The EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga was interrupted all of a sudden after Azerbaijan refused to sign the agreement, disagreeing with provisions regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.
Italian President Sergio Matarella, who chaired the meeting, declared a break, Tert.am’s source reports.
Azerbaijan move has spurred disappointment among the EU countries attending the summit.
Armenian President Sargsyan, Merkel talk German stance on Genocide, Armenia-EU prospects
President Serzh Sargsyan met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership summit in Riga, Latvia, presidential press service reports.
At the May 21 meeting, the parties focused on Armenian-German relations, expressing satisfaction over enriched cooperation agenda of the two countries through around six dozen cooperation agreements.
President Sargsyan further expressed his gratitude to the German government for its continued support of Armenia.
The Armenian president and the German chancellor touched upon Armenia-EU relations and their development prospects. The President stressed Germany’s role in deepening those relations as a key player in the EU.
The parties also reflected upon the Armenian Genocide centennial and the respective commemorative events which took place in Armenia and numerous countries around the world, including Germany. President Sargsyan thanked German authorities for their position on the condemnation of the Genocide.
At the meeting, the parties exchanged views on issues and challenges present in the South Caucasus region, including the Nagorno Karabakh peace process within the frame of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.
Belgium confirms its position on Armenian Genocide
Armenpress Report the prim minister of Belgium Charles Michel reconfirmed the position of the official Brussels in the Armenian Genocide recognition issue. Mr Michel stated about it in the interview to La Libre. Our position on the issue has always been clear. what happen to the Armenians was a Genocide and no other opinion can exist in this issue,
Armenian Genocide film by Robert Guediguian screened at 2015 Cannes Film Festival
The ripple effects of the Armenian Genocide on subsequent generations are felt in the 2015 drama Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad by Robert Guediguian. The drama Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad by Guediguian was screened in the Special Screenings section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Cannes regular Guediguian, the social-realist chronicler of working-class Marseille, reconnects with his paternal roots in Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad, an impassioned consideration of the Armenian genocide’s lasting impact on the displaced generations that followed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The English-language title comes from the lyrics of a 1980 hit by French pop songstress France Gall. But the source material is an autobiographical novel by Spanish journalist Jose Antonio Gurriaran, who was semi-paralyzed in a bomb blast planned by militants from the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in Madrid in 1981. During his recovery, he researched the Ottoman Empire’s extermination and removal of Armenians from their homeland during World War I, a crime against humanity still officially denied by Turkey. As a result, Gurriaran became an activist for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Bundestag hosts Armenian-German Forum
The Armenian-German Forum opened at the German Bundestag on May 20. The event has brought together political and public figures, scientists and businessmen, who will make their contribution to the development of Armenia-Germany ties, Germany-based Armenian journalist Tigran Petrosyan told Panorama.am.
The forum is chaired by German MP Albert Weiler (Christian Democratic Union).
Armenian MP, chairman of Armenia-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group Artak Davtyan also attended the event on Wednesday.
Armenia’s newly appointed Ambassador to Germany Ashot Smbatyan has contributed to the establishment of the forum.
He expressed hope that the forum will afford new opportunities for the enhancement of Armenia-Germany relations.
Armenia to Participate in Leading American Book Fair
Armenia will take part in the leading book and author event for the North American publishing industry, Book Expo America (BEA), for the first time.
BEA combines the largest selection of English language titles and is the largest gathering of booksellers, librarians, retailers, and book industry professionals in North America. This year BEA has more than 2,000 exhibits, 500 authors, and over 60 conference sessions.
BEA’s conference program will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27, with the show floor opening at 1 p.m. and closing at 5:30 p.m. In addition to Wednesday afternoon, the exhibit floor will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Thursday, May 28, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 29.
BEA 2015 welcomes China as the global market forum Guest of Honor. Global Market Forum is part of the BEA Content & Digital Conference and is open to all BEA. Its delegation will include more than 100 of the most important Chinese publishing houses and groups attendees. China will hold a series of panels at which participants will discuss the Chinese publishing market and explore ways publishers can work with Chinese companies.
