Author: Karapet Navasardian

Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama sparred over human rights issues including the American prison at Guantanamo Bay and Cuba’s political prisoners, the BBC reports.

At a historic news conference, Mr Castro said if he was given a list of political prisoners, he would “release them tonight”.

The White House has said it has given Cuba lists of dissidents in the past.

Mr Castro does not view the prisoners as dissidents, US officials said.

That disagreement is central to the conflict between US and Cuban officials.

More needs to be done to lift the US embargo on trade with Cuba, Mr Castro said, adding that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp must close.

Mr Obama, the first serving US president to visit Cuba since 1959, said the trade embargo would be fully lifted.

Turkish court’s decision to appoint the mother of ailing Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II as his custodian, has revived the long-standing debate over his potential successor, Daily Sabah reports.

While the Patriarchate in Turkey, headed by acting patriarch Aram Ateşyan, insists on keeping Mutafyan as its leader, some prominent members of the Armenian community have repeatedly called for the election of a new patriarch.

Incumbent Patriarch Mesrob II has been in a vegetative state since 2008, after being diagnosed with dementia. Several plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit for appointment of a custodian for the patriarch in his absence, while Tatyos Bebek, a prominent figure in the Armenian community who was one of the co-plaintiffs, has sought a court order to that extent so that a new patriarch can be elected when the court officially recognizes the patriarch cannot fulfill his duties anymore. An Istanbul court on Wednesday appointed the patriarch’s 78-year-old mother, Mari Mutafyan, as his custodian. She will be eligible for representation of her son by the court order.

Ateşyan, who had reportedly pledged that an election would be held in 2014, though the council of bishops failed to reach a consensus on an election, was seeking a rejection of the lawsuit by the court. He still has the option of appeal to the court’s ruling.

The patriarch acts both as a religious leader and a leader of Turkey’s ethnic Armenian community concentrated in Istanbul, as the patriarchate also runs several non-profit organizations.

Mesrob II, 59, is the 84th patriarch of Turkey’s Armenian Orthodox community who succeeded Karekin II in 1998.

Bedros Şirinoğlu, president of the Armenian community’s Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Hospital Foundation and a proponent of the election of a new patriarch, told Agos daily that the appointment of a custodian is a legal testament to the end of Patriarch Mesrob II’s rule. Pointing to a divide in the community amid those supporting the election and those opposing it, Şirinoğlu said a continued divide would harm the community and electing a new patriarch instead of an “acting” one would help the community “to recover.”

Turkish law bans the election of a new patriarch while his predecessor is alive. A patriarchal election is required to be held by the synod, and the synod has to apply to the Interior Ministry after approving the election. The government ruled out an election of a new patriarch, but a group of Armenians filed a lawsuit for the removal of the regulations blocking the election. The legal process is still underway.

The Armenian patriarchate was established in Istanbul after the city’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire, and oversees Armenian churches throughout the country.

– Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD) will file criminal complaints against Prime Minister Davutoglu, who has been criticized because of his “Armenian gangs” statement, and Askale Mayor Basaran who said “I gratefully commemorate our honorable ancestors who wiped the Armenians off.”

IHD Istanbul Branch Committee Against Racism and Discrimination declared that they will file criminal complaints against Prime Minister Davutoglu and Askale Mayor Basaran, “because they praised the Armenian Genocide and threatened Kurdish people with genocide”.

Here is the call for press statement made on March 8 in front of Caglayan Courthouse:

“In a time when crimes against humanity have been committed in the war against Kurds, Prime Minister, on February 27, said that ‘HDP is in cooperation with Russia like Armenian gangs’ and on March 3, Askale Mayor Enver Basaran ‘gratefully’ commemorated the Armenian Genocide during a ‘theatrical Armenian massacre’ that was played by children and we will file criminal complaints against them because they praised the Armenian Genocide and threatened Kurdish people with genocide.

On February 27, during a rally in Bingöl, Prime Minister Davutoğlu said, “HDP  is in cooperation with Russia like Armenian gangs; they open a representative agency in Moscow.” Davutoglu’s racist statements were brought to the parliament’s agenda by Garo Paylan. Moreover, Armenia also reacted to those statements and Armenian Minister of Interior Edward Nalbandyan criticized Davutoglu by saying “It is obvious that nothing changed in the mentality of the governing elite of Turkey in a century.”

