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DAMASCUS – Agence France-Presse
A file photo shows civilians and security at the scene of a bombing in the Mazzeh 86 area of the Syrian capital Damascus. AFP Photo A suicide bomb attack in a Christian area in the heart of the Syrian capital on Thursday killed at least four people, state television said.
“A terrorist suicide bombing… in Damascus has left four people dead and several others wounded,” the broadcaster said.
The suspects were sent to jail pending trial by an İzmir court after they were interrogated at the İzmir Police Department’s counter-terrorism unit. They are accused of provoking protests, damaging public and private property, membership in a terrorist organization and attacking police officers.
Tens of thousands of people joined nationwide protests following a police crackdown on participants in a peaceful sit-in in İstanbul’s Gezi Park near Taksim Square on May 31. The protesters are dissatisfied with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 10-year rule and his government’s plans to build a replica of the Ottoman Topçu Barracks over the park as part of the Taksim rejuvenation project. Five people, including a policeman, have died and more than 5,000 have been injured in the clashes, according to a Turkish rights group.
Her remarks came soon after the 27-nation-bloc agreed to keep accession talks with Turkey on track but it did so by approving a compromise formula which underlined the EU’s discontent with the way Ankara handled recent anti-government protests.
Merkel told the German parliament on Thursday that the EU’s conditional agreement to stick with Turkey’s application for membership meant the European bloc was “not acting as if nothing had happened.”
EU General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting, bringing together ministers from member states, agreed on Tuesday to open accession talks with Turkey on one of the 35 negotiating chapters but delayed an inter-governmental conference that marks the actual start of the talks by at least four months. The conference will now take place at a date that will be set after the EU Commission releases an annual progress report on Turkey’s membership efforts in mid-October.
“This outcome makes it clear that Turkey is an important partner but that our European values of the freedom to protest, freedom of opinion, the rule of law and religious freedom, are always valid and are not negotiable,” Reuters quoted Merkel as saying.
Similar to Merkel, other EU and the US officials have slammed the Turkish government for its handling of the protests, which drew harsh responses from Turkish officials, upsetting ties between the West and Turkey.
Amid mounting reaction to the Turkish government, Merkel’s conservatives, who oppose Turkish EU membership, strengthened their stance in their election manifesto on Monday, arguing that Turkey has not fulfilled the conditions for EU accession.
During last week’s EU meeting on Turkey’s accession bid, Germany and the Netherlands also opposed the opening of a new chapter, but later had a change of heart.
On Thursday, some EU officials responded to the opening of a new chapter with Turkey in the EU membership process.
Member of the European Parliament Baroness Sarah Ludford welcomed the EU move on Turkey’s accession talks, hoping that momentum will resume. “It would not serve the interests of those protesting for freedom and pluralism in Turkey to cut Turkey off from its European Union destination,” she said in remarks to Today’s Zaman.
“Turkey’s EU membership bid fundamentally depends on the government in Ankara improving its record on democracy and human rights. Like any country seeking EU membership, Turkey must conform to the liberal values that the European Union seeks to uphold. Unfortunately, concerns on this score repeatedly expressed by all the EU institutions have been exacerbated by Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s hostile response in recent weeks to the overwhelmingly peaceful protests.”
She said that EU continues to press Turkey for greater reforms, while adding that this attitude by the European bloc must not push Turkey away or to renege on promises.
Another comment on the EU move came from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which said in a statement that “movement in the accession process is the best way to support Turkish reform.”
Contrary to some observers who expressed their reservations about supporting the opening of accession talks while protests were ongoing in Turkey, the FCO said: “The areas covered by Chapter 22 (Regional Policy) are not related to the current events in Turkey.”
Meanwhile, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday discussed the Gezi Park events during a session titled “Turkey at a Crossroads: What do the Gezi Park Protests Mean for Democracy in the Region?”
US lawmakers as well as Turkish and American experts attended the session to express their opinions about the recent protests and their effect on democracy.
Delivering an opening speech at the meeting, US Representative William R. Keating welcomed the diversity of protestors on Turkish streets expressing discontent about the governance of Prime Minister Erdoğan, criticized the Turkish prime minister for the “seeming sanctioning of brute force by the police against peaceful protesters.”
