decide to open a topic in which we can post Events / Warnings / Ultimatums /

AZERBAIJANI EX-PRESIDENT HEYDAR ALIYEV STATUE DISMANTLED IN CANADA

PanARMENIAN.Net

September 26, 2012 - 20:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Administration of Canadian town of

Niagara-on-the-Lake dismantled the statues of Azerbaijani ex-president

Heydar Aliyev and his daughter-in-law Mehriban Aliyeva, considering

them as monuments to dictators, member of Public Chamber of Canadian

representation Hasan Saftarov said.

The step was taken by the town administration in response to

Azerbaijani opposition's campaign.

"With the whole world having declared war against dictatorship,

a statue to Heydar Aliyev undermines the image of Canada, as one of

the most democratic countries in the world.

"Aliyev is no different from Saddam, Mubarak, Ben Ali, Gaddafi and

Assad. For this reason, we request to dismantle and return statues of

Heydar Aliyev and his daughter-in-law Mehriban Aliyeva to Azerbaijani

authorities," Azeri opposition's letter to the mayor's office reads.

According to the official response by the mayor's office addressed to

Hasan Saftarov, the statues were removed, with the monument to Heydar

Aliyev to be restored in case Canadian government and Azerbaijani

embassy reached an agreement, Internet gazeta reported.

Ռուս-ադրբեջանական ռազմական համագործակցությունը թվերով

http://youtu.be/t04qvkXp6lE?list=UUfbsEAM0gwPyCf2o-ZxmrJg

https://www.facebook.com/ancagrassroots/videos/10154764949971859/

Is this genuine help—or a deeper strategic play that reshapes Moldova’s alliances?

Armenia's response? Stay the course:
- Keep working with IAEA
- Ignore fearmongering
- Secure energy sovereignty

When two NATO members suddenly "discover concerns" about a plant in a competing country, ask who benefits. The answer tells you everything.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/07/countering-russian-influence-support-for-armenia-georgia.html

Experts say Moldova is getting drawn deeper into the West–Russia standoff, even though it officially maintains neutrality. The EU and the UK are showing support through funding, military training, and technical assistance. Meanwhile, Russia continues to exert pressure—especially via Transnistria, where its troops and weapons depots remain.

Parliamentary elections are coming up in September, and they might tip the scales one way or the other. People in Moldova are divided: some fear war, others fear falling back under Russian influence.

Is there really no way for Moldova to stay neutral and maintain stability at the same time?

The government focused on upcoming elections appears willing to make major concessions to secure its position. Critics warn that rushed deals—especially in energy—could sacrifice long-term stability for short-term political gains. One looming concern: the potential handover of Armenia’s power grid to foreign interests, raising fears of Turkish and Azerbaijani control over the country’s electricity supply.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s new Akkuyu nuclear plant is set to reshape regional energy dynamics. While Armenia debates its own nuclear future, some worry it’s being pushed away from traditional partners without securing real alternatives. Could this lead to an energy crisis—or worse, a loss of sovereignty?

As blackouts and infrastructure issues stir public frustration, many Armenians question whether their leaders are solving problems—or creating new ones. With elections on the horizon, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Will energy become Armenia’s next political battleground?

With anti-Syrian terrorist attacks turning increasingly violent in recent days, the anti-syrian dissidents have been gathering for a conference in Antalya to discuss a representative body that will draw international support for terrorist activities and destruction of Syria. A discussion has already fueled up some of the anti-Syrian opposition over the meeting, which will select a “transitional council” to represent the anti-Syrian terrorists on the international scene.

Syrian terrorists groups will be meeting for three days in Antalya, from May 31 to June 2, in a conference organized by the Egypt-based terrorist organization – NOHR.

The meeting would be centered on establishing “a temporary terrorist council to manage the crisis and mobilize all the possible support to destroy Syria ” the real invitation statement of the conference “Change in Syria” reads.

The conference would “assign terrorist experts in the Syria to prepare new terrorist attacks and kill Syrian people ,” experts say`s.

The signatories of the declaration of the conference “want to obtain foreign military intervention in Syria in order to kill as much Syrians as possible ,” the experts statement added.

Ahead of the meeting, objections to establishing a “terrorist transitional council” has emerged among Syrian terrorists . Setting up a terrorist transitional council at this stage “would mean a prison or death sentence” for anyone who participates from inside Syria, Walid al-Bunni, a veteran terrorist figure told Reuters last week.

The participants in previous Syrian terrorist meetings in Istanbul, organized by the Istanbul Terrorism Platform in April, including various Turkish terrorist supporter organizations such as the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples, or Mazlum-Der, was mostly from Islamic-rooted groups such as Muslim Brotherhood.

The Antalya meeting was set to bring together terrorists from the anti-Syrian terrorists organization of a different profile: mostly exiled Syrians terrorists supported by Israel in different European countries and the U.S.

Representatives of Kurdish terrorist movements are also invited.

After the Antalya Conference in May-June 2011 it is clear that the so called opposition is just interested in destroying the country unity and independence .

My link

78474_0090000_ААР.pdf urgent, confidential.pdf 673553_09879_24.pdf

So in this doc have a few compliments to each other but interesting thing is about nuclear energy. It’s important charter is not memorandum or agreement. It’s document fastly written with zero guarantees. I mean US gives no guarantees and can do basically whatever she wants. But Armenia, again, owes everybody.

Get access to American technology Armenians must fulfill some requirements. For example study all nuclear infrastructure, i.e. reviewing all objects with nuclear materials and radioactive waste. Then we check, then we fix everything, and even after this nothing will change. US congress will decide can we really cooperate with them, so important partner. But we already will leak all our secrets and give our advantage.

Furthermore our leaders want to start build small module reactors and replace them to our Metsamor atomic electric station.And of course Pashinyan decide go like Bulgaria who refuse cooperation with Rosatom and choose Westinghouse. But Bulgaria still couldn’t find subtractors and finance build energy blocks. I hope common sense win and we don’t harm ourselves like stubborn. We will go protect our interests. Not follow moment wanting and what’s fashionable. Because now fashionable is nontraditional values. And it’s not natural to us. So I’m for what’s working right now. And only people who don’t cheat on us are people who build Metsamor atomic electric station. I’m for traditional values.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/azerbaijan

UK at center of secret $3bn Azerbaijani money laundering and lobbying scheme

Azerbaijans ruling elite operated a secret $2.9bn (£2.2bn) scheme to pay prominent Europeans, buy luxury goods and launder money through a network of opaque British companies, an investigation by the Guardian reveals.

Leaked data shows that the Azerbaijani leadership, accused of serial human rights abuses, systemic corruption and rigging elections, made more than 16,000 covert payments from 2012 to 2014.

Some of this money went to politicians and journalists, as part of an international lobbying operation to deflect criticism of Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev, and to promote a positive image of his oil-rich country. There is no suggestion that all the recipients were aware of the original source of the money. It arrived via a disguised route.

