Iran News October 7, 2017 Saturday Yerevan finishing establishment of FEZ on Iranian border TEHRAN- Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan announced that Armenia is completing the establishment of a free economic zone on the border with Iran, ARKA news agency quoted him addressing the opening of the second Eurasian Partnership international forum in Yerevan. "In the near future, we are completing the establishment of a free economic zone on the border with Iran and will sign an agreement with the Iranian side on the special work regime at the border," he said. "Today Armenia can serve as a good platform for the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran to boost their trade and economic relations," he added. Earlier in mid-August, in a meeting between Iranian President's Advisor Akbar Torkan and Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan, the two sides mulled over expansion of cooperation on both sides' free trade zones (FTZs). In the meeting, Torkan named Armenia Iran's bridge for transporting and exporting goods to Europe, underlining the capability of Iranian contractors in developing free trade zones in Armenia, in case the required infrastructure is provided by the country's government. The Armenian minister, for his part, said that his government has always paid a specific attention to its economic and trade relations with Iran, adding that by manufacturing a wide range of products in their own free trade zones and exporting them to Europe, Iran and Armenia can renovate the region's economic relations.
Author: Markos Nalchajian
Turkish Press: Turkish court releases 5 suspects in Dink case
Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey October 6, 2017 Friday Turkish court releases 5 suspects in Dink case By Hanife Sevinc and Mustafa Hatipoglu ISTANBUL A Turkish court on Friday released five suspects with alleged links to the killing of prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. Former police officers Metin Balta and Ahmet Cetiner from the police department of the Black Sea province of Samsun, and Gazi Gunay, Ergun Yorulmaz and Huseyin Yilmaz from the provincial gendarmerie command of Trabzon province had been remanded in custody over the murder of Hrant Dink. Sixteen others are still in jail awaiting trial. Other suspects in the case include leader of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) Fetullah Gulen, former FETO-linked prosecutor Zekeriya Oz, the former editor-in-chief of the Zaman newspaper Ekrem Dumanli as well as journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan, Faruk Mercan and Ercan Gun. They are all charged with "intentional killing" and "attempting to upend the constitutional order". Dink, editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was killed outside his office on Jan. 19, 2007 in a case that has stirred intrigue and conspiracy theories. Ogun Samast was jailed for 23 years in 2011 for the killing. Samast, who was aged 17 at the time of the shooting, claimed he killed Dink for "insulting Turkishness". Although Samast is the only person to be jailed for the murder, speculation on the involvement of others has persisted. In April, FETO -- which Turkey accuses of having plotted last year's deadly defeated coup of July 15 -- was officially tied to the case. A 120-page indictment said soldiers and police involved in the Dink murder later played an active role in the defeated coup. The next hearings will be on Dec. 4,5,7, and 8.
If you assume that our national tradition is beating a woman or a child, I cannot agree with that – Davit Harutyunyan
Soon, the draft law “On Prevention of Domestic Violence and Victims of Domestic Violence” will appear on the government agenda. Davit Harutyunyan states, “The road that we are following is extremely important. 120 countries have already passed that path. Thus, we are going to organize a public discussion about the above stated in Matenadaran on Monday.”
To those who are against the law and consider that it contradicts our national mentality, Davit Harutyunyan says, “If you think that beating a woman or a child is a national tradition, let me disagree with you and say that it is a deviation from national traditions.”
On average, about 600 cases of domestic violence are registered in Armenia every year. Davit Harutyunyan added that the draft law was notput into circulation as it was being revised.
AYF Crescenta Valley Juniors Win First Place at Annual Song Competition
MONTROSE, Calif. – On September 9, the Crescenta Valley “Garegin Njdeh” AYF Juniors hosted the annual Juniors Song Competition at the Armenian Sisters Academy in Montrose, CA.
The five chapters in attendance were Montebello “Vahan Cardashian,” Burbank “Gaidzag,” CV “Garegin Njdeh,” Pasadena “Nigol Touman,” and North Valley “Hrayr Maroukhian.”