The Armenian Pavilion in BEA will showcase the Armenian culture and heritage through books and writings, which form part of a long standing tradition and culture.
Books published recently in Armenia and abroad will be represented in the Armenian pavilion. Publishers and booksellers from Armenia will participate in the pavilion. A great importance will be given to the books on the Armenian Genocide published all over the world.
The opening of the Armenian Pavilion in BEA will be on the 27th of May at 3:00 p.m.
During the opening there will be presentations of books and readings by Matthew Karanian, Scout Tufankjian, Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, Dana Walroth, Nancy Kricorian, Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy and Sona Van.
Ambassador of Armenia to the U.S., Tigran Sargsyan, will attend the book exhibition as well.
The participation in BookExpo America is supported by the State Commission on Coordination of the events for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
source: asbarez
US Lawmakers Violated Laws, Taking Trips to Azerbaijan and Turkey
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
In a lengthy article titled, “10 members of Congress took trip secretly funded by foreign government,” The Washington Post disclosed last week the scandalous details of an all-expenses paid trip to a conference in Azerbaijan by 10 lawmakers and 32 staff members in 2013. Former top aides to Pres. Obama — Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina and David Plough – also attended the conference as guest speakers.
The organizer of the international oil gathering in Baku, SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, funneled $750,000 through two U.S. nonprofit organizations “to conceal the source of the funding” for the trip, according to a confidential Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report obtained by The Washington Post. Another $750,000 was contributed by British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and KBR for airfare, hotel and gifts.
The newspaper also reported that “shortly before the May 28-29, 2013 conference, SOCAR and several large energy companies [including the National Iranian Oil Company] sought exemptions for a $28 billion natural gas pipeline in the Caspian Sea from U.S. economic sanctions being imposed on Iran.” In fact, a month before the conference, SOCAR established the nonprofit Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ) in Houston by transferring $750,000. The second nonprofit involved in the scheme, also based in Houston, was the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE). Both nonprofits, headed by Kemal Oksuz, shared the same Houston address. Congress approved several bills sanctioning Iran, while exempting the SOCAR project. Pres. Obama then signed these bills into law.
The ten members of Congress who went on the Baku junket were: Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Danny Davis (D-IL), Michelle Grisham (D- NM), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Ted Poe (R-TX), and Steve Stockman (R-TX).
Ethics investigators disclosed that these lawmakers, accompanied by spouses and fiancés, received several gifts, including “crystal tea sets, briefcases, silk scarves, turquoise earrings, gold-painted plates and Azerbaijani rugs…. All lawmakers received at least one rug and some got two, one prayer-size and one area rug. Many staff members also received rugs.”
To justify their illegal or improper actions, some of these lawmakers made ridiculous statements to congressional investigators:
— Cong. Davis stated that during the Baku conference he “received one rug which was delivered to his hotel room.” He said he was thinking about donating the rug to a museum or charity!
— Cong. Hinojosa claimed: “I received souvenirs of what I believed to be of minimal value and in compliance with the House Gift rule.”
— Ladan Ahmadi, spokeswoman for Rep. Meeks, stated that the Congressman “understood the rug to be a permissible courtesy gift.”
— A senior staff member of Rep. Lance told The Washington Post that the Congressman “returned the one rug he received after he got back to Washington. The staff member also said Lance received a pair of earrings and reimbursed the nonprofit group that helped organize the conference $100 immediately upon returning to New Jersey.”
— Cong. Grisham told ethics investigators that she did not disclose the rugs because she did not think they were particularly valuable. She also thought they were unattractive: “It’s not a carpet I would have purchased.”
— Cong. Bridenstine was the only lawmaker who disclosed the rugs on his financial report. “He had them appraised: the smaller rug at $2,500 and the larger at $3,500.”
Quoting from the ethics report, The Washington Post revealed that Reps. Clarke, Grisham, Hinojosa, Lance, and their staff members also “took side trips to Turkey, traveling to Istanbul, Ankara or both…. The Bosphorus Atlantic Cultural Association of Friendship and Cooperation, a Turkish nonprofit organization, covered the expenses, the report said. The lawmakers did not disclose the role of that nonprofit.”
