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Aleppo District Hit by Turkish supported terrorist Al-Nusra Front Fire – Russian Military

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aleppo hit by al nusraAl-Nusra Front militant group heavily shelled the nortern parts of Syrian city of Aleppo, killing and wounding civilians and destroying buildings, Russian military said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The militants fired mortar rounds and rockets at the Burayj ar Rih neighborhood in northern Aleppo, killing and wounding civilians, Russia’s Syrian reconciliation center said early Monday.

“Nusra Front Militants fired mortars and multiple rocket launchers at the Burayj ar Rih district north of Aleppo,” a member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s center in Hmeimim said.

“The shells fired by terrorist groups at residential quarters destroyed a shopping mall, homes and administrative buildings, private buildings, killing and wounding civilians,” the military official said.

Train Crash in Belgium Kills at Least 3, Injures 40 – Reports

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train crash belgemA passenger train collided with a goods train near Liege in Belgium, killing at least three and injuring 40 people, media reported.

Three people died and around 40 were injured late Sunday after a passenger train collided with a freight train west of Liege in Belgium, local media reported.

“The passenger train crashed into the freight train. The investigation into the reasons of the accident is underway,” Frederick Sakr, a spokesperson for the state-run railway company Infrabel said.

The trains collided near Hermalle-sous-Huy on the border between the municipalities of municipality Saint-Georges-Sur-Meuse and Engis, the Belgian news agency Belga cited town mayor Francis Dejon as saying.

The collision was very severe, he told Le Soir newspaper, adding the death toll was preliminary. The cause of the crash is unknown.

What’s in it for Armenia?: Germany gains the upper hand over Turkey with Bundestag resolution

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g-Angela-Merkel-Serzh-Sargsyan-696x464By Naira Hayrumyan,

Despite the diplomatic row between Germany and Turkey caused by the Bundestag’s adoption of a resolution formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and the German responsibility for this crime, Berlin and Ankara are likely to remain allies, the difference being that Germany will strengthen its positions in its future negotiations with Turkey over migrants and other issues of the European agenda.

Armenia, meanwhile, is trying to evaluate the significance of the Bundestag resolution in terms of Armenian interests. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan thanked the Germany leadership for what he described as a historical step. The German resolution was also welcomed by Armenia’s foreign minister. However, as experts note, Armenia does not put any legal claims to Turkey and does not demand any material or territorial compensations. Therefore, some note that the adoption of such resolutions cannot have legal and political consequences for Armenia, which officially has not denounced the 1921 Russo-Turkish Treaty, under which Moscow and Ankara have defined the current borders of Armenia.

In this regard, many analysts in Armenia and in the West believe that the adoption of the resolution by the Bundestag more concerns relations between Turkey and Germany than Armenia proper. Germany, which is one of the European leaders, has complicated relations with Turkey. Europe accuses Turkey of conniving at the flow of migrants from the Middle East. Europe has signed an agreement with Turkey on the regulation of the migrant crisis, but immediately after its conclusion, the person who signed it, then Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, was dismissed. The issue of the Turkish-European agreement was called into doubt and may be revised, and by adopting the resolution on the Armenian Genocide, Germany has strengthened its positions in the future dialogue.

Western analysts also note that Turkish-EU relations may finally come to a standstill if the Kurds manage to achieve success in Syria and Iraq and declare about the establishment of Kurdistan. In this case, the treaties concluded after the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire can be revised, too. And then the Armenian issue may reemerge.

Armenian experts also believe that after the adoption of the resolution, Germany, as the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, may try to take over the Karabakh settlement. Some even claim that Karabakh may be “compensation” for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. However, in the meantime, Germany states that it remains committed to the format of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Karabakh settlement in which the co-chair roles are assigned to the United States, Russia and France.

It is noteworthy that immediately after the adoption of the resolution by the Bundestag, there have reemerged calls on the outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama to honor his election pledge and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Analysts do not rule out that whenever the United States, like Germany, considers it appropriate to put pressure on Turkey, it may also adopt such a resolution.

