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At its session today the Armenian government approved the signing of an agreement between Armenia and Serbia on defense cooperation. According to Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia Ara Nazaryan, the purpose of the agreement is to determine the main principles and agenda of cooperation.
The sides will cooperate based on the principles of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit in the defense and security policy, military economic and military legal spheres, and peacekeeping missions.
“Armenian Genocide: Questions, Answers and Proposals for Education”
BUENOS AIRES (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—The Argentinian Ministry of Education presented a new textbook titled, “Armenian Genocide: Questions, Answers and Proposals for Education,” on Tuesday, November 17. The book is a teaching material produced in conjunction with the Armenian National Committee of South America.
The presentation event was attended by Education Minister Alberto Sileoni, Director of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism Pedro Mouratian, and Carolina Karagueuzian, Director of Armenian National Committee of Buenos Aires, along with a number of Ministry officials.
Regarding the difficulty of teaching children about genocide, Alberto Sileoni said that, “It is not true that the products we show our children have to eliminate the complexity. There is a way and an age to present them. If anything, the respect we have for children is that all these stories do not have a happy ending like in the movies. They have it in a human, much deeper way.”
“This Ministry of Education was committed not only with the formation of the young, but also with the way the educational community has accompanied things that had been invisible for many years,” said Pedro Mouratian. “What has occurred in our country in terms of memory, truth and justice has been revolutionary and refreshing,” added.
Carolina Karagueuzian noted that Argentina is the only country that “publishes and disseminates educational material on [the] Armenian Genocide at the federal level”.
“The material intends to address the genocide against the Armenians as one of the most atrocious events in the history of mankind, but also as one of the most important struggles of resistance to oblivion driven by the Armenian people, and accompanied by all those who sympathized with the understanding that impunity for such crimes not only involves the people who fell victim, but represents an injury to all humanity,” said Karagueuzian.
During the presentation, a chapter of “Zamba” was also presented, a child education show by PakaPaka, a TV channel of the Ministry of Education. “The amazing lesson of Zamba about Memory,” tells the journey of Zamba, the protagonist, as he visits the various genocides of the twentieth century. The journey begins with Anne Frank in Amsterdam, and continues to Mount Ararat with the Armenian poet Vahan Tekeyan. Then, Zamba and his friends meet the indigenous leader Rigoberta Menchu in Guatemala, and then Immacule Ilibagiza, a young Tutsi during the genocide in Rwanda. The chapter was aired several times this week on Argentina’s Public television network.
According to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index report, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace in London, Armenia is among the safest countries in terms of potential terrorist threats.
It comes 116th in the list of 162 states, where the first place belongs to the most dangerous country in terms of terrorism.
One of the sources of possible threat to Armenia is the participation of 70 Armenian fighters in the struggle with Syrian Kurds against ISIS, the report says.
Neighbors of Armenia – Azerbaijan and Georgia – came 93rd and 71st in the list respectively. Russia is in the 23rd place.
According to the report, the highest terrorist activity is concentrated in five countries — Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria. These countries accounted for overall 78 per cent of the lives lost in 2014 as a result of terror attacks. India, Somali, Libya and Thailand also appeared in the top ten.
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump says the United States would have “absolutely no choice” but to close down some mosques where “some bad things are happening,” in the wake of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
“Nobody wants to shut down religion institutions or anything, but you understand it.” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday night. “A lot of people understand it. We’re going to have no choice.”
“Some really bad things are happening and they’re happening fast,” added the Republican frontrunner, known for his often controversial remarks.
On Monday, Trump said he would “strongly consider” closing mosques as part of a response to the Friday night attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 and injured more than 350 more.
Daesh (ISIL) terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, have claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks in France. They now control parts of Syria and Iraq.
However, some independent American analysts like former White House official Paul Craig Roberts say the United States and NATO actually orchestrated the Paris attacks as a “false flag” to enter the Syrian war in order to counter Russia, which has been conducting air strikes in Syria against ISIL terrorists since September 30.
