dpa-AFX International , Germany
Saturday 5:42 PM GMT
German author arrested during vacation in Spain on Turkey's behest
Berlin (dpa) - Dogan Akhanli, a Germany-based author of Turkish
origin, has been detained in Spain on the behest of Turkey, his lawyer
told dpa, though it is unclear what he is being accused of. The German
Foreign Ministry on Saturday confirmed only that it knew of the
incident and was working on offering consular support.
Spanish police, who also said the detention request came from Turkey,
told local media that Akhanli would be handed over to authorities.
Akhanli's lawyer, Ilias Uyar, told a German newspaper that a so-called
red notice from Interpol had been out for the author. He was therefore
arrested Saturday morning while on vacation in Granada. Akhanli has
written extensively about the Armenian genocide, and the arrest was
meant as the latest shot in the ongoing spat between Turkey and
Germany, according to Spiegel, citing security sources. The PEN
writer's association said the arrest was 'clearly politically
motivated,' and the head of the group's German branch, Sascha
Feuchert, called on Spain not to extradite Akhanli to Turkey. Akhanli,
a German citizen, has been living in Germany since he fled Turkey in
1991. Akhanli was cleared in absentia by a Turkish court in 2011 after
being wanted for robbery and homicide since 1989. However, his
exoneration was later overturned by a higher court, saying he was
linked to terrorists. A red notice issued by Interpol is a request
from a member country or international tribunal to arrest an
individual pending extradition. However, member countries are not
forced to arrest those flagged. Copyright dpa
It would be good if the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs were more involved in humanitarian issues such as the return of Azerbaijani refugees to their native lands, while settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the Expert Council of the Baku International Policy and Security Network (Baku Network), told Trend.
He was commenting on the recent statements by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from the US Richard Hoagland.
Richard Hoagland has earlier told Trend that the United States remains committed to working with the parties of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict toward a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
He noted that the issues relating to the return of territories, return of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs to their lands, non-use of force, and status for Nagorno-Karabakh are all important elements of a comprehensive settlement the parties need to discuss.
“Recent statements of Hoagland are more positive in nature. In one statement he said that one of the main issues in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement is the return of Azerbaijani refugees to their lands. In principle, this is not news, as the Azerbaijani refugees are coming back to Karabakh and the return of Jojug Marjanli villagers to their lands is a vivid example of that,” said Elkhan Alasgarov.
As for the non-use of force, mentioned in the US co-chair’s statement, Alasgarov noted that this issue will certainly be very topical after the return of the refugees.
“When it comes to compromises in the conflict resolution process, it should be noted that the main compromise on the part of Azerbaijan is granting autonomy to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is ready to grant a high degree of autonomy,” he said.
The expert reminded that in another statement, Richard Hoagland said it would be logical to install new electronic equipment along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and remove snipers. Alasgarov believes that these recommendations, even if realized, will not lead to a decrease in the number of incidents, because the main reason of military clashes is the conflict itself.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Canada’s Armenian community has launched a coordinated grassroots and
lobbying campaign to convince the Liberal government to annul export permits for
the sale of Canadian-made armoured personnel carriers to Azerbaijan, according
to Armenian community leaders.
The campaign started after Radio Canada International and CBC reported in
July that the Toronto-based manufacturer INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing
has signed
a deal with Azerbaijan’s interior ministry under which the company
has already delivered “a few” Canadian-made armoured personnel carriers (APCs)
to the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
The privately owned company has also set up a joint venture with an
Azerbaijani firm to produce APCs in Azerbaijan, which has been embroiled in a
simmering armed conflict with neighbouring Armenia since the breakup of the
Soviet Union in the early 1990s, said Roman Shimonov, vice-president of
marketing and business development at INKAS.
Chahé Tanachian, the Montreal-based president of the Canadian-Armenian
Political Affairs Committee, the lobbying arm of the Armenian General Benevolent
Union (AGBU), one of the oldest and largest Armenian Diaspora organizations,
sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to express the community’s
concerns.
“Canadians of Armenian descent and human rights activists throughout the
country are dismayed by Global Affairs Canada’s recent approval of the export of
Canadian-made armoured personnel carriers (produced by INKAS Armored Vehicle
Manufacturing) to Azerbaijan,” Tanachian wrote.
“The decision to furnish arms to a country which regularly threatens peace in
the region is one that violates all the principles that we as Canadians stand
for, and which Global Affairs Canada seeks to promote in the world.”
The controversy over the sale of INKAS APCs to Azerbaijan comes as the
government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is dealing with the outcry
over revelations by Radio
Canada International that very similar armoured vehicles produced by another
Canadian manufacturer, Terradyne Armored Vehicles, were
used by Saudi security forces in their heavy-handed crackdown on a
Shia-populated town in the kingdom’s restive Qatif region, as well as the
ongoing controversy over the sale of $15 billion worth of Light Armoured
Vehicles (LAVs) to the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Sevag Belian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada
(ANCC), one of the main groups lobbying the government on issues of concern of
the Canadian-Armenian community, said the news of the exports of armoured
personnel carriers to Azerbaijan created “great outrage” in the community.
“We reached out to the concerned governmental departments and agencies,
namely Global Affairs Canada,” Belian said in an interview with Radio Canada
International.
(click to listen to the interview with Sevag Belian)
Listen
The ANCC has also reached out to more than 50 Members of Parliament,
requesting them to make either oral or written representations to Global Affairs
to relay the message that the entire Canadian Armenian community “is absolutely
appalled,” Belian said.
The ANCC has activated a national grass roots campaign and set up a mass
email campaign appealing to the government to annul permits for the export of
Canadian-made defence equipment to Azerbaijan, he said.
The campaign has bombarded the Liberal government with over 1,200 emails and
letters, requesting a meeting with top government officials to discuss the
issue, Belian said.
Adam Austen, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s spokesman, said
Parliamentary Secretary Matt DeCourcey will be meeting with the representatives
of the Armenian community at the earliest possible convenience.
“Armenia is a close friend and ally of Canada,” Austen said. “We have strong
people-to-people ties and an economic relationship that benefits both countries.
We are proud to work closely with the Armenian community in Canada as well as
the Armenian government.”
However, Azerbaijan’s envoy in Canada dismissed the campaign by the Armenian
community as “hysteria.”
“The illegal presence of Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan remains a main cause for the escalation of the situation and
continues to pose a threat to regional peace and stability,” Azerbaijan’s Chargé
d’Affaires in Ottawa Ramil Huseynli said in a written statement. “In contrast,
the acquisition of armoured personnel carriers from a Canadian company does not
pose such a threat, as these vehicles are intended only for law enforcement and
civilian transport.”
Cooperation between the Canadian company and its Azerbaijani counterpart
creates jobs for Canadians, the envoy said.
“In this light, the hysteria of the Armenian community, who should put
Canadian interests above the rest, is unintelligible,” said Huseynli.
Groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized
Azerbaijan’s human rights record and accused it of a “thorough crackdown on
dissenting voices,” as well as persistent reports of torture and other
ill-treatment perpetrated by its law enforcement agencies.
In November 2015, Azerbaijani police used Israeli-made armoured personnel
carriers similar to those produced by INKAS in a controversial security
operation that resulted in the death of six people and dozens of arrests in the
town of Nardaran, about 30 kilometres northeast of the capital Baku.
The federal government granted INKAS permits for the export of APCs despite
its own ongoing concerns over Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record. In a
statement sent to RCI earlier, Global Affairs officials admitted that Canada is
“concerned with the recurring crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan,
particularly with respect to journalists and human rights defenders in the
country.”
In addition, INKAS and AZCAN, its joint venture company in Azerbaijan, laud
the military applications of their vehicles in the sales pitch.
According to data collected by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI) over the last two decades, Azerbaijan has spent over $30
billion ($25 billion US) of its oil wealth to rearm and retrain its military,
purchasing high-tech weapons and munitions from Russia, Israel, Turkey, Ukraine
and Pakistan.
According to the 2016 Report on Exports of Military Goods from Canada,
Azerbaijan bought $378,705 worth of fire arms and ground vehicles in Canada.
Ottawa, however, denied a permit for the export of automatic firearms to
Azerbaijan in 2016 because it is not on Canada’s list of countries authorised
for exports of such weapons.
Belian said they cannot accept assurances from Canadian officials that
Canadian weapons being exported to Azerbaijan will not be used against civilians
or Armenian soldiers along the frontline of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It’s a matter of principle,” Belian said. “Canada is becoming complicit in
further empowering the dictatorial regime in Baku and becoming complicit in
their efforts of suppressing the very fundamental rights that Canadian soldiers
have shed their blood for.”
As a full member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) Canada can play a pivotal role in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
crisis by exerting pressure on Azerbaijan to make sure it agrees to a beefed up
ceasefire monitoring regime along the frontline between the two opposing forces,
Belian said.
Canada also fully supports the OSCE’s efforts to forge a peaceful and
comprehensive settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karbakh
region, Austen said.
“We fully agree with the OSCE Minsk group that a military solution is not the
answer,” Austen said.
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
Friday
Vardan Giravetyan, Tigran Manukyan and Vardges Gevorgyan stopped hunger strike
Yerevan August 11
Alexander Avanesov. Representatives of Armenian Ombudsman made another
unannounced visit to the Nubarashen penal institution, where they had
a conversation with the hunger-striker Tigran Manukyan, according to
Ombudsman's office.
According to the source, following the meeting with Tigran Manukyan,
with whom he discussed the issues raised by him, the administration of
the Municipal Unitary Enterprise, the latter stopped the hunger
strike. Earlier, on August 9 Vardan Giravetyan also stopped the hunger
strike, and on August 7 - Vardges Gevorgyan.
Representatives of Ombudsman once again examined their medical
documents. With the medical service of the penitentiary, discussions
were held regarding the control over the health of three persons under
investigation. Special principles relating to the protection of human
rights must be applied to persons who have declared a hunger strike.
The conditions of their detention are under constant attention of the
Office of the Human Rights Defender.
The efforts of fire extinguishing in Artavan, Vayots Dzor region, continue but it is still impossible to overcome the fire, Public Radio of Armenia reported citing the Press Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Five crews, 92 firemen rescuers, 100 RA Armed forces servicemen and 73 police officers are working on the fire extinguishment.
The Head of Rescue service of the RA Ministry of Emergency situations Musheg Ghazaryan, the deputy minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan and many others are at the location.
The water resources of the HHerher reservoir which is situated 3 km afar from the occurrence are used.
YEREVAN, August 8. /ARKA/. A total of 184.9 million kWh of electricity were produced in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the first six months of 2017, a 9.87% or 16.6 million kWh increase compared to the same period of last year, the Artsakh ministry of economy said. During the reporting period, the electricity consumption amounted to 166.8 million kWh, an increase of 13.47% or 19.8 million kWh compared to the first six months of 2016.
There are 16 hydroelectric power plants in Artsakh, including the Sarsang HPP with an installed capacity of 50 MW, and 15 smaller HPPs with a total installed capacity of 56.4 MW. This year two small hydropower plants – Jermajur with a capacity of 10.3 MW and Viking (1.8 MW) – have been commissioned.
The construction of another 9 small hydropower plants with an annual electricity output of about 263.02 million kWh is underway, the ministry said. -0-
“Architects of Denial,” a documentary focusing on the denial of the Armenian Genocide
GLENDALE—It has been brought to the attention of the Armenian National Committee of America, Glendale Chapter that the producers of “Architects of Denial,” a documentary film about the Armenian Genocide, were unsuccessful in purchasing billboard space at the Americana at Brand on the premise that the content was “too political.”