Polish parliament readying convention on Armenian Genocide

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213930The Polish parliament is preparing a convention on the protection of national identity, particularly that of peoples that have been subjected to genocide on ethnic grounds, a top Foreign Ministry official, historian Christoph Jablonka said, according to Tert.am.

The historian said that Armenians, as well as other Christian nations were subjected to genocide in the Ottoman Empire, so Poland is going to raise the issue at an international level.

According to him, a historical tribunal will be created for recognizing the crimes against humanity.

Related links:

Tert.am. Լեհաստանի խորհրդարանը ցեղասպանության մասին կոնվենցիա է պատրաստում

Evangelical Community: Living conditions of Syrian Armenians are extremely bad

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CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 90

The living conditions of Armenians in Syria are rather bad, head of the Armenian Evangelic Community of Aleppo, Harutyun Selimyan, told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

In his words, the main reason is the absence of electricity and gas. ”Over 8000 Armenians live in Aleppo, and the absence of electricity and water creates extremely dire living conditions. Two days ago the water was switched on for several hours, but then it was again switched off. There is no electricity; the essential products are very expensive, and the Armenians – like the rest of the country’s population – can barely make both ends meet,” Selimyan said.

He also noted that the Armenian church helps the Syrian Armenians in these conditions. ”The church is trying to help somehow, materially or otherwise. Apart from this, the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund (SARF) provides material help twice a month,” head of the Armenian Evangelic Community of Aleppo said.

Germany and the Armenian genocide Name and shame, “century-old Turkish atrocity”

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economist on genocide

The past is present

Deciding what to call a century-old Turkish atrocity

| BERLIN

(economist) TURKEY considers the Ottoman Empire’s mass murder of well over a million Armenians and other Christians in 1915-17 a tragedy. But “genocide”? Armenia and many historians say it was. Turkey insists it was not—and berates any country, from France to the Vatican, that uses the word. Nonetheless, more than 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as genocide. On June 2nd it was Germany’s turn, when its Bundestag passed a resolution calling the killings “genocide” no fewer than four times.

That vote could not have come at a worse time for Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. She is the main architect of a deal reached in March between Turkey and the European Union, under which Turkey promised to take back refugees who cross to the Greek islands; in return, the EU will pay Turkey €6 billion ($6.7 billion) in aid, allow Turks to enter without visas and revive talks to accept Turkey as a member state one day. Mrs Merkel, more than any other EU leader, needed this deal: she wants an orderly and “European” solution to the refugee crisis, rather than brute border closings by individual member states.

But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, clearly interpreted Mrs Merkel’s efforts as weakness. Since the deal he has pressed ahead in his quest to become an autocrat, rejecting European criticisms with threats to scupper the refugee deal and let hundreds of thousands of refugees make their way to Greece again. This has exposed Mrs Merkel to criticism in Germany that she has sold out to a dictator. Even members of her own coalition accuse her of kow-towing. Voters share the misgivings. In a poll in April, 68% opposed Turkish membership of the EU, and 79% said that Turkey “cannot be trusted”.

Some see the souring of the relationship as retribution for Mrs Merkel’s past diplomatic mistakes. She “showed zero point zero interest in Turkey until she rediscovered it in the refugee crisis”, says Cem Özdemir, a son of Turkish immigrants and co-leader of the Green Party who is also the driving force behind the genocide resolution. In 2007 Mrs Merkel, along with other European leaders, in effect slammed the door shut for Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU. At that time Mr Erdogan, then prime minister, was still claiming to modernise Turkey and bring it into line with EU norms on civil liberties. Stung by Mrs Merkel’s rejection, Mr Erdogan turned against the West and decided to become a neo-Ottoman sultan instead, thinks Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister.

