Author: Anna Tamamian

On Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, Trevor Noah of the Daily Show made a reprehensible and demeaning on-air reference to our community as “Filthy Armenians” while the Daily Show production team added a laugh track to accompany the appalling remark.

On Friday, the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region submitted a letter to Kent Alterman, President of Comedy Central, demanding an immediate apology and a meeting.

Take action! Send a letter to Kent Alterman NOW! 

Don’t wait for the next person to do this. We need them to hear from you, your family and friends NOW. It’s just one click!

Simply type in your name, address and email address and click “Send Message!”

After you send the letter, take a minute to spread the word on your social media platforms to encourage friends and family to take action on this important issue .Then make a call to the network at (323) 462-2400.

ISTANBUL—German and Turkish officials are said to be investigating explosive claims by the Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament representing the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), who on Wednesday asserted that he was in possession of intelligence suggesting that Turkish citizens in Europe, including academics, journalists, politicians, Armenians and opinion leaders from the opposition ranks were targets of assassination plots.

The Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday that following Paylan’s remarks, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the claims, calling on the HDP deputy to testify as a witness on the issue.

German authorities have also stated that law enforcement agents are aware of “the danger situation,” state-run broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on Dec. 22.

The officers are conducting an investigation with “the utmost sensitivity” but have ruled out providing any details or protection measures regarding Paylan’s intelligence, according to Deutsche Welle’s report.

“I received intelligence last week over plans to assassinate several Turkish citizens living in Europe, especially in Germany. I have verified the information from multiple sources,” Paylan said at the press conference on Wednesday, signaling a “Turkey-based group” that could mobilize certain assassins for the plot.

“Thousands of academics, journalists and politicians have been forced to live in Europe because of the political atmosphere in Turkey,” Paylan said, referring to the arrests, court cases and job dismissals that took place with state of emergency decrees imposed in the wake of the July 15, 2016, military coup attempt in Turkey. He also claimed that three assassins were assigned by a “secret structure,” similar to Ogün Samast, who killed journalist Hrant Dink on Jan. 19, 2007 in broad daylight in Istanbul.

Paylan said a hate campaign smearing Dink of “being a traitor” had been launched to psychologically prepare the public for his murder.

In an interview with the Hurriyet Daily News published on Friday, Paylan said he thought such a structure could be made up of “those who assumed personal missions encouraged by the current political atmosphere in Turkey, or something even more serious than that.”

He said it could also consist of people who were seeking an opportunity to carry out another coup attempt or wanted to further distance Turkey from the EU and the West.

Police officers on duty at the time of Dink’s murder have recently been arrested; they have alleged links to the illegal network of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher accused of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt.

When asked whether he was suspicious of the Gülen network of being behind the assassination, Paylan said he did not have adequate information to confirm that, but regarding the Dink murder he said, “Those who made the decision to kill him were part of a secret structure in security institutions and there were Gülenists within it who were aware that Dink would be killed but did nothing to stop it, in order to create more hostility in the political atmosphere.”

Paylan urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, political figures and journalists to stop using the language currently used against dissidents and halt targeting them in order not to let the political antagonism to escalate, which could lead to similar consequences, “God forbid.”

MINSK, Belarus—Leaders of countries represented in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which Armenia is a member, gathered in the Belarus capital on Thursday, and within one of the statements adopted by the general assembly, expressed support for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen’s efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict.

“Presidents of the CSTO member-states once again reiterated their support for the efforts exerted by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the three principles for conflict resolution: peoples’ right to self-determination, non-use of force or threat of force and territorial integrity,” the meeting decided.

Joining President Serzh Sarkisian at the summit were Armenia’s foreign and defense ministers Edward Nalbandian and Vigen Sargsyan, who attended a separate meeting of their counterparts from member-states that, aside from Armenia, include Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov briefed the participants on the organization’s ongoing activitie and updated them on the progress of decisions taken at the last CSTO summit.

The Minsk summit became another important stage for CSTO’s development, Khachaturov announced, stressing that the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Force Operational and Combat Training Program was fully implemented in 2017.

