Assad says Turkish support ‘main factor’ in Idlib takeover

April 17, 2015 By administrator

(Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said Turkish support was the main factor that helped insurgents to seize the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib from his government’s control last month.

Idlib, a short drive from the Turkish border, is only the second provincial capital to fall to insurgents in the four-year-old civil war. It was captured by an alliance of Islamist groups including al Qaeda’s Syrian arm, the Nusra Front.

“Any war weakens any army, not matter how strong, no matter how modern,” Assad said in an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen, published on Friday.

In the fall of Idlib, “the main factor was the huge support that came through Turkey; logistic support, and military support, and of course financial support that came through Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

A Turkish government spokesman denied the claim. Turkey is one of the states most hostile to Assad.

The Syrian conflict is estimated to have killed around 220,000 people. Assad has lost control over much of the north and east while trying to shore up his control over the main population centers in the west, with the help of allies including Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Idlib has been targeted by heavy Syrian army air strikes since it fell to the insurgents. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were at least 54 strikes on Friday.

The monitoring group said these included 17 barrel bombs, packed with explosives and shrapnel and dropped from helicopters. Government officials could not be reached for comment.

The Observatory said government forces had killed two leading al Qaeda figures, both Gulf Arabs, south of Idlib city.

Starting next month, the U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is planning to consult Syrian protagonists and interested states on a new round of peace talks. Past attempts have failed to make progress.

Asked about the initiative, Assad said the Syrian crisis had been complicated by external intervention.

Referring to states that are hostile to him, including Turkey, he said de Mistura was aware that if “he couldn’t convince these countries to stop supporting the terrorists and let the Syrians solve their problem, he will not succeed”.

The United States wants to see Assad gone from power and has rejected the idea of allying with him against Islamic State, which has taken over large parts of Syria. In a series of interviews with Western media, he has repeatedly pressed his case that the jihadist groups in Syria pose a threat to Western states.

“Syria is a fault line,” Assad said. “When you mess with this fault line you will have the echoes and repercussions in different areas, not only in our area, even in Europe.”

(Reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Humeyra Panmuk in Istanbul and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Turkey always used NATO & ISLAM, To hide it’s Crime, Turks massacred Armenian while muslim Arab Save Armenian

April 17, 2015 By administrator

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has warned that decisions like the European Parliament’s motion calling the mass killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I “genocide” will lead to enmity and prejudice against Turkey and Muslims.

“If a contribution is to be made to peace, if European culture is to preserve its multicultural and multi-religious structure, it must not make decisions that will cause enmity against any religious or national group on the basis of history. This is a situation which will provoke anti-Islam and anti-Turkish [sentiments], which have been on the rise recently in Europe. From now on, the ‘Turkey-Armenia’ [issue] has moved beyond the ‘Turkish-Armenian’ issue. It is a reflection of racism in Europe,” Davutoğlu said on April 17, responding to reporters.

The European Parliament’s motion came on April 15, only a few days after Pope Francis triggered fury in Turkey by using the same term.

The prime minister argued that both the European Parliament’s resolution and the pope’s statement were “a new reflection of racism.”

Davutoğlu went on the offensive as he mentioned Aborigines and American-Indians. “I told [European Parliament President Martin] Schulz yesterday. If we are to open the history of Europe, what was done in Africa during colonialism? What was done in Asia? What was done in Australia and where have those authentic tribes disappeared to? Where are the Aborigines, where are the [American] Indians?” he said.

French prime minister to commemorate Genocide

April 17, 2015 By administrator

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is going to deliver a speech at an Armenian Genocide commemoration event set to take place in the Canada Square of Paris, Nouvelles d’Armenie says.
President Francois Hollande was earlier reported to be planning a trip to Armenia to take part the April 24 centennial events in capital Yerevan.

Deportivo Armenio footballers to play in Turkey in black shirts with inscription ‘I Remember and Demand’

April 17, 2015 By administrator

Argentine football club Deportivo Armenio will play in Turkey in a special uniform dedicated to the Armenian Genocide centenary, sports.ru reports.

The footballers will play the upcoming matches in black shirts with the inscription ‘I Remember and Demand.’

It is also noted that on the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2010, the club’s players were wearing the Armenian national team uniforms.

Deportivo Armenio was founded in 1962 by the Armenian community of Buenos Aires.

Armenian Assembly of America hails editorials calling for US, international recognition of Armenian Genocide

April 17, 2015 By administrator

As Armenians around the world near the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) welcomes the call of newspaper editorial boards urging US and international affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

“The Armenian Assembly of America welcomes the editorials of major newspapers around the globe that are speaking truthfully about the need for recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “All people of goodwill, including President Obama, should embrace the call of Pope Francis and acknowledge the incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide this April 24th,” Ardouny said.

During his mass on Sunday, April 12 at St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis recognized the 1915 killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish Empire as genocide by quoting his papal predecessor Pope John Paul II. He said, “In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies… the first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th century,’ struck your own Armenian people.” The Pope’s statement comes appropriately ahead of the April 24th centennial anniversary of the genocide and has caused a wave of editorial board support for the Pope’s statements and urging the US and other powerful allies to officially recognize the killings as a genocide.

Here’s a sampling of the strong statements of support from across the country:

Los Angeles Times Editorial Board: U.S. should call Armenian genocide by its name

• “The president should take a cue from Pope Francis and include the word genocide in his annual message marking the carnage a century ago. Enduring friendships require such honesty.” [Editorial, Los Angeles Times, 4/13/15]

Denver Post Editorial Board: Speaking the truth on genocide

• “The Ottoman Turks did indeed engage in what amounts to attempted genocide of its Armenian population between 1915 and 1923, slaughtering an estimated 1.5 million, and Pope Francis is hardly the first to say so. But the boldness of his declaration Sunday was refreshing nonetheless, even if it did anger Turkey.” [Editorial, Denver Post, 4/13/15]
• And if the pope isn’t qualified to speak out on behalf of beleaguered Christians, or in memory of them, then who would be?” [Editorial, Denver Post, 4/13/15]

New York Daily News Editorial Board: The true name of evil: The Pope rightly calls Armenian killings genocide

• “In 2001, Pope John Paul II used the word genocide to describe the Armenian massacre that began 100 years ago next week. Now, as he decries today’s massacres of Christians, Francis used his singularly unafraid moral voice to tell it like it was. And thank goodness he did.” [Editorial, New York Daily News, 4/13/15]

Jerusalem Post Editorial Board: Israel should recognize the Armenian genocide

• “Exhibiting his characteristic moral clarity and sensitivity, Pope Francis referred to Turkey’s brutal massacre of about 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children during World War I as genocide.” [Editorial, Jerusalem Post, 4/13/15]
• “Founded in the shadow of the Holocaust, the State of Israel is a living testament to the failure of the international community to prevent genocide. It was in large part out of international recognition of this failure that legitimacy for a uniquely Jewish state with its own armed forces and sovereignty was born. Israel has an obligation to live up to that legacy by using its political sovereignty to prevent genocide not just against Jews but against any group… Pope Francis has publicly recognized the Armenian Genocide. Now it is Israel’s turn.” [Editorial, Jerusalem Post, 4/13/15]

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

Italian PM: Pope’s statement on #ArmenianGenocide was absolutely righteous

April 17, 2015 By administrator

The Pope’s statement on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was absolutely righteous, and if Turkey wants to join the European Union (EU), it must adopt the European values, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said at the meeting with the students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C, News.am reports citing Italy’s La Stampa daily.

“I support Turkey’s European integration,” Renzi said and added: “But Ankara needs to make a decision and accept that it shares our values.”

German Chancellor, President Snub Gallipoli; President Opts for Genocide Commemoration

April 17, 2015 By administrator

German President Joachim Gauck

BERLIN—Ankara has invited more than a hundred leaders to join commemorations of the Battle of Gallipoli this year on April 24, in an attempt to overshadow the commemorations of the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The German government has announced that it will only be sending its Secretary of Defense Markus Grübel to the Gallipoli commemorations, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck indicated they would not participate in the event, with President Gauck signaling that he will be attending commemorations of the Armenian Genocide in Berlin on April 24 instead.

