such support for Armenian separatists in the United States at a
time when nearly a million of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs cannot
return to their homes, occupied by Armenians’, he said.

The deputy also noted that Armenia avoids serious steps towards a
peaceful settlement of the conflict.

‘As you know, at present a document, designed by the Minsk Group, is
not accepted by Armenia. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan accepts these
proposals, putting forward its own compromises and demonstrating a
positive attitude. But I would like to repeat that Armenia avoids
making serious steps towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict. We
therefore expect international organizations and states to hold
policies calling Armenia to peace and compromise. We expect it both
from the United States and from Russia and France.

Also, I would like to note that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
play a great role in this, as it was his initiative to hold meetings
of the presidents at the official level and sign the Moscow
Declaration. Therefore, I believe that the destructive position of
Armenia does not only harms the image of the president of Russia, but
also the heads of other countries, and Co-Chairs.

In my view, the other co-chairs of the Minsk Group should take serious
steps in this direction and finally contribute to the economic and
democratic development of the region. We – the people of Azerbaijan
and Azerbaijani society – expect these steps from both the co-chairs
and international organizations’.

1 news.az

news.az, Azerbaijan
May 22 2010

‘Armenia will lose in case of war’
Sat 22 May 2010 | 05:29 GMT Text size:

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry ‘Armenian Army has losses three times
more than our army during the ceasefire, spokesman for Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry said.

But the leadership of the Armenian Army always tries to hide these
reports,’ spokesman for Azerbaijani Defense Ministry,
Lieutenant-Colonel Eldar Sabiroglu said at the press conference on the
line of contact in Terter.

Eldar Sabiroglu underlined that Azerbaijani Army is always ready for war.

‘The current situation of our Armed Forces gives ground to say that
the army is capable of fulfilling the task under any circumstances,’
he said.

Eldar Sabiroglu also commented on the recent military exercises
conducted by the Armenian Armed Forces.

‘By bringing several tanks, guns to the firing point the enemy tries
to create an appearance. We also conduct military exercises, but our
aim is not to show something, but to increase the combat skills of our
army. Despite their exercises, their losses in March 2008 in this
direction demonstrated the combat skills of their army,’ he said.

Sabiroglu said the country’s economy enabled us to supply the
Azerbaijani Army with modern arms. `It makes Armenia, double-standard
international organizations, as well as the countries with
pro-Armenian positions anxious. We are purchasing arms at our own
expense, but Armenians receive it as endowment.

Everybody understands that Armenian army’s situation is hopeless. The
Armenian army is drowning in bribery. The parents give a bribe to the
commanders that their children don’t die of hunger. The soldiers are
eating at home. If the war is launched, the Karabakh issue will be
solved in a couple of minutes. Armenia will be defeated in a short
time’.

Sabiroglu said military schools of the country were developed and some
foreign countries sent their citizens to Azerbaijan to get military
education. ‘The citizens of two countries are already getting
education in the Azerbaijani military schools’.

APA