Author: nina hovnanian

FRANCE WAITS FOR ECHR ON GENOCIDE BILL

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 13 2014

Arzu Cakır Morin YEREVAN

France will wait for a final decision from the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR) before reintroducing a bill criminalizing the denial of
the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide, President Francois
Hollande said May 12.

In 2012, France’s Constitutional Council struck down a
government-backed law criminalizing denials of the 1915 events as
genocide on the grounds that it contradicted the French Constitution.

And late last year, the ECHR ruled that denial of the 1915 mass
killings of Armenians as genocide falls within the limits of freedom
of expression, following an appeal from a Turkish politician against
his conviction in Switzerland. The decision was referred to the ECHR’s
Grand Chamber by the Swiss Justice Ministry for the final ruling.

Speaking to a group of reporters during a visit to Yerevan, Hollande
said they would wait for the final decision of the ECHR and that the
law should be compatible with the Constitutional Council.

Workers’ Party (Ä°P) Chairman Dogu Perincek, who had described the
Armenian genocide as an “international lie,” had complained that Swiss
courts had breached his freedom of expression, based on Article 10
covering freedom of expression.

The ECHR ruling stated that “the free exercise of the right to openly
discuss questions of a sensitive and controversial nature is one of
the fundamental aspects of freedom of expression and distinguishes
a tolerant and pluralistic democratic society from a totalitarian or
dictatorial regime.”

Elaborating on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent statement
in which he offered condolences to the families of more than 1 million
Armenians who were massacred during World War I, Hollande said the
gesture was an advance but not enough, calling on Turkey to recognize
the killings as genocide and suggested that the recognition would
“unite, not divide.”

May/13/2014

ANALYST: ANY SECURITY GUARANTEES SEEM DOUBTFUL AMID RUSSIA-WEST TENSIONS

May 12, 2014 | 18:32
YEREVAN. â?” Any security guarantees seem doubtful amid Russia-West
tensions, analyst Sergey Minasyan told reporters on Monday.

Minasyan commented on providing international security guarantees
within Madrid Principles on Karabakh settlement.

“A clear example of the fact that nowadays guarantees may not work,
is the Ukrainian crisis and violation of Budapest memorandum, according
to which three states assumed obligation to refrain from use of force
against territorial integrity and political sovereignty of Ukraine,”
Minasyan said.

Besides, the Madrid Principles cannot be implemented, as none of the
parties is ready to hold talks on some elements.

“For example, one of the principles is return of the internally
displaced and the refugees. It is hard to imagine how it is technically
possible. This refers to all refugees, not those from Aghdam and
Lachn, but refugees from Shaumyan, Gandzak, Sumgait and Baku,” the
analyst said.

However, Minasyan believes talks must continue for peace between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

OSCE MG RENEWS CALL FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 12 2014

12 May 2014, 12:10 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have issued a statement on the 20th
anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement signed between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

The co-chairs invited the people of the region to reflect upon the
legacy of the past two decades, the OSCE said.

“That agreement brought an end to the outright war, halted the tragic
violence of previous years, and laid the groundwork for negotiations
that offered the sides a path to peace. Thanks to the resulting truce,
a new generation of Armenians and Azerbaijanis grew up without
experiencing the horrors of war. The sides should do everything
possible to protect future generations from such experience”, the
statement said.

The co-chairs said the ceasefire agreement has not yet resolved the
underlying conflict.

“It left occupied the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. The
absence of a final settlement has resulted in the ongoing displacement
of hundreds of thousands of people, the perpetual threat of escalating
violence along the international border and the Line of Contact, and
a misconception in some quarters that the status quo can be sustained
indefinitely”, the statement said.

The co-chairs noted that the sides have shown little willingness
to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the co-chairing
countries or make the political decisions necessary for progress in
the peace process.