In Askale province of Erzurum, a play was staged at the celebration ceremony of “the 98^th anniversary of Askale’s liberation.” In this play, Armenians portrayed as people who burn down mosques and locals killed the Armenians. Speaking after the ceremony, Askale Mayor Enver Başaran said: “I gratefully commemorate our honorable ancestors who wiped the Armenians off. History of Armenian people is full of blood and betrayal. The Armenian gangs are betrayal organizations and their hatred against this land and noble Turkish nation has no end. Now, these Armenian gangs have been performing separatist activities with PKK.”

US President Barack Obama will host and convene the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit beginning on March 31 at the Washington Convention Center. Among the scheduled attendees are two leaders who rarely get together because their nations have been at loggerheads for decades.

“While it is important for world leaders to agree on how best to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups, the presence of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia offers a rare yet historic moment for President Obama to take the lead in solving one of the most troublesome conflicts left from the break-up off the Soviet Empire,” S. Rob Sobhani writes in an article publsed by the Washington Times.

According to the author, President Obama may well be in a position to craft a breakthrough while the two leaders are in Washington that could create a new beginning for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan by leading a robust diplomatic initiative to find a permanent solution fair to both sides.

“Mr. Obama needs to persuade the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan that the United States won’t turn its back on them and that a workable solution can satisfy both nations, allow their citizens to live in peace and allow them to at long last develop the trust to be good and cooperative neighbors in a troubled region of the world,” the article reads.

Samsung’s latest flagship phones restore a couple of popular features dropped from the previous generation, the BBC reports.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both accept MicroSD cards, allowing their storage to be expanded, and can also be submerged underwater.

In addition, they feature new gaming tech and a rear camera that should cope better in low-light conditions.

Their overall design, however, is similar to the Galaxy S6 line-up.

The new devices were unveiled in Barcelona on the eve of the Mobile World Congress tech show.

While the Galaxy S7 retains the same sized screen as the S6, the S7 Edge’s display has grown slightly from 5.1in (13cm) to 5.5in (14cm).

The Edge version is also slightly curvier than before and its camera protrudes less far out.

In addition, the “edged” parts of the screen now provide shortcuts to email, different photo modes and third-party apps.

A major computer security vulnerability has been discovered – with experts cautiously warning it could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of devices, apps and services, the BBC reports.

However, due to the nature of the bug, it is extremely difficult to know how serious the problem is.

“Many people are running around right now trying to work out if this is truly catastrophic or whether we have dodged a bullet,” said Prof Alan Woodward, a security expect from the University of Surrey.

Google engineers, working with security engineers at Red Hat, have released a patch to fix the problem.

It is now up to manufacturers, and the community behind the Linux operating system, to issue the patch to affected software and devices as soon as possible.

In a blog post explaining the discovery, Google’s team detailed how a flaw in some commonly-used code could be exploited in a way that allows remote access to a devices – be it a computer, internet router, or other connected piece of equipment.

The code can also be within many of the so-called “building blocks” of the web – programming languages such as PHP and Python are affected, as well as systems used when logging in to sites or accessing email.

“It’s not a sky-is-falling scenario,” said Washington D.C-based security researcher Kenneth White.

“But it’s true there’s a very real prospect that a sizable portion of internet-facing services are at risk for hackers to crash, or worse, run remote code to attack others.”

He said that while there is no publicly known attack code using the flaw, it’s a “near certainty” hackers would try to exploit the weakness.

On 11 February Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan partook at the reporting meeting of the NKR Public Prosecutor’s Office summarizing the results of the structure’s activities in 2015, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

Prosecutor General Arthur Mosiyan and responsible officials of the structure delivered corresponding reports.

The President rated the overall activity of Public Prosecutor’s Office as satisfactory.

According to the President, as a result of cooperation within the entire legal system great and diligent work has been carried out in fighting against crime, as a result of which a high level of public security was maintained in the republic.

At the same time President Sahakyan touched upon a range of issues the system faced noting the significance of their efficient solution.

“Over the past years we once again came to the conviction that we had achieved a stable development of our country and due to our traditions we have comparative advantages in terms of conscientiousness and respect for the law. This is the value, which should be maintained”, emphasized Bako Sahakyan in his speech.

