Author: Mary Lazarian

French authorities have seized documents from the French Football Federation (FFF) in connection with Switzerland’s criminal investigation into ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the BBC reports.

According to Switzerland’s office of the attorney general, the documents are connected to “the suspected payment of 2m Swiss francs.”

It said the search in Paris was carried out at Switzerland’s request.

The criminal investigation into Blatter, 79, began in September.

The office of the Swiss attorney general said the FFF consented to the search of its Paris base, which was carried out on Tuesday.

Swiss prosecutors have accused Blatter of criminal mismanagement or misappropriation over a TV rights deal and of a “disloyal payment” to suspended Uefa president Michel Platini.

Blatter, who served as head of world football’s governing body from 1998 until 2015, and Frenchman Platini have denied any wrongdoing.

The pair have been suspended from all football-related activities for six years after a FIFA ethics committee investigation found them guilty of breaches surrounding the payment to Platini in 2011.

            On 23 February Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan issued a congratulatory address in connection with the Motherland Defender’s Day, President’s Press Office reported.

The address runs as follows:

“Dear compatriots,

On behalf of the Artsakh Republic authorities and personally myself I cordially congratulate you on the Motherland Defender’s Day.

Today is a holiday in every Artsakh home as it is hard to find a family in our country that has not participated in the sacred mission of defending the Motherland. This day is a holiday for our whole people for many brave Armenians from all around the world carved the freedom and independence of Artsakh.

I congratulate all of you and especially those who day and night are guarding the borders of our native country, defending the peace of the native people, giving us the opportunity to live and work in peace. I am referring to our brave soldiers, officers and generals, our heroic Army that has always been and would remain the pride of our people, the main guarantor of our security. Eternal glory and honor to the devoted sons of Artsakh!

Dear friends,

On this festive day I wish peace, robust health, success and all the best to you, invincible strength and power to the defenders of the Motherland”.

The US and Russia have announced that a planned cessation of hostilities in Syria will come into effect at midnight on 27 February, the BBC reports.

Their statement said the truce did not include so-called Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

World powers agreed on 12 February that a truce would come into effect within a week, but that deadline passed and scepticism remains over the new plan.

On Sunday 140 died in bombings in Homs and Damascus as the violence continued.

More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed in the conflict which began in March 2011.

Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad – including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.

The White House said that President Barack Obama had phoned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the efforts to establish the cessation of hostilities.

After their phone call, the joint Russian-US statement was released.

The truce applied to “those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of its terms”, the statement said.

This excluded IS, Nusra and “other terrorist organisations designated by the UN”.

Air strikes by Syria, Russia and the US-led coalition against these groups would continue, the statement read.

It said that armed opposition groups taking part would have to confirm their participation by midday on 26 February.

Russian and Syrian planes would halt any attacks on the armed opposition groups.

Russia and the US will work together to “delineate territory where groups that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of the cessation of hostilities are active”.

The deal also sets up a communications hotline and calls for a working group to monitor ceasefire violations.

At least two thousand Syrian rebel fighters have re-entered the country from Turkey over the last week to reinforce insurgents fending off an assault by Syrian Kurdish-led militias, rebel sources said on Thursday, reports.

The rebel fighters, with weapons and vehicles, have been covertly escorted across the border by Turkish forces over several nights, before heading into the embattled rebel stronghold of Azaz, the sources said.

“We have been allowed to move everything from light weapons to heavy equipment mortars and missiles and our tanks,” Abu Issa, a commander in the Levant Front, the rebel group that runs the border crossing of Bab al-Salam, told Reuters giving his alias and talking on condition of anonymity.

“There is tight security on the four-hour drive from one border crossing to the other,” he added, saying rebels being transported excluded the hardline Nusra Front fighters and other jihadist groups.

On Sunday, the Syrian government had said Turkish forces were among 100 gunmen who had entered Syria accompanied by 12 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, in an ongoing supply operation to insurgents.

The route across Turkey has become the only path for rebels to their north Aleppo enclave after recent Syrian army advances closed the main route into rebel territory.

The UK’s Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence across the war torn-country, also confirmed that hundreds of rebel fighters had already crossed with weapons via a border crossing into Azaz.

Another rebel source said the Turkish military have stepped up delivery of munitions and heavy military hardware in the last two days to bolster rebels facing the major offensive launched by the Syrian army and its allies.

How will the change in oil prices affect the region, in general, and Armenia, in particular? Economist Babken Tunyan’s predictions are not optimistic.

Speaking to reporters today, he said “the economic instability in Russia caused by dropping oil prices continues. Therefore, Armenia cannot expect anything good.”

The economist said Azerbaijan, whose economy heavily depends on oil production, faces serious problems because of the dropping oil prices. The country has even declared that oil production will simply stop should the price fall below $30. The drastic cut in revenues envisages cuts in the military budget. How will this affect the situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border?

“Tension at the border will be maintained. They will try to divert the public attention from social problems by raising tensions at the border. This is what the experience of the past years shows,” Babken Tunyan said.

The developments of the past months make it clear that any country can face serious economic problems irrespective of the amount of natural resources, if the economic system is a ‘prehistoric’ one.

“Time has shown that all developments connected with oil are unpredictable. One year ago it would be absurd to assume that the oil price could fall from $100 to $30, while some prediction suggest it could drop to 10-15 USD,” the economist added.