“We share a common position on this conflict, and remain firmly
committed to helping the sides reach a peaceful settlement as soon
as possible based on the core principles of the UN Charter and the
Helsinki Final Act, particularly those pertaining to the non-use of
force, territorial integrity, and equal rights and self-determination
of peoples,” the co-chairs said.

It is noted in the statement that a settlement will have to
include the elements outlined by the presidents of the co-chair
countries in statements from 2009 to 2013, which include the return
of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, interim status
for Nagorno-Karabakh guaranteeing security and self-governance,
a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, final status of
Nagorno-Karabakh to be determined in the future by a legally-binding
expression of will, the right of all internally-displaced persons and
refugees to return, and international security guarantees, including
a peacekeeping operation.

“In November we saw a promising renewal of dialogue at the highest
levels. We call on the sides to enter into constructive negotiations
resulting in a peace agreement based on these elements in order to
bring about a lasting settlement to the conflict. Such a settlement
will not be possible without a basis of trust and understanding
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani people. We call on the sides to
involve people in programs and security confidence building measures to
reinforce the peace process. Armenians and Azerbaijanis deserve to live
in peace and security, and we stand ready to help. The sides must take
the necessary steps towards peace. These steps would be fully supported
by the OSCE and the international community,” the statement said.

The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached
after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and
has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.

Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions calling on
Armenia’s withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have
not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs dubbed the Madrid Principles. The
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

ARMENIANS HOLD MASS IN TURKISH CYPRUS, A FIRST IN 50 YEARS

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 12 2014

NICOSIA – Anadolu Agency

The Armenian community on Cyprus has held a mass in an Armenian Church
on the Turkish side of the island, for the first time in 50 years.

Armenians from the northern and southern parts of the island met in
the church located in Nicosia for the mass.

Archbishop Varoujan Hergelian performed the mass, which was attended
by approximately 500 people from the Armenian community.

The service was also attended by Lisa Buttenheim, the Special
Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in
Cyprus, Å~^evket Alemdar, the imam of the Hala Sultan Mosque on the
island, and a number of diplomats.

“I graduated from the schools near the church. These places were
home to us. We are home now,” one of the participants of the service,
Gora Terziyan, told Anadolu Agency.

She expressed hope that such steps would contribute to the ongoing
peace process on the divided island.

Another participant, Gula Kasabiyan, said being able to hold the
service for the first time in half a century was evidence that the
issues between the two sides of the island could be settled. “We
should always look beyond for peace,” she said.

The Armenian Church hosting the historic rite was allocated to the
Armenian population of the island during the Ottoman era. However,
it was abandoned by Armenians in 1964. The church subsequently fell
into ruin, but was renovated in 2010.

The Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkish troops
intervened in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup seeking union
with Greece.

The Greek Cypriot administration is a member of the European Union
and is internationally recognized with the exception of Turkey, which
is the only country that recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus in the north.

May/12/2014

HOLLANDE SAYS WILL PUSH FOR NEW ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ DENIAL BILL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 12 2014

French President Francois Hollande said in Armenian capital Yerevan
on Monday that he will push for a new law that make it a crime to
deny the 1915 killings of Armenians was a genocide despite strong
opposition from Turkey two years ago.

The French Assembly adopted the controversial denial bill in 2012 that
damaged Turkish-French ties. Ankara briefly recalled its ambassador
to Paris and suspended military, economic and political ties when the
bill was passed. French Constitutional Council, however, later canceled
the bill, arguing that it was in violation of the French Constitution.

In Yerevan, Hollande called on Turkey to recognize the ‘Armenian
genocide’ and said the “recognition of genocide will unite, not
divide.”

Hollande said he will bring up the ‘genocide denial’ bill to the
agenda, claiming that the denial is not an action, but an insult
against “victims and reality.” He said there are efforts across the
world to recognize the mass killings as genocide and said there cannot
be an open door to the denial.

Recalling Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement of
condolences for Armenians, Hollande said messages with good intention
are positively received, reiterating that he will be in Yerevan to
mark the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events.