But the revelations once again highlight the use of the lightly regulated British corporate landscape to move large sums of money around, beyond the purview of regulators and tax authorities. Seven million pounds was spent in Britain on luxury goods and private school fees.

The cash, contributed by an opaque array of paymasters in Azerbaijan and Russia, travelled to the British companies all limited partnerships registered at Companies House in London via the western financial system without raising red flags. One of Europes leading banks, Danske, processed the payments via its branch office in Estonia.

Danske Bank said money laundering and other illegal practices had taken place. It first noticed the irregular payments in 2014. Estonias financial regulator said systems designed to stop money laundering at the branch had failed.

The scheme has been nicknamed the Azerbaijani Laundromat. Confidential banking records were leaked to the Danish newspaper Berlingske and shared with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Guardian, and other media partners. The data covers a 30-month period. It may show the tip of an iceberg.

The politicians

The leaked bank records show multiple payments to several former members of the Council of Europes parliamentary assembly, Pace. One is Eduard Lintner, a German ex-MP and member of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Angela Merkels ruling Christian Democrats. Another is the Italian former chair of the centre-right group in Pace, Luca Volontè.

The payments came at a time when Azerbaijan was under fire for arresting human rights activists and journalists, and for holding rigged elections. The regime sought to blunt criticism from Europe and the US by allegedly bribing delegates in what has been called caviar diplomacy.

This intensive lobbying operation was so successful that Council of Europe members voted against a 2013 report critical of Azerbaijan.

Lintner stood down as an MP in 2010, but remained a firm supporter of Azerbaijan. He founded the Society for the Promotion of German-Azerbaijani Relations in Berlin, which received 819,500 (£755,000). One 61,000 payment was made two weeks after Lintner returned to Berlin from a trip to Azerbaijan where he monitored the countrys 2013 presidential election. He said the poll was up to German standards in direct contrast to official election observers who found significant problems.

Lintner says he received the money for his society, did not personally benefit, and was not an MP or Council of Europe member at the time. An Azerbaijani NGO paid for his election trip, he says. He says he has no knowledge of the original source of the payments received.

Details of cash given to Volontè emerged in 2016 and caused outrage. He received more than 2m in instalments via his Italian-based Novae Terrae foundation. Prosecutors in Milan have indicted him for money laundering and corruption.

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Volontè denies wrongdoing. He is seeking to have the case thrown out.

The data also shows money being paid via the British companies to Kalin Mitrev, a Bulgarian appointed last year to the board of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Mitrev received at least 425,000 for private consulting work from a local Azeri company, Avuar Co. He acknowledges the payments and says they were for legitimate business consultancy. He denies all knowledge of the conduit used to execute them or the original source of the funds.

All the income, generated by activities in different countries, was duly reported and taxed in my country of residence, Bulgaria, Mitrev said. His consultancy work stopped when he joined the London bank, he said.

The revelation that her husband consulted for an Azeri company might prove awkward for Mitrevs wife, Irina Bokova, who is the director general of Unesco. Bokova has bestowed one of Unescos highest honours, the Mozart Medal on Azerbaijans first lady and vice-president, Mehriban Aliyeva. She also hosted a photo exhibition at Unescos headquarters in Paris, entitled Azerbaijan A Land of Tolerance. The Heydar Aliyev foundation organized the event.

Asked by the Guardian whether there was a conflict between her husbands work and her UN role, she strongly denied this, saying she had no knowledge of her husbands business affairs. As a director general of a UN agency, my duty is to develop sound working relations with all members of the organisation in conformity with the policies set by member states. Azerbaijan is not an exception in this respect.

I am immensely proud of my determined pursuit of the mandate of Unesco, including in the area of human rights, freedom of expression and the safety of journalists.

The lobbyists

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Large sums from the scheme were spent on lobbying. In 2014 Eckart Sager, a former CNN producer based in London, received nearly 2m from the British companies. His PR company is linked to articles that promote the Azerbaijani government and its views. One piece denies wrongdoing by Baku in the Volontè case. Sager did not comment.

Another beneficiary is a London-based Azeri, Jovdat Guliyev, who received 25 payments totalling almost £400,000. Guliyev is a member of the Anglo-Azerbaijani Society, a lobby group co-chaired by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord German. Guliyev did not respond to repeated messages asking him for a comment.

The British connection

The four firms at the centre of the Azerbaijani Laundromat were all limited partnerships registered in the UK. They were: Metastar Invest, based at a service address in Birmingham; Hilux Services and Polux Management, set up in Glasgow; and LCM Alliance, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Their corporate partners are anonymous tax haven entities based in the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles and Belize.

L Burke Files, an international financial investigator, said these company structures were purposefully opaque. Foreign criminals used Scottish limited partnerships, or SLPs, he said. In June the government announced SLPs would have to name their significant owners, or pay fines, amid evidence of growing fraud.

No one suspects Scotland. Its never been on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of non-compliant countries, Files said. If you are going to launder money its probably best not to run it between Russia, Malta and the Cayman Islands. Does Scotland raise a red flag in your mind? No.

All four British companies are named as payment channels in the Italian prosecution case against Volontè. They have since been dissolved.

Luxury services

The banking data shows that the Azerbaijani fund was used for a wide variety of purposes. More than $2.9bn went to companies, with about $50m paid out to individuals. Many beneficiaries were retail and service firms in western Europe. In all probability, they would have been unaware of the origins of the payments they were receiving.

Some of the 200 money transfers to the UK concerned education. In 2014 £89,800 was transferred to Queen Ethelburgas Collegiate, a private boarding school in York. The school would not identify the pupil or pupils involved or comment.

There were payments to the tuition college Bellerbys and to the ICS international school in London. Bellerbys said it was investigating. The data suggests there were a number of relatively modest bursaries to regime-connected Azerbaijani students studying in Britain, as well as rental deposits on upmarket London flats. Other purchases included designer dresses, luxury cars and legal fees. There is no suggestion the UK recipients should have known about the provenance of the money.

Azerbaijans ruling family is not directly named. But the evidence of a connection is overwhelming. Large sums come via the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan. This is the largest bank in an oil-wealthy country, and yet earlier this summer it filed for bankruptcy protection in New York. The defence and emergency situations ministries in Baku all chip in cash.

The scheme was used to pay for the governments incidental expenses including the medical bills of Yaqub Eyyubov, Azerbaijans first deputy prime minister. There were separate payments to Eyyubovs son Emin, Azerbaijans EU ambassador, and to the presidents press secretary, Azer Gasimov.

Business partners of the US president, Donald Trump, in a project to build a luxury Trump Tower in Baku also appear in the Laundromat scheme.

The hotels local developer was Anar Mammadov, the billionaire son of Azerbaijans ex-transport minister Ziya Mammadov. At the time the scheme operated, the Mammadovs were one of the countrys most powerful and wealthy families. The Mammadovs Baghlan holding company is linked to Laundromat transactions.

In 2012 the Trump Organisation signed a deal with the Mammadovs to build a 33-floor, 130-metre-high ultra-modern skyscraper. In October 2014 Ivanka Trump toured Trump Tower Baku, posting photos of the unfinished building on her Instagram account. The hotel never opened. Trump has since cut his connection with the project. The Laundromat scheme does not link to Trump but raises questions about his choice of business partners.

The paymasters

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It is not entirely clear where the money used in the scheme comes from. The Russian government paid $29.4m into the Laundromat via its main weapons company, Rosoboronexport. Several transactions link to another $20bn money-laundering scheme, which operated out of Moscow between 2010 and 2014. The scheme, the Global Laundromat, was exposed in March by the OCCRP, Novaya Gazeta and the Guardian.

A mysterious private firm in Baku, Baktelekom MMC, pays in more than $1.4bn. The firm is what fraud experts call a doppelganger entity. It sounds like the state telecoms firm with the same name but bears no relation to it. It doesnt have a website. Its function is unclear. According to the OCCRP, Baktelekom MMC is linked to Mehriban Aliyeva. In January the company was let off a $17.4m tax bill.

The Danish bank Danske said it had not been good enough at monitoring suspicious transactions at its Estonian branch. The bank has since tightened procedures and controls and terminated relationships with some customers.

We will not accept Danske being exploited for money laundering or other criminal purposes. We will do everything to prevent it from happening again, it said.

Madis Reimand, the head of Estonias financial intelligence unit, said his office had come across the suspicious Azerbaijani cash flows in 2013 while analysing a separate case. From there we followed the tracks, he said. We tried to cooperate with the source country in order to ascertain where the money came from. This, however, didnt work out.

Reimand said Estonias financial supervisory authority had identified what had gone wrong and taken steps to prevent similar fraud in the future.

Since youre here

we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we havent put up a paywall we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardians independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters because it might well be your perspective, too.

I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. Im happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.

Thomasine F-R.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

-------------------------------------------

The Washington Post

The China Riddle

By Robert J. Samuelson

Friday, January 30, 2004

China is the question, but what's the answer? Everyone recognizes that China's emergence as an economic superpower is a surpassing development, even if we don't know its full significance. A China of 1.3 billion mostly impoverished people will influence only its immediate neighbors. A China that is the world's sixth-largest economy and fourth-largest exporter, with stunning economic growth rates (9.1 percent in 2003) and ambitions to excel in almost every technology, is something else entirely.

No one much talks about this, because it's hard to know what to say. The situation is novel. Since World War II, the United States' biggest economic and trading partners have also been our closest political and military allies. China breaks the pattern. It is now, after Canada and Mexico, our largest trading partner and the source of our largest trade deficit: about $120 billion in 2003. But China is neither close ally nor confirmed adversary. People fumble for the right words. Is China a "threat" or an "opportunity"? Is it a "partner" or a "rival"?

Beyond that, we don't know China's effect on the world economy. Is it a giant low-wage magnet drawing jobs and investment from elsewhere? Or is it a powerful locomotive whose development needs will pull everyone else along? Until recently, it seemed a magnet. China has attracted about $500 billion of foreign investment -- mainly for new factories and mostly at the expense of other Asian nations. "Two years ago, [Asian countries] were trembling," says Nicholas R. Lardy of the Institute for International Economics in Washington.

But recently, China has turned locomotive. Its imports in 2003 rose 40 percent, or about $118 billion, says Lardy. Steel imports totaled 36 million metric tons, a record for any country and double the level of the late 1990s. "Most of that steel is coming from Korea and Japan -- even India is selling. . . . They're elated," says Lardy. In 2003 China accounted for 35 percent of the global growth in oil demand, he says. The Chinese appetite for metals raised copper prices 40 percent and lead prices 55 percent.

Some things are clear: for example, China's gigantic need to create jobs, which -- if unmet -- might stir unrest. Every year, the labor force grows about 10 million, an International Monetary Fund study estimates. In addition, China's modernization of inefficient state-run companies means factory closings and layoffs. Meanwhile, rural workers move to cities for better-paying jobs. That means 9 million more jobs are needed, says the IMF study. By contrast, the U.S. economy creates 3 million jobs in a good year.

China also wants to be more than the world's sweatshop. It didn't send a man into space for only prestige. "There's a growing problem of industrial policy," says Alan Wolff, a trade attorney for U.S. industries. "The Chinese have said, 'You can invest -- but we want your technology.' " Every foreign company must worry that it's arming future competitors.

Consider computer chips. China imposes a 17 percent value-added tax on chips. But for chips produced in China, as opposed to imports, manufacturers can get most of the tax (up to 14 percentage points) back as a rebate. The idea, says Wolff, is to force companies to locate chip factories in China. The Chinese have also mandated their own encryption standard for wireless computer devices; that could force foreign firms to share their wireless technologies with Chinese firms that have the encryption codes. (The United States says both measures may violate rules of the World Trade Organization.)

We have other interests with China -- North Korea's nuclear program, terrorism, Taiwan's status -- but our political relationship depends partly on our economic relationship. If the economic costs seem too great, they will poison the politics. The flash point is that huge bilateral trade deficit. In theory, it might not matter. Countries need not have evenly balanced trade with each other to benefit from trade. Suppose China sells to us and buys from Thailand; then Thailand buys from Brazil, which buys from us. Everyone can gain. But weak U.S. job growth and a big trade deficit with China -- suggesting unlimited "outsourcing" -- is a lethal political combination. If it continues, it could raise questions about standard economic theory.

One fear is that China's recent growth spurt reflects a "bubble" of easy credit that, once popped, will curb imports and cause China to emphasize export-led job growth even more. Another danger is that China merely represents the last stage of Asia's supply chain and that Asia -- as a whole -- sells much more abroad than it buys, parking surplus earnings in U.S. Treasury securities. For instance, two-thirds of China's imports from Taiwan are components that are assembled and reexported. This lopsided trade shifts jobs to Asia. It's one reason the Bush administration has pressed China and other Asian countries to revalue their currencies and make their exports more expensive.

In 1980, China traded little and most of its people lived on the edge of subsistence. Now it's already the largest market for cell phones (269 million in 2003) and the second-largest for Internet users (78 million). The changes, considering their magnitude, have gone remarkably smoothly. Everyone now wants a piece of the China market, but there are underlying fears that we may be abetting an uncontrollable colossus. Endless questions remain as to how China affects the global economy and whether China and the United States will cooperate or collide. We don't know the answers, and -- almost certainly -- neither do the Chinese.

Gayane Arakelyan

hetq

14:41, October 19, 2012

Dogan Akhanlı, is a Turkish intellectual living in Berlin, who has

recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

He has written a play entitled "A Mother's Silence" that tells the

story of a Turkish girl raised in Germany who one day notices the

tattoo of an Armenian cross on her mother's chest.

The play was performed yesterday at Berlin's Unterm Dach Theater to

a packed audience of Germans, Armenians and Turks.