In addition to its regular efforts, the CSTO also stage a large-scale emergency military exercise in Tajikistan with participation of the CSTO collective forces. The total number of servicemen that participated in the military exercises was reported to be 12,000.

“For the further improvement of combat readiness of the collective forces the Heads of State have adopted decisions that will be implemented in 2018,” said Khachaturov.

YEREVAN—Bi-lateral relations, trade and investment were high on the agenda when Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Armenia on Tuesday and met with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian and President Serzh Sarkisian.

He told reporters after meeting with Nalbandian that Armenia and Iran are good neighbors and the political and economic relations have been on the rise over the past years.

Zarif said energy and transit remain a high priority for Armenia-Iran cooperation, emphasizing the importance for collaboration in environmental protection, education, science and technology.

The Iranian Foreign Minister expressed gratitude for Armenia’s support for the principles of the Islamic Republic on the international arena and hailed Armenia’s efforts in ensuring peace and stability in the region.

“Armenia and Iran enjoy comprehensive and mutually beneficial relations rooted on centuries-old ties between the two peoples,” Nalbandian told reports after talks with Zarif. “Warm and trustworthy relations have been established between the leaders of Armenia and Iran,” he said.

“We discussed the situation in the Middle East, the fight against terrorism, implementation of the agreement reached on Iran’s nuclear program, which we support,” said Nalbandian.

The Armenian foreign minister briefed his Iranian counterpart on the efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict. “We value Iran’s balanced stance on the peaceful settlement of this conflict based on principles of international law,” he said.

“On the 25th anniversary of our diplomatic relations we can state that Armenian-Iranian relations have been developing dynamically,” Minister Nalbandian stated.

He added, however, that the potential is even greater and pledged the willingness of the parties to take joint efforts to further deepen, expand and develop the bilateral relations.

Nalbandian also discussed the recent visa liberalization agreement between the two countries, saying the move has led to a drastic increase in tourism to Armenia.

Nalbandian also added that, “cooperation between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union can ensure progress in the development of Armenian-Iranian economic ties.”

The two leaders also attended an Armenian-Iranian business forum, which looked at the potential for mutual economic cooperation and investment opportunities

Armenia, being the only EAEU member state that has a land border with friendly Iran, can be a gateway to accessing EU, EAEU and CIS countries, Nalbandian said at an Armenian-Iranian Business Forum in Yerevan.

In this regard he pointed to the significance of the North-South Road Corridor, which, he said, is the shortest transit route connecting Persian Gulf ports to the Black Sea ports.

According to Nalbandian, “Armenia actively supports the negotiation process between the Eurasian Economic Commission and friendly Iran aimed at signing a free trade zone agreement.”

“On March 30, 2017, the Government of Armenia passed a decision on establishing a free economic zone in Syunik – at the border with Iran, the launch of which would promote the strengthening of economic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and ensure the most efficient use of Armenia’s economic potential,” said Nalbandian.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the relevant authorities of the two countries aimed at defining the directions of cooperation between Armenia and Iran in creating free economic zones, like the ones recently established zones in Meghri and Aras.

Nalbandian said Armenia has created favorable conditions for investments and business.

“Reforms in Armenia are aimed at establishing national and more favorable regimes, clarifying guarantees for foreign investors, providing the opportunities for businessmen to use the existing in Armenia and envisaged supplementary benefits and modern mechanisms for resolving investment related disputes; a number of procedures are consistently being reduced and simplified,” said Nalbandian.

“One of the advantages of investing in Armenia is that the country has privileged trade regimes with many countries. Particularly, Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union has created new opportunities. The products produced in Armenia can freely enter the 180 million-strong consumer market of the Eurasian Economic Union member states with zero customs duties and without administrative barriers,” explained Nalbandian.

Later in the day, Zarif held a meeting with Prime MinisterKaren Karapetyan, during which he said the economic delegation accompanying him was comprised of managers from top companies which were ready to further expand bilateral economic relations.

The prime minister said Yerevan attaches great importance to its relations with Iran and is ready to expand ties in various fields.

“Exports and imports between the two countries are on the rise and we are ready to enable Iranian companies to benefit from the interests of the Eurasia Union through Armenia,” Karapetyan said.

Zarif also met with Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian and delivered greetings from Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.