Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion has confirmed to CBC News that preliminary contact has been made.
In 2012, the Harper administration cut ties with Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Canada.
“Talks have started, yes, at the official level,” Dion said Friday. There has been speculation the discussions took place in New York City, where the two countries have political delegations.
“I will not comment,” the foreign minister said when asked about a possible location. “But the usual way by which countries who want to recreate links proceed, is step by step, at the official level in neutral territory.”
White House on Sarsang reservoir, Karabakh status, return of territories
The United States urges the sides to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to enter into an immediate negotiation on a comprehensive settlement, which would include the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan’s control and a determination of Nagorno Karabakh’s status, the White House said.
In response to an online Azeri petition on the conflict, the White House said that the U.S., as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, is strongly committed to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
On May 16, Secretary of State John Kerry participated in discussions with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Desir. Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev reaffirmed their respect for the ceasefire, accepted confidence-building measures to reduce the risk of violence along the line of contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and agreed to another round of talks in June, with a view toward resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.
“As part of our ongoing dialogue with the sides, we have and will continue to facilitate discussions related to humanitarian issues. Management and maintenance of the Sarsang Reservoir is one such issue. We welcome a meeting between technical experts from the sides to discuss water management and dam inspections. The co-chairs are ready to facilitate such a meeting,” the White House’s response to the petition said.
“Ultimately, a resolution of this longstanding conflict depends on the political will of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
First-ever Armenia IT Forum kicks off in Silicon Valley
Leading members of the Armenian diaspora and those interested in technology companies and startups in Armenia convened on Friday, June 10 at the Armenia IT Forum at Synopsys in Mountain View.
The daylong gathering provides an opportunity to network, share ideas and identify investment opportunities in Armenia with CEOs, venture capitalists, academics, and entrepreneurs. The Forum is organized within the framework of the ArmTech Congress and held under the high patronage of the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Sponsors of the event include Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, the Union of Information and Technology Enterprises, the Union of Employers of Information and Communication Technologies, and PicsArt, a photo app company with 65 million active users founded by two Armenian entrepreneurs. Organizers include the Government of the Republic of Armenia, ArmTech Congress, CEED, World Bank Group, Synopsys, and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF).
The four panel discussions at the Forum will address critical issues including:
– The IT Industry in Armenia Recent Developments and Success Stories
– Building an Ecosystem for Global Startups and Connecting to Global Markets
– Challenges and Opportunities of Investing in Armenia
– The Role of Education in Unlocking Startup Talent
“This year the forum will focus on the progress and successes of our organizations and startups, especially in the U.S. market,” said Bagrat Yengibaryan Ph.D., Director of the EIF. “We’re going to discuss the importance of education and explore the challenges for the further development of the IT sector in Armenia.”
Armenian Americans discuss Bundestag’s resolution at German consulate in LA
Leaders representing a cross-section of Armenian-American community organizations on Friday met with officials at the German Consulate General in Los Angeles to discuss last week’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the German legislature–the Bundestag, Asbarez reported.
The community delegation was comprised of Daron Der Khachatourian (ARF-Dashnaktsutiune), Gabriel Moloyan (Social Democratic Hunchakian Party), Dr. Raffi Balian (Armenian Democratic Liberal Party–Ramkavar), Very Rev. Muron Aznikian (Western Prelacy), Father Pakrad Berjekian (Western Diocese), Rev. Berdj Djambazian (Armenian Evangelical Church), Talin Yacoubian (AGBU) and Maro Papapzian (ARS).
The meeting was held with Stefan Biedermann, the acting Consul General who was accompanied by Kai-Uwe Spicher, the Consulate’s head of administration) and Peter Schmitt, the Consulate’s Deputy Cultural Attaché.
The discussion centered on the June 2 Bundestag resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, with the Armenian delegation highlighting that the comprehensive resolution not only included language about Germany’s recognition of the Genocide, but went further to accept Germany’s complicity in the crime press for reparations and the return of Armenian assets, such as churches.
The delegation also discussed German President Joachim Gauck’s April 2015 speech during a centennial commemoration mass at Berlin’s Oberpfarr and Dom Church recognizing the Armenian Genocide and urging Turkey to follow suit.
The German representatives told the delegation that it was Germany’s historic responsibility to recognize the Genocide and set the historical record straight, through which it hopes to advance the world’s responsibility for justice and human rights.
Spain’s Mérida city recognizes Armenian Genocide
Mérida city of Spain officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide on June 9.