IRAN, ARMENIA KEEN TO DEEPEN PARLIAMENTARY RELATIONS

Fars News Agency, Iran
May 12 2014

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Armenian officials in a meeting in Yerevan
underlined their determination to further strengthen the bilateral
relations, specially in parliamentary fields.

During the meeting in the Armenian capital on Sunday, Iranian
Ambassador to Yerevan Mohammad Rayeesi and newly-elected Armenian
Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakian discussed Tehran-Yerevan ties as
well as the regional developments.

During the meeting, Rayeesi pointed to the importance of closer mutual
cooperation between Iran and Armenia, and said, “Both countries see
no impediment to the expansion of their bilateral ties.”

The Iranian official said he is confident that the upcoming visit
to Iran by Sahakian would help further promote the bilateral and
parliamentary relations.

Sahakian, for his part, said Tehran and Yerevan enjoy high-level ties,
adding, “Mutual trust can increase bilateral ties.”

He underlined the significance of joint economic projects between
Iran and Armenia, and said, “The implementation of these projects
would raise the level of economic relations between the two countries.

The Armenian parliament speaker expressed hope that he would meet
his Iranian counterpart in the near future.

Iran and Armenia have taken major strides toward promoting their
bilateral relations over the recent years, particularly in the
economic sector.

According to Iran’s Commercial Attache in Yerevan Hamaiak Avadis Yanes,
the trade turnover between the two neighboring countries hit USD 293
million in 2013.

IN SYRIA, LIFE GOES ON DESPITE EVERYTHING

Independent European Daily Express, UK
May 12 2014

Monday, May 12, 2014 – 17:24Inter Press Service

DAMASCUS, May 12 (IPS) – On a weekday afternoon, the Old City of
Damascus heaves with people, cars, motorcycles, bikes. Markets are
crowded with locals bartering with merchants for the heaps of spices,
flowery perfumes, clothing, and most things one needs, abundant in
the Hamidiyah market.

At the end of the historic Roman Via Recta (Straight Street), boys
play football amidst ancient columns.

Syria, in its fourth year of a devastating foreign-backed armed
attempt to overthrow the government, is somehow still pulsing with
life and hope.

In the narrow back lanes of the Old City, couples walk hand in hand,
older men greet each other with broad smiles and a kiss on each cheek.

Music wafts from open doors of ancient homes, their courtyards bursting
with greenery. A milkman delivers milk from large tins strapped to
his bicycle.

But the spacious old homes converted into hotels or restaurants
now have no tourists. Various shop owners highlight the same issue:
they have goods, but no buyers.

Bassam runs his family’s antiques and jewellery store, Giovanni, near
the East Gate entrance to the Old City, in an old Damascene home with
vast arches and ornate wooden dÃ(c)cor.

â EURO oeBusiness is not very good, because of the situation. Many
people used to come here.â EURO He picks up a framed photo of
himself and a woman in his store. â EURO oeThat’s Catherine Deneuve,
a French actress.

She’s very famous,â EURO he says, reiterating that well-known people
from around the world used to frequent his store.

Inside the Umayyad Mosque, worshipers pray and relax in the cool
interior, a boy twirls Sufi-style through the mosque. Outside,
women sit in the courtyard shade with their children, picnicking
on sandwiches.

The vast square opposite the mosque is filled with food vendors,
clothing vendors, families milling about, kids selling roses. Children
gather around a hoard of pigeons, buying feed to toss to them.

A popcorn vendor in his 20s says things are improving in Syria.

â EURO oeLife here is good, things have gotten back to normal, the
government supports us. But my house is in Babbila, just outside of
Damascus. I can’t go back there, the ‘rebels’ have taken over.â EURO

Almost daily, armed groups launch mortars on civilian areas in
Damascus, from villages on the outskirts like Jobar, Mliha. On Apr.

15, mortars struck Manar elementary school, killing one child and
injuring 62 others. A kindergarten was also shelled that morning,
in the same densely-inhabited area of Damascus, injuring three more
children.

On Apr. 29, the mortars struck Bader Eddin al-Hassni Institute
for religious science, killing 14 students and injuring 86 others,
according to SANA news.

As I sit outside the old city walls one afternoon, roughly one hundred
metres from East Gate, bullets whiz closely past, coming from the
direction of Jobar, an area controlled by armed groups.

Al-Midan, a district of Damascus known for its traditional Syrian
sweets, still receives local business but faces the same loss of
foreign customers as most in the tourism industry. â EURO oeI used to
bring delegations here specifically for the sweets,â EURO says Anas,
a journalist with Syrian television. â EURO oeBut as you see there
are no tourists here now.â EURO

Nagham, a university student, says even many local Syrians won’t go
to Midan now. â EURO oePeople are afraid to come here now, because
itâ EURO ™s so close to Yarmouk. Midan is safe, but people think
that the ‘terrorists’ in Yarmouk will fire mortars here.â EURO

Due to attacks on civilians, including car bombings, checkpoints are
installed throughout Damascus and the countryside, causing long lines
of traffic as soldiers check vehicles for explosives. But without
the checkpoints, there would be more loss of civilian life.

Homs residents know all too well the deadly effects of the car
bombings. On Apr. 9, for example, two car bombs detonated one after
the other on the same residential street, killing 25 civilians and
injuring at least 107, according to Syrian state media. On Apr. 29, two
more car bombs and a rocket attack killed another 42 civilians in Homs.

But Homs is also a place where the reconciliation movement has taken
flight, with fighters nearly daily laying down their weapons and
opting for a political solution for Syria.

In Latakia, a coastal city roughly 350 km northwest of Damascus, near
the Turkish border, internally displaced Syrians from the Armenian
populated village of Kasab take refuge in an Armenian Orthodox Church.

On Mar. 21, armed groups began firing missiles from nearby Turkey
upon the village, later entering and taking it over, committing
atrocities against the civilians. Eighty people are reported to have
been killed, and nearly 2000 villagers fled to Latakia and other areas
to escape the attacks by a reported 1500 Chechnyan and other foreign,
al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgents, backed by Turkish special forces.

â EURO oeThey can destroy our houses, but we’re going back. We believe
in the Syrian Arab Army,â EURO said Suzy, from Kasab, who described
some of the atrocities committed. â EURO oeThey raped the older women,
because they couldn’t find girls, so they raped the elderly. They
destroyed everything, they robbed our houses, they broke the statue
of the Virgin Mary.â EURO

When asked her sentiments on Syria’s president, she replied without
hesitation, like so many in Syria. â EURO oeWe have a leader,
Dr. Bashar Al-Assad. We love him so much, we don’t want anything
else. We want him, we want Syria back.â EURO

Elsewhere in Latakia, a city secured by the Syrian army but attacked
from a distance with missiles, children and teens play in a fountain
in a large, clean park, and men and women sit smoking shisha or hookah
and chatting.

Fadia, an unveiled Sunni Muslim, sitting with a group of veiled and
unveiled women, says that internally Latakia does not have serious
problems. â EURO oeLife is good here, we’re living happily, the army
have protected us here. We love our president, our army, our country,
but the outside forces want to destroy the country. There is no
problem between Christians, Muslims, Armenians, Alawites here. We
are all one family, no one can split us apart.â EURO

This is a point Lilly Martin, who is from California but has lived
in Syria for the past 22 years, drives home.

â EURO oeAt the beginning, we had a surge of violence, protestors
attacking Syrian police and security, but right away the Latakian
people turned against it. The population here didn’t accept it. We
have Christians, Muslims, and minorities here. There is very little
support for the â EURO ~rebelsâ EURO ™ here, so it’s been a peaceful
city,â EURO she says.

In Homs, Latakia, Damascus, walls and shop doors are decorated with
large, painted replicas of the Syrian flag and posters of President
Assad. Syrian flags appeared at Easter celebrations, wedding receptions
and engagement parties. And along with the flags, there are patriotic
songs for Syria and President Assad, with a roomful of celebrants
singing along, hooting and clapping.

On the Autostrad, the main street leading to the al-Mezze district
of Damascus, a block-long mural brightens the otherwise standard
wall surrounding a school. The colourful mosaic of scraps of tiles
and recycled items is the project of six artists. Moaffak Makhoul,
the lead artist, explains the concept.

â EURO oeWe did this for the children, to bring a smile to their
faces. And we wanted to send a message to the world that we Syrians
love life, and that we insist on living, on surviving,â EURO he says.

His message also has an important political element to it. â EURO
oeTo those who espouse the ideology that wants to eliminate others,
the Takfiri ideology, we tell them ‘no’.â EURO

Four youths in their late teens stop to talk. â EURO oeWe were
living well, with security, before this happened. We were living in
freedom. Now we’re not,â EURO says Rehab, one of the girls. â EURO
oeNow you don’t know who is a terrorist. We just want our country to
return to how it was.â EURO

Ramez, another one of the teenagers, says things are better now, â
EURO oelife is improving.â EURO Batoul, the other girl, adds â EURO
oeWe love Bashar. He’s a good person. We know what he has done to
improve the country. And before any of these things began, we were
living well, safely.â EURO

Bassam, in his lonely East Gate store, is also optimistic. â EURO
oePeace is coming sooner or later â EURO ” no, sooner. Damascus is
a wonderful city.

And the people are wonderful too.â EURO

The call to prayer sounds, church bells ring out, in a city and
country where life goes on despite it all.

Le Parisien, France
Vendredi 9 Mai 2014

Le calvaire du Coluche arménien

Propos recueillis par Élisabeth Fleury

Justice . Vardan Petrosyan, humoriste franco-arménien, est détenu en
Arménie après un accident de la route meurtrier. Son épouse dénonce un
scandale.

ACTRICE, metteur en scène et directrice d’acteurs, Ani a épousé Vardan
Petrosyan il y a vingt ans. Le 20 octobre dernier, alors qu’il rentre
seul à Erevan (Arménie) pour y préparer un spectacle, cet artiste
franco-arménien de 55 ans percute une voiture dont deux occupants sont
tués sur le coup. Alors qu’une expertise établit qu’il n’a commis
aucune faute dans ce drame, il est accusé d’homicide involontaire et
maintenu en détention provisoire depuis. Son procès, qui a débuté il y
a trois semaines, s’annonce interminable.

Surnommé le Coluche arménien pour l’humour corrosif de ses sketchs,
Vardan irrite les autorités arméniennes mais bénéficie d’un fort
soutien populaire dans son pays d’origine. Les appels en sa faveur,
signés par des milliers de personnes en Arménie comme en France, n’ont
pour l’instant rien changé. Bien que très affaibli et en dépit des
demandes de remise en liberté déposées par ses avocats arméniens – M e
Baghdasarian – et français – M es Dosé et Daoud – , l’artiste est
toujours incarcéré. Le 12 mai prochain, François Hollande se rend pour
la première fois en visite d’Etat en Arménie. L’occasion, pour
l’épouse de Vardan Petrosyan, de lancer un appel à l’aide au chef de
l’Etat français.

Comment se déroule le procès de votre époux ?

ANI PETROSYAN. Ce qui se passe en Arménie est un énorme scandale, une
monstrueuse parodie de justice. Pour cet accident de la route,
l’accusation a constitué un dossier de 1 000 pages qui repose sur une
expertise bidon. Non seulement elle est truffée de données falsifiées,
mais un de ses signataires n’existe même pas ! Ce document est nul.
Mes avocats réclament une nouvelle expertise. Or, il ne se passe rien.
Le 25 avril, lors de la dernière audience, le juge a repoussé nos
demandes et interrompu la lecture du dossier à la page 19. Combien
d’années faudra-t-il pour en arriver à bout ? Pendant ce temps-là,
alors qu’il est gravement malade, mon époux est emprisonné. Sa
détention aurait dû prendre fin le 6 mars. Elle est prolongée,
arbitrairement, sans aucun motif légal…

Comment expliquez-vous ce qui lui arrive ?