Russian fighter jets have also attacked the CIA-trained militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to US officials.
“This was a false flag attack,” Roberts, a former assistant secretary of the US treasury, told Press TV on Monday. “It does not serve ISIL, but it does serve the Western political establishment.”
In his interview with Fox News, Trump again vowed to “blast the hell out of ISIS” in the wake of the Paris attacks.
“I’d get everybody together—this includes Russia—and I’ve been right about that too.”Trump said. “Now, all of a sudden [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s going wild with bombing ISIS, and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Who needs to take the credit? Let him have some credit.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he was “betrayed” by the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, vowing to press ahead with the fight against what he refers to as the “parallel structure.”
“I should say this very clearly: They know me very well personally, but I know them too. They have betrayed Tayyip Erdoğan. My struggle is to take whatever belongs to my people from them,” Erdoğan said in an interview broadcast on A Haber TV station late on Nov. 18.
His statement came on the same day as a court appointed a panel of trustees to Kaynak Holding, thought to be sympathetic to Gülen. The move came almost three weeks after Koza Holding and its media groups were also seized by judicial order. Both Koza Holding and Kaynak Holding, which have diverse interests across sectors, are accused of financing the Gülen movement, which was this year outlawed as a “terrorist organization” by the government.
“I have already said that I will continue this struggle even though I will be on my own. You also see that we conduct this struggle within the limits of the law,” Erdoğan added.
Erdoğan’s previous governments and the Gülen movement once enjoyed a close alliance, starting from the early years of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). However, this relationship was broken after the police and the judiciary launched a huge corruption investigation against senior AKP officials, including some of Erdoğan’s family members.
The AKP said this operation was a plot conspired by Gülenist police officers and prosecutors who established a “parallel structure” within the state in order to overthrow the government.
Gülen, a self-exiled religious leader residing in Pennsylvania, is now accused of being the leader of a terrorist organization and of controlling all of its activities.
Asked whether he had requested the deportation of Gülen from the U.S. in his recent meeting with President Barack Obama, Erdoğan said there were “discussions.”
“Beyond all of these meetings, we as the state and the government have signed very serious contract with a law firm. I believe that this will give results very soon. It’s not right for me to disclose details, but we are taking some very special steps that will make them live a very different future,” he added.
“This is not an ordinary thing. They should be cleared out from the state. Legal regulations are necessary for this. I am of the opinion that we’ll get more results rapidly if the government can make these legal regulations hand in hand with the opposition,” Erdoğan also stated.
‘Mafia organization’
The president also referred to an investigation carried out in the U.S. into malpractice at charter schools run by Gülen sympathizers in a number of states.
“They have these famous charter schools, around 300 of them. They are receiving a serious amount of money from them, but they are very quiet about them. This money amounts to around $150 million a year. That’s not a small amount of money, but when you question them about their financial sources, they use a subtle wit [to answer],” Erdoğan said, describing the Gülen movement as “little different from a mafia organization.”
“Although this group is trying to promote itself with its activities in education and emphasizing tolerance, it is little different from a mafia organization … The people will never forgive those who cooperate with such a terrorist organization,” he added.
November/19/2015
By EMRE USLU
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) terrorist attack in France continues to have its repercussions.
But in Turkey, the subject has been dropped from the agenda. The pro-government media outlets have hastily taken it off the agenda. However, the terror attack in France has aspects that closely concern Turkey. For a long time, the West had accused Turkey of turning a blind eye to jihadists and allowing them to freely travel between Turkey and Syria, and perceived this as a security threat.
In this regard, the terrorist attacks by all jihadists including ISIL are related to Turkey. One question that will cast light on the investigations is: “Did the jihadists who conducted terrorist attacks around the world use Turkey as a transition country?”
The terrorist attack in France is related to Turkey in another important respect. A source of mine from the security forces claims there is a link between the terrorist attack in France and the swap deal Turkey had made with ISIL.
