Category: News

Photo: Wikipedia/ Hanna Zelenko

The Belarusian Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday said it decided to propose a constitutional amendment referendum on extending the country’s presidential term from five to seven years, reports.

The party seeks to extend the presidential term by two years as well as increasing the parliamentary and local council terms and shifting to a mixed proportional and majoritarian election system from the current majoritarian one.

“Using our representation in the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly, a decision to initiate a referendum on constitutional amendments in 2018 alongside local council elections has been taken,” the LDP press service said in a statement. “These changes will strengthen the political system of Belarus and will lead to further democratization and the development of civil society,” the party said.

Country’s current President Alexander Lukashenko was elected for his fifth term in office in 2015 with over 80 percent support. LDP candidate Sergei Gaidukevich came third with 3.3 percent. Parliamentary elections were held in September, in which the vast majority of seats were won by independent candidates.

The last parliamentary election was the first to be based on a first-past-the-post system after the previous two-round system was abolished in 2013. A majority vote is now only required for single candidates.

Tomorrow, on November 24, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund will hold its 19^th annual Telethon, under the slogan “My Artsakh.” Proceeds from the pan-national event will benefit the rebuilding of war-ravaged communities in Artsakh, emergency and disaster preparedness for Armenia and Artsakh, and the construction of homes for Artsakh families with multiple children. In addition to these initiatives, donor-specified projects as well as projects within the framework of the fund’s core development programs will continue to be implemented in Armenia and Artsakh.

The Telethon will be broadcast from Los Angeles beginning 10 pm Yerevan time. The 12-hour event will air live in Armenia on major television networks including Public TV, Armenia, Shant, and Yerkir Media, as well as online at www.himnadram.org.

The Telethon will encapsulate the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s completed and ongoing projects this year. The broadcast will conclude with an announcement of the total amount raised through the Telethon as well as various fundraising campaigns and events carried out by the fund’s worldwide affiliates in 2016.

You can make a donation:

• By sending an SMS to the number 8000 or by calling 090008000 for a contribution of 300 drams;
• In person at any Haypost branch in Yerevan or throughout the regions of Armenia;
• In person at the office of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Executive Board in Yerevan;
• Through a bank transfer to any of the fund’s account numbers at theCentral Bank of Armenia: 103003215672 (AMD) or 103003615673 (USD);
• Online at himnadram.org

HDP Istanbul MP Garo Paylan has brought the impunity of the hate crimes against the minority groups to the parliamentary agenda, reports.

Paylan tabled a written parliamentary question addressed to Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. He reminded that the suspects who placed a black wreath in front of the office of Agos had been released last week.

He also reminded that some racist statements had been written on the walls of 3 Armenian schools within a year. He pointed out that Asri Jewish Cemetery in Hatay and the Syriac ancient cemetery of the Syriac Orthodox Mor Peter and Mor Paul Church had been vandalized.

Paylan asked what kind of efforts there are for preventing the crimes against the minority groups, whether there are precautions for protecting the minority institutions at risk and whether there is any investigation on hate crimes.

Here is the full parliamentary question:

“On April 24, 2015, a black wreath was placed in front of the office of Agos and the perpetrators released a statement on social media titled as ‘One night, we might come to visit you unexpectedly.’ Agos filed a criminal complaint against this threat and a lawsuit was launched against Nationalist Turkish Party Istanbul Chair Bilal Gökçeyurt and the chair of so-called Turan Organization Ercan Uçar. The prosecution demanded prison sentence for the suspects on the charges of threatening and insulting. However, on November 17, the suspects had been acquitted.

Furthermore, in 2016, racist statements had been written on the walls of 3 Armenian schools in different times. On August 2016, it was written ‘Suffering for Armenians’ on the wall of Surp Haç Tıbrevank High School; it was written ‘Suffering for Armenians’ on the front wall of Kalfayan on January 2016 and ‘Long may live Turkish race’ on September 2016; and on November 2016, it was written, ‘One night, we will seize Karabakh unexpectedly’ on the wall of Bomonti Mıhitaryan High School.