The judges were Dr. Garineh Avakian Akkus, an assistant professor in music, voice and choral at Pierce College who made her Walt Disney Concert Hall solo debut in 2016. Varand Avanesian, a professional Armenian and Farsi singer who has been in the music industry for 10 years recording, performing, and producing music. And finally, Armen Adamyan who received his undergraduate education in the fields of psychology and music composition and worked on an experimental music performance program with kids at TUMO in Armenia. He is currently working towards a PhD in ethnomusicology from UCLA.
The day started with a short educational about Kedashen, given by the AYF CV “Garegin Njdeh” Juniors, followed with the chapters singing their chapter chosen song, and the mandatory song, “Kedashen.” Each chapter did a remarkable job, including a solo performed by Stella Ghevondyan (12) from the Burbank “Gaidzag” chapter. The judges made a difficult decision deciding the winners and awarded the titles to the AYF Pasadena “Nigol Touman” Juniors for third place, AYF Montebello “Vahan Cardashian” Juniors in second, and AYF CV “Garegin Njdeh” Juniors in first.
While the event was executed by the CV chapter, they wanted to make it unique and different for the first time. For over couple of months, the juniors we’re practicing two patriotic songs directed by Unger Arick Gevorkian and traditional Armenian folk dances taught by Unger Alex Avaneszadeh. Their goal was to have a flash mob at the end of song competition. They successfully surprised all the participants, and many of them joined in the “shurjbar.”
Judge Varand Avanesian said, “Our youth are the future of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Hearing their passionate performances made me proud, and I had tears of joy.”
“The event was a great success, chapters did an amazing job singing the songs, and I am very proud of all of our juniors,” said Hripsik Shatikian, the long-standing AYF Juniors Director for the “Garegin Njdeh” juniors. The CV juniors worked very hard by themselves in the organizing, executing, and hosting this event.”
The AYF CV “Garegin Njdeh” Juniors would like to give special thanks to ARF Zavarian Gomideh for their unconditional support and sponsoring the competition, Unger Arick Gevorkian for his time and artistic input, and Armenian Sisters Academy for opening their school to our juniors.
Nasr: Egypt is interested in deepening cooperation with Armenia in trade, economic and investment spheres
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Saturday Nasr: Egypt is interested in deepening cooperation with Armenia in trade, economic and investment spheres Yerevan September 30 Mariana Mkrtchyan. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received the Egyptian delegation led by the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, who arrived in Armenia to participate in the work of the 5th Armenian-Egyptian intergovernmental commission. As the press service of the Armenian leader told ArmInfo, Sargsyan stressed that the Armenian-Egyptian centuries-old relations are based on friendship and mutual trust, on which, after the establishment of diplomatic relations, interstate relations were built. The Egyptian minister noted that Egypt is interested in deepening cooperation with friendly Armenia in the trade, economic and investment spheres. At the same time, she stressed the importance of involving the private sector in this process. The Minister stressed that within the framework of the intergovernmental commission an agreement was reached to develop a working program according to which the agreements reached will be implemented. The Armenian-Egyptian intergovernmental commission was established in 1996. The next meeting is held at intervals of 12 years, since the last - the 4th meeting was held in 2005 and for many years due to geopolitical developments and unfavorable political conditions in Egypt, the work of the inter- governmental commission was interrupted. At the 25th year of establishment of diplomatic relations, Yerevan and Cairo can not boast of high volumes of trade turnover - within the last 10-12 years the volume of trade turnover between the countries did not exceed $ 1-3 million. The prospective spheres of expansion of economic cooperation between Armenia and Egypt, are, tourism, agriculture, construction, IT. Following the results of the 5th meeting, Armenia and Egypt signed a number of memorandums and agreements in the field of trade and investment, youth and sports, education and science as well as archives.
Toast of independent Armenia in Baku. Ashotyan and Tandilyan published a photo
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Armen Ashotyan, head of the RA NA delegation to Euronest PA, chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, and Mane Tandilyan, a member of the delegation, are already in Baku. This is evidenced by the photo published by them.
