Michigan House of Representatives passes a bill mandating Armenian Genocide education in public schools, Asbarez News reported on its Facebook page.
Category: News
Turkey ex-football great Hakan Sukur risks 4 years jail for ‘insulting Erdogan’
Turkey’s former international football star Hakan Sukur risks up to four years in jail after being charged with insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in posts on Twitter, reports said Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports.
Prosecutors have charged Sukur with posting Tweets from his account @HakanSukur containing “insulting content against Mr President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son,” the private Dogan news agency reported.
In his defence, Sukur, 44, said he did not intend to target the president in his posts, the content of which was not made clear.
But that was rejected by prosecutors, who claimed that the tweets were “clearly related” to Erdogan, the news agency said.
If convicted, Sukur faces up to four years in jail, according to the charges. As the indictment has been approved, a first hearing is expected in the coming weeks.
Sukur, a striker whose football career stretched from 1987-2007, was by far the most prolific goalscorer in the history of the Turkish national side, finding the net 51 times in 112 appearances.
He is also remembered for his electric performance in the 2002 World Cup, where Turkey registered its best ever performance of third place.
After football, the high-profile Sukur went into politics and was in 2011 elected MP from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
But he resigned in 2013 after a vast corruption probe that targeted Erdogan and his inner circle, siding with the movement of his arch-foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The legal case is one of a string of others targeting journalists, bloggers and ordinary people who land in court on charges of insulting Erdogan and other top officials.
Eight Armenians running for two seats in Iranian Parliament
Iran is set to hold parliamentary elections on February 26. The main rivalry is expected between the conservatives and the reformists. Eight Armenian will be running for two seats in the Iranian Parliament.
Expert of Iranian studies Rudik Yaralyan expects no surprises. According to him, the Armenian community has always been conservative. Besides, the candidates previously represented in Majlis are more influential, he told reporters today.
Some of the candidates enjoy the support of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. However, they fail to follow the ARF policy line. In particular, they could be more active on issues related to Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian Genocide.
“In my opinion, the time has not come for Iran to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Guided by this logic, they [Armenian MPs] refrain from submitting a bill. They see that the Russian-Iranian ‘alliance’ is doing its best to resist Turkey’s growing influence in the region. Therefore, it’s not ruled out that the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide may be brought into agenda,” the expert said.
Zhorzhik Abrahamyan and Karen Khanlaryan, both supported by ARF, are the two candidates most likely to be elected.
Speaking exclusively to , Khanlaryan said he is going to deepen and expand the existing political course, if elected. “The Armenia-Iran relations are at the spotlight, especially considering that the lifting of sanctions is opening up new perspectives for cooperation.”
Karen Khanlaryan said they will try to raise the Armenian Genocide issue on higher podiums, and even Majlis, on the eve of April 24.
“Iran has no practice of condemning by law, the declarative approach is more common here,” he said.
It’s worth mentioning that the Armenian community is the only ethnic minority that has been allocated two seats in the Iranian Parliament.
Syrian Army wins back key height in Lattakia Province
The Syrian army made new gains in the coastal province of Lattakia in tough battle with Jeish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) militants, winning back a strategic region, reports.
The army units seized back the key Height 458. 19 in Lattakia province pushing back the terrorists from the region.
Scores of militants were killed and injured in clashes with the army units.
Almost 7 percent of Lattakia province is now under the control of the ISIL as the Syrian army and resistance forces have won back over 100 villages in the past two months.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian fighter jets in a series of incessant operations heavily pounded several militant positions and their gatherings in a village in Northern province of Lattakia.
“Several militant positions and their military grid were severely damaged during Syrian jets combat sorties over the village of Ma’ar Baya in Lattakia province,” the sources on the ground confirmed.
The Syrian Army announced on Tuesday that it has dispatched a large number of fresh forces to the Northeastern heights of Lattakia province near the border with Idlib province to join an imminent anti-terrorism operation.
“The Syrian Armed Forces have been transferring fresh soldiers to the Kabani front, where they are likely to launch an assault in the coming days to break the last line of defense of Jeish Al-Fatah militants in Lattakia,” the army said.
