PKK militants staged an attack on the AKP provincial headquarters in Diyarbakır with a cluster bomb at around 9 pm. One police officer on duty was wounded and immediately taken to hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, security forces found an unexploded second bomb during the subsequent investigation. Bomb disposal experts were called to the area and defused the bomb.
A broad-scale operation has been started to apprehend the militants responsible for the attack.
Time To Unite Time To Partition Turkey (Join hashtag #PartitionTurkey)
Mr. Erdogan,
By changing the name of the land to
Turkey and rename all cities & People
Names to Turkish names. that does not entitle you own & Assume it is
your Country. time to end your occupation of Anatolia. and
It is Time that you agree partitioning Turkey is the only solution to bring peace and prosperity in the region. your forefathers invasion and occupation of the region have cause millions of death and distraction. you must end all your atrocities and join the civilized world.
Turkey: Three soldiers killed in PKK attack in southeastern Turkey
Three Turkish soldiers are killed and six others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Bingöl.
Three Turkish soldiers are killed and six others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Bingöl, Doğan News Agency has reported.
The roadside bomb exploded Aug. 15 when an armored military vehicle was at the Karlıova town of Bingöl, the agency quoted initial reports.
Anadolu agency also said three soldiers died in the bomb attack as soldiers had clashed with PKK members who bid to check ID’s of travelers.
One of the fallen soldiers was a noncommissioned official as two others were specialized sergeants.
The security forces have launched an operation in the field to catch the attackers.
Turkish Kurd grief: ‘They don’t even let us bury our dead’
A room is full of women looking like they have cried for hours, if not for days.
Sat on the floor leaning against each wall, they don’t say much. Instead, they wail, wipe their tears and hug each other to share the pain.
Ayse Aygun’s 18 year-old son Salih had gone across the border to Syria, to join the Kurdish YPG militants and fight against the Islamic State group (IS).
He was killed two weeks ago in a clash at the town of Sirrin.
Ayse’s family and friends try to be there for her in these difficult times.
It is more than losing a child for Ayse. The Turkish authorities will not allow her son’s body back into the country to be buried.
“My son wasn’t fighting the Turkish army” she says. “He was fighting the IS. IS beheaded people. They killed the elderly. Why aren’t they allowing my son back? This is an insult.”
More than 4,000 people from Turkey, predominantly Kurds, have gone to fight against the IS since the assault on Kobani started late last year.
Up until recently, those killed were allowed back for their funerals. Over 200 YPG fighters have been buried in Turkey so far.
But now the bodies of 23 fighters have been stopped at the border.
Salih’s aunt Islim says they spoke to the local governor to help them bring his body into Turkey.
“He told us it was beyond him. He said there was a cabinet decree. He told us there was nothing he could do” she says.
“But we want our brother to be buried in our land. We could go visit his grave, say a prayer. He should be near us.”
Families suspect, all this is part of a measure to keep the border town of Suruc calm. Here, an attack by the group calling themselves Islamic State killed 32 people last month.
The culture centre where the bomb went off still bears the scars of the attack.
Pictures of the dead young activists, along with various toys for kids they intended to take to Kobane are laid out in the garden – at the exact spot where the attack took place.
But on the streets of Suruc life is back to normal. There are security forces present of course, but that has been part of daily life for some time, given the proximity to the Syrian border.
What happened in this predominantly Kurdish town across the border from Kobane changed Turkey and the security landscape dramatically.
After the attack, the Turkish government launched what it called “a synchronised war on terror” on several fronts.
Operations against IS were followed by a crackdown on the Kurdish militant group PKK and other radical leftist groups.
The level of threat in the country has increased to extent not seen in recent years.
Early this week the most violent attacks since the crackdown took place, in retaliation for the increasing military operations against the PKK.
As the once solid ceasefire is in tatters, many fear peace is now something of the past and there’s more trouble ahead.
Ayse had 11 sons. One is now dead in Syria. Another is a soldier in the Turkish army. And another is a policeman.
She says she wants peace so that mothers won’t have to shed any more tears.
But the soldier son, who speaks on condition of anonymity, is more pessimistic.
“We were more than brothers, Salih and I. We were best friends. I’m a soldier. He died in Kobane. We want peace.
“But how is peace attainable when they don’t even let us bury our dead?” he asks.