In addition, Jewish cemetery in Hatay was vandalized on June 2016 and the Syriac ancient cemetery of the Syriac Orthodox Mor Peter and Mor Paul Church had been vandalized on November.

Thus, I would like to ask:

1- What kind of works is the government carrying out for preventing the hate crimes against the minority groups, that has been increasing and going unpunished?

2- Is the government taking any specific precautions for protecting the minority institutions and their properties?

3- Is the Intelligence Department of Turkey (MİT) carrying out any investigation on the hate crimes against the minority groups?

Photo: Getty Images

 

Colombia’s government says it will sign a new peace accord with Farc rebels on Thursday, after a previous deal was rejected in a referendum last month, the BBC reports.

The new revised agreement will be submitted to Congress for approval, rather than put to a popular vote.

But opposition groups say it still does not go far enough in punishing rebels for human rights abuses.

The deal is aimed at ending more than 50 years of civil war, in which more than 220,000 people have been killed.

In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, President Juan Manuel Santos said: “We have the unique opportunity to close this painful chapter in our history that has bereaved and afflicted millions of Colombians for half a century.”

The original deal was signed two months ago in an emotional ceremony before world leaders but it was rejected in a referendum on 2 October.

Spanish prosecutors have called for Barcelona forward Neymar to be sent to prison for two years for his part in a corruption case over his transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013, the reports.

Judge Jose Perals also called for a five-year sentence for former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and a fine of 8.4million euros for the club.

It asked to drop charges against current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Rosell, Neymar and his father are set to stand trial.

The case stems from a complaint by Brazilian investment group DIS, which owned 40% of Neymar’s transfer rights and alleges it received less money than it was entitled to from transfer fee.

Rosell resigned as the club’s president in 2014 for his role in the affair and testified in court in February alongside Bartomeu, Neymar and Neymar’s father.

The club struck a deal with prosecutors in June to settle a separate case, paid a £4.7m fine and avoided trial on charges of tax evasion over the transfer.

Barcelona thought they had brought the affair to a close when judge Jose de la Mata archived the case in June, although Spain’s public prosecutor successfully overturned the ruling in September, allowing the case to proceed.

Since moving to the Nou Camp, the 24-year-old has won two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey trophies, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

He signed a new five-year contract with Barcelona in October.

By Harut Sassounia
The Califria Courier

Professor Taner Akcam struck a major blow to Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide in a highly informative lecture at Ararat-Eskijian Museum-Sheen Chapel in Mission Hills, California, on November 20. Akcam, a Turkish scholar, is holder of the Robert Aram & Marianne Kalousdian, and Stephen & Marion Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University.

In his recently published book, The Memoirs of Naim Bey and Talat Pasha’s Telegrams, Professor Akcam laid to rest persistent Turkish denials of Naim Bey’s existence and authenticity of the telegrams he sold to Aram Andonian, who published them in his book, “Meds Vojire” (The Great Crime), in the early 1920’s in English, French, and Armenian. Andonian, a genocide survivor, first met Naim Bey, an Ottoman official, in the concentration camp of Meskene, Turkey, in 1916, and later in Aleppo, Syria, in 1918.

In a crucial telegram dated September 22, 1915, Interior Minister Talat gave “the order that all of the Armenians’ rights on Turkish soil, such as the right to live and work, have been eliminated, and not one is to be left [alive] — not even the infant in the cradle; the government accepts all responsibility for this.”

In another cable sent to the Provincial Governor of Aleppo on September 29, 1915, Talat wrote: It “was previously reported that the decision to eliminate and annihilate all Armenians present in Turkey had been taken by the government, on orders of the Committee [of Union and Progress]… regardless of how horrible the annihilation measures, and without giving in to the pangs of conscience, an end will be put to their existence, be they women, children, or invalids.”

In 1983, the Turkish Historical Society published a book by Sinasi Orel and Sureyya Yuca, claiming that Talat’s telegrams published by Andonian were forgeries and that Naim Bey never existed. Orel and Yuca raised 12 arguments as to why they believed that these documents were fake. Although Dr. Vahakn Dadrian had published a detailed rebuttal to Orel and Yuca in 1986, some scholars remained doubtful of the materials included in Andonian’s book.

