Category: News

EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should be uncoupled from the EU accession negotiating process, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. MEP praise Turkey for hosting the largest refugee population in the world, and note that it remains a “key strategic partner for the EU” but nonetheless call for progress on rule of law and fundamental values and “a structured and more frequent political dialogue on key thematic issues”.

“The overall pace of reforms in Turkey has not only slowed down but in some key areas, such as freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary, there has been a regression, which is particularly worrying”, said rapporteur Kati Piri (S&D, NL). In this report “we also express our concern about the escalation of violence in the southeast of Turkey, which caused almost 400,000 people to leave their houses,” she added.

“Outsourcing the refugee crisis to Turkey is not a credible long-term solution to the problem”, say MEPs who add that “it is crucial to put in place safe and legal routes for refugees”. They believe that the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan on refugees and migration management should be implemented immediately, but only as “part of a comprehensive cooperation agenda based on shared responsibility, mutual commitments and delivery”. Furthermore, “EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should not be linked to the calendar, content and conditionality of the negotiation process”. “Only a political solution to the Syrian crisis can provide a lasting response to this humanitarian crisis”, says the text.

The resolution was passed by 375 votes to 133, with 87 abstentions.

Serious backsliding on fundamental freedoms

MEPs urge Turkey to act against intimidation of journalists in all its forms, condemn its violent and illegal take-over of several newspapers including Zaman most recently and highlight its serious backsliding, over the past two years, on freedom of speech, expression and opinion, both on-line and off-line.

To match the EU’s commitment to the rule of law and fundamental values, which are core European values, reforms of the judiciary and fundamental rights and of justice, freedom and security are urgently needed in Turkey, says the text.

Kurdish peace process

MEPs call for an immediate ceasefire in southeast Turkey and the resumption of the peace process. They urge the Turkish government to shoulder its responsibility to resume negotiations for a negotiated, comprehensive and sustainable solution to the Kurdish issue. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations, should lay down its arms, abandon terrorist tactics and use peaceful and legal means to voice its expectations, they add.

Cyprus reunification talks

Welcoming the considerable progress made in the Cyprus reunification talks, MEPs pledge support for the evolution of the Republic of Cyprus into “a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality between the two communities and equal opportunities for all its citizens”. They urge both parties to implement all agreed measures without further delay, emphasing that non-settlement of the Cyprus issue affects the development of EU-Turkey relations.

 

 

 

The Energy Ministers of Armenia, Georgia, Iran and Russia met in Yerevan today to discuss the countries’ cooperation in the power sector.

The parties signed a “roadmap” of steps towards forming a North-South energy corridor by 2019, Armenia’s Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstyan told reporters after the signing ceremony.

The project will allow the four countries to unite their energy systems, improving the level of governance, as well as the efficiency, security and reliability of the energy systems.

Before that, Armenia and Iran plan to commission the 400 kW third power transmission line.

– For Shake Tukhmanyan, an actress since age 17, starring in “Armenia, My Love” was an especially emotional experience.

The Glendale resident, who plays a grandmother in the new film about the Armenian Genocide, was traveling through the desert, filming a sequence that depicts the deadly travails many Armenians were subject to in 1915, when the Ottoman Empire began systematically killing more than 1.5 million of them in an effort to force them out of their historic homeland.

Tukhmanyan’s character, Anoush, was struggling to push on with her family in what ultimately became a deadly march. Like so many others, her character’s family had lost their home and an otherwise happy, peaceful existence.

“We were so tired,” Tukhmanyan said of shooting the desert scenes. “We were without water, but it was nothing compared with my people of that time.”

Tukhmanyan and her co-stars couldn’t help compare their own experiences to that of the Armenian families suffering through the atrocities 101 years ago.

“We cannot feel the same thing, but a little bit of it we felt when we were shooting,” she said. “You have to go deep inside and put a parallel between them and yourself.”

“Armenia, My Love” will premiere Thursday at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. It includes a question-and-answer session with the film’s writer and director, Diana Angelson, as well as the cast and crew.

On Friday, the theatrical release extends to the MGN Five Star Cinema in Glendale and the Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood.

Angelson, who also stars in the film as a pregnant mother, centers her script on a young boy who escapes the genocide, makes it to the United States and becomes a successful Armenian-American painter. His works depict his childhood, family and struggles back in his native country.