Karabakh: HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES The center “Tumo” Stepanakert will open in September
Arayik Harutyunyan Prime Minister of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh by Ralf Herikian company visited the center “Tumo” of construction in Stepanakert. They wanted to read on the progress of work. During the visit, Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan noted with satisfaction as the quality of work that his progress. The center “Tumo” Stepanakert to open its doors in September. The center teaches computer science and techniques of new information technologies and is aimed primarily at young people will be of paramount importance for the economic development of Nagorno-Karabakh by the formation of youth. “Karabakh Telekom” has made available to the center 150 million drams, the interior being supported by the Ugab (Armenian General Benevolent Union). The center “Tumo” in full activity, will receive 500 children from various regions of Artsakh aged 7 to 17 years.
Krikor Amirzayan
Armenia: DEFENSE MINISTER “We are ready not only to defend but also to undertake operations of prevention”
Armenian armed forces defend the borders perfectly and maintain pressure to silence the enemy. Declaration made on August 13 at a meeting in the government, by Seyran Ohanyan, Armenian Defense Minister. S. Ohanian said that the Armenian army completely controls the borders of the Republic of Armenia and those of the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. During the first European Olympic Games in Baku declined tension at the borders, but after these games, a significant growth of violations of the cease-fire by Azerbaijan was observed. “They opened fire not only by conventional weapons, but by guns and grenade launchers. Our neighbors are trying with this to gain some diplomatic dividends. In recent days, was recorded intrusion attempts. Armenian armed forces have conducted prevention operations. At our requests for dialogue, the enemy responds with a rise in tension. The units of our armed forces know fully respond to the situation imposed on them and they do it perfectly. In recent days we have had the loss of a soldier (…) we are ready not only to defend but also undertake prevention operations, “says Ohanian.
Krikor Amirzayan
Armenian news paper Asbarez Turns 107 Today
Asbarez newspaper marks its 107th anniversary today, Friday August 14, 2015. We wish our readers a happy anniversary. Without you our newspaper would not have survived for more than a century. Pictured is the front page of our first edition published on Aug. 14, 1908 in Fresno
From our Archives
Read a first-person account of how Asbarez was founded (Published, August 14, 2008)
Read a retrospective of the newspaper by Paul Chaderjian (Published August, 2003)
To Baptize or Not to Baptize the Hidden Armenians in Turkey
BY RAFFI BEDROSYAN
Along with the many high points experienced during the historic Armenia trip of the 80 hidden Armenians from Turkey, there were also a few low points. The highs included warm welcomes by both Armenian government officials and common people on the street, emotional triumphs at Sardarabad, feelings of grief at the Genocide Museum, new-found friendships, accomplishments like spelling the alphabet during Armenian language classes, or simply being able to order food in Armenian at a restaurant. However, I want to point out a few of the lows our hidden Armenians encountered—all related to baptism.
Among the members of our group, two girls from Dersim and a young man from Diyarbakir wished to be baptized. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, their wish did not come true.
In recent days, Armenian media—both in the Diaspora and in Armenia—ran headline news and opinion pieces on this topic. Various individuals gave press conferences; people opined on TV; statements were released by the church, government, Diaspora organizations, and political parties; while heated debates on social media argued both for and against the decision to refuse the baptisms.
As the organizer of the group whose three members wished to be baptized, and as the designated godfather or “gnkahayr” for these baptisms, I would like to provide a first-hand account of what really happened, why it happened, and what we should do to avoid such scandals in the future.
One may recall that during the trip I organized last year for the 50 hidden Armenians from Diyarbakir to Armenia, we witnessed the baptisms of a man and a woman in Etchmiadzin. The man was a teacher in a public school in Diyarbakir. This year, he brought his son to Armenia to extend the process of returning to Armenian roots to the next generation. The woman baptized last year, on the other hand, had an even more ominous challenge. Her husband, a devout Moslem Kurd, had forbidden her from taking such a step. She nevertheless decided to convert to Christianity to keep her promise to her hidden Armenian father, who had asked her to become a Christian Armenian at his deathbed. I am also pleased to report that she and her husband are still happily married, and are now bravely facing the challenge of how to raise their child together—whether as an Armenian, a Kurd, a Christian, or a Moslem.
Therefore, this year when three members of our group approached me with their wish to be baptized, I thought—perhaps naively—that again I can go ahead and arrange the baptisms for the day we visit Etchmiadzin. The two Dersimtsi girls would take the names Anahit and Nairi, and the Dikranagerdtsi man from Diyarbakir would become Madteos Paramaz. One of the Dersim girls had a brother who was already baptized last year. The Dikranagerdsi man was a distant relative of the family involved in the reconstruction of the Surp Giragos Church in Diyarbakir.