“The energy of these demonstrations could well become the basis for a re-invigorated, dynamic democracy. That is not a development Mr. Erdoğan should fear but rather one he should welcome,” Keating said.
Claiming that the electoral dominance of the Justice and Development (AK Party) led to the seemingly one-party system in the country, Keating said this situation left many others feeling “frustrated and powerless.” He further noted that Erdoğan’s majoritarian philosophy caused an exacerbation of frustration felt by many.
The US representative also had things to say about the harsh rhetoric used by Turkish officials, claiming that the defiant tone used by the authorities further inflamed the Gezi Park events.
James F. Jeffrey, former US ambassador to Turkey, also expressed his concerns about the government’s reaction to the protests.
“Turkey is increasingly split into two quite different political groupings, and that the government might be contributing to further polarization of the society. This is the situation of greatest concern to those of us who have worked with and follow Turkey closely,” said Jeffrey.
However, he admitted that any government has the right to restore order, and at least some of the demonstrators came from violent, radical backgrounds. The blocking of a major traffic center in one of the world’s biggest cities for weeks is not something that any government will allow to go on indefinitely, Jeffrey added.
For his part, Dr. Hillel Fradkin, Director of the Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World at the Hudson Institute, described the implications of protests for the whole region as “not promising.”
He said that what the countries of the region need is some model of consensual democratic politics with some due accommodation of religious sensibilities. “For a while it seemed and was hoped that Turkey could provide that. But that is hardly the case today,” Fradkin said, adding that excessive use of police force has weakened Erdoğan’s moral authority in the region.
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, Aram I appreciated Iran’s support for the Armenian people in the Karabakh issue and the Armenian Genocide recognition at a meeting with the representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Tehran-based Armenian newspaper Alik reported.
According to the newspaper, Catholicos Aram I received Iranian Supreme Leader’s adviser Gholam Ali Naimabadi on June 25. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi was also present at the meeting.
Naimabadi conveyed the good wishes of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and expressed his appreciation about the relations between Iran and the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia as well as about Iranian Armenians.
Referring to the Armenian community of Iran, Ayatollah Naimabadi mentioned the positive attitude of Imam Khomeini and Ali Khamenei to Armenians.
Catholicos Aram I, for his part, welcoming the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader, spoke of the relations and dialogue between the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and Iran which are based on mutual respect. The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia expressed his appreciation for the special attitude of the Iranian government to the Armenian community.
The two also discussed regional developments, in particular the situation in Syria and Lebanon. Catholicos Aram I appreciated Iran’s support for the Armenian people in the Karabakh issue and the Armenian Genocide recognition.
Turkish riot police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday to disperse some 2,000 protesters in the capital Ankara, making 16 arrests, AFP reported.
Protesters had gathered overnight in the Dikmen district of the capital and attempted to erect barricades to block traffic on a main artery.
Local television pictures showed demonstrators chanting against the release of a police officer who stands accused of fatally wounding a 26-year-old protester during the country’s recent unrest.
Protests initially sparked by a brutal police action against a local conservation battle to save Istanbul’s Gezi Park snowballed into nationwide demonstrations against the Islamic-rooted government, leaving four dead and nearly 8,000 injured.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been widely criticised for its handling of the crisis, with the United States and other Western allies condemning the use of excessive police force against protesters.
On Monday, Erdogan praised the police for their “heroism” in dealing with the protesters
PanARMENIAN.Net – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is very likely to be put in hail, a political analyst said.
“Saakashvili is responsible for a lot,” Mikhail Alexandrov told PanARMENIAN.Net citing the murder of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and multiple cases of political persecution.
“Saakashvili has enough enemies to follow this through, on top of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Russia’s displeasure. What with America’s habit of dumping out-of-work dictators, he has no one else to turn to for protection,” Alexandrov said.
In conclusion, the expert characterized Russia’s sale of military vehicles to Azerbaijan as Moscow’s attempt to keep Baku on the hook, while preventing the latter from further falling under the influence of U.S., Turkey and Israel.
Republican and Democratic members of a key U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee joined with the panel’s Chairman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), in voicing growing Congressional concern for the welfare of Armenians, other Christians, and all religious minority communities in Syria, reported the Armenian National Committee of 
America (ANCA).