According to him, the lifting of sanctions against Iran will only accelerate the process. Therefore, nothing should be excluded.

The massacre of Armenians started on this day 26 years ago and continued for a week.  Those guilty for the events of 1990 have not been punished; the exact number of the victims is still unknown. What’s obvious, however, is that the real number considerably exceeds the official data.

The events in Baku 26 years ago were real genocide against the Armenian population. Tens of Armenians were killed in Baku between January 13 and 20. They were robbed of their property and exiled.

“More than a quarter of century after the massacre, the events have not been properly assessed,” President of the Assembly of Azerbaijani Armenians Grigory Ayvazyan told reporters today.

“The neighboring country glorifies the organizers and perpetrators of the crime. Even today killing an Armenia is not seen as a crime in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan brings up generations on the example of cutthroats and murderers,” he said.

“The massacre of Armenians is a serious counterargument for all those, who try to imagine Artsakh under Azerbaijani jurisdiction. In this case the reoccurrence of ethnic cleansings will be unavoidable. Remembering Baku and Sumgaint, we’ll not allow the same in Artsakh,” sociologist Aharon Adibekyan said.

According to him, the book titled “Armenophobia in Azerbaijan” will soon be released. The book, which has been translated into English, tells about the Armenian massacres in Baku and Sumgaint and their consequences. Adibekyan said “we must make it clear to the world who we have to deal with in the face of Azerbaijan.”

Iran has held negotiations with Georgia on sending its gas to the Caucasian nation through Armenia, Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) Alireza Kameli says, reports. 

“Based on negotiations with Georgia, we are supposed to take gas to the Armenian border, for Georgia to receive it at its border with Armenia,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA on Monday.

“For signing a deal, however, the gas exports plan must be economical for Georgia,” Kameli said, without elaboration.

The plan is to transfer 300-500 million cubic feet a day of Iranian gas through a pipeline for use in power generation in Georgia, he added.

Iran is currently exporting gas to Armenia in exchange for electricity. There is a further swap arrangement in place with Azerbaijan.

Kameli stressed that the planned gas exports to Georgia were intended for domestic use and not for Europe.

“The issue of exports to Europe through a pipeline is out of question in our view and our priority is exports in LNG form (to Europe),” he said.

On November 12, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s French affiliate held the opening Gala Dinner of its 2015 Pan-European Phoneathon at the Paris City Hall, under the auspices of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

The event’s guests of honor included Claude Bartolone, president of the National Assembly of France; world-renowned singer Charles Aznavour; Patrick Devedjian, president of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine; and Vigen Chitechyan, ambassador of Armenia to France. The Gala’s distinguished roster of attendees also included several foreign diplomats, members of the French Parliament and other elected officials, media leaders, and artists, in addition to a large number of French-Armenian benefactors and supporters.

“This Gala, which was organized at the invitation of the mayor of Paris, is a great honor for the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s French affiliate and its thousands of supporters,” said Bedros Terzian, chairman of the affiliate. “Today there is an increasing realization across Europe that Armenia and Artsakh are at the forefront of European civilization, and, as such, deserve its full support.”

The Phoneathon will take place from November 18 to 22, with Anne Hidalgo and Patrick Devedjian serving as godmother and godfather of the event. Proceeds from the Phoneathon will be used to build community centers in Nagorno Karabakh, expand agricultural-development projects in Armenia’s Tavush Region, and provide assistance to Armenian refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Eighty percent of minorities in Turkey say they cannot express themselves openly on social media, while 35 percent said they are subject to hate speech on the same platform, according to a recent survey conducted by a minority organization funded by the European Union, the reports.

Four-fifths of minorities with Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Syriac origins said they could not freely express their ideas on social media, according to the survey conducted by the Yeniköy Panayia Greek Orthodox Church, Bilgi University and the Konda pollster company.

The survey was conducted among 746 Turkish citizens who are members of the Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Syriac communities between Jan. 30 and April 17.

Only 20 percent of the respondents said they felt free to share their thoughts on social media, while the rest said they did not share their real opinions on social media due to fear and concerns. The respondents said the social media platforms they used most commonly were Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, respectively.

Some 86 percent of the minorities said they used their real name on social media accounts, while only 2 percent used a nickname. Twelve percent said they used both.

Over one-third of respondents also said they were subject to defamation, humiliation, obscenity or threats due to their minority identity on social media.

The survey revealed that, even though minorities cannot express themselves freely on social media, some 60 percent of minorities in Turkey believe that social media has enhanced their relationship with the rest of the society.

Out of the 746 respondents, 35 percent said they were Jewish, 27 percent said they were Armenian, 18 percent Syriac and 15 percent Greek.

Eighty percent also said Turkey needed legal measures that would penalize the violation of rights and discrimination on social media.

Professor Ulaş Karan, who compiled a report comparing and contrasting the differences in Turkish and European Union legal regulations regarding religious minorities and social media in Turkey as part of the project, said minorities were often exposed to hate speech on social media but that such acts were not subjected to prosecution.

“The definition of hate speech of the Council of Europe needs to be in our [Turkish] legislation,” said Karan.

Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code interdicts those who instigate the public toward grudges and hostility, but the clause is not invoked when it comes to minorities, Karan said.

“This should also be implemented in hate speech against minorities,” Karan said.