The Office of Congressional Ethics concluded that “SOCAR and AFAZ provided gifts in the form of impermissible travel expenses to congressional travelers in violation of House rules, regulations and federal law,” while “members of Congress who traveled to Turkey accepted payment of travel expenses from impermissible sources, resulting in an impermissible gift, in violation of House rules and regulations.” Furthermore, the investigators reported that five nonprofits affiliated with the Azerbaijani government asserted that they sponsored the conference, filing sworn statements with the Ethics Committee in April and May 2013. “The five sponsoring organizations contributed no funding for the congressional travel in spite of false affirmations on the forms they submitted to the Committee on Ethics.” The Washington Post reported that these findings have been referred to the House Ethics Committee for investigation of possible violation of congressional rules and federal laws that bar foreign governments from trying to influence U.S. policy.
It is deeply troubling that members of Congress are willing to sell their souls to corrupt Azerbaijani and Turkish entities for a free rug!
Australia: Armenian genocide panel cancelled as minister withdraws amid ‘denial’ claims
By Philippa Hawker,
A post-screening discussion of the Armenian genocide has been cancelled after NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian, a senior figure in the Armenian-Australian community, withdrew, allegedly in response to the presence of Turkish “genocide deniers” on the panel.
The panel discussions had been planned to accompany screenings at the German Film Festival in Sydney and Melbourne of the film The Cut, from acclaimed German-Turkish director Fatih Akin.
The atrocities depicted have come to be known as the Armenian genocide, but that is a term rejected by many Turks.
According to Dr Arpad Solter, director of both the film festival and the Goethe-Institut, “the minister was concerned about appearing on a platform with genocide deniers”.
A spokesman for the Treasurer refused to confirm that was the case. “It’s fine for the organisers to say that, but we’re not actually commenting on it at all,” the spokesman said.
Dr Solter said that once the minister pulled out, other Armenian representatives did too. “If there’s no dialogue possible, and that’s what we were aiming for, then the decision had to be made to cancel.”
He said the panel was “meant to offer Armenians and Turks in Australia a forum to share and discuss their most painful history and to open new, fresh avenues for exchange, open debate and mutual understanding”.
The need to cancel, Dr Solter said, indicated that the subject is, after 100 years, “still a minefield”.
“It’s too sensitive, and too painful, most of all. I believe at the end of the day, reason and research and enlightenment will prevail, but it will take time.”
The CEO of the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, Ertunc Ozen, who was to be one of the Sydney panellists, said he was disappointed at the cancellation, and the missed opportunity for “open and respectful dialogue with people of a different point of view”.
He said no one was disputing the fact that “hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives and were uprooted and moved throughout this period. There’s never been any denial of that.” However, he added that he “absolutely” disputed the term “genocide”.
Author and historian Robert Manne, one of the Melbourne panellists, said he regretted the cancellation.
“Given that the Armenians have been trying for 100 years to have the astonishing crimes committed against them acknowledged, the fact that a panel discussion about a straightforward film on the genocide is cancelled, that’s a matter of great dismay.”
Turkey DOĞU ERGİL: Camp Armen: an official disgrace “systematic discrimination against non-Muslims”
By DOĞU ERGİL
Over the past few weeks, Turkey has been faced with another shame created by its officialdom. The demolition of Camp Armen in İstanbul’s Tuzla district on May 6 has once again brought to mind how the Armenians of Turkey suffered greatly through the systematic discrimination against non-Muslims.
Built as the orphanage of the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation in 1963, Camp Armen has a powerful symbolic meaning. When Anatolia was left devoid of Armenian schools after 1915, orphaned and impoverished Armenian children who made their way to İstanbul found a home and were educated at the camp that was called the “Youth Home of İstanbul.”
Once home to around 1,500 children, who built most of the facilities they used, Camp Armen was confiscated by the government in the 1980s and left in a state of decay. Now it faces demolition in order to make way for new luxury housing. Armenians, including former residents of the orphanage, along with their Turkish friends, have risen in protest.
Usurpation of minority groups’ property, including the camp in Tuzla, is a continuation of the transfer of non-Muslim property/wealth to Muslims, a policy unchanged from Ottoman times to the republic.
