Category: News

Next time the Turkish Ambassador to India is in the City of Joy, he “hopes to visit” the Armenian community. In fact, he wants to facilitate their visit to Turkey, according to .

Burak Akcapar, an independent scholar of Turkish history, is the first Turkish envoy to advocate a meeting between the Armenians in the city and a government representative since India’s Independence. Mr. Akcapar was there to launch his book on the Indian medical mission to Turkey to treat Ottoman soldiers injured in the Balkan War of 1912-13.

The number of Armenian Christians in Kolkata has dwindled from thousands to some 500. But many of them still assemble every year in the 18th century church to pray for their ancestors killed in the genocide. The Armenian descendants say the Ottoman government exterminated the minority Armenians in today’s eastern Turkey, their “historic homeland”.

Mr. Akcapar did not apologise, but he took a step forward. “I hope to reach out to the Armenian community here,” he said. “I also like them to go to Turkey to reach out to us. My door is open to the Armenians of Kolkata and I would be happy to meet them,” he told The Hindu before the launch of his book at Oxford Bookstore.

Later, he tried to find out about the community. “I need to know about them,” he said. “Perhaps, I have not come prepared for this, and will plan to meet them on my next visit.”

He said many Turkish Muslims were also killed during the time. “We both have suffered and still shared a lot of our past for thousands of years — we should both hug and cry,” he said.

A city-based historian said the Turkish envoys had never displayed “any willingness to connect the communities” divided by a 100-year-old tragedy.

Former Turkish President Süleyman Demirel, who was twice toppled by the military during seven stints at the head of government, died early on June 17. He was 91, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Demirel, who served as prime minister seven times through the 1960s to the 1990s and was president from 1993 to 2000, died at the Güven Hospital in Ankara where he had been undergoing treatment for a respiratory tract infection, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

With religious tolerance giving way to the savagery of Islamic State, communities that have existed since the first century are now facing extinction. Linda Dorigo and Andrea Milluzzi’s book of photographs documents the people who, through poverty or defiance, refuse to leave, reports.

The new book by photographer Linda Dorigo and journalist Andrea Milluzzi, Italians working in the Middle East– titled Rifugio (“refuge” or “shelter”) – is a visual record of those who have, through poverty or defiance, refused to become a part of the Christian diaspora and now struggle to live out their faith in an increasingly inhospitable land.

When the US launched its invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians living in the country. Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, was a Christian – demonstrating the relative religious tolerance under that regime. But, by igniting sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias, the US invasion was a disaster for indigenous Christians, who Muslims associated with the hated crusaders.

Now Christians are being slaughtered by Islamic State. Between 2003 and now, three quarters of Iraq’s Christians have been driven from their homes or killed. It’s a story that has repeated itself throughout the Middle East, although, to be fair, it long pre-dates the US invasion.

When, a century ago, the Ottomans drove Armenian Christians from Turkey into the Syrian desert to die of starvation, there was a 13% Christian presence in Turkey. Now, they have been all but wiped out. In Egypt, some 600,000 Christians have left during the past 30 years.

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.

On 17 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan sent a condolence letter to the family of Armenian National Hero Kirk Kirkoryan, the Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President reported.

The letter runs as follows:

“Artsakh and the whole Armenian people experienced severe pain having heard the grave news about the death of Kirk Kirkoryan.

Kirk Kirkoryan was an outstanding person. His life was full of hardship and difficulties, which he overcame due to his painstaking work, unshakeable will and optimism. He became world-famous of whom the Armenian nation is so proud.

Kirk Kirkoryan had a substantial input in developing and strengthening our independent statehood, solving issues of pan-Armenian significance. Numerous strategically important programs were implemented in Armenia and Artsakh with his immediate assistance, programs that have had a tangible impact on improving socioeconomic situation in the Motherland.

Kirk Kirkoryan’s patriotic activity was highly estimated by the Armenian people and he occupied his worthy place among the national philanthropists.

On behalf of the Artsakh people and authorities and on my own behalf, I express my condolences and support to the family of Kirk Kirkoryan, his relatives and friends in connection with this irretrievable loss. The memory of the nation’s deserved son will always remain bright in our hearts”.

“Technical problems with the overseas passport and visa systems have resulted in the unfortunate cancellation of some U.S. visa interview appointments and the delay of many potential visa appointments, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said in a statement.

The Embassy said they remain committed to facilitating legitimate travel and have therefore decided to open on Saturday, June 27, 2015 on an exceptional basis to conduct visa interviews.

The Embassy urgse business, tourist, student, and other nonimmigrant visa applicants to visit to take advantage of these appointments outside of the normal working hours, to schedule or re-schedule a visa appointment.

On 17 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received the Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan and Deputy Head of the General Staff of the Republic of Armenia’s Armed Forces Movses Hakobyan.

A number of issues related to army building and cooperation between the two Armenian states in this sphere were discussed during the meeting.

NKR Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan was present at the meeting.

Turkish diplomats claim that the Armenian Nor Seround Association attacked the Turkish stand in Lyon Consul’s Feast in France and call on the French

“We call on French authorities to investigate the event and give the necessary penalty to those responsible,” Consul General of Turkey in Lyon Hilmi Ege Turemen told Anadolu Agency

The consul general said that the group came to the Turkish stand, threw flyers attacking Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and harassed Turkish citizens and consular employees for about 30 minutes.

reported earlier that on June 13, 2015 young Armenian activists of Nor Seround mobilized for a peaceful sit-in in front of the Turkish Consulate General in Lyon to remember and demand from the Turkish State to recognize and take responsibility for the Armenian Genocide.

The employees of the Turkish consulate attacked the activists, hit one who was recording and stole his phone. Later the Consul General himself showed up and attacked and cursed the young Armenian Activists.

The Senate on Tuesday blocked an amendment that would have allowed the Obama administration to send direct aid to Kurdish peshmerga forces in Iraq, reports.

Senators voted 54-45 on the amendment, from Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA.) The amendment faced a 60-vote threshold to be attached to the defense policy bill.

The proposal would have granted a temporary authorization for President Obama to give weapons and training directly to the Kurdish forces rather than having to work through the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

Ernst suggested that the measure was a necessary step to help defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS.)

“ISIS is deadly and determined, and Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces in the fight against ISIS need weapons as quickly as possible,” she said on Monday afternoon. “We simply cannot afford future delays at this critical moment in the battle.”

Ernst added that her amendment didn’t force the president to directly aid the Kurdish peshmerga forces, but gave him the option to do so.