All the four political forces of the City Council unanimously approved the petition of Ararat Armenian Union, Armenian MFA press-service reports.
The adopted institutional statement qualifies the 1915-23 events as a crime against humanity and first genocide of the 20th century.
The Clinton University Problem: Laureate Education Lawsuits Present Problem For Clinton’s [Updated]
(jonathanturley.org) While largely ignored by the media, the Clintons have their own university scandal. Donald Trump has been rightfully criticized and sued over his defunct Trump University. There is ample support for claiming that the Trump University was fraudulent in its advertisements and operations. However, the national media has been accused of again sidestepping a scandal involving the Clintons that involves the same type of fraud allegations. The scandal involves a dubious Laureate Education for-profit online college (Walden) and entails many of the common elements with other Clinton scandals: huge sums given to the Clintons and questions of conflicts with Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State. There are distinctions to draw between the two stories, but the virtual radio silence on the Clinton/Laureate story is surprising. [I have updated the original column with some additional thoughts, links, and clarifications for readers).
I have long been a critic of many online courses, though I am increasingly in the minority even on my faculty. However, the rise of online courses has allowed for an increase in dubious pitches and practices that prey upon people who cannot afford or attend a traditional academic institution. I should also reveal a general opposition to for-profit universities, a view shared by many teachers and experts. While there are some good for-profit programs from student camps to specialized training courses, Laureate is a massive, mega-corporation that is often criticized for its impact on education. As companies maximize profits, students often become a mere cost of doing business. The rate of default has been higher at such for-profit universities and less than half of students at for-profit schools actually finish such programs accordingly to Brookings. Laureate is often cited as the leader in reducing education to a commodity in a mass for-profit enterprise. The company has made huge profits and is worth over $4 billion.
Laureate Education was sued over its Walden University Online offering, which some alleged worked like a scam designed to bilk students of tens of thousands of dollars for degrees. Students alleged that they were repeatedly delayed and given added costs as they tried to secure degrees, leaving them deeply in debt. Laureate itself has been criticized for “turbocharging” admissions while allowing standards to fall and shortchanging education.
The respected Inside Higher Education reported that Laureate Education paid Bill Clinton an obscene $16.5 million between 2010 and 2014 to serve as an honorary chancellor for Laureate International Universities. Various news outlets said that neither Clinton nor Laureate were forthcoming on how much he was paid for the controversial association.
Bill Clinton worked as the “honorary chancellor” which sounds a bit like the group’s pitchman. He gave speeches in various countries and was heavily touted by the for-profit company to attract students. The size of this payment (which has been widely reported) raises obvious concerns as to what the company was seeking to achieve and whether Laureate received any benefit from the association with the State Department given its massive international operations.
Various sites have reported that the State Department funneled $55 million in grants during Hillary Clinton’s tenure to groups associated with Laureate’s founder. That would seem a pretty major story but virtually no mainstream media outlet has reported it while running hundreds of stories on the Trump University scandal. The stories on the grants do not name Laureate directly. Accordingly, the company might have not received direct grants (my first column did not make that clear and, in fairness to Laureate, there is no evidence of a quid pro quo arrangement or even direct grants). However, there are references to the International Youth Federation (connected to Laureate chairman Douglas Becker) as receiving USAID funding. Becker, who reportedly did not graduate college, is a controversial figure and the Washington Post wrote that “Becker’s peers in the education industry paint him as a tireless promoter, skilled at pitching Laureate to investors and persuading universities to sell to him.” Becker is reportedly a major donor to the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Laureate was able to “skirt” regulations on reporting “gainful employment” due to its large number of schools and students outside of the country who do not receive federal aid. The Journal noted “[o]nly 31% of students who enroll at another Laureate school, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, graduate. After 10 years, a mere 58% earn more than Americans with a high school diploma.”
Clinton resigned from his post just before his wife declared her candidacy but praised the company for producing high quality education. Yet, MarketWatch reported “five out of its six U.S. campuses are on a list of 544 schools the Department of Education is monitoring over concerns about shaky finances or regulatory compliance.”
Indeed, Laureate has come up in the Clinton email scandal. In her first year as Secretary of State, Clinton is quoted as directly asking that Laureate be included in a high-profile policy dinner — just months before the lucrative contract was given to Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton later references “Laureate Universities, started by Doug Becker who Bill likes a lot.”