Photo: AFP

 

At least 45 people have been killed in blasts near the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of the Syrian capital Damascus, state media say, the BBC reports.

The Islamic State group said on social media it had carried out the attack.

The shrine, which is highly revered by Shia Muslims, has been targeted before, most recently in February last year.

The attacks came as delegates from the Syrian government and opposition groups gathered in Geneva for tentative UN-sponsored peace talks.

The head of the Syrian government delegation at the Geneva talks, Bashar al-Jaafari, said the attack confirmed the link between the opposition and terrorism.

The main opposition group has backed down from its threat to boycott the talks, but says the Syrian government must meet key demands if negotiations are to start.

French carmaker Peugeot will return to Iran in a partnership deal with a local manufacturer worth 400 million euros ($436 million), according to an agreement signed Thursday during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to France, AFP reports.

The deal will see Peugeot work with the manufacturer Iran Khodro, with the first vehicles expected to roll off the production line in 2017.

It makes Peugeot the first Western carmaker to announce a return to Iran since sanctions were lifted against the country after it signed a deal to limit its nuclear programme.

Peugeot and its French partner Citroen will work with Iran Khodro to produce 200,000 vehicles a year using parts manufactured in Iran.

The aim is to produce the Peugeot 208, the 2008 sport utility vehicle and 301 compact models.

Peugeot pulled out of Iran in 2012 as Western sanctions imposed over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme began to bite.

At the time, Iran was Peugeot’s second-largest market after France.

With the lifting of the sanctions, Iran has signed a raft of commercial deals and Rouhani is also expected to tie up an agreement to buy more than 100 passenger jets during his two-day visit to France.

The Governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary have been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond formally to a case brought by the relatives of Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan, who was murdered by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov in Budapest in 2004. Mr Margaryan’s relatives are represented by (based in Middlesex University), (Armenian NGO) and Nazeli Vardanyan, reports the 

Both men were attending a NATO-sponsored English-language course in Budapest. On 19 February 2004 Safarov murdered Mr Margaryan by decapitating him with an axe. In April 2006 Safarov was found guilty of murder by the Budapest City Court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years. The court found that Safarov had intended to kill two Armenian participants at the course on the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After the Court of Appeal upheld this judgment in February 2007, Safarov began serving his sentence in a Hungarian prison.

In August 2012 the Hungarian Minister of Justice approved Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan with a view to his serving his sentence there (under the ). However, a few hours after Safarov was transferred on 31 August 2012, he was granted a pardon by the Azerbaijani President and set free. He was also promoted to major, awarded eight years’ salary arrears and offered a flat.

In a report published in December 2012, the Hungarian Ombudsman criticised the Hungarian Government for approving the transfer before any assurances about the treatment of Safarov had been received from the Azerbaijani authorities.

The victim’s family argue that Gurgen Margaryan’s right to life (Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights) has been violated by Azerbaijan – both because of his murder, and also because Ramil Safarov’s pardon has prevented the full enforcement of his sentence. They also argue that Mr Margaryan was the victim of an ethnically-motivated hate crime, which was later endorsed by Safarov’s pardon and release (in breach of Article 14 together with Article 2 of the Convention). In addition, they argue that Hungary has breached Article 2 of the Convention because it allowed Safarov to be transferred to Azerbaijan, without having obtained assurances that he would be required to complete his prison sentence in Azerbaijan.

The case is also brought by Hayk Makuchyan, an Armenian military officer whom Ramil Safarov was convicted of intending to murder during the same incident in Budapest.

Both governments are required to lodge their responses with the Strasbourg Court by May. The Court has also invited the Armenian Government to submit its comments, given Mr Margaryan’s nationality.

On 26 January 2016 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe  not to adopt a resolution on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, based on a report by the British former member of the Assembly, Robert Walter. The draft resolution (which called on Armenia to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Minsk process) was rejected by 70 votes against, 66 in favour and 45 abstentions.

On 16 June 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Court found that both  and had violated the European Convention rights of civilian victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as they have been prevented from returning to their homes and land which they lost in the early 1990s. The Court has required the Governments to set up property restitution mechanisms for the victims of the conflict. The cases are discussed by Philip Leach in his blog . The implementation of the judgments will be considered by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in June 2016.

In December 2015, Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, opened an into Azerbaijan’s implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (under Article 52 of the Convention).