“Some of the assailants in France are from the 200 ISIL militants that ISIL swapped in return for 49 Turkish hostages,” my source says. My source has other hair-raising claims, but the current claim is scandalous enough. I note it for the record.
Let me elaborate on this matter for the uninitiated. As you may remember, Turkey had negotiated with ISIL and given some 200 ISIL militants to ISIL in exchange for 49 Turkish people who had been taken hostage by ISIL in Turkey’s Mosul consulate.
At that time the Taraf newspaper reported the event as follows: “In return for 49 consulate staff members, 180 ISIL militants were delivered to the organization. The militants, including some senior leaders, were taken to Van before they were taken to Syria in buses.”
After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “Yes, a swap deal was made, so what?” the details of the swap deal made with ISIL for the release of 49 consulate staff members became clear. The 180 ISIL militants were delivered to the organization in return for the consulate staff. Some of these people were the organization members who had been detained. The organization members delivered to ISIL included some senior organization leaders.
The background to the release of 49 hostages is as follows: The process started with the US air strikes against ISIL. The US asked Turkey not to release the ISIL militants who had received medical treatment in Turkey. The US also cautioned Turkey about releasing ISIL members who had been apprehended in Turkey. ISIL, on the other hand, continued to pressurize the government to release the organization members who had been apprehended and received medical treatment in Turkey.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) developed the “swap” formula in response to pressure from the US and ISIL. That is, in return for the hostages, the release of the ISIL militants in Turkey was proposed. This is the formula behind the swap deal. This diplomatic formula reportedly helped Turkey get rid of the ISIL militants in the country and simultaneously ensure the release of the hostages. Turkey’s security units didn’t launch any operation during the release of the hostages.
The leading figures of the tribes that supported the US played a role in the swap deal. After the deal was made, ISIL brought the hostages to the Turkish-Syria border and informed the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). And the hostages were delivered to the security units and taken to Turkey.
Western media outlets covered the matter and maintained that ISIL members delivered to ISIL were citizens of Western countries. According to those reports, the militants delivered to ISIL included terrorists of Belgian, French, US and UK origins.
My source claims that the perpetrators of the attack in France included the terrorists Turkey delivered to ISIL.
When that swap came onto the agenda, I wrote: “Erdoğan confirmed the swap by saying, ‘Whatever we gave does not matter as we saved our citizens in the end.’ With the swap, they saved the hostages, but they borrowed trouble for Turkey. This matter will give Turkey a large headache.”
If what my source says is true, i.e., if the ISIL militants Turkey swapped for hostages are linked to the France attack, this is a scandal…
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian militant suspected of having orchestrated the Paris terrorist attacks was killed in a police raid in the northern Paris suburb of St.-Denis early Wednesday, the French authorities announced on Thursday.
The death of the plot’s alleged ringleader ended one chapter of the intense criminal investigation that began on Friday night, when three teams of terrorists, in a series of closely coordinated raids, killed 129 people.
But many questions remained unanswered: how Mr. Abbaoud planned and organized the attacks; whether the Islamic State is planning additional attacks outside of its stronghold in Syria and Iraq; and the identities of several of the attackers.
Also on Thursday, the Belgian police conducted their own sweep in Brussels on Thursday.
Seven raids are being conducted in Brussels in relation to Bilal Hadfi, one of the dead Paris attackers, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor said, adding that the houses of Mr. Hadfi’s friends and relatives were being searched. One person has been detained for questioning.
Syrian journalist Erhaim Zaina, 30, who worked for the city of Aleppo, ravaged by more than four years of war, is the winner of the 2015 Reporters Without Borders (RSF), presented Tuesday evening in Strasbourg.
The young woman, whose country is considered the most dangerous in the world for journalists, was chosen for its “ethics, determination and courage” and ability to “emphasize the human dimension behind the scenes of war “, said the organizers.