Je ne me l’explique pas. Depuis l’accident de Vardan, ce même
tribunal, ces mêmes magistrats ont eu à juger de nombreux accidents de
la route mortels : aucun n’a donné lieu à une détention provisoire. Le
sort fait à mon mari est d’autant plus inacceptable que Vardan n’est
absolument pour rien dans ce drame. La voiture dans laquelle se
trouvaient les deux victimes effectuait une marche arrière de nuit,
sans feux arrière, à six sans ceinture de sécurité, sur la bretelle
d’autoroute où Vardan s’était engagé. Il lui était impossible de
l’éviter.

Pourquoi la justice lui ferait-elle un sort particulier ?

En Arménie, mon mari est un des très rares artistes à oser dénoncer
l’ordre établi. Dans ses spectacles, il tourne les puissants en
ridicule et se bat pour la liberté, la justice, la démocratie. On le
surnomme le Coluche arménien. Il le paie très cher aujourd’hui. Au
lieu de juger un accident, on essaie de discréditer un homme, de le
faire taire.

Le 12 mai, François Hollande

se rend en Arménie pour la première fois. Qu’en attendez-vous ?

C’est pour nous un immense espoir. Il est impératif que François
Hollande, à cette occasion, intervienne en faveur de mon époux.
L’ambassade, le ministère des Affaires étrangères ainsi que le
ministère de la Justice ont déjà été informés de sa situation, il faut
que le chef d’Etat s’en mêle. Vardan est un citoyen franco-arménien.
Le président Hollande se doit de protéger les droits fondamentaux de
cet artiste français.

Vardan bénéficie-t-il d’un soutien de son public ?

Ses spectacles, qu’il monte seul de A à Z, sont toujours joués à
guichets fermés. Les gens aiment profondément Vardan et il le leur
rend bien. Juste après l’accident, en Arménie, une pétition a
recueilli 11 000 signatures en sa faveur. En France, où il a notamment
travaillé avec Robert Hossein, 10 000 personnes, parmi lesquelles
Alain Delon, Marina Vlady ou encore Jacques Weber, Francis Huster,
Robert Guédiguian, ont signé une pétition de soutien.

En attendant, son procès continue…

Oui. A raison d’une audience de quatre heures chaque vendredi,
j’ignore combien de temps cela va durer. Tout est filmé, le public
peut prendre les images qu’il veut, le procès ressemble à une sorte de
téléréalité. Mais la peine encourue est bien réelle : s’il est
reconnu coupable d’homicide involontaire, Vardan risque entre quatre
et dix ans de prison. C’est totalement aberrant car, je le répète, il
est une victime. Il n’avait pas bu, n’avait pas fumé, n’était pas en
excès de vitesse. Il n’a pas pu éviter cette voiture et a bien failli,
dans cet accident, perdre la vie lui aussi.

The Spread of British Hypocrisy, From Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland to Syria

If arresting Adams just before the European elections was not political,
then surely the British refusal to inquire into the slaughter in
Ballymurphy was.

By Robert Fisk
May 11 2014
“ICH ” – “The Independent”

– The law is the law is the law. So I was taught as a child. But it’s
all baloney. Take the case of Gerry Adams, `arrested’ and then
released after chatting to the Northern Ireland police – I notice the
cops did not use the old cliché about `helping the police with their
inquiries’ – about the torture and murder and `disappearance’ of Jean
McConville.
It is, to quote Fintan O’Toole, that wise old bird of Irish philosophy,
`an atrocity that cries out for accountability’ – in which Adams has
consistently denied any involvement. Sinn Fein announced that Adams’s
`arrest’ was political, a remark that got the usual tsk-tsk from
Unionists and British alike.
But alas, Theresa Villiers, the latest in the hordes of Northern Ireland
secretaries to be visited upon Belfast, also announced, a wee bit before
Adams’s `arrest’, that there would be no independent inquiry into the
killing of 11 unarmed civilians in Ballymurphy in August 1971 by soldiers
of the Parachute Regiment, the most undisciplined British military unit to
be sent to the province, which later killed another 14 civilians in Derry
on Bloody Sunday. In the Ballymurphy shooting, the Brits managed to kill a
Catholic priest carrying an improvised white flag and a mother of eight
children who went to help a wounded boy. The deaths of Father Hugh Mullan
and Mrs Joan Connolly were also deaths that `cry out for accountability’.
But of course, there will be none. Ms Villiers has seen to that.

She also ensured that there would be no inquiry into the fire-bombing of
the La Mon hotel in 1978, when the IRA burned 12 people to death. Families
of the dead have their suspicions that transcripts of police interviews
with IRA suspects to this crime were removed from the archives to protect
important people involved in the `peace process’ in Northern Ireland. No
complaints about that, needless to say, from the IRA. But you can see the
problem: if arresting Adams just before the European elections was not
political, then surely the British refusal to inquire into the slaughter in
Ballymurphy – assuming the soldiers involved have not died of old age – was
political. After all, the Brits know who these soldiers were, their names,
their ages and ranks. They have much more than the statements of two dead
IRA supporters – the `evidence’ against Adams =80` to go on.

Now you may argue that the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday cost far too
many millions of pounds to warrant another investigation into the
Ballymurphy deaths. But then you may also ask why the soldiers who gave
evidence to the original inquiry were given the cover of anonymity. This
was something Gerry Adams was not offered – nor, given the favourable
political fallout, was he likely to have asked for it. But then it would
also be pleasant if the Brits who know something about the Dublin and
Monaghan bombings during the worst days of the Irish war could pop over to
Dublin and give a little evidence about this particular atrocity. No chance
of that, of course.

And you don’t have to stick in Ireland for further proof of legal
hypocrisy. Take our beloved Home Secretary’s decision to deprive British
immigrants of their British passports if they go to fight Assad’s regime in
Syria. Quite apart from the fact that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary,
and his friends originally supported the armed Syrian opposition, there are
problems with the passport story. Many British supporters of Israel, for
example, have fought on Israel’s behalf in Israeli uniform in that
country’s wars. But what if they served in Israeli units known to have
committed war crimes in Lebanon or Gaza? Or in the Israeli air force, which
promiscuously kills civilians in war. Are they, too, to be deprived of
their passports if they were not born in the UK? Of course not. One law for
Muslims, another for non-Muslims – not unlike Spain’s offer of passports to
the descendants of those driven from their homes in the 15th century, a
generous act somewhat damaged by the fact that only Jews (not Muslims) may
take advantage of it.

We will not dwell upon all the other hypocrisies of the Middle East =80` the
outrage at any Iranian interest in acquiring nuclear weapons, for example,
when another country in the region has an awful lot of nuclear weapons; or
US fury at Russian annexation of Crimea but no anger at all about the
annexation of Golan or the theft of Arab land in the West Bank, which are
equally illegal under international law. Upon such foundations is
aggression built: the illegal invasion of Iraq, for instance.

I contemplate all this because of a little research I’m undertaking about a
Moroccan air force colonel who, in 1972, tried to stage a coup against the
brutal King Hassan who was also, by the way, quite an expert on
`disappearances’. Mohamed Amekrane flew to Gibraltar and threw himself upon
the dodgy mercy of Her Majesty. He pleaded for asylum (after all, the coup
had failed) but we packed him off back to Morocco because, while the
European Convention on Human Rights gives anyone the right to leave his or
her own country, no international treaty obliges a country to give that
person asylum. So back Amekrane went – and was, of course, put to death.
His widow eventually got £37,500 from the British government – ex gratia,
needless to say, out of goodwill not guilt, you understand – and Colonel
Amekrane was then erased from history. Interesting to see what happens to
the ex-Brits who lose their passports for going to Syria – and have to go
back to the country of their birth. They might be better off – and
live
longer lives – if they to go off to fight in another jihad.
The Great War’s forgotten victims in the Levant

Horrors of the Great War you will not read about this year: among the
casualties were another million dead, the men, women and children of the
Ottoman Levant – for which read modern-day Lebanon and Syria =80` who died of
famine, victims of both the Allied blockade of the east Mediterranean
coastline (which is why we ignore these particular souls) and of the
Turkish army’s seizure of all food and farm animals from the civilian
population; all this in addition to the million and a half slaughtered
Armenians of 1915. Many Lebanese remember parents who ate nettles to stay
alive, just as the Irish did in the famine. I have a book by Father Antoine
Yammine, published in Cairo in 1922, illustrated with photos of stick-like
children and of a priest in his habit lying dead on a Beirut street,
another of a baby suckling at his dead mother’s breast outside their front
door. `And some there be which have no memorial; who are perished as though
they had never been”

The Local, France
May 11 2014

Hollande bids to boost Caucasus ties

Published: 11 May 2014 15:53 GMT+02:00

French President Francois Hollande starts a three-day visit to the
South Caucasus on Sunday as he seeks to bolster European ties on
Russia’s southern doorstep amid the crisis in Ukraine.

French President Francois Hollande starts a three-day visit to the
South Caucasus on Sunday as he seeks to bolster European ties on
Russia’s southern doorstep amid the crisis in Ukraine.

Hollande was due to arrive in the Azerbaijani capital Baku around 6:00
pm Sunday, on the same day separatists in eastern Ukraine held
referendums on breaking away from the country.

His visit is unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow, which has long
considered the ex-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia
to be in its sphere
of influence.

French officials insisted the visit is not confrontational and aimed
only at boosting the European Union’s relations in the region.

“We do not see this work for closer ties with the European Union as
against Russia,” a source in Hollande’s office said.

“This is not a combative visit, but one aimed at promoting closer
ties,” the source said.

Hollande will meet Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev before heading
to Armenia on Monday and Georgia on Tuesday.

Like Ukraine, all three countries have sought closer ties with Europe,
with Georgia going so far as to seek to join the NATO military
alliance.

Hollande’s visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi is especially
sensitive in the wake of the 2008 Georgia-Russia war over the
separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The EU is keen to sign “Eastern Partnership” political and trade
agreements with ex-Soviet countries, including those in the South
Caucasus.

Such a deal with Ukraine was at the origin of the country’s crisis
when then-president Viktor Yanukovych unexpectedly refused to sign up
under Russian pressure.

His move triggered pro-EU protests in Kiev which evolved into broader
demonstrations that eventually led to Yanukovych’s ousting.

The ensuing chaos saw Russia annex Crimea from Ukraine and parts of
Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east threatening to break away.

Much of the focus of Hollande’s visit will be on economic ties, in
particular in Azerbaijan, where European companies are heavily
involved in the country’s energy industry.

In Armenia he will focus as well on cultural ties, attending a concert
Monday by Charles Aznavour, the French crooner of Armenian origin, and
dedicating a square to Missak Manouchian, a French-Armenian poet and
resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazis.

There are some 500,000 French of Armenian origin and the community is
an important political constituency.

Hollande will also discuss the Nagorny Karabakh dispute with the
Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, after years of fruitless
negotiations on resolving the frozen conflict.

Along with Russia and the United States, France has for 20 years been
trying to mediate a peace deal in the conflict, which saw Armenian
separatist backed by Yerevan seize Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war
that claimed some 30,000 lives.

The conflict has simmered on, with frequent exchanges of gunfire and
vows from Baku to retake the region by force.