“While ‘Armenia, My Love’ does expose the harsh realities faced by the entire Armenian people who were violently ripped from their homeland, it is ‘Armenia, My Love’s’ strong messages of hope, love, faith, perseverance and strength that I wanted to prevail,” Angelson said in a statement.

Angelson, who’s Romanian American, said she felt compelled to make the film at the behest of her Armenian friends whose family histories needed to be told.

The film’s release coincides, nearly to the day, with the 101-year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

For Tukhmanyan, born and raised in Armenia, that was significant.

“I’m really happy to have a part in this movie because it’s like a recognition of genocide for the entire world,” she said. “The entire world has been misled for a hundred years into thinking this genocide never happened.”

Leading Assyrian Christian organizations have collectively penned an open letter to the five remaining U.S. presidential candidates, urging them to fight against radical terror groups and to recognize the past genocide that Christians have suffered under the Ottoman Empire, according to

, addressed to Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump, states that Assyrian Christians are being “tortured, kidnapped, raped and murdered by radical terrorist organizations such as ISIS.”

“We have seen this terror in Paris, Brussels, and other cities around the world, committed in the name of Islam by radical Islamic organizations. For Assyrians it feels like 1915 all over again,” the groups write, referencing the ethnic and religious cleansing carried out by the Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey, between 1915-1924, when 750,000 Assyrians, 500,000 Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives.

“One hundred years have passed since the era of World War I when no one heard the cries of our ancestors, the Assyrian people, in their suffering in that genocide that is known as the Armenian Genocide,” the letter reads.

“26 countries have recognized the Armenian Genocide. 12 countries, governments and institutions have recognized the Assyrian genocide. Turkey, however, continues to deny the genocide,” the Assyrian organizations pointed out.

Assyrian organizations that are listed as signers of the letter are: Assyrian Genocide and Research, Federation des Assyriens de Belgique, Institut Syriaque de Belgique, Sefyo Center Belgium, Assyrian Universal Alliance Americas Chapter, Restore Nineveh Now Foundation, American Mesopotamian Organization, Institut Assyrien de Belgique, Central Union of Assyrian Associations in Germany and European sections, Assyrian Democratic Organization, and Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union of Canada.

The mass genocide of Christians marked its 100th year anniversary on April 24, 2015, bringing together world leaders to Yerevan, Armenia, to pay their respects to the dead.

“I bow down in memory of the victims and I come to tell my Armenian friends that we will never forget the tragedies that your people has endured,” said French President Francois Hollande.

President Barack Obama faced criticism from Armenian-American activists, however, when he failed to refer to the 1915 massacre as a genocide last year.

“The president’s surrender represents a national disgrace,” said Aram S. Hamparian, executive director of the Washington-based Armenian National Committee of America, at the time. “It is a betrayal of the truth, and it is a betrayal of trust.”

Although Obama had promised during his election campaign in 2008 that he would use the word, the White House later clarified that it does not want to sour its relations with Turkey, a NATO-partner.

In their letter, the Assyrian leaders reminded the presidential candidates that Secretary of State John Kerry has designated the ongoing massacre of Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as a genocide.

“As President of the United States, would you do everything in your power to end these atrocities, bring the perpetrators to justice, and aid the survivors?” the Assyrian groups asked in the letter.

“As President of the United States, would you acknowledge the Ottoman Genocide against Christians – Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks – during World War I and support reparations for the victims?” they added.

“It is our hope that as President you would aid the victims of genocide, both past and present, and bring relief to their suffering.”

Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), a senior member of the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, has called on the administration to negotiate a new tax treaty between the United States and Armenia, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

At a recent hearing before the Financial Service Committee, Sherman told Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew that currently, “we have a chicken and egg circumstance.  You don’t get the business investment because you don’t have the tax treaty.  Then you don’t need the tax treaty because you don’t have the business investment.

“We have tax treaties with scores of countries around the world.  We devote a substantial amount of money to trying to achieve our international development goals and can always provide foreign aid to Armenia.  But we can also achieve those goals by having a tax treaty.”

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with Ambassadors of OSCE participating states today.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the Ambassadors on the consequences of the recent Azeri aggression along the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

“With its aggressive actions Azerbaijan actually tried to refuse from its international commitments of solving the issue in a peaceful way, thus grossly violating the basic principles of international law, the decisions and declarations of a number of OSCE summits and Ministerial Councils, obviously ignoring the statements on the heads of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries on the settlement of the Karabakh issue,” the Armenian Foreign Minister said.

Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the active role of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries and stressed the need to support their efforts.

In response to the recent shelling of Armenian villages in Artsakh (also known Nagorno-Karabakh) by Azerbaijan, Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian and other elected officials joined with Armenian-American civic and religious leaders to make a call for peace in the Caucasus region, where violence by Azerbaijan’s government has taken dozens of innocent lives in recent days.

L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian told that the vigil was meant to call for peace and to denounce what he described as the “outrageous militarization and vicious attacks” by Azerbaijan against those living in the Artsakh region.

“They have routinely violated the ceasefire since 1994, but this last week has seen a dramatic escalation of that,” Krekorian said. “It’s outrageous, it’s unjustifiable, and it should be denounced by the entire international community.”

Krekorian said that peace in the region is in the interests of the United States and that these attacks may constitute war crimes.

“So that’s why we are putting together this vigil, and that’s why we’re going to continue to demand action from our own government in Washington to ensure that we bring peace back to this region,” Krekorian said.

 

 

 

“The world should listen to what concessions Artskah is ready to make,” Vice-Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov told reporters today. He added, however, that a number of principles need to be clarified before that.

“There can be no mutual concessions without the decision of the people and authorities of Artsakh.  Speaking about concessions today is useless, as I haven’t heard anything from the Azerbaijani side,” Sharmazanov said.

The Vice-Speaker ruled out any unilateral concessions. “It is impossible after 25-30 years of struggle. We’ll fight till the end,” he said.

Sharmazanov has just returned from Artsakh. He visited Nagorno Karabakh accompanied by lawmakers from the Czech Republic, Latvia and Greece, who have already been blacklisted by Azerbaijan. The European MPs had arrived to see the consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression on the ground.

Sharmazanov quoted the European lawmakers as saying that “the people of Artsakh are not alone in their struggle, and it’s up to Artsakh to determine its future.”

Spekaing about Turkey’s reaction to the recent escalation, he noted that “attempts to ascribe a religious coloring to the Karabakh conflict” could mark the start of a catastrophe. He urged the international community to be cautious and pressure those attempting to incite escalation.

“Self-determination is the only solution for Nagorno- Karabakh. The European Union should impose sanctions against Baku with regards to the new outbreak of Azeri aggression against the people of Nagorno Karabakh,” MEP Eleni Theocharous said at a plenary session of the European Parliament.

“The Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh have resisted against the Soviet totalitarianism for 60 years now and have managed not to be absorbed by the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan, to which they were unwillingly given by the South Soviets. After many bloody fights, the Armenians have gained their freedom and their right to self-determination. This would be the only fair solution for Nagorno Karabakh,” she said.

“Since 1994, the Armenians are defending themselves against the constant attacks by Azerbaijan, which uses its economic power towards purchasing heavy weapons whereas at the same time its own people live in absolute poverty. Its utter purpose is the destruction of the Karabakh people since the continuous attacks and killings of civilians are Azeri practices,” the MEP added.

“It is therefore the EU’s responsibility to support the people of Nagorno Karabakh, who fight for their freedom, and thus not to support the continuation of an unjust status quo. Peace equals recognition of the right to self-determination for the people of Nagorno Karabakh,” Eleni Theocharous concluded.

The history of Armenia is closely connected with Byzantium and Greece, through common course and tragic events. The Athens-based Byzantine and Christian Museum, hosts the exhibition “Armenia: The spirit of Ararat, from the Bronze Age to the 20th century,” organized in collaboration with the History Museum of Armenia and the Embassy of Armenia in Greece.

Director of the Byzantine and Christian Museum Mrs. Katerina Delaporta told that “the exhibition includes 104 items, starting from prehistoric times, findings that emerged from excavations of the Hellenistic and Roman period to digital material from the modern history of Armenia, presenting the destruction of monuments and the Armenian Genocide.”

It is the first time that archaeological treasures of Armenia are on display in Greece. Visitors will certainly find the historic link between the two countries.

Armenians made their presence felt both in Europe and the Middle and Far East and India and China. This geographic expansion of their commercial networks, particularly to the east, influenced their cultural preferences, which are visible on objects in the collection.

The exhibition will remain open until May 31.