"The Armenian Genocide is not past history that took place some 100

years ago. It is very real today and impacts our lives today. We must

change the people's mentality by talking about the issue. And I, as

a man of the theater, am trying to make my voice reach the people,"

notes Akhanlı.

said the representative of the Chinese company “Global Group International Holdings Limited of Suite” Zheng Yonsen at the opening of a new center of sinology (Chinese studies) at the Bryusov Yerevan State Linguistic University in July 2016.

https://allinnet.info/world/china-will-not-forget-the-contribution-of-armenia/?fbclid=IwAR0D3BEpQfoLdS63erXqobAKUF4RCs67TTjB9PN16YZv97geUti3hmJwGK4

According to Yonsen, in the summer of 1945, the Soviet Red Army brought liberation to the Chinese people from the Japanese forces. The Soviet troops included over 6 thousand Armenian soldiers. Young warriors gave their lives for the liberation of China.

“The people of China will never forget this and will always express a deep gratitude. History is remembered today, and the future needs to be built together. Armenia and China should go hand in hand, and the center of sinology is another step along the way,” concluded Zheng Yonsen.

The author seemed to know quite a bit about the history, geograpnhy and demography of the tegion in question. Notably, on several occasions when he referred the demography of Iraq he mentioned the three major minorities-Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab and Kurdish. Of course the audience, as knowledgeable they seemed to be, nobody asked about the Assyrian element. During the QA when he was asked if the south, Shiite, religious kin of Iran would eventually choose to join Iran. Naturally his answere was "probably not" since the Iraqi Shiites are Arabs unlike the Iranians ones. From there, in a way to illustrate what he meant he advanced to Iran's ironic position in the region and cited the fact that Shiite Moslem Teheran is more supportive of Christian Armenia rather than her own religious kin Azerbaijan.

To me, a book such as this is an invitation to reexamine the legacy of the two major world wars and the aftermath, the arbitrary delineations and creations of mini, midi and mega empires. Which brings to mind, of course the empire of Ankara, India, Pakistan et al. He also touched upon Ankara's nervousness about a potential Kurdistan.

This begs the question, now that we know more about the peoples who were trampled over then, if there should be another and definitive world war to redraw the world map only this time based on what the indigenous people say what and who they are rather than Churchills who could care less who and what an Assyrian/Chaldean, or for that matter an Armenian is.

.

Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq

Catherwood, Christopher

http://www.forbesbookclub.com/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=IOLZR

Winston Churchill is one of the twentieth century's greatest statesmen, yet as Britain's colonial secretary in the 1920s, he made a mistake with calamitous consequences for the twenty-first century. Scholar and adviser to Tony Blair's government Christopher Catherwood chronicles and analyzes how Winston Churchill created the artificial monarchy of Iraq after World War I, thereby forcing together unfriendly peoples--Sunni Muslim Kurds, Sunni Muslim Arabs, and Shiite Muslims--under a single ruler. Indeed the map of the Middle East that Churchill created led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the wars in which American troops fought in 1991 and 2003. Defying a global wave of nationalistic sentiment, the desire of subject peoples to rule themselves, Winston Churchill put together the broken pieces of the Ottoman Empire and created a Middle Eastern powder keg. Inducing Arabs under the rule of the Ottoman Turks to rebel against their oppressors--abetted by T. E. Lawrence--the British and French during World War I convinced the Hashemite clan that they would rule over Syria. In fact, Britain had promised the territory to the French. To make amends, Churchill created the nation of Iraq and made the Hashemite leader Feisel king of a land to which he had no connections at all. Catherwood dissects Churchill's decision--which later resulted in a 1958 military coup against the Iraqi Hashemite government, and finally in Baath Party rule--providing a gateway to understanding the terrible legacy of the Ottoman Empire's collapse. Churchill's Folly is an essential book for readers eager to learn the history behind Iraq's formation and to see how one man's decisions can destroy world peace eighty years later.

Most believe it is because of Syria. Im more inclined to think that it is because of the purchase of the Russian S 400 missiles instead of the Patriots. Remember when Saddam got in trouble, hes been purchasing Russian MiGs with Petrodollars earned from the USA.

Anyway, I dont think anything changed except that the Turks will bark for some time and after that, it will be business as usual.

CHRISTCHURC, NEW ZEALAND — A white supremacist who identifies himself as the Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has killed at least 49 people and injured another 48 after carrying out a right-wing terrorist attack on mosques in New Zealand.

During the massacre, which he streamed live online, Tarrant could be seen with weapons scribbled with white text. He also posted images of the weapons on Twitter before the feed was deleted.

An examination of the text reveals an obsession with historical figures who fought against the Ottoman Empire – the Islamic superpower of its time – other extreme right-wing attackers and the Rotherham scandal for sexual abuse.

Inscribed on one of the guns is a writing in Armenian that refers to the Battle of Sarigamish, an engagement between the Russian and Ottoman empires during World War I.

The outcome of the battle resulted in a Russian victory. Ottoman leader Enver ***** publicly blamed his defeat on Armenians.

One of the gun’s covered in white lettering featured the names of King Davit Agmashenebeli and Prince David Soslan, the second husband of Queen Tamar, in Georgian, the Battle of Kagul 1770 (Russian-Turkish war) and the Battle of Bulair 1913 were written in Russian.

The writing also cites military leaders and refers to other ancient battles such as the 1189 Siege of Acre and Ottoman Empire battles including the 1863 battle of Vienna and the 1877 battle of Shipka Pass.

The attacker left behind a 37 page manifesto, he described himself as an “ordinary white man” who was inspired by Norway mass killer Anders Behring Breivik and wanted to avenge “thousands of deaths caused by foreign invaders.”

Armenia’s foreign ministry has confirmed that it is in contact with the authorities of New Zealand regarding the note in Armenian and other languages found on one of the weapons used for the attacks.

“We are in contact with New Zealand’s relevant authorities on all issues linked with the incident”, Anna Naghdalyan said.

The Georgian state security service has already reacted to these reports, stating that it cooperates with its partners to find out details about the persons arrested following the attack and the weapon used

Turkey seizes historic Armenian building again
Turkey seizes historic Armenian building again
February 6, 2019 - 13:43 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Court of Cassation in Turkey has ruled to return the title deed of Sanasaryan Han - built for the education of Armenian children - to the state, Ermenihaber.am reports.

A year earlier, that same court issued a historic decision with regard to Sanasaryan Han seized by the State, which did not allow it to be used. CoC ruled for the admissibility of the lawsuit, filed for the return of the title deed thereof. On the other hand, CoC described the previous title deed transactions with regard to Sanasaryan Han as “unlawful entries /irregular registrations”.

Ali Elbeyoğlu, the attorney of the case defending the Armenian side’s interests, said he is going to take the case to Turkey’s Constitutional Court.

The Patriarchate of the Armenians of Turkey launched a legal action four years ago on Sanasaryan Han. In 2014, a lawsuit was filed with Istanbul 13th Civil Court of First Instance for the cancellation of the transaction, which resulted in with the seizure of the property. On 3 July 2014 the Court, first, found the case admissible; yet later, rejected it on grounds that it was not within its jurisdiction. Following this, the Patriarchate approached the CoC. While the legal procedure was underway, the DG for Foundations launched a tender and leased out the Han without waiting for the verdict.

Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate claims that the han, which was donated to the patriarchate in 1881 by a Russian-Armenian Mıgırdiç Sansaryan, belongs to them as they have the documents to prove the donation.

Armenia ranked 103 which is pretty good. The State Department should have a look at these statistics before posting BS.

news.am

February 03, 2012 | 00:04

Several Swedish MPs have applied to the Nobel Peace Committee with

the proposal to give the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to famous Turkish

human rights defender Ragip Zarakolu.

As the Turkish Evrensel website informs, the Swedish MPs mentioned

in their proposal that Zarakolu published materials on the Armenian

Genocide and the Kurdish issue which are taboos in Turkey. He has

been sentenced for that publications several times.

One month ago Zarakolu has sent a letter to the Turkish parliament

calling them to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

"Yes, Turkey must face its history. It is not only an obligation

towards the victims but also a duty for securing healthy way of

thinking for the society. The acknowledgement of the genocide will

not belittle Turkey but will strengthen it," Zarakolu wrote.

Ragip Zarakolu is a known human rights defender and publisher in

Turkey. Many materials on the Armenian Genocide have been published

in his Belge publishing house. On February in 2011 Zarakolu visited

Armenia.

In what could be growing into a trend in Turkey, individuals belonging to vigilante groups in the last six months have threatened Protestants and have attacked their places of worship.

The media has also been increasingly critical of missionary activity, according to a recent report by Compass News. Also, some government ministers have accused missionaries of being politically motivated to "damaging the social peace and unity" of the nation.

In a government-approved sermon at Friday prayers in Islamic mosques in March, the government warned that Christian missionaries were "pursuing political agendas" to "deceive and convert" people.

The report cited several other attacks, including "sound bombs" equivalent to 150 firecrackers placed in front of doors of a Gaziantep church in April, and acts of vandalism at a protestant congregation in the Black Sea city of Samsun where numberous eggs were thrown at the building.

In April a firebomb caused $10,000 in damage to the International Protestant Church in the capital of Ankara.

After the attack, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued a warning noting an "up tick in threats and vandalism ... occurring during a period of increased focus by the Turkish media and government on "missionary activity in Turkey."

None of the cases ended with death, but a near miss was cited when three young men bound an American named Wilbur Miller and his family, threatening to kill them, before the family was spared and told to leave the country immediately. It was not clear if investigations by local police and the U.S. Embassy resulted charges or conctions, the report states.

Christians are in a position where they fear to report the attacks, according to Compass.

Pastor Ihsan Ozbek, chair of the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey told Compass that it was necessary to bring those issues to the attention of officials, so that those who threaten could be caught.

In Turkey, the Protestant community is tiny, estimated to be about 3,500 Christians, in 55 locations of worship and 40 known house fellowships, according to Compass. Non Muslims in Turkey represent just 0.2 percent of a total population of about 70 million. Other Christian groups include members of the Greek and Armenian churches.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/europ...in.turkey/1.htm

Turkey is now known to be an ''example for the Muslim world''. Ironically, more than 99% of Turkey is Muslim, and such event doesn't improve its' reputation in Europe.

And these Turks are demanding their rights in the West?

We Armenians should take advantage of this information, and show that Christians are STILL persecuted in Turkey.

November 29, 2017 marked a victory in human rights for the people of Argentina. The Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA) mega- trial, that took place over the period of 5 years, has ended with the conviction of 29 former officials of the military dictatorship that governed the nation from 1976 to 1983. They were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the former dictatorship’s practice of killing civilians by throwing them from aircrafts.

Federico Gaitan Hairabedian is the human rights attorney that worked alongside the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) which represented the human rights groups in this trial that just reached its final verdict.

Gaitan Hairabedian was the first of many students from Argentina to attend The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies’s (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) annual Genocide and Human Rights University Program (GHRUP) in 2005. Since it’s launch in 2002, the program is held annually in partnership with the University of Toronto History Department.

This high-profile human rights trial put a spotlight on the systematic torture and killing of thousands of people suspected of being opponents of the military government. They were held in a clandestine detention center at a naval base in Buenos Aires on the orders of the junta that ruled Argentina at that time. In a series of hearings, witnesses recounted in chilling detail how civilians were drugged, loaded onto aircrafts and dumped into the waters off the coast of Buenos Aires. Prosecutors tried 54 former Argentinian officials in the deaths or forced disappearances of 789 people, and presented testimony from more than 800 witnesses. While the practice has long been known, prosecutors managed to cross-reference testimony and documents to detail how one of the most atrocious tactics of Argentina’s dictatorship was carried out.

The trial also shed light on the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the junta’s crimes. No member of the clergy was accused in the trial, but prosecutors alleged that church officials were complicit in hiding detainees from international human rights inspectors.

The Argentinian junta is said to have detained, tortured and killed as many as 30,000 people it deemed “subversive.” In addition to killing people suspected of being dissidents, military officials kidnapped hundreds of babies who were then reared by families loyal to the government.

Federico Gaitan- Hairabedian followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and mother, both human rights lawyers that worked together to pass a law for the Argentinian government to take responsibility in the search and pursuit of justice for the disappeared persons. Since graduating from the course, Gaitan Hairabedian became one of the founding member of Zoryan Institute’s sister organization, the Luisa Hairabedian Foundation.

The Luisa Hairabedian Foundation and the Zoryan Institute joined together to encourage a new generation of scholars, lawyers and activists to engage in research, publication and practice in the field of Genocide and Human Rights Studies. Year after year, the Institute is proud of graduates such as Gaitan Hairabedian, who promote the cause of universal human rights awareness and prevention of genocide.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union some people called for the removal of the red stars from the Kremlin towers, saying they were the reminders of the Soviet past that, back then, many wanted to forget.

But as the years go by, Russians are becoming more tolerant to their history.

About two decades after Soviet Russia’s demise, there are still those who believe ending communism was a mistake.

Read it as it last because someone's gonna get it. The journalist already did. She was fired today. Most likely some of the Bulgarian made weapons sold to Azveristan were used in Artsakh.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2017/09/16/cnn-azerbaijan/2485453

Additional revelations over Azerbaijans corruption scheme that have come about in the last couple of days have exposed a former CNN employees role in the scandal.

The report called Azerbaijani Laundromat by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that former CNN producer Eckart Sager received nearly $2.6 million from British companies including Hilux Services. The money was transferred to Sagers account in the UAE.

The revelation notes that Sager, receiving money from Azerbaijan, published articles propagating the Azerbaijani visions on various issues or defended pro-Azerbaijani figures, Asbarez reports.

One of the articles defends Italian parliamentarian Luca Volontè accused of receiving money from Azerbaijan and reviewing the report by the PACE on human rights violations in Azerbaijan, reads the article that exposes Azerbaijani corruption deals.