Unfortunately, the baptisms could neither happen in Echmiadzin, nor in the Khor Virab Church the next day, nor in Surp Hovhannes Church in Yerevan the following day. The explanations given to us were as varied as the clerics involved. Some said we had to apply in writing months in advance; then, the applications would be reviewed by a religious council before permission could be considered. Others said we needed to bring a letter from the Istanbul Acting Patriarch Archbisop Aram Atesyan granting permission for the baptisms. One cleric suggested the candidates must visit Armenia at least three times before being eligible. An even more preposterous suggestion came from a cleric who wondered why we don’t go to churches in Turkey since those wishing to be baptized are all from Turkey, instead of causing headaches for him and his superiors. I didn’t bother telling him that although there are churches in Istanbul, no churches are left in historic Armenia except the one we reconstructed in Diyarbakir. Overall, these clerics seemed to be unprepared as to how to deal with the baptism requests and had to make endless calls to their superiors for a decision, which either did not come or was ultimately negative. In any case, they would still lead us on, that by tomorrow, there may be a positive decision. So, each day—with our hopes high, after buying the required towels, crosses, and headscarves for the girls—we would face renewed disappointment. Even the intervention of the Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan did not achieve the desired outcome.
An even more upsetting development was the zeal of critics to use this incident to start misguided attacks. Rather than criticize the decision itself or the persons who made the decision, we have individuals appearing at press conferences and on TV, or writing articles in newspapers, attacking the Armenian Church, the Ministry of Diaspora, and the government in general. One organization called Republic of Western Armenia even went as far as issuing fictitious citizenship and identification cards with the baptized names printed on them, displaying the cards with a fictitious flag, name, and photo at press conferences and on TV. It seems these people forget or don’t care that the two Dersim girls and the Diyarbakir man will return to Turkey, will continue living among Moslem Turks and Kurds, with their names paraded on a fictitious republic’s fake citizenship cards. Do they have the right to jeopardize the lives of these already endangered persons? Or for that matter, do any of these opinion makers, who pass along all sorts of judgment in the media, care about the emotions of these three young people who had made such a personal decision as changing their faith, their religion?
The hidden Armenians have no control over their ethnic roots, their genetic identity—they were given no choice. They were born as Armenians, even though the fact that they are Armenians was not revealed to them until later in life. Some of them have now made a conscious decision to return to their ethnic roots. But changing religion by converting to Christianity is an entirely different matter. No one is born with a religion—Christian or Moslem. Religion is not a genetic identity but a faith acquired by personal choice and through family. If someone has made the decision to become Christian through baptism, there should be no individual, no institution, or no force to prevent that from happening—especially in the case of hidden Armenians, who are taking a risk by revealing their Armenian identity, and by converting to Christianity. If the reason for these increasingly difficult barriers that prevent baptisms is misgivings of abuse, there should be other ways of dealing with them quickly and without delay. Sure, there could be some Moslem Turks or Kurds just pretending to be hidden Armenians. There could be others who have no intention of becoming Christian Armenian and who are getting baptized to gain some sort of advantage, such as employment or a way out of Turkey and into Europe or the Americas. However, these exceptions should not lead to draconian rules and regulations for all others who genuinely want to become Christian. Moreover, why do we have godfathers? The role of the godfather is to assure the Church that the person being baptized is eligible and worthy of baptism, and there should be no excuse or delay by the cleric for further investigation.
The objective of Project Rebirth is to help the hidden Armenians think, feel, and act as Armenians. Our work will continue regardless of the barriers placed by certain people. Whether these hidden Armenians become Christian or not, they have decided to return to their Armenian roots, and we will continue encouraging them. It would be ideal if the Church also fulfils its duty in encouraging them to become Christian Armenians, but if not, it is still alright. After all, Armenians were Armenians for centuries before they adopted Christianity.
Turkey: Three soldiers killed, six injured as PKK attacks troops in Hakkari
Three Turkish soldiers were killed and six others were injured when a group of terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacked a group of troops in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Friday night. report Zaman
According to initial reports, PKK terrorists attacked the soldiers during an operation in the Dağlıca region of the Yüksekova district. Three soldiers were killed and six others were injured in the ensuing clash, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said in a statement released later on Friday night.
The violence is the latest in a wave of fighting between Turkish security forces and the PKK after Ankara last month launched a military crackdown on both the PKK and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Christian Sorensen: An Introduction to Pentagon corporate global wars Contracts
By Christian Sorensen, is a U.S. military veteran
Source: boilingfrogspost.com