UN first air drop delivers aid to Deir al-Zour, Syria
The UN says it has carried out its first air drop of aid in Syria to help civilians in an eastern city besieged by Islamic State (IS) militants, the BBC reports.
UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council that the plane dropped 21 tonnes of humanitarian items on a government-held part of Deir al-Zour.
Initial reports indicated that the aid had successfully reached the target area, Mr O’Brien said.
The UN says 200,000 civilians are living under siege in Deir al-Zour.
In a recent report, the UN said those trapped in the besieged areas were facing “sharply deteriorating conditions” with reports of “severe cases of malnutrition and deaths due to starvation”.
Last week, more than 100 lorries carrying food and other basic goods reached 80,000 people in five other besieged areas of Syria. Two more convoys were sent to two towns besieged by government forces on Tuesday.
“Earlier this morning, a WFP (World Food Programme) plane dropped the first cargo of 21 tonnes of items into Deir al-Zour,” Mr O’Brien told the Security Council.
He said teams from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent on the ground confirmed that “pallets have landed in the target area as planned”.
Blatter and Platini lose Fifa appeals but have bans reduced
Outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter and suspended Uefa boss Michel Platini have had bans from all football-related activities upheld, the BBC reports.
But the suspensions have been reduced from eight to six years by Fifa’s appeals committee.
Both were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” to Platini.
They both deny any wrongdoing and Blatter has already said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The committee said “activities and services rendered to Fifa, Uefa and football” was a mitigating factor.
Fifa’s presidential election is due to take place on Friday to find Swiss Blatter’s replacement.
Armenian Ambassador, Iran’s Vice-President discuss issues of bilateral cooperation
Armenia’s Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan had a meeting with Masoumeh Ebteka, Iran’s Vice-President and head of Environmental Protection Organization.
The Ambassador noted that Armenia and Iran have a positive experience of cooperation in the field of environmental protection both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
The parties stressed that the lifting of sanctions against Iran opens new perspectives for the development and reinforcement of bilateral cooperation in different spheres, including environmental protection.
The interlocutors referred to the pollution of Araks River, establishment of a national friendship reserve at the Armenian-Iranian border and development of programs to protect some species.
Edward Sharmazanov to address genocide conference at Humboldt University of Berlin
Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov has left for Germany for a three-day official visit.
On February 25 Sharmazanov will participate in an international conference at Humboldt University of Berlin on “The genocide of Christian peoples in the Ottoman and Kemalist Turkey” and will offer a speech.
Within the framework of the visit Edward Sharmazanov will have meetings with Edelgard Bulmahn, Vice-President of the Bundestag, and Cem Ozdemir, Chairman of the Alliance ’90/The Greens Party.
President appoints new Ministers
President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today reorganizing the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations into two Ministries
- Ministry of Territorial Administration
- Ministry of Emergency Situations
The President instructed the Government to take decisions deriving from the decree within a month.
President Sargsyan also appointed new Ministers
- Armen Yeritysan – Minister of Emergency Situations
- David Lokyan – Minister of Territorial Administration
- Levon Mkrtchyan – Minister of Education and Science
- Artsvik Minasyan – Minister of Economy
Republican Party, Armenian Revolutionary Federation sign Agreement on Political Cooperation
The Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation signed an agreement on cooperation today. The document was signed by Vice-President of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan and representative of the Supreme Body of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Aghvan Vardanyan.
Under the agreement, the parties agree to implement the urgent steps deriving from the Constitutional changes adopted on December 6, 2015.
They agree to continue to improve the system guaranteeing human rights and freedoms, to ensure the organization and conduct of free and reliable elections, implementation of the constitutional norms of democracy.
They pledge to raise the competitiveness of the Armenian economy, to implement an active anti-monopoly policy and ensure free entrepreneurship, economic activity and competition, to promote investments, create jobs, review the tax policy.
The parties also pledge to purse the protection and popularization of the national cultural legacy, develop and reinforce the security systems of the Republic of Arenmia and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, to take steps to improve Armenia’s international standing, reinforce Armenia’s statehood and deepen the role and participation of the Armenian Diaspora in the preservation of the Armenian national identity and repatriation.