Of course, there is a good reason why Clinton would ask for a more inclusive listing since “It’s a for-profit model that should be represented.” Even though most teachers (including the unions supporting Clinton) tend to be opposed to such for-profit companies, there is no denying that this model is on the rise. Later, Clinton called for a crackdown on for-profit companies but was criticized for the former association with Laureate.
There was even a class action — like the Trump University scandal. Travis et al v. Walden University LLC, was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Maryland but dismissed in 2015. It is not clear why it was dismissed. However, the size of the contract to Clinton, the grants from State and the complaints over alleged fraud should warrant a modicum of attention to the controversy. The controversy has many of the familiar complaints over fraudulent online programs that take advantage of hard working people.
As an academic, I find both Trump University and Laureate to be deeply troubling stories. Yet, only one has been pursued by the media to any significant degree. I am not suggesting that Laureate as a whole is fraudulent. It clearly is a large for-profit educational company that has far more to show for its work than Trump University. Indeed, this is a huge global company with tremendous financial assets and profits. Moreover, there are distinctions that can be drawn with a university like Trump that is based entirely on the presumptive nominee and his promises in advertising. However, the money given to the Clintons, the involvement of the State Department, and the claims of fraud make this an obviously significant story in my view. The ridiculous amount of money given to Clinton alone raises legitimate questions. This is a company that was expanding exponentially in foreign countries. The association with Clinton was obviously greatly desired by the company. The question is whether the association with the Clintons resulted in any favorable treatment for the company or its affiliates.
What do you think?
Erdogan not wanted at Muhammad Ali burial, cuts US trip short without attending
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cut short a trip on June 9 to the United States, where he had gone to attend the funeral ceremony of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
According to information from presidential sources, however, Erdoğan and other government representatives, decided to depart for Turkey without participating in the full funeral ceremony for the late boxer in Louisville, Kentucky.
But according to another report, the president and Diyanet head Mehmet Görmez were rejected when they asked to read a piece from the Quran, which led the president to cut his program short.
Meanwhile, a short quarrel also erupted between U.S. secret service officials and Turkish presidential body guards, reportedly because a secret service official wanted to stand in the same place as presidential bodyguards as Erdoğan was getting into his car.
Before arriving in the U.S., funeral organizers had removed Erdoğan from the list of speakers on the grounds that there would not be sufficient time.
Former world heavyweight champion Ali, whose record-setting boxing career, flair for showmanship and political stands made him one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, died on June 3 aged 74.
He will be laid to rest on June 10.
Author Deniz Utlu: ‘Erdogan’s call for a blood test is simply lunatic’
(DW) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s verbal assault on German parliamentarians of Turkish descent has been debated in the German Bundestag. Utlu is convinced that there is a method to Erdogan’s mad rhetorics.
German-Turkish relations have been strained since the beginning of June, when the Bundestag (German Parliament) passed a resolution declaring the extermination of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 by the Osman Empire during World War I to be genocide. The Turkish government responded with severe recriminations against Germany. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused German parliamentarians of Turkish heritage of aiding and abetting the PKK, an outlawed Kurdish labor party. He also expressed doubt about the true ethnicity of Bundestag representatives with Turkish roots and suggested that they take a blood test. Senior German politicians heavily protested in turn. Germans with Turkish roots active on the arts scene have, in contrast, been notably quiet in recent days. One of them however, author Deniz Utlu, is outspoken in this DW interview.
DW: Mr. Utlu, what is your view on the fact that President Erdogan has described German politicians as an extension of the PKK, thus seeking to silence critical voices in Germany?
Deniz Utlu: Unfortunately, this kind of denunciation has a history. There’s nothing new about that strategy, at least not on the national level in Turkey. How many journalists, authors and persons engaged in the cultural sector there have been sent to jail under the pretence that they’d supported Ergenekon, the PKK or some other outlawed entity? If Erdogan is employing this kind of rhetoric against German political figures now, they’re only getting a taste of what so many democratic forces in Turkey have long had to contend with. Most recently, the government has succeeded in making Turkish parliamentarians vulnerable by revoking their immunity.
What’s behind that blood test statement and the implication of ethnic purity?
Lunacy. And an image of humanity that Europe projected to the rest of the world 500 years ago and still hasn’t been eliminated. Behind that statement, there’s also the danger that fascists predisposed to violence will use this insanity as a pretense for further legitimizing their hate – also by invoking the fact that Erdogan has accused some of supporting terrorism.
What the statement doesn’t include is a call to political action as suggested in some media entities. I think we should take a differentiated view. Hysteria isn’t helpful. It’s monstrous and dangerous enough for such images to be seriously employed. We should defuse these images as they have been used in speech but not lend them additional credence by suggesting in newspaper articles that they are actual policy proposals from Ankara.