It is noteworthy that the Armenian deputies arrived in Baku on the 26th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Armenia and did not miss the opportunity to toast the homeland from afar, moreover, in the land of the enemy.
To remind, on September 22, Armenian MPs will participate in the conference organized by the Committee on Social, Education, Culture and Civil Society Affairs of Euronest PA, dedicated to parliamentary involvement in issues of improving women’s health and gender equality in Eastern Partnership countries.
Turkish Press: Armenia ready to de-occupy Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 19 2017
DAILY SABAH
rmenia is discussing the possible return of some territories around the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region with Azerbaijan, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said Monday.
According to Nalbandian, Armenia could return territories that, in terms of security, will not “threaten neither Karabakh, nor the settlement of the conflict.”
“The question is that there are negotiations, and we want to resolve this issue peacefully together with the international community. We will continue the negotiations for as long as possible, since war is not a solution,” Nalbandian said, speaking at the Armenia-Diaspora Sixth Pan-Armenian Forum.
The Armenian foreign minister did not provide any further details, saying that it would cause the talks to collapse.
Addressing the attendees at the same forum, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that residents of Karabakh have a right to freedom and safety, adding that other issues “could be solved through peace negotiations.”
The latest remarks by the Armenian officials signal that Yerevan may have agreed to the so-called “Lavrov plan,” the existence of which was denied by the Russian foreign ministry.
Reports claim that the plan includes Armenia’s de-occupation of five of the seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh, which are called the “security belt.” The plan is supposedly a part of the ongoing negotiations.
Nagorno-Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan. Baku and Yerevan have feuded over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since Armenian separatists seized the territory in a war that claimed some 30,000 lives in the early 1990s and ended in a frail 1994 truce. Efforts to negotiate a settlement have failed, and frequent clashes have continued.
In April last year, at least 110 people from both sides were killed as simmering violence flared into the worst clashes in decades over the region. A Russian-brokered ceasefire ended the four days of fierce fighting, but attempts to relaunch the stalled peace process since then have failed.
Christians in Turkish city of Diyarbikir facing mass persecution
The Alabama Baptist
Sept 17 2017
Turkey — it sometimes slips out of view since it doesn’t make the Secretary of State’s “Countries of Particular Concern” list for human rights violations.
But in the city of Diyarbikir for one, “entire neighborhoods” have disappeared. The Surp Giragos Church has been converted to an army base, the sanctuary desecrated with urine and garbage, the pews burned as firewood.
Those are just a few things mentioned in the report “Turkey’s Mass Persecution of Christians and Kurds,” released Sept. 4 by the Gatestone Institute. Since 2015, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been attacking Kurdish-majority areas in the country, and Christians have been caught in the crossfire, according to the report.
In Diyarbikir “virtually the entire town — and all Christian properties belonging to the indigenous Armenian, Assyrian (Syriac), Chaldean and Protestant communities — was included in an expropriation plan adopted in March 2016 by the Turkish cabinet.” That expropriation plan included the Surp Giragos Church and others. Those ethnic groups haven’t been able to worship in their own churches for the past three years, according to the report.
“We have been exposed to ethnic and religious discrimination for years,” said Ahmet Güvener, a pastor and the spiritual leader of the Diyarbakır Protestant Church, adding that not one church has been built since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
And the government isn’t the only source of “hatred,” the report stated. That sentiment is “widespread among the public as well and expressed extensively on social media.”
It has spread even to mistreatment of Muslims who have refused to shun Christians or Kurds, said Gatestone Institute, a U.S.-based think tank and international policy group.
Harassed by Turkish police
“For instance, a 76-year-old Muslim grandmother in Diyarbakır who is active in a Kurdish political movement has been harassed by Turkish police for being a ‘hidden Armenian,’ simply because she reads the Bible as well as the Quran,” Gatestone reported.
The situation has impacted journalists and American Christians too. Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina native who served as pastor of a church on Turkey’s Aegean coast, was detained in October 2016 as a “national security risk.”
Watchdog groups, such as the American Center for Law and Justice, have accused President Erdogan of keeping Brunson in prison without cause, but in August, officials stated his charges as “gathering state secrets for espionage, attempting to overthrow the Turkish parliament and government, and to change the constitutional order.” (TAB)
Azerbaijani Press: Azerbaijan’s painful Karabakh problem is also Turkey’s problem – envoy
APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 15 2017
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which the most painful problem of Azerbaijan, is also Turkey’s problem, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral told reporters on Friday, APA reported.
He noted that these two states will always strengthen more while they are together. “We are fraternal states. We continue to work together on the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Turkey’s strength is Azerbaijan’s strength and Azerbaijan’s strength is Turkey’s,” said the diplomat.
With regard to the upcoming joint exercises of the Turkish and Azerbaijani Air Forces, the ambassador said that relations between the armed forces of the two countries should be closer to boost the military cooperation.
“The activities in this direction are continuing, and relations between the two countries’ armed forces are improving,” he added.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Money laundering and corrupt activities by Azerbaijan as ‘top’ topic of PACE autumn session
Aravot, Armenia
Sept 10 2017
Money laundering and corrupt activities by Azerbaijan as ‘top’ topic of PACE autumn session
PACE Monitoring Committee’s report outlines ‘Money laundering processes by Azerbaijan’
One of the main topics of the fall session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to be launched in Strasbourg on October 9, will be the report on Azerbaijan’s obligations.
Recently the PACE Monitoring Committee has confirmed that report in Paris. During the discussion at the Commission meeting, some formulations in the document were toughened.
“Aravot” asked Hermine Naghdalyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Monitoring Committee, whether what toughening and new provisions are included in the report in particular, Mrs. Naghdalyan said: “The commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan, as a country under monitoring, are spoken about in the report presented by co-rapporteurs Austrian Stefan Schennach and Romanian Cezar-Florin Preda. There were also controversial opinions. Perhaps the most important thing is as Dutch delegate Tony Cox said that these are the obligations and commitments that every country voluntarily assumes when joining the Council of Europe. However, their fulfilment, according to the delegate, remained in the form of a dream in case of Azerbaijan”.
According to Hermine Naghdalyan, the report is quite critical, although there were also opinions that the ideas are quite softly and diplomatically expressed in the report.
The report touches upon the problems in Azerbaijan in almost all spheres: the problem of separating power wings, Parliament’s role, accountability of the executive power, which is at a fairly low level, the justice system, which is far from being independent and impartial, independence of judicial bodies, implementation of European Court judgments, arbitrary use of criminal law as a means of limiting the disagreement of opinions. All the pressures that exist in the mass media are presented in detail.
Let us also note that in one week the co-rapporteurs will again visit Azerbaijan, after which the report will be supplemented, which will be put to a vote in the October session.
Mrs. Naghdalyan stated that the memorandum of the report, the documentary materials received by the rapporteurs, has been prepared much more comprehensively this time, it is full of serious documentary materials. But there were also claims to include the names of human rights defenders and journalists who were subjected to pressure in the resolution.
Let us also inform that before the PACE autumn session, another criticizing report against Azerbaijan is presented in the Legal Affairs Committee. It is titled “Presidency of Azerbaijan. What are the consequences?”. According to Mrs. Naghdalyan, dissatisfaction with Azerbaijan was still in the year of its presidency – 2.5 years ago, when a question arose, whether how such a country could take over the presidency. But, according to the order, Azerbaijan was given that opportunity, and also a timely decision was made to give Azerbaijan one year after its presidency to make all those changes. At that time, there was an initiative to prepare another report on Azerbaijan. Mrs. Naghdalyan said that the discussion of this report was deliberately delayed, and now two reports are presented simultaneously. This report also points out the corrupt practices in Azerbaijan.
At the end of the conversation Mrs. Naghdalyan also mentioned that in both reports there is a provision on money laundering in Azerbaijan, approximately worded as follows: “Large-scale money laundering processes have taken place in Azerbaijan over the last few years, which aim to influence the PACE delegates and reporters in order to prevent the criticism against Azerbaijan”.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN