Category: News

Turkish police have engaged in severe ill-treatment and abuse of detainees while responding to perceived security threats in the southeastern part of the country, said in a statement.

“It’s deeply worrying that police in Turkey’s southeast seem to be returning to abusive tactics in response to the security threats,” said Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia division deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible, and ensure that people in custody are protected from ill-treatment and have prompt access to proper medical treatment.”

Human Rights Watch made repeated efforts to discuss these cases with both the governor of Şırnak province and the district governor of Silopi, but has received no response.

“Turkey is party to both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibit inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. Turkey has strict obligations to protect the rights to life, bodily integrity, and security, and as part of those obligations, medical treatment must be provided promptly to anyone who is injured when arrested,” teh Human Rights Watch said.

In a previous case, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of violating its obligations when it failed to provide prompt and appropriate medical treatment to a person who had been detained allegedly on suspicion of PKK membership, and who had visible injuries to his head and evident difficulties in walking and talking.

The Turkish authorities should ensure that its policing and security operations comply fully with human rights law, that police officers who violate fundamental rights and freedoms are held accountable, and that acts of torture and ill-treatment are investigated and prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said.

“No one should be denied access to proper medical treatment, no matter the accusations against them,” Ward said. “The Turkish authorities should make sure that people in police custody and prison are getting the medical care they need.”

The Church of Cyprus has announced that 34 treasures that were stolen from the island’s Turkish-occupied areas, are expected to return on Friday afternoon to Cyprus. The treasures will return to Cyprus following a decision by the Munich Court of Appeals, on March 16, in the case of Turkish art smuggler Aydin Dikmen, according to the

Among the artifacts, 24 are Byzantine relics and some prehistoric antiquities coming mostly from the collection of Chr. Chatziprodromou, from Ayios Epiktitos Church. Among the Byzantine relics there are three pairs of bema doors (Monastery of Antiphonitis Christ, Virgin Mary Monastery in Kantara), wall paintings from the Monastery of Antiphonitis Christ, the church of Agia Solomoni in Coma tou Yialou and the Monastery of Panagia Apsinthiotissa in Sychari. Also the treasures include a hand written manuscript of 17th century (omilario) from the Monastery of the Panagia Trooditissa, and the hand written gospel of the Armenian community of Cyprus stolen during the Turkish mutiny in 1963.

More than 500 churches situated in the areas under Turkish occupation since 1974 have been destroyed, plundered and looted or turned into stables, warehouses, restaurants and hotels. The Cyprus government and the church have repeatedly protested to the UN, the World Council of Churches and many other international and religious organisations.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been voted the player of Matchday 3. The Armenian international convinced the voters with his impressive performance in the match against Hertha BSC.

With a strong performance and impressive start series of nine points and 11: 1 goals this season Borussia Dortmund showed on Matchday 3 all that can be expected. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the most outstanding player.

With 46 percent of the ballot Mkhitaryan clearly won the first place in the voting on .

Mkhitaryan provided an assist in the team’s 3: 1 win over Hertha and was involved in five of the 15 BVB shots.

He is the player with the most targeted-participations and no one gave more shots on goal. But the Armenian is not only dangrous in the penalty box: Mkhitaryan won for being a good offensive player with 53 percent of his tackles and sprinted 22 times over the square. This was also the best result.

Luc Castaignos came second with 25 percent of the vote, followed by Thomas Müller with 10 percent.

Armenian contract serviceman Hayk Tevoyan, born in 1975, died as a result of shooting at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan told reporters today.

“The rival actively fired all along the Tavush section of the border until midnight. The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons of different caliber, including large-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles, 60 and 80mm mortars. Two civilians were injured,” he said.

Hovhannisyan said the frontline villages have sustained losses, but the situation is now under control, the rival has been silenced.

The Spokesman said the Azerbaijani side incurred losses as a result of the tension of the past two days.

The sixth hearing in the retrial of defendants accused of assassinating Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was held at the 5th High Criminal Court in İstanbul on Thursday morning, only to be adjourned until December with minimal progress having been made, reports. 