That psychology explains much of the recent German-Turkish antics. Mr Erdogan went ballistic in May after a German comedian ridiculed him (see article). An orchestra in Dresden has been performing a series of concerts called “Aghet”, Armenian for “catastrophe” (referring to the genocide). The European Commission gave the project €200,000; after Turkish protests, the commission removed advertisements for “Aghet” from its website. Many Germans are enraged that Turkey tries to muzzle free speech abroad.

Turkey will respond to the Bundestag’s resolution with its usual sound and fury. In late May, three groups in parliament, including Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, condemned the draft as a “distortion of historical facts”. Turkey withdrew its ambassadors to Austria, Luxembourg, and the Vatican last year after similar pronouncements about the 1915 killings. Mr Erdogan has warned of a deterioration in ties with Berlin, albeit without mentioning the refugee deal.

Mr Özdemir originally meant to put the genocide resolution to a vote on April 24, 2015, the centenary of its start. Anxious to avoid provoking Turkey, Mrs Merkel kept delaying, he says, even though the new timing looks even worse. This spring Mr Özdemir pushed ahead again. The resolution is necessary to acknowledge Germany’s complicity in the genocide as the Ottoman Empire’s main ally at the time, he says. As for Turkey, he thinks, if it had dealt honestly with its past and its minorities, it might already be an EU member.

Turkey announces curfew in rural areas near southeastern Diyarbakir

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curfew diyarbakirTurkey has declared a round-the-clock curfew in rural areas near the southeastern city of Diyarbakir ahead of a planned military operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) .

The curfew was announced at 10:30 am (0730 GMT) in 10 areas of Lice in Diyarbakir Province, where PKK militants, including senior operatives are believed to be active, a statement by the provincial governor’s office said Saturday.

The curfew came a day after Turkish security forces called an end to operations targeting PKK militants in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border and in Sirnak near the border with Iraq.

More than 1,000 people, mostly PKK militants, have been killed in three months of clashes in those areas, according to security sources.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against the positions of the militant group in northern Iraq as well.

Turkey’s operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc.

More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK, which accuses the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left more than 40,000 people dead.

Message to Turkey?: Russia, U.S. warn ‘external players’ against interfering in Karabakh

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lavrov-kerryU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned “external players” against interfering in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as they discussed the latest developments in the conflict zone in a phone conversation on Monday.
The top diplomats reiterated their governments’ appeal for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov and Kerry voiced “serious concern at the escalation of the confrontation” and agreed that “Russia, the United States and France, as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, will step up their efforts to foster a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry condemned attempts by certain ‘external players’ to whip up the standoff around Karabakh,” it added without elaborating.

Lavrov also spoke about forces “keen to seriously complicate the settlement process” as he gave a press conference in Moscow earlier that day. He did not give names, but many analysts in Armenia and outside interpret it as a message primarily addressed to Turkey, with which Russia has been on loggerheads since last year over the situation in Syria.

Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have repeatedly criticized the United States, Russian and French mediators for purportedly siding with Armenia in their activities as go-betweens in the Karabakh conflict settlement.

Meanwhile, loss of life continued in the conflict zone late on Monday as the sides issued conflicting reports about the situation on the ground.
In particular, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Ministry denied that Azerbaijan captured the strategically important village of Mataghis in the northeast of Karabakh.

The OSCE Minsk Group is meeting in Vienna, Austria, on April 5 to discuss the latest developments in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It also emerged on Monday that the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will attend a meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet countries) foreign ministers that is scheduled to be held in Moscow, Russia, on April 8. It is not yet clear whether the top diplomats plan a separate meeting to discuss the latest upsurge in violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

Vice Premier of China, Zhang Gaoli to visit Armenia

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vp visitFirst-ranked Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China and member of Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party, Zhang Gaoli will head an official delegation to Armenia on June 5.
According to information and public relations department of the Government of Armenia, the Chinese official is to meet with Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. The parties will sign a series of documents on bilateral cooperation.

 

Source Panorama.am