Is there a danger that these verbal attacks could be transformed into policy? And what kind of policy would it be?
No, I don’t see that happening, at least not in the near future. This is pure, empty rhetoric and bears no relationship to politics in the sense of governing and lawmaking. Neither is this the institutional state of affairs in Turkey. But what we do see is a drastic shrinking of the space in which democracy can maneuver and a strengthening of totalitarian forces.
What can and should politicians, culturally active persons, artists and authors in Germany do about it?
That’s a very important question. I think much needs to be done. Serious mistakes have been made here in the past ten years. For example in 2006/07, when Merkel and Sarkozy blocked negotiations with Turkey on admission to the EU. That came at a time when democratic forces in Turkey should have been reinforced through stronger relations with the EU, or even admission. If that had been done, we’d be at a different point today. That’s only one of many errors of omission by Europe and Germany with respect to Turkey.
What would be the next concrete step?
I have no recipe for success of course, and it’s a complex situation. But a couple of things might help. First, when negotiating with Turkey, we should avoid pouring salt in the wound, such as with the visa issue. It’s deplorable that we still require Turkish citizens to get a visa to visit Germany.
Lots of people with Turkish roots live in Germany, and each one has a story about harassment at the border. They’ll tell you about families and friends who haven’t seen each other in years or about traveling with a sick feeling in their stomach because having to beg for entry is demeaning.
That’s only one of many examples of Turkish people’s frustration with the EU. That frustration makes them receptive to demagoguery and authoritarian rhetoric. To sum it up: we should give political consideration to what Turks want and not play games with policy.
Secondly, every imaginable democratic or potentially democratic institution should be strengthened, and in every field of policy. For the Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, a Turkish cultural institute, to be admitted to the EUNIC just now is precisely the right decision. More Turkish-language authors should be translated into European languages and filmmaking supported. Humanitarian jobs like those of ombudsmen should be reinforced, and not only by financial means.
What is the role of the media in this context?
When reporting, I think it’s important not to reproduce divisive stereotypes and binary oppositional entities like the Occident and the Orient. This is a time to demonstrate how much Turkey belongs to Europe and how drastically oppressive the country’s current situation is. When I talk about belonging to Europe, I mean culturally and historically. We talk a lot about European values but often neglect the parallel reality, the centuries of destruction that had their start in colonialism. Turkey is a part of Europe in this respect as well.
And if values are sometimes renegotiated today – for instance, to protect persecuted persons – then that should be done with the goal of deepening these values rather than revoking them. We all have to join forces here. But instead, we’re digging ditches again of the kind that kept people apart for hundreds of years.
Interview: Klaus Krämer
Born in 1983 in Hanover, Deniz Utlu is a successful young author of Turkish heritage. Having studied economics in Berlin and Paris, he now lives in Berlin as a freelance author. In his first novel, “Die Ungehaltenen” (The Indignent), Utlu describes the existential rage and sadness of two Berliners whose fathers came from Turkey and are dying. The stage version of “Die Ungehaltenen” premiered in May 2015 at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin.
Spread of violence in Turkey shows no sign of abating
Kurdish PPK said they were behind an Istanbul bombing as the violence in Turkey’s largely Kurdish south-east spreads. Turks in the country’s west are now seeing the deadly conflict play out on their doorstep.
A radical offshoot of the banned Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for a bombing in the center of Istanbul on Friday, marking the latest entry in a string of attacks across the country that shows no sign of abating.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who split with the PKK in 2006, and explicitly pursue civilian targets, detonated a car bomb next to a bus carrying Turkish police officers in Istanbul’s Veznecilar district on Tuesday. The attack was followed by another car bombing targeted a police station in Mardin, south-eastern Turkey, the following day.
For almost a year now the predominantly Kurdish provinces of Turkey’s south-east have been home to a large scale Turkish military operation nominally targeting the PKK that has left entire cities in ruins and hundreds killed.
The campaign has been compared to the Turkish army’s operations in the Kurdish regions in the 1980s and 1990s that left more than 44,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. This week’s attack in Istanbul is yet more evidence that this time the violence is spreading west.
Kurdish militants linked to the PKK, who see themselves as resisting an incursion by the Turkish military, have suffered heavy losses in pitched urban battles with Turkish soldiers in the south-east and are increasingly turning to hit-and-run style guerrilla tactics and car bombings. Major Turkish army operations are continuing across the region, and are still ongoing in the city centers of Sirnak and Yuksekova in the country’s deep south-east.