Banking records revealing some 2.5 billion euro (US$ 2.9 billion) in transactions were leaked to the Danish newspaper Berlingske, which shared them with OCCRP. The two outlets then organized a collaborative investigation to track down where the money went. According to the Project, the money was spent on bribing European politicians, decision-makers, journalists and other figures to make pro-Azerbaijani decisions or depict Azerbaijan under favorable light.

In addition on September 14, former Azerbaijan Ambassador to the EU, Arif Mammadov announced another recent update on his Facebook page regarding the Azerbaijan Laundromat.

The former ambassador wrote that the next revelation linked to this corruption scheme is involving a sex-scandal with the participation of Azerbaijan authorities and MEPs.

I have already written that the key lobbyist of Azerbaijan in France, the President of the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in France Jean-Francois Mancel and his wife are perverted and, sorry for giving so many details, they are fond of orgies. Almost all of the lobbyists have sexual deviations and strange sexual preferences. Baku was one of the beloved places for fun of different senators and MEPs. They come to Azerbaijan under the pretext of a working visit, but in reality they come to Baku for intimate relations and of course, its Azerbaijan who pays for all these. The hotel rooms where those meetings took place were equipped with cameras in advance and the authorities have videotaped everything.

I think our authorities, reading all these, will understand that I know much more, reads Mammadovs post on Facebook.

The former ambassador believes that footage might come to surface now there everything is out in the open.

The European parliament has called for an investigation into revelations by the Guardian and media partners that Azerbaijan ran a secret $2.9bn (£2.2bn) slush fund to pay influential Europeans to paint a positive image of the authoritarian regime.

MEPs have demanded a comprehensive investigation into attempts by Azerbaijan and other autocratic regimes to influence European decision-makers through illicit means.

Now the time has come to investigate Eurovision:)

https://lovinmalta.com/news/news-breaking/embarrassing-report-claims-azerbaijan-considers-malta-a-province

Azerbaijani oligarchs consider Malta to be one of its provinces, according to an extensive report into how the South Caucasus nation uses caviar diplomacy to buy the influence of Western politicians.

According to our sources in Baku, Malta is considered by Azerbaijani oligarchs as one of the provinces of Azerbaijan, the report by the Civic Solidarity Platform, published in March, states. Malta is one of the key locations where corrupt Azerbaijani officials kept their money in offshore banks, along with Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Dubai, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.

The report flags how Maltas Speaker Anglu Farrugia had led several delegations to observe elections in Azerbaijan and how he always spoke positively of them, ignoring electoral fraud and gross human rights violations.

In October 2013, Farrugia described the presidential elections in Azerbaijan as 'fair, democratic and transparent', the report states. His assessment sharply conflicted with that of ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) observers who said they had documented widespread irregularities, including ballot-box stuffing and what appeared to be fraudulent counting.

The report questions the timing of Farrugias 2013 visit to Azerbaijan, noting it came only a few days before the ElectroGas consortium, which includes Azerbaijani state-owned Socar Trading, won a bid to construct and operate a LNG power station in Delimara.

Farrugia, a former Labour deputy leader, visited Azerbaijan again in 2015 when the country held controversial parliamentary elections, and again the following year to observe a constitutional referendum, as head of a mission by the European Academy of Elections Observation.

The report also flags former Labour MP Joe Debono Grechs close links with Azerbaijan, noting he was in 2009 appointed co-rapporteur on human rights in Azerbaijan by the Council of Europes parliamentary assembly PACE, getting the role ahead of a Norwegian MP known for her human rights credentials.

Later, when Debono Grech left this position, during a PACE debate on Azerbaijan in 2015 he failed to make any mention of imprisoned human rights activist Annar Mammadli, after having himself flagged Mammadlis politically motivated imprisonment in 2013, the report reads. In a debate on a new report on Azerbaijans ailing democratic institutions he complained that Azerbaijan was never absent from the Parliamentary Assemblys agenda and warned that the oil and gas-rich republic could head down the road of Libya or Iraq if president Ilham Aliyev is removed.

It adds Debono Grech was part of a scheme developed by key Azerbaijani lobbyists in PACE to defeat a human rights report condemning the Aliyev regimes treatment of political prisoners.

Simon Busuttil questions Malta links to Azerbaijan slush fund

Earlier today, outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil questioned whether any Maltese politician has benefited from a secret $2.8 billion slush fund, which Azerbaijanis elite had used to bribe European politicians as part of their caviar diplomacy.

Sometimes...not all the time...just sometimes, I have the feeling that America is a country of prostitutes of different caliber.

http://armenianweekly.com/2017/08/01/how-azerbaijans-paid-agents-manipulate-the-american-media/

One man, Casey Michel, had the courage to expose this scam in a lengthy article titled, Azerbaijans American Media Manipulation. He had done extensive research, linking several of these pro-Azerbaijani authors to Azerbaijans well-financed lobbying activities.

In an attempt to whitewash its dictatorial image the autocratic government of Ilham Aliyev has unleashed spin-doctors, duped reporters, and led one of the most brazen pushes to abuse American lobbying loopholes of any foreign government, Michel wrote.

Some of these hired pens sing the praises of Azerbaijan and mislead the public by acting as if they are uninvolved third parties who are making objective assessments of the situation in Azerbaijan. Whereas, in reality, these writers are on the payroll of the Azeri regime or its state energy company, SOCAR. Here are some concrete examples

Former Congressman Dan Burton, who was paid to serve as head of the Azerbaijan America Alliance, wrote at least two op-ed articles in the Washington Times and Daily Caller on what a wonderful country Azerbaijan is, without disclosing that he was on Bakus payroll. Fortunately, Congressman Burton quit his job, when Azerbaijan stopped paying him.

Michel then mentions Jason Katz as the most prolific pro-Azerbaijan propagandist, the founder of The Tool Shed Group, a U.S. lobbying firm hired by Azerbaijan. Katz wrote a series of articles in Huffington Post in praise of Azerbaijans democracy, claiming the country to be a progressive, cosmopolitan, open, secular and Western-oriented society.

To his credit, Katz initially disclosed in these articles that he was a senior advisor to the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, shortly thereafter, Katz began to conceal his relationship with the Azerbaijani government. Since late 2013, Katz wrote at least nine articles in praise of the Aliyev regime, four of them for Roll Call, and three for The Hill, in one of them foolishly claiming that the U.S. can learn much from a nation like Azerbaijan, Michel reported. Katz also wrote an outrageous article in National Review early in 2014, equating the Armenian government with the Taliban! In all nine articles, Katz had failed to mention that his firm, The Tool Shed Group, was being paid by Azerbaijan!

Michel went to great lengths to expose Katz by contacting various publications and informing them about Katzs lobbying efforts on behalf of Azerbaijan. Most of these publications, then added corrections after Katzs articles were published, noting his close affiliation with Azerbaijan.

For example, the National Review, after hearing from Michel, put a new note under Katzs name, disclosing that Katz is a consultant to foreign states, including the Azerbaijani government. The Hill also inserted an editors note after Katzs name, revealing that Katz is paid to provide strategic advice to Azerbaijan. This note was added after Katzs foreign agent registration was brought to the attention of The Hill.