After a lengthy and painstaking research based on Ottoman archives made available in recent years, Professor Akcam was able to prove conclusively that Orel and Yuca’s accusations were wrong and baseless. In his newly-published Turkish-language book and November 20 lecture, Akcam asserted:

1) There was in fact a Turkish civil servant by the name of Naim Bey. Original Ottoman records confirm his existence. In fact, Volume 7 of the Turkish Military Archive published in 2007, contains a document that describes him as: “Naim Effendi, son of Huseyin Nuri Effendi, age 26, from Silifke, married, former dispatch officer at Meskene, currently employed as grain storehouse officer of the municipality (November 14-15, 1916).” Akcam confirmed that there are three other Ottoman records with Naim’s name; two of them are in the Boghos Noubar Library in Paris.

2) Akcam announced that he had in his possession a copy of the original memoirs of Naim Bey, handwritten in Ottoman Turkish. He found the memoirs in the archives of noted researcher Father Krikor Guerguerian who had photographed Naim Bey’s 35-page manuscript while visiting the Boghos Noubar Pasha Library in 1950. The original has since disappeared from the library.

3) The names of individuals and events Naim Bey had described in his memoirs are corroborated by materials Akcam recently obtained from the Ottoman archives.

4) Akcam was able to confirm that Orel and Yuca’s main arguments about various aspects of Talat’s telegrams, including the type of paper used and coding techniques, were incorrect.

In his scholarly quest to prove that Talat’s telegrams included in Andonian’s book are authentic, and debunk Turkish claims that they are forged, Akcam has made a much more significant revelation. Talat’s September 22, 1915 telegram confirms that Turkish leaders had ordered the wholesale massacre of all Armenian men, women, and children, and not simply their deportation as Turkish denialists have falsely claimed for over a century. By authenticating these telegrams, Dr. Akcam has shown that Talat had a murderous INTENT — a crucial element in qualifying the Armenian mass killings as genocide, according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD) and Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today.

The guests laid flowers at the Eternal Fire and paid tribute to the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.

The co-rapporteurs visited the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute and familiarized with documents proving the Armenian Genocide.

Alan Meale noted that the atrocities and genocide committed against Armenians by Turks should be condemned by everyone. “Governments should recognize what has happened in reality. People must be informed, genocide should be taught at schools and everything should be done to prevent their reoccurrence,” he said.

According to Giuseppe Galati, the Council of Europe has been doing a huge work towards clarification and stabilization of relations between countries of different beliefs to avoid such tragedies.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; attended a concert honoring the 70th birthday of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The concert was held in the evening at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, on 22 November.

The event was attended by Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation; Mr. Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus; Russian Prime Minister Mr. Dmitry Medvedev; pontiffs and delegations of various Christian churches; representatives of other religions; high-ranking clergymen and members of the Russian Church Synod; diplomats; heads of state institutions, public and charitable organizations; science and culture figures.

A reception was held following the concert, during which the Catholicos of All Armenians conveyed his congratulatory message to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

On behalf of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians congratulated Patriarch Kirill on the occasion of his 70th birthday and stated in part: “We know You as a faithful and loyal servant of Christ and His Church. You were called to serve the Holy Church of Christ during the Soviet years, when faith was persecuted throughout the Soviet Union, and the Church and clergy were subjected to various pressures. During the difficult times of atheism, with growing zeal, You ministered to the vibrancy of the Russian Orthodox Church. You offered sincere efforts to the strengthening of the spiritual life of the faithful, implementing responsible long-term enhanced service in the ecumenical and educational fields, attaching great importance to the preparation of a new generation of priests and as well as the promotion of dialogue between the Churches.

You vigorously continued activities for the strengthening and progression of the spiritual life of the faithful of your flock, being called to greater service. All of us today are witnessing the vibrancy of the Russian Orthodox Church. You also made significant contributions in the ecumenical sphere, supporting the preservation of Christian values, the protection of the rights of Christians and the effectiveness of inter-religious relations.

… Dear Brother in Christ, we are happy to recall your visit to Armenia and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Our meetings and mutual visits were characterized by friendship and goodwill, through which are crowned the centuries-old brotherhood and relations between our people. We are pleased to confirm that during Your Pontificate, the fraternal ties and cooperation between the Churches and the faithful have strengthened, for which we today offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty. We are confident that the same spirit of friendship will continue to reign in the relationship of our churches, and with understanding, love and mutual respect, record new results in the Christian mission, “To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, full pleasing him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9–10).”

His Holiness also expressed his gratitude to Patriarch Kirill for the Paternal attitude shown towards the Armenian Church dioceses in Russia , and as well as for the continuous mediating mission of the Russian Orthodox Church towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), and for organizing trilateral meetings with the Spiritual Head of Azerbaijan and the Armenian Catholicos.

The Catholicos of All Armenians offered a prayer to the Lord, asking that the spirit of love, fraternity, and cooperation yield good results, and continue to embellish the friendship of the Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches.

At the conclusion of his remarks, His Holiness wished Patriarch Kirill good health and boundless energy, asking God to always be supportive to him; to enrich the years of pontificate with more success and achievements, for the glory of God and vibrancy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Photo: AP

 

Donald Trump has named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN, the BBC reports.

She is the first non-white female cabinet-level official appointed within the Trump administration.

Mrs Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and had been a vocal critic of Mr Trump on the campaign trail.

The 44-year-old has been characterised as a rising star within the Republican party and is the youngest governor in the US.

Although she eventually voted for Mr Trump, the governor had lamented she was “not a fan” of either him or rival Hillary Clinton.

A maiden shipment has arrived in Iran from Germany via a multimodal transit route connecting Iran to Europe via the Black Sea, secretary of International Transport Association of Iran, Gholamhossein Amiri, announced, the reports.

Plans are underway for the route to replace the one passing through Turkey.

“Two cargo containers have entered Iran from the Armenian border,” Amiri was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

“The containers were shipped from Hamburg in a relatively shorter journey compared to the Turkish route.”

Amiri did not mention the exact date of the arrival.

“In the past couple of years, we have had problems on the Turkish side of the border regarding transportation of cargo from Europe. This prompted us to start negotiations with several other countries for alternative routes,” he said.

Tehran and Ankara have been grappling with a longstanding transit dispute, arising from different fuel prices in the two neighboring countries. The issue led the government to take measures, such as charging Turkish trucks a fee to compensate the considerably low fuel prices in Iran to sealing the Turkish trucks’ fuel tanks at the Bazargan-Dogubayazit border crossing.

The common border has frequently been the scene of traffic congestion with transit trucks queuing at the border in lines reaching 15 kilometers at times.

Agreements signed by the neighboring countries’ customs officials have done little to help solve the problem.

Border security is another issue hindering transit via Turkey. While on Turkish soil, several Iranian trucks have been the target of arson attacks, which Ankara blamed on armed forces affiliated to Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The Iranian government demanded Ankara guarantee the safety of Iranian trucks, but the results were found to be unsatisfactory, which led to lack of confidence in Turkey’s ability to stem the violence. Consequently, Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development advised companies shipping to Europe to avoid routes passing through Turkey.

The ministry advised truck drivers to take two alternative routes: one through Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus; and another through Armenia, Georgia, the Black Sea and then into Romania or Bulgaria.

“The cost of cargo transportation via the [new] route was 1-2% lower [compared to the Turkish route],” Amiri said.

Recent negotiations with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Italy and Greece have centered around a transit corridor involving Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy. According to Amiri, an agreement has been signed by Iran, Armenia and Georgia regarding implementation of the corridor.

Trucks are shipped by roll-on/roll-off ships from Georgia to Bulgaria across the Black Sea. The same method can also be used for trucks shipping goods from Greece’s southern ports to Italy using the Mediterranean Sea.