His award was presented to her uncle, at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the “World Forum of Democracy”, attended by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland.
For two years, Zaina Erhaim has trained a hundred people, a third of women in television journalism and print media, contributing to the emergence of new newspapers and magazines in Syria.
The organization of press freedom also awarded the prize of “Media of the Year” in Turkish daily Cumhuriyet of opposition, which “pays the price for his courageous and independent journalism” in a country where ” a growing crackdown on critical voices. “
In May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had filed a complaint against Cumhuriyet, which published photos of interception, in January 2014, a convoy loaded with weapons to Syria belonging to the intelligence services (MIT). Its editor, Can Dündar, came Tuesday in Strasbourg to get her award, faces a heavy prison sentence.
RSF also notes that the opposition daily -which stood out for its coverage of the Kurdish question and the Armenian Genocide undergoes “cascade process”, the “repeated blockages of its Internet site” and “slander campaigns “.
It was also the only daily in the Muslim world to be reproduced in its print edition number two reduced versions published by Charlie Hebdo after the attack in January in Paris – with a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad – which earned him prosecuted court.
RSF awarded its prize for “citizen journalist of the year” in a group of Ethiopian bloggers Zone9 who “regularly denounce the draconian regime” in power in Addis Ababa.
Six of these bloggers have recently increased from 15 to 18 months in prison on charges of planning terrorist attacks. Victims of “constant harassment from the authorities,” then arrested in April 2014, they were released in July and October.
None could be present in Strasbourg on Tuesday to seek its price.
See more at: http://lematin.ma/express/2015/une-jeune-syrienne-designee—journaliste-de-l-annee-/235722.html#sthash.dWOV9iXJ.dpuf
The first female suicide bomber ever to operate in Europe shouted ‘Help me, help me!’ to police before blowing herself up today, according to the Daily Mail.
The blonde haired woman, named as Hasna Aitboulahcen, is said to be the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged ISIS mastermind of the bloodbath in Paris on Friday in which 132 died.
http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2015/11/18/9185181436809294319/640x360_9185181436809294319.mp4
As police special forces accompanied by soldiers moved towards a flat in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of the French capital where Abaaoud was said to be holed up, she appeared at a window shortly after 6am.
It is believed that Abaaoud was also killed in the raid this morning, however French authorities have yet to confirm the death.
Kalashnikovs were being used against the security forces, but after an an hour and a half of furious exchanges, there was a lull in the fighting.
It was then that the woman looked down from a third floor apartment window and shouted ‘Help me! Help me!’
An eyewitness identified only as Christian, 20, told Le Parisien: “During a 10 or 15 minute lull in the shooting I heard a woman shouting: “Help, help, help me!”
“The police asked her to identify herself, and to show herself. She held her hands up but she didn’t reveal her face.
“She withdrew her hands out of sight, and then put them up again several times.
“They police shouted at her: ‘Keep your hands in the air!’ They told her: “We’re going to shoot.”
The shooting resumed. The police were firing from the roof of the building opposite. Suddenly there was an enormous explosion. It was probably the woman who blew herself up.
“The windows shattered. Lots of objects from the apartment were thrown into the street, pieces of human flesh as well. They are still there. You can see a bit of the head, of skin, of ribs.”
The female suicide bomber cried out ‘God is great’ in Arabic before detonating her explosives and killing herself for ISIS, MailOnline has learned.
“The woman terrorist cried out before she set off her bomb,” eye witness Yasmine told MailOnline.
The dream for numerous years of Special School No.1 in Vanadzor, Armenia, has come true.
The school, which is designed for children with special needs and is the only one of its kind in the region, now will have its own bus to take its students to school.
Chairman of Grand Candy Company, Karen Vardanyan, donated to the school an ISUZU bus, which costs AMD 33 million (approx. US$68,302) and seats 27 passengers.
At present, the school has about eighty students.
This private means of transportation will also promote an increase in the students’ number, since children from the neighboring villages likewise will start attending this school.