These articles not only mislead the American readers about Azerbaijan, but cause a further damage when reprinted in the Azeri press as evidence of the high regard Americans had for Azerbaijan!

Switching tactics, Katzs wife, Mallory Moss, began to write similar anti-Armenian articles on the Artsakh (Karabagh) conflict in mid-2014. She wrote one for the Capitol Weekly and two for the Hill, under the guise of being a nurse! Michel discovered that Mallory Moss had registered under her name the website BakuWoman.com which was reregistered under the name of Jason Katz. The registrant organization listed for Moss was The Tool Shed Group, Michel reported. Mallory Mosss op-eds should have been filed under the Foreign Agent Registration Act of the U.S. Justice Department! When Michel reported to The Hill about Mallory Mosss association with Jason Katz and The Tool Shed Group, The Hill added an editors note under her article: A firm that is paid to provide strategic advice to Azerbaijan submitted this op-ed. The note was added after information was brought to the attention of The Hill.

Finally, Michel mentions the case of Prof. Brenda Shaffer who had written pro-Azerbaijani articles for the New York Times and the Washington Post. In both cases, she had failed to mention that she was an advisor or consultant to Azerbaijans state-run oil company, SOCAR. Subsequently, both newspapers published an editors note exposing her financial relationship with SOCAR.

There are many others who are hired by Azerbaijan to write propaganda pieces in the Western media on behalf of the Caspian kleptocracy as Michel describes the country. Unfortunately, we are unable to name these propagandists without a solid evidence of their payoffs from Azerbaijan.

Ottawa- The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) has launched an online action alert calling upon the Canadian government to immediately halt the export of Canadian manufactured weapons to Azerbaijan.

The ANCC urges members and grassroots activist to take immediate action and demand the cancellation of this highly controversial arms deal. The action alert is live on the AYF Canada website and could be accessed via the following link:

https://www.ayfcanada.org/action-alerts/halt-the-export-of-canadian-manufactured-weapons-to-azerbaijan/

Recently, the ANCC learned that the Canadian government had granted an export permit for the transfer of highly sophisticated military equipment from the Toronto-based INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing over to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In a letter addressed to Canada’s Minister of International Trade, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne on July 24, ANCC President, Shahen Mirakian said “Such transfers of dangerous weaponry to a rogue states such as Azerbaijan violate the very basic norms of Canada’s arms exports regulations and pose a significant danger to domestic and regional stability”

“As has been demonstrated repeatedly thus far, the Azeri regime is adamant on using such equipment not only to perpetuate regional instability by threatening the peace and security of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), but also to crack down on dissent at home.” added Mirakian.

As a matter of fact, in April of last year, Azerbaijan, armed with then-newly acquired lethal weaponry, initiated the Four-Day War which was the deadliest clash between Armenian and Azeri forces since the 1994 ceasefire, and has been culpable of countless ceasefire violations up to that point and ever since.

By allowing this export of military goods to Azerbaijan, Canada is contributing to the hostilities among Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. Such decisions are contrary to Canada’s commitment and full support of the OSCE Minsk Group negotiation process and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“In observance of Canada’s stated priorities and regulations regarding arms exports, namely preserving regional peace and stability, and protecting human rights, we urge the government to not allow the interests and motives of hostile nations trump our shared values of justice and democracy.” concluded Mirakian.

As responsible Canadians and concerned members of the Armenian-Canadian community, the ANCC urges all members and activists to take one minute and send a pre-written email to the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of International Trade and demand the reversal of this highly controversial and unacceptable decision.

***

The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian grassroots human rights organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range of issues and works to eliminate abuses of human rights throughout Canada and the world.

http://armenianweekly.com/2017/07/18/aliyev-familys-financial-role-in-shipping-weapons-to-terrorists/

Last week I wrote about the sensational revelations by Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva in Trud newspaper, who reported on leaked documents that Azerbaijans state-run Silk Way Airlines has shipped under diplomatic cover 350 planeloads of heavy weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups around the world during the last three years.

A report by Radio Free Europes (RFE) Azeri investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, who has been jailed for her disclosures of Azerbaijan governments human rights abuses, has revealed in a 2010 report on President Ilham Aliyevs daughter, Arzu Aliyevas part ownership of a company that is linked to Silk Way Airlines. This fact explains how the airline managed to get all the diplomatic clearances to ship such large quantities of weapons to terrorists.

It turns out that Silk Way Airlines belongs to SW Holding, a group of companies that enjoys a near-complete monopoly of airline service, including mid-flight meals served by Sky Catering, and taxi service run by Airport Gate, both of which are owned by SW Holding. In addition, technical maintenance of the national carriers planes and helicopters are carried out by Silkway Technics, and multiple other companies controlling everything from Traveler assistance to ticket sales to duty-free stores are all owned by SW Holding, according to Ismayilova.

SW Holding also owns Silk Way Bank, which is owned by President Aliyevs then 21-year old daughter Arzu Aliyeva and Zarifa Hamzayeva, wife of president of Azerbaijans AZAL state airline company, according to RFEs Azerbaijani service. Silk Way Airlines is also a part owner of the Silk Way Bank.

Interestingly, Ismayilova reports that the rise of SW Holding, which has seamlessly absorbed many of AZALs former businesses, has raised questions about dubious privatization practices in Aliyevs Azerbaijan. It also serves to underscore how the political elite continues to use close friends and family members to preserve its hold on the countrys most valuable assetsdespite Azerbaijani laws that list nepotism by state officials as an offense punishable by up to 12 years in jail.

President Ilham Aliyev is simply continuing the practice started by his father Heydar Aliyev, who after ruling Azerbaijan for two decades passed the Presidential baton to his son. In a constitutional referendum in 2009, term limits on the President were abolished making Ilham Aliyev President for Life. Not to take any chances, he recently appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as Vice President, to become his possible successor.

As I had reported earlier, based on an article in The Washington Post, President Aliyevs preteen son, Heydar, was the legal owner of nine luxury mansions in Dubai purchased for $44 million. Presidents two daughters, Arzu and Leyla, also own property in Dubai. The three children together own property in Dubai worth $75 million. Obviously this is not money they earned nor did their parents. President Aliyevs annual salary is $230,000. Ismayilova estimates President Alyevs wealth to be in tens of millions of dollars. This is surely an underestimate, given the lack of concrete figures. However, just the fact that Aliyevs three children own property in Dubai worth $75 million, President Aliyevs wealth could be safely estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not in the billions of dollars! Contrary to Azerbaijani law, neither President Aliyev nor his wife have declared their net worth.

Under Azerbaijani law, public officials are prohibited from owning businesses, while family members are exempt from this restriction, a loophole exploited by the Aliyevs to hide their earnings in their childrens holdings. Just Arzu Aliyevas part ownership of the Silk Way Bank is worth over $12 million. According to RFE, presidential secretary Azer Gasimov confirmed that Arzu Aliyeva was one of the owners of the Silk Way Bank.