The government demanded a law in 1936 which is currently known as the 1936 Declaration to make the property acquisitions of Christian churches and endowments possible. Using this law, the government confiscated anything acquired after that date, starting in 1970. Property endowed by deceased members of non-Muslim communities to their churches, synagogues and charitable organizations went to the state, later to be sold to third parties. This was a gross violation of human and property rights. Nevertheless, both the administration and the judiciary acted in partnership to perpetuate the injustice.
In 1971, 1974 and finally 1975, the Supreme Court of Appeals issued three judicial decisions. It decreed that all properties acquired by minority religious foundations had no legal validity and were to be returned to the national Treasury. In the suffocating atmosphere of the 1980 coup d’état, the orphanage’s founder and supervisor, clergyman Hrant Güzelyan, was accused of raising militant Armenians and was tortured into confessing his supposed crime. After a series of futile legal battles, the foundation lost the site of the orphanage, which has since been sold several times.
During the partial demolition of the camp earlier this month, a group of Armenians from Turkey, including some of the former students of the Youth Home of İstanbul who grew up in Camp Armen, rushed to the site and are presently keeping guard day and night. In the meantime, many Armenian organizations at home and abroad are appealing to the government to halt further demolition of the camp and return the site to its rightful owner. The present owner seems to be willing to return it to the church provided that he receives the market value. It is the moral and material debt of the government to pay this sum to the present, illegitimate owner.
If this correction is not made in due time, as common sense dictates, not only will the remaining handful Armenians of Turkey be hurt again, but Armenians elsewhere will be convinced and global public opinion will maintain that there is systematic discrimination and ill will toward Armenians in Turkey. At a time when Turkey is being pressured to acknowledge the fate of the Armenians a hundred years ago, a new example to reinforce old accusations is both wrong and unintelligent. A government that claims to be “neo-Ottoman” has a golden chance to mend the wrongdoings of the imperial times it praises as just and benevolent.
How much prove The USA need that Turkey is “ISIS” Kılıçdaroğlu: I watched video of weapons in Syria-bound MİT trucks
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu told journalists on Tuesday that he saw video footage showing arms and ammunition in Syria-bound trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) which were stopped by gendarmes and police last year.
Speaking with journalists from the Hurriyet daily at a breakfast on Tuesday morning, Kılıçdaroğlu said the security of Turkey’s Syrian border will be made as strong as pre-2011 levels once the CHP becomes the government. “Illegal border crossings, migrant smuggling and arms smuggling will not be overlooked,” he declared.
Confirming a recent revelation by Yasin Aktay, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy chairman responsible for foreign affairs, who said on video that MİT trucks were carrying arms to the anti-regime Free Syrian Army (FSA) rather than to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kılıçdaroğlu said the gendarmerie and police filmed the opening of the crates on the trucks inside which can be seen arms and ammunition. “I watched. It is not possible to hide it. It was not humanitarian aid loaded in the trucks.” He added.
The short video, posted on Saturday on the Oda TV website, shows Aktay arguing with a local man who was apparently criticizing the government for supporting ISIL.
In the video, which Oda TV said was recorded in the southeastern province of Siirt, Aktay is heard having a discussion with the man, who says ISIL militants are given treatment at Turkish hospitals in Adana and who accuses the government of supporting ISIL’s offensive on Kobani. During the conversation, the man asks about the trucks, which he says are carrying arms to ISIL.
“They were going to the FSA,” Aktay responds, “and the FSA’s number one enemy is ISIL.”
Top Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, have maintained in the past that the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid to Turkmens in Syria. Aktay is the first person to reveal that the weapons-filled trucks were on their way to the FSA.
In January 2014 Turkish gendarmes and police stopped the Syria-bound trucks in Adana and Hatay after prosecutors received tip-offs that the vehicles were illegally carrying arms to Syria. The weapons were allegedly destined for extremist groups in Syria, including ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates.
The government has called the interception of the trucks, which turned out to be operated by MİT, an act of “treason and espionage.” Four prosecutors who ordered the trucks to be searched and a gendarmerie officer have been arrested in connection with the interception.
Source: Zaman