Despite eight years having passed since the murder of the journalist, efforts to pinpoint suspect Osman Hayal in the security camera footage stills from the incident have failed. Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot and killed in broad daylight on Jan. 19, 2007, by an ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in Istanbul.

Evidence discovered since then has led to claims that the murder was linked to the “deep state,” a term that refers to a shadowy group of military and civilian bureaucrats in Turkey believed to have links with organized crime. Now, the Dink family lawyers are intent on having the identity of Osman Hayal verified from the security camera footage taken from the Akbank Bank and Saray Drapery, located near the Agos headquarters during the incident. Osman Hayal, who was released pending trial, is the brother of Yasin Hayal, who confessed to telling then-minor Ogün Samast to murder Dink.

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey claimed after initial investigations that there are too many people in the frame to identify the suspect. During Thursday’s hearing, the court accepted Dink’s family’s lawyer Hakan Bakırcıoğlu’s request that newly marked men in the security footage be identified by Council

The next hearing will be held on Dec. 22.

A group of activists called Friends of Hrant who are closely following the case held a demonstration outside the Caglayan Courthouse prior to the hearing, also making a statement.

“We will continue to stand on duty for justice. This case will not be over until the real suspects are tried and our friend’s murderer receives the punishment they deserve. We are tired of repeating our request for the true suspects to be tried. In fact, we are not the only ones requesting this,” stated Baran Seyhan on behalf of the activist group.

“The state and its State Supervisory Board have also clearly identified those who need to be tried. As the lawyers have shared, Article 83 of the Turkish Penal Code deals with negligence causing death due to the failure to take appropriate action to prevent the death, and the state is protecting those who are behind the murder,” Seyhan stated.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will speak at the Chatham House on September 10, reads a statement on the official website of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Minister Nalbandian will discuss Armenia’s foreign policy priorities.

He will offer introductory remarks for approximately 20 minutes, followed by an hour for questions and discussion.

Atom Egoyan’s new film Remember will premiere Sept 10 at the Venice Film Festival. The film stars Christopher Plummer as a Holocaust survivor who sets out on a path of revenge after discovering that the Nazi guard who murdered his family 70 years before is still alive and living in America.

“This film raises many issues; this is very much the last story that can be told in the present day with the characters still living,” Egoyan said in an interview with .

“The character that Plummer is playing [focuses on] that idea of people near the end of their lives still trying to find justice, and realizing that the regular channels won’t serve that, which is why he takes it on himself,” he said.

“It is a revenge film. It posits the idea that after all this time, those wounds have not healed. It is going to provoke a lot of discussion. You see how visceral the feelings are even after all this time has passed,” the director added.

Egoyan last worked with Christopher Plummer on Ararat, which deals with the impact the Armenian Genocide of 1915 had on later generations.

“It is interesting that on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, I am making a film called Remember which deals with this issue of acknowledging the past and notions of repressed or elective memory and how we understand trauma,” Egoyan said.

A Thai court has issued an arrest warrant for a Turkish man who is the husband of a Thai suspect already being sought in connection with Bangkok’s deadly bombing, the Associated Press reports.

National police chief Prawut Thavornsiri identied the man as Emrah Davutoglu. He is facing charges of conspiracy to possess unauthorized war materials.

Wednesday’s arrest warrant is the eight issued by Thai authorities in connection with the Aug. 17 bombing of a central Bangkok shrine, which left 20 people dead and more than 120 wounded.

Prawut says that Davutoglu is believed to have been “part of a network that provided accommodation” to those connected with the bombing.

Earlier this week, police issued an arrest warrant for his wife, Thai national Wanna Suansan, whose name was on the lease of an apartment that police raided over the weekend and discovered bomb-making materials.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the reports on the occupation of the Armenian-populated regions of Damascus.

“According to the data of the Armenian Embassy in Syria, the reports that terrorists have captured the Armenian-populated regions of Damascus do not correspond to reality,” Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan said in a Twitter post.