Gulu Khalilov, the spokesperson for the State Committee on Privatization of State Property, told RFE that he had no information on the privatization of AZAL, the state airline company, including its holdings, like AZAL Bank. RFE was told that none of the legal procedures for privatization were followed.

In the meantime, SW Holding has slowly but steadily acquired nearly all of AZALs former companies, including the insurance firm AZAL Sigorta, which is now co-owned by SW Holding and the two daughters of Jahangir Asgarov, the president of AZAL and the husband of Zarifa Hamzayeva, the current co-owner of Silk Way Bank, according to Ismayilova. SW Holding has also been the sole contractor on a number of high-profile AZAL projects, including airport-construction deals in Lankaran, Ganja, and Zagatala worth a total of $150 million.

President Aliyev and his family must be held responsible as part owners of a state-run airline that ships sophisticated weapons to terrorists around the world.

"The (not-so) slick man of Europe, Turkey is getting called to the carpet by the very countries that used to give it a free pass for all its sins." ANCA

 

Germany's parliament has formally approved the withdrawal of Bundeswehr troops deployed at the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey. Lawmakers said they regretted Turkey's decision to block their visits to the facility.

Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, on Wednesday backed the plan to move some 260 soldiers currently at Incirlik to an air base in Jordan. There were 461 votes in favor of the withdrawal, 85 against and 23 abstentions.

In a statement, the parliament said it expected the redeployment to proceed swiftly. "With the move out of Incirlik, we've reached a temporary low point in our relations with Turkey," said SPD lawmaker Niels Annen. The Left party's Gregor Gysi described Turkey's decision to ban German parliamentarians from visiting the strategic base as an "affront."

Read more: Turkey's Incirlik air base: What you need to know

German troops and military planes have been stationed at the Turkish base near the Syrian border as part of the international fight against the "Islamic State" extremist group.

The plan to move the troops had already been given the green light by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet, but every deployment abroad requires support from a simple majority in parliament.

http://www.dw.com/en/german-parliament-votes-to-withdraw-troops-from-turkey/a-39356874

Fear is a bad adviser and tolerance for the sake of tolerance is a death sentence.

TURKEY RETURNS PROPERTY TO MINORITIES

Hurriyet Daily News reports, the Turkish government has signed a historic decree to return property taken away from minority foundations 75 years ago, a decision announced ahead of the prime minister's Ramadan fast-breaking dinner Sunday with minority group representatives. According to a decision in 1974, non-Muslim religious communities were deprived for the right to own new property. Published in the Official Gazette on Saturday and made by the order of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the decision also states that minority groups will be paid market value for property that was sold to third parties.The Treasury or the General Directorate of Foundations will be responsible for the payments, with the amounts to be determined by the Finance Ministry.Under the new decree, the minority properties that were claimed in the 1936 proclamation but had been registered as public or foundation property will be returned to their rightful owners.According to information obtained by the Anatolia news agency from the General Directorate of Foundations, minority groups gave the government a proclamation in 1936 detailing their immovable property. However, over the years, these properties were not registered under the minority foundations' names, and some were even sold to third parties.In 2008, the government took steps toward remedying this problem, but the efforts fell short and caused some foundations to take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled in favor of the minority groups and sentenced Turkey to pay large sums in compensation to the foundations.The new decree, while labeled "revolutionary" and a step toward "equal citizenship" by the foundations' lawyer Kezban Hatemi, is still seen as insufficient by those who think the properties sold to third parties should also be returned to their rightful owners.The problem stemmed from the 1936 proclamation, and the European court did not find it enough to define real estate by that alone, said Rıza Türmen, a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP.Some of the property set to be returned to Armenian, Greek and Syriac foundations include schools, churches, stores, hundreds of houses, buildings and apartments, cemeteries, factories, and even nightclubs.Minority foundations have 12 months to apply, with the Foundations Assembly set to review each case before making the final decision to return the property to its rightful owner.

Updated, 10:42 p.m. | Donald J. Trump called on Monday for the United States to bar all Muslims from entering the country until the nation’s leaders can “figure out what is going on” after the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., an extraordinary escalation of rhetoric aimed at voters’ fears about members of the Islamic faith.

A prohibition of Muslims – an unprecedented proposal by a leading American presidential candidate, and an idea more typically associated with hate groups – reflects a progression of mistrust that is rooted in ideology as much as politics.

Mr. Trump, who in September declared “I love the Muslims,” turned sharply against them after the Paris terrorist attacks, calling for a database to track Muslims in America and repeating discredited rumors that thousands of Muslims celebrated in New Jersey on 9/11. His poll numbers rose largely as a result, until a setback in Iowa on Monday morning. Hours later Mr. Trump called for the ban, fitting his pattern of making stunning comments when his lead in the Republican presidential field appears in jeopardy.

Saying that “hatred” among many Muslims for Americans is “beyond comprehension,” Mr. Trump said in a statement that the United States needed to confront “where this hatred comes from and why.”

“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” Mr. Trump said.

Not bad at all. Armenia is way ahead even compared to some EU countries.

http://asbarez.com/144968/pace-rejects-anti-armenian-report-on-karabakh/


STRASBOURG, France—The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a heated debate on Tuesday on two reports on Nagorno-Karabakh: “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” by rapporteur Robert Walter (UK) and “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water,” by rapporteur Milica Marković (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Parliamentary Assembly rejected the report by Walter and adopted the report by Markovic.

Since November 2015, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) had carried out extensive work in 20 Member States of the Council of Europe, elaborating on the essence of the reports and exposing their biased character. The European Armenian Federation was also in Strasbourg and closely followed the vote.

Both draft resolutions evidently lacked thorough, impartial research, selectively left out crucial facts and in general cause harm to the negotiation process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group had previously issued statements, the latest one being a joined press release, urging PACE not to undermine the negotiation process.

The rejected draft report by Robert Walter was evidently a word-for-word reflection of the official Azerbaijani and Turkish stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In her report, Milica Markovic, who never visited the reservoir, used this humanitarian issue as a pretext in order to make highly biased statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in general. A brief comparison of the draft resolution and of the technical report, which should be the basis of the draft resolution, makes it clear that Ms. Marković deliberately exaggerated the consequences of potential danger. On the other hand, she left important facts, stated in the technical report, out of the draft resolution, since this information did not fit in with her biased intentions.

EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian said: “Today the Council of Europe rejected the highly biased and inflammatory report by Robert Walter. Thus, the results of today’s vote can be generally considered positive. The current Azerbaijani Government and Mr. Walter did not succeed in their efforts of using the Council of Europe as an instrument for anti-Armenian war-rhetoric. It was encouraging to see the level of support and mobilization.”

“Unfortunately, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the rather partial report by Milica Marković on the Sarsang reservoir. It is clear that since the beginning Ms. Marković intended to use this humanitarian issue in order to draft a report reflecting the Azerbaijani perspective on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” stressed Karampetian.

“Now the task of the Armenian diplomacy should be raising awareness on the environmental and human rights problems of the Armenian citizens in bordering areas, facing similar problems, caused by Azerbaijan” concluded the President of EAFJD.