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Analysis: Erdoğan no longer almighty

By

Murat Yetkinmurat.yetkin@hdn.com.tr

To cut the story short, the Taksim wave of protests has turned into the first public defeat of the almighty image of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, and by Turkish people themselves.

n_48072_4It was around lunch time June 1 when Erdoğan reiterated his hard-line position regarding the demonstrators protesting his decision to turn the only remaining green spot in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square into a reconstructed historical building with a shopping mall.

He asked the demonstrators to abandon their efforts to try to get into Taksim Square, which was encircled by police squads, with the faint promise of an investigation into the excessive use of tear gas, stressing that there was no way the demonstrators could succeed. The crowds have grown to literally hundreds of thousands from a lonely 50 four days ago, thanks to the brutal methods that the Turkish police used in order to disperse them, particularly the serial use of tear gas and water cannons. The protests have not only spread to the European and Asian sides of Istanbul (Taksim being on the European side), but also to different cities across Turkey: the capital Ankara, İzmir, Eskişehir, and a dozen others.

Then, two unusually smart political moves took place. The first was the cancellation of a major demonstration by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had been planned for June 1 in their Istanbul stronghold Kadıköy on the Asian side against the government policies. The CHP leader, Kemel Kılıçdaroğlu, asked all his supporters to cross the Bosphorus and rally to Taksim in support of protesters there. Many thought that this move might be counterproductive, as Erdoğan had preemptively accused Kılıçdaroğlu of trying to use the protests politically. So, tens and thousands of CHP members started to pour towards Taksim, despite the police barricades reinforced by gas and water squads.

The second move came from President Abdullah Gül, who on his return from Turkmenistan made at least three phone calls, to the Istanbul governor, the interior minister, and Erdoğan himself, asking them to try not to further antagonize the demonstrators. Right after those calls, at around 4 p.m, the police started to withdraw from Taksim. Around five hours after Erdoğan’s address, hundreds and thousands of protesters started to march to Taksim Square in a mood of victory, chanting slogans calling on him to resign.

In return, Kılıçdaroğlu did not show up in Taksim, and no CHP flags and banners were there either. A CHP spokesman said he did not want to come in order to avoid being accused of political opportunism – that was a smart move indeed.

To call this a “Turkish Spring” would be over-dramatizing it. It could be, if there were opposition forces in Turkey that could move in to stop the one man show of a mighty power holder. But it can easily be said that the Taksim brinkmanship marked a turning point in the almighty image of Erdoğan.

BBC: Azerbaijani authoritarian government glorifies the murderer Ramil Safarov and persecutes writer Aylisli

By

Over the last two years dozens of journalists, opposition activists and bloggers have been arrested in Azerbaijan, accused of possessing drugs or weapons or charged with hooliganism, the BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness reports.

“But according to human rights groups, the charges are trumped up – an authoritarian government’s attempt to stamp out any Arab Spring-style uprising, they say. And now, faced with presidential elections in October, the authorities are accused of clamping down even more heavily,” the article reads.

As the author notes participants in anti-government demonstrations in the city centre face heavy fines worth more than the yearly earning of many Azeris. And tough new libel laws are criminalising criticism online.

“In Baku’s Fountain Square, I meet a young man, Araz, who tells me how police violently broke up a peaceful protest he took part in here. Araz says police beat him and then sprayed tear gas into his eyes while he was being held by another officer,” the author says.

As the young man says, “Somebody has to do something at some point. If you want big changes, at least one generation has to sacrifice itself. And I think that we are that generation,” he says.

“President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has ruled for decades, looks set to win October’s elections. But now there are signs that dissatisfaction is spreading beyond the traditionally small opposition circles of young, digitally minded youth activists,” the article reads.

According to the author recent protests have also involved middle-aged mothers, outraged by the unexplained deaths and abuse of their sons conscripted into the Azeri army. “And there are suspicions that the government is trying to counter this growing dissent, and bolster support, by appealing to nationalist sentiment,” McGuinness writes.

“I think the president’s family is using the nationalist card to distract people from the real problems, such as corruption,” says investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova. “They need an external enemy to keep people under control.”

And in Azerbaijan, that enemy is Armenia. “Earlier this year, just as the country was seeing an unusually high number of anti-government protests, a scandal erupted over an Azeri book which portrayed Armenians sympathetically. Fortuitous timing to distract from the unrest, whispered government critics. The novel had actually been published months before,” the article notes.

It also reads that the author of the book, the renowned Azeri writer Akram Aylisli, was stripped of his literary awards and pension by President Aliyev. His books were publicly burned and protesters gathered outside his home chanting death threats – demonstrations which the authorities did not disperse. This once-revered writer suddenly found himself castigated as a national villain.

Azeri soldier Ramil Safarov, on the other hand, was turned into the nation’s hero. He chopped the head off a sleeping Armenian with an axe in 2004 in Hungary, the BBC writes. Last year he returned to Azerbaijan, where he was supposed to serve out the rest of a life sentence. Only he did not. He was given a hero’s welcome, was pardoned by the president and promoted to the rank of major.

“Of course he’s a hero,” one of Ramil Safarov’s neighbours told the BBC correspondent. The other one said Armenians are not human. “I would have done the same.”

“I think the leaders just love this conflict, they embrace it,” the journalist Khadija Ismayilova believes. “The right thing to do right now would be to embrace Armenian citizens in Azerbaijan. But that would end the conflict. And the government doesn’t want that.”

Source: Panorama.am

Vartenis-Mardakert Highway to Shorten Travel to Karabakh

By

YEREVAN—The funds to be collected during the upcoming Armenia Fund Telethon will be allocated toward the construction of the Vartenis (Armenia)-Martakert (Karabakh) highway.

Hayastan-Fund-1-620x300It will take just three hours to drive from Yerevan to Stepenakert, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, through this highway.

According to Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the Fund, the estimated cost of the project is nearly $30 million.

“This amount will be allocated to the construction of the second highway to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Such decision was made based upon some strategic purposes, and development of Armenia’s Martuni region,” Vardanyan told reporters at conclusion of the meeting of the Fund’s Board of Trustees on Thursday.

He said that the Armenian and Artsakh governments have financially supported the project and most of the work has already been carried out. The Fund will just inject money into paving and landscaping the 114-km long highway.

“It is time now to modernize the highways to Karabakh, because Goris-Stepanakert highway is very inconvenient. The new highway will also contribute to the advancement of the tourism sector,” Vardanyan added.

The project will be launched in January 2014 following the fundraising at the European Phonethon, the Thanksgiving Telethon and charity dinners in different countries.

Last year, the traditional telethon in Los Angeles raised over 21.4 million dollars in donations.

The donated funds were invested in constructing community centers in the rural regions of Karabakh, agricultural program development in Tavush region of Armenia, and assistance to the Syrian Armenians.

Hayastan All- Armenian Fund was established in 1992 to implement the national projects and support the development of infrastructures in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The trustees’ board headed by the Armenian president includes respected representatives of Armenian communities worldwide.

Greece Considers Criminalizing Genocide, Holocaust Denial

By

ATHENS—The Greek Prime Minister’s New Democracy Party has introduced a bill in the Parliament, which envisions criminal punishment for demonstration of xenophobia and the denial of Genocide and Holocaust, RIA Novosti reported.

Greek-Parliament-620x300The bill proposed applying criminal punishment for the support for or underestimