Author: Ani Tigranian

Two children aged 12 and 13 have been arrested on charges of “insulting the Turkish president” after allegedly tearing down posters showing a photo of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the reports.

The two cousins, identified only by the initials R.Y. and R.T., now each face up to two years and four months in prison, upon approval of the case by the Justice Ministry.

R.Y. and R.T., two cousins, were detained on May. 1 for tearing down the posters outside the local highway directorate in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

In his testimony, R.Y. reportedly said the two were heading back home from the market and they wanted to remove the posters from the billboards in order to sell them to a junk dealer.

“We did not care about whose posters they were. We just wanted to remove them in order to sell them to a junk dealer,” R.Y. said.

The Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office applied to the Justice Ministry to file a lawsuit against the two children, as Article 299 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) states that filing a legal case on charges of “defaming the Turkish president” must be done upon approval from the Justice Ministry.

After approval from the ministry, the case was filed against the two cousins in the Diyarbakir 1st Children Court.

The prosecutor’s office also asked for implementation of Article 5 of the Child Protection Law, which means counselling the family of the children in question, assuring their school attendance, and assuring their health conditions.

The first court hearing will be held on Dec. 8 this year, as the indictment prepared by the prosecutor’s office has been accepted by the Diyarbakir First Children’s Court.

The children’s lawyer, Ismail Korkmaz, said the charges of “insulting the Turkish president” were “unclear” and it was difficult for children to even know who the posters showed.

“It is devastating to see two children being tried for tearing down a poster of the president,” Korkmaz added, slamming Turkey’s “illiberal” justice system.

The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies issued the following statement today after the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland:

“The European Court of Human Rights delivered a Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Perinçek v. Switzerland at a public hearing today, October 15, 2015.

The lead counsel for the NGO Coalition (Turkish Human Rights Association, Truth Justice Memory Centre and International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies), Professor Payam Akhavan of McGill University in Canada, a former UN prosecutor at The Hague, emphasized that the Court’s Judgment “clearly, unanimously, and emphatically confirmed the historical truth” of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.  In a divided opinion, the majority of ten judges held that the Swiss judgment against Mr. Perinçek’s denial and minimization of these events violated his freedom of speech under the European Convention on Human Rights.  However, seven judges, including the President of the Court, held that “the massacres and deportations suffered by the Armenian people constituted genocide is self-evident. The Armenian genocide is a clearly established historical fact. To deny it is to deny the obvious.”  The majority of ten judges also confirmed “the massacres and mass deportations suffered by the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards” and only differed in its view that it “has not authority to make legally binding pronouncements” on whether these events “can be characterized as genocide within the meaning of that term under international law”.

Mr. Perinçek himself did not deny that these atrocities did in fact take place, but simply denied their characterization as “genocide” and blamed the 1.5 Armenian victims for their own fate by portraying them as “traitors” and “aggressors”.  The majority found that his statements should not have been penalized by the Swiss courts, because they did not pose a threat to Armenians in Switzerland.  Professor Akhavan noted that in doing so, “the majority did not give sufficient weight to the convincing evidence submitted by the NGO Coalition, demonstrating Mr. Perinçek’s racist motives by reference to his previous conduct in Turkey, and its impact on the vulnerable Armenian minority that has been subjected to a campaign of hate speech and violence.”  He emphasized that “this aspect of the decision is unfortunate at a time when there is an alarming increase in ultra-nationalist hate speech and violence in Turkey.  The fact that Mr. Perinçek leads the Talaat Pasha Committee (named after the “Ottoman Hitler”) that the European Parliament has characterized as a ‘xenophobic and racist’ organization, is itself the most obvious evidence of his discriminatory motives.”  Professor Akhavan regretted moreover, that the majority disregarded the Istanbul Penal Court’s finding in the Ergenekon trial that Mr. Perinçek had incited hatred and violence against Armenians, on the grounds that instead of relevant excerpts, the NGO Coalition should have produced the full 17,000 page judgment!

The dissenting opinion of the seven judges, including that of the President, is highly significant, in asking:

Why should criminal sanctions for denial of the characterization of the massacres of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 as “genocide” constitute a violation of freedom of expression, whereas criminal sanctions for Holocaust denial have been deemed compatible with the Convention?

According to Professor Akhavan, “the divided opinion of the Grand Chamber, and the alarming increase in extremist violence in Turkey, is the clearest indication that the question of racist hate speech against Armenians is far from resolved, and that it will require constant vigilance.  What is clearly established by the Judgment however, is unanimity among all seventeen judges, that the Armenians did in fact suffer massacres and mass deportations at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards, irrespective of its legal characterization one way or another.”

The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit, international center devoted to the research and documentation of contemporary issues with a focus on Genocide, Diaspora and Armenia.

 

 

 

Every year on April 24 Turkish singer Leman Stehn apologizes to the Armenian nation for the crime committed by her ancestors. Familiar with the true story, she never avoids the word ‘genocide.’ She first visited Armenia a few years ago and visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial. The singer is again in Armenia for a Komitas festival.

Every year Leman Stehn participates in commemoration events held in different countries of the world.

“Things should be called by their names,” she told a press conference in Yerevam. “I’m aware of what befell the Armenian nation and cannot understand how one can avoid the word ‘genocide.’ Of course, there was an Armenian Genocide. I consider it a duty to participate in events targeted at preventing genocide,” she said.

The Armenian national has been in her heart since youth. Born in Turkey, she moved to Germany at an early age and returned to Turkey only as a student. She learnt about the Armenian nation and culture thanks to her Armenian friends.

“I was young, when we returned to Turkey. Only then I came to know that Armenians previously lived on the territory of Turkey, that it was their homeland. I opened a new world for me,” the singer said.

Leman Stehn confessed she had been persecuted in Turkey for her pro-Armenian views, but this made her continue the struggle for justice with a greater vigor. After graduating from the Conservatory, the singer returned to Germany.

She had long abandoned the Armenian music until she heard the news of Hrant Dink’s assassination.

“I was shocked to hear we lost my lovely brother Hrant Dink. “Sarı Gyalin” was one of his most favorite songs,” Stehn said.

This was the song she performed at the festival dedicated to Komitas. The Turkish singer once again apologized to the heirs of victims of the Armenian Genocide for the crime committed by the Turkish nation and promised to visit Armenia again on April 24.

On September 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian, who is in New York on a working visit, held a second meeting with the Co-chairs of the Minsk Group, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Edward Nalbandian condemned and characterised as unacceptable the gross violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan with the use of heavy artillery, which claimed human losses. He said that “to divert attention from the outrageous human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the growing criticism of the international community in towards this, Baku escalates the situation on the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and the border with Armenia with considerable unforeseen negative consequences. With this provocations Baku demonstrates its disregard both for  human life and its own commitments”.

Then upon the proposal of the Co-chairs and in their presence a meeting took place with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov.

Referring to the  September 25th statement of the Co-Chairs, Minister Nalbandian said: “It is Azerbaijan that continuously rejects the proposals on confidence building measures and the initiatives aimed at the stabilisation of the situation and therefore, it is obvious to whom the messages of the statement are addressed. But it leads to an impression that Baku deliberately doesn’t pay attention to what the international community calls upon through the mediator states.

Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the reaffirmation by the Co-chairs of the proposal on the creation of an investigative mechanism on the ceasefire violations to which Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have expressed their agreement on numerous occasions. It would allow to determine with more certainty the side responsible for the ceasefire violations and incidents. “Azerbaijan refuses this, because it wants to have its hands free, and without scrutiny of international scrutiny to continue its provocations on the Line of Contact and borders”.

The Minister stated that “Baku refuses not only the initiatives of the Co-chairs on confidence building measures and rejects the proposals of the mediators on the conflict resolution, which have been made public in five statements of the Heads of the Minsk Group Co-chair countries, but also casts aside any reference to them, which once again was vividly demonstrated during the EU eastern Partnership summit in Riga”.

The Co-chairs expressed their deep concern about the rise of tension of the situation and stressed that the further escalation is unacceptable.

The plans on Co-chairs next visit to the region and the upcoming meetings were discussed.

In a resolution adopted on Thursday the MEPs call for the release of all political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The European Parliament calls for the immediate and unconditional release from jail of all political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and other civil society activists, including Khadija Ismayilova, Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus, in line with the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights and/or a prompt investigation into the death of the journalist Rasim Aliyev.

It demands that the Azerbaijan government immediately end its crackdown on civil society and human rights work and says that “the negotiations for a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan should be immediately put on hold as long the government fails to take concrete steps in advancing respect for universal human rights”.

The resolution calls on the Commission “to review and suspend temporarily, if needed, all funding not related to human rights, civil society and grassroots level people-to-people cooperation granted to Azerbaijan through the European Neighbourhood Instrument, and recalls Parliament’s decision to send a delegation to Azerbaijan.

The non-legislative resolution was adopted by 365 votes to 202, with 72 abstentions.

Armenia’s Arthur Aleksanyan (98 kg) retained the World Champion’s title as he claimed victory in the 2015 Wrestling World Championships.

Aleksanyan defeated Ghasem Rezaei of Israel in the final round.

The Greco-Roman wrestler won his first World Champion’s title in Tashkent last year.

As part of the “Shant-2015” strategic command post exercises Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan convened a special sitting of the Government.

The Ministers briefed on the process of implementation of directives in their respective spheres stemming from the scenario of the exercises, reported on the problems in certain situations and presented suggestions for their solution and for application of more efficient measures.

In his opening remarks President Sargsyan stressed the significance of the exercises, underlining that every drill pursues two objectives – to train and to check. The final goal is to be ready to take the most effective measures in case of real threat to the territorial integrity and security of the country.

After the exercises are over, the work of the participating agencies and their leaders will be assessed, plans for the elimination of the shortcomings will be worked out.

Turkish historian Taner Akcam has released a new book (with Umit Kurt) on the plunder of Armenian properties.

The book titled “The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide” examines the confiscation of Armenian properties during the genocide and subsequent attempts to retain seized Armenian wealth.

Through the close analysis of laws and treaties, it reveals that decrees issued during the genocide constitute central pillars of the Turkish system of property rights, retaining their legal validity, and although Turkey has acceded through international agreements to return Armenian properties, it continues to refuse to do so.

The book demonstrates that genocides do not depend on the abolition of the legal system and elimination of rights, but that, on the contrary, the perpetrators of genocide manipulate the legal system to facilitate their plans.

South Korea has halted its propaganda broadcasts into North Korea as part of a deal to defuse tension, the BBC reports.

Seoul had begun the loudspeaker broadcasts, which infuriate Pyongyang, after a landmine at the border injured two of its soldiers earlier this month.

The tensions bubbled over in a brief exchange of fire at the heavily guarded border last Thursday.

The deal was reached after the North, which initially denied planting the mine, agreed to express “regret.”

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye said the deal “could serve as an occasion to resolve all inter-Korean issues through trust”.

Sergio Markarian resigned as Greece’s head coach on Tuesday but it was unclear if he would leave the post after the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) rejected his resignation, Eurosport reports.