“We want to thank Chairman Chris Smith for holding the hearing about religious minorities in Syria, and would also like to share our special appreciation with all his colleagues who joined with him in using this important national platform to raise concerns about the welfare of at-risk and refugee Armenians, other Christians, and all Syrian minorities,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We are particularly grateful for Chairman Smith’s formal request of the Obama Administration to share with Congress the specific steps that our government is taking to ensure that U.S. aid programs provide needed assistance to vulnerable Armenians in Syria, as well as for those who have left Syria and found refuge in Armenia. We very much look forward to sharing the work of our State Department and USAID on this matter of urgent concern to all Armenian Americans.”
The hearing, titled: “Religious Minorities in Syria: Caught in the Middle,” featured testimony from a State Department human rights official, Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, as well as from a number of experts.
Concerns about the Armenian population and the broader plight of religious minorities in Syria were spotlighted throughout the hearing. Chairman Smith, referencing a hearing on the Armenian Genocide Resolution that he had chaired in 1996, asked what specific steps the Obama Administration had taken to assist the Armenian refugees who have fled Syria. Deputy Assistant Secretary Melia noted that U.S. officials have been in touch with Armenian Church and community leaders but would get back to the Subcommittee with a detailed response.
During her testimony, Ms. Shea offered specific examples of the targeting of Christians, including the Armenian population, and noted overall that “Though no religious community has been spared suffering, Syria’s ancient Christian minority has cause to believe that they confront an ‘existential threat,’ according to a finding of the UN Human Right Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, last December. And this group, in contrast to Syria’s Alawites, Shiites and Sunnis, has no defender.”
Dr. Eibner drew a chilling parallel between the Syrian crisis and efforts to bring democratic reform to the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. “One cannot help but look back to the days of the Ottoman Empire, when in 1908 there was a great revolution, we might call it the Ottoman Spring where members of all religious communities, ethnic minorities were dancing in the streets to celebrate freedom and within a decade there is genocide and Anatolia is completely cleared of its religious minorities. It can happen. It can happen today, this year. It can happen next year and the United States has an international obligation to try to prevent genocide…”
PanARMENIAN.Net – CSTO Secretary General ruled out a military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh issue, stressing negotiations as the only way to settle the conflict.
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Past and recent events in South Caucasus suggest it’s very easy to start a war in this region, with the establishment of peace proving to be a hard task,” Nikolai Bordyuzha told a news conference in Yerevan, reminding about armed clashes in a number of post-Soviet countries in the 1990s.
“Some politicians are forgetting about those sad experiences,” CSTO chief said, referring to Azeri President’s bellicose speech at a Baku military parade.
In conclusion, Bordyuzha pointed out the OSCE Minsk Group as the only acceptable mediator in the conflict settlement talks.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become “the new dictator of Turkey,” Hurriyet Daily News reported.
“There are 7 billion people in the world. Making mistakes is natural for people and they correct their mistakes, and when it’s needed they apologize. This is a human virtue. If we make a mistake, we know how to apologize. But he [Erdogan] says, ‘I do not make mistakes.’ He says, ‘if you don’t do what I say, you can’t be right.’ His name is Turkey’s new dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Kilicdaroglu said, addressing his party’s group meeting today at Parliament.
Kilicdaroglu added that the “young protesters of Gezi Park had made a dictator kneel down.” “Now in a panic he is organizing meetings across the country, all he does is yell, but the only one who listens him is himself. Do not pay attention to all the broadcasters’ live streams from his meetings. Nobody listens to what he says. There is one word when it comes to defining Erdoğan: liar,” Kilicdaroglu said.
Friendly and historical relations between Armenia and Iran create good opportunities for development of Iranian-Armenian relations, Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi announced at a meeting with Armenian ambassador to Iran Grigor Arakelyan on Wednesday, Iran’s state-run news agency 
IRNA reported.
Referring to economic relations between Armenia and Iran, the Iranian MP said, in part, “It is necessary to use all existing capabilities in order to contribute to the deepening of bilateral cooperation in trade, industry and other economic fields. Friendly relations with Armenia will boost bilateral cooperation in many fields.”
Grigor Arakelyan, for his part, stressed that Iran’s 11th presidential election was successful, and expressed hope for further expansion of relations between Armenia and Iran.