“Architects of Denial,” which counts Dean Cain and Montel Willians as its producers, provides a crucial lens into Armenian Genocide, as well as the denial of these events by the Turkish government and several other political authorities. Through the retelling of stories from survivors, “Architects of Denial” bridges the gap between the historical mass-exterminations and those occurring today.
This issue is deeply concerning to the Armenian American community, and the decision to deny advertisement space to a film that attempts to raise awareness of human rights violations is quite perplexing.
As history has shown, the denial of the Armenian Genocide leads to the continuation of such hateful crimes. This film has the right to advertise and educate the community about this important subject.
Americana at Brand’s decision to reject a billboard advertisement of the film on the grounds that it is “too political” is unacceptable by this community. It is disappointing to see the management’s betrayal of the Armenian community, the same one that contributes immensely to the Americana at Brand through taxpayer dollars and everyday commerce, the same community that voted to make the Americana a possibility. A denial of the request to publicize this documentary is a sign of disdain to the residents of Glendale and an attempt to censor historical facts.
As citizens of Glendale, it is imperative to take a stand against the denial of the Armenian Genocide and protect the ones who raise awareness. Any attempts at suppressing Genocide awareness is distasteful, offensive, and has no place in Glendale.
Upon learning of the American’s decision, ANCA Glendale immediately raised its oncerns and expressed its disappointment to the Glendale City Council on Tuesday, August 1. An official letter has been sent asking the management of Americana at Brand and its corporate owner, Caruso Affiliated, to reverse their decision.
The ANCA-Glendale advocates for the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of the city’s Armenian American community and promotes increased civic participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.
A photo of a Canadian-made armoured personnel carrier that are being delivered to Azerbaijan. (Levon Sevunts/Radio Canada International)
OTTAWA, Canada—The Armenian National Committee of Canada is appalled to learn that the Canadian government has granted an export permit for the transfer of highly sophisticated military equipment from the Toronto-based INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing.
In a letter addressed to Canada?s Minister of International Trade, François-Philippe Champagne on July 24, the ANCC called upon the Canadian government to immediately halt the transfer of weapons to Azerbaijan and take the necessary steps to reverse this wrong decision.
?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? said Shahen Mirakian, president of the ANCC.
“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.
As for its human rights record, Azerbaijan has been repeatedly condemned by prominent rights watchdogs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for what is deemed to be a recurring suppression of fundamental freedoms, most notably its continuing assault on independent journalism and human rights advocacy in the country.
?In observance of Canada?s stated priorities 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.
Please find the attached press release of the Ministry of Diaspora.
Sincerely,
Media and PR Department
(+374 10) 585601, internal 805
----------------------
Հարգանքով`
Մամուլի և հասարակայնության հետ կապերի վարչություն
(+374 10) 585601, ներքին 805
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved by the current generation of politicians, the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky said, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza.
"There has been a difficult situation in Nagorno-Karabakh for the past 30 years. We all know about the Madrid principles of 2009, we remember the difficult rounds of negotiations between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which were held with the participation of the Russian leadership. At these meetings, they were solving issues that we have no right to leave to our children and grandchildren," he said, referring to the countries participating in the conflict.
At the same time, the MP drew attention to the fact that the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement is very, very complicated. "Undoubtedly, I see the role that parliamentarians could play in this negotiation process, but at the same time I believe that any our interference in this delicate process of the Karabakh conflict settlement would be destructive. Unfortunately, there is still bleeding situation, but I hope that the mechanism of the Minsk Group, as well as other formats of negotiations, will gain progress in the foreseeable future," he stressed.
In addition, the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs urged his colleagues from different countries to be more careful in this matter. "Any wrong, too harsh statement can interfere with the delicate process of the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process," he explained.
The deputy also expressed confidence that this conflict will be solved with the help of the current politicians. "This, of course, is my and my colleagues' responsibility: we have no right to leave this bleeding conflict to those who will come after us," Leonid Slutsky concluded.