Until now, Turkey has traditionally commemorated the Battle of Gallipoli on March 18. Remembering the Gallipoli Campaign has never been scheduled for April 24 until this year, when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) decided to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign on April 24, the same day that Armenians will mourn the mass killings of their ancestors during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, in 1915.

Rather than visit Turkey as part of the Gallipoli commemorations, President Gauck has instead chosen to stay in Berlin to participate in the 100th anniversary commemorative events for the Armenian Genocide. Gauck will attend the spiritual ceremony being organized at the Berlin Oberpfarr and Dom Church and will make a speech to commemorate the tragic events that took place against the Armenians under Ottoman rule.

It has not yet been determined whether Gauck will call the Armenian Genocide by name. The statement released by the German Presidency says, “Joining the ceremony to be held in Berlin, the German President will commemorate the grief that Armenians and other Christian minorities passed through in the Ottoman Empire.” This will make Gauck the first German president to join any such event commemorating the Armenian Genocide.

Australian City of Ryde adopts motion on Armenian Genocide centenary

April 17, 2015 By administrator

The City of Ryde adopted this week a unanimous motion dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.

The motion, which comes 10 years after the City of Ryde became the first local council in Australia to recognize the events of 1915 to 1923 as Armenian Genocide, took the measure to honor the memory of the 1.5 million victims of this crime in its Centenary year.

The motion, just like the one 10 years ago, was introduced by Councillor Sarkis Yedelian before a packed gallery in the Council chambers. Numerous members of the Ryde-Armenian community spoke at the session on the importance of adopting such a motion.

This motion follows on from an unprecedented level of media coverage in Australia on the Armenian Genocide. The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, SBS TV and ABC TV all extensively reported on the Armenian Genocide.

Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Vache Kahramanian welcome the passing of motion by the City of Ryde.

“The City of Ryde has once again demonstrated its strong moral and principled stance on the Armenian Genocide,” Kahramanian said. “I thank Councillor Yedelian and all councillors for their steadfast and unwavering support, especially in this centenary year.”

The motion, which was adopted reads:

Whereas 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the City of Ryde passing a motion recognizing the events of 1915-1923 as the Armenian Genocide, this Council joins with the Armenian-Australian community in marking the centenary of the Armenian Genocide by resolving to:

(a) honor the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to the first modern genocide;

(b) condemn the genocide of the Armenians; and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance;

(c) recognize the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated;

(d) condemn and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to deny or distort the historical truth of the genocide of the Armenians and other acts of genocide committed during this century;

(e) recall the testimonies of Australian WWI POWs who lay witness to the genocide of the Armenians;

(f) acknowledge the significant humanitarian contribution made by the people of Australia to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide; and

(g) call on the Commonwealth of Australia to recognize and condemn all genocides including the Armenian Genocide.

Basque Country parliament condemns Genocide, urges Turkey for recognition

April 17, 2015 By administrator

The Parliament of the Basque Country condemned the Armenian Genocide and urged Turkey for recognition. It also called for peace between Armenia and Turkey, stressing the need for the latter to face its own history.

The parliament-adopted statement expressed solidarity and respect for the families of the Genocide victims who to this day suffer repercussions of the tragedy, Abc.es reports.

The parliament called for a transparent dialogue between Armenia and Turkey for a better future which can become a possibility through justice, understanding and recognition.

Serb Republic President wants to promptly recognize #ArmenianGenocide

April 17, 2015 By administrator

Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik directed to the Parliament the text of a “Statement on Recognition of Armenian Genocide in 1915-17,” reports Radio and Television of Vojvodina (RTV), citing Dodik’s office website. The President proposed to adopt the statement during the coming session.

The statement reads:

“The Serb nation of the Serb Republic, as a freedom-loving nation, as well as a nation, which lost one third of its working population and a huge amount of natural and mineral resources during the World War I, expresses its solidarity with the efforts of the Armenian nation and supports it in its struggle for the recognition of historic justice and its terming as genocide, as an extermination perpetrated against Armenians during the fall of the Ottoman Empire.”

The statement mentions that the Serb Republic needs to “carry out work on the protection of human rights and international criminal law, underscore that a crime against humanity has no statute of limitations, and contribute to the struggle against the Genocide denial.”