The Turkish army has declared 24-hour military curfews in the centers of Kurdish towns and cities that independent rights groups such as the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Mazlumder claim have resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Speaking at a meeting of the relatives of soldiers killed in the operations on Tuesday, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the military operations were succeeding. “The PKK has experienced its biggest ever blow over the last year … the trenches they dug have become their graves and the bombs they planted to divide the nation have exploded in their own hands.”
President Erdogan claimed 7,600 “terrorists” had been killed or captured in the operations since July 20, 2015, however, death tolls in the conflict are hotly disputed.
An independent casualty count maintained by the International Crisis Group puts the total number of confirmed PKK fatalities at 519 (However, the organization notes that the true figure should be higher due to the difficulty of verifying reports). Crisis Group has also documented 517 police, military personnel and village guard fatalities and at least 271 civilian deaths, along with an additional 191 individuals between 16 and 35 years of age who have been killed at times of clashes or in curfew zones but cannot be positively identified either as civilians or militants.
String of attacks
PKK guerrillas have recently taken credit for a string of attacks on police and army positions across south-eastern Turkey and say they plan to ramp up the attacks. Though they have received little international or domestic attention, attacks in the south-east have been deadlier than more high profile attacks such as Tuesday’s car bombing in Istanbul.
Hostilities spiked after PKK militants shot down a Turkish army helicopter with an anti-aircraft system on May 13. The organization’s guerrillas followed up the attack on May 16 with a raid on an army outpost in Oremar, Hakkari province that the group claimed left more than 30 soldiers dead. The Turkish army reported only two deaths.
On June 4, PKK guerrillas targeted Turkish soldiers in the Semdinli region of Hakkari province in the far south-east, claiming subsequently to have killed 26 soldiers. Then, on June 5, PKK guerrillas attacked a bus carrying Turkish gendarmes on the main road between Trabzon and Gumushane in the country’s north, claiming to have killed six officers.
The same day, in Tunceli province, PKK guerrillas attacked an army outpost killing one soldier, and on June 6 they carried out a further attack in Sirnak’s Uludere district in yet another raid on a Turkish army outpost.
The Turkish army responded on June 8 by carrying out airstrikes on the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, where the PKK’s leadership is based.
‘A low-intensity war’
“The results of this war have been pretty grim for the Kurdish people,” Mehmet Sanri, a veteran Kurdish journalist and analyst from Sirnak, now living in Istanbul, told DW.
“But the Turkish generals have labeled the conflict a ‘low intensity war,’ or at least one of a lower intensity than the previous conflicts, meaning they think they have things more or less under control.”
Sanri points out that some in the region question the logic of the PKK’s strategy of continuing to fight, but that the rules of the game are still fundamentally being set by the Turkish state. “Don’t forget that the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, is still held in prison by Turkey,” he said.
“The presence of Russia in Syria, and the situation in Iraq, is also complicating and deepening the conflict and unfortunately the destruction continues at full speed.”
UK: Islam is incompatible with UK values say 56% of Brits – poll
(RT) More than half of Britons polled believe Islam is incompatible with British values, according to a study carried out on behalf of a Muslim community organization.
The polling firm ComRes asked 2,012 people over the age of 18 for their views. The study was carried out on behalf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and was revealed at the ‘Caliphate in the 21st Century’ conference.
It found that one respondent in three thinks Islam promotes violence in Britain, while 72 percent feel the religion is viewed negatively in the UK.
Some 32 percent believe Islam promotes peace in Britain and 56 percent think the faith is incompatible with the country’s values.
The sect that commissioned the study is itself dedicated to its own version of a caliphate in the UK. Unlike extremist groups such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s version of a caliphate is dedicated to peace.
“The task of the Ahmadiyya Caliphate is to continue pursuing the peaceful objectives laid down by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Community, which is essentially to worship God and serve humanity,” Farooq Aftab, the community’s spokesman, told the Express.
“And so, under the guidance of the Institution of Caliphate, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has continued this work for more than one hundred years,” he added.
Aftab said the community is very concerned about extremism and is fighting to deal with the issue “through a range of initiatives such as education, recreational and sports to break down barriers and give members the true teachings of Islam.”
“We have on a number of occasions said that in Mosques, Imams and leaders should use sermons to condemn ISIS. And make it clear that going to join them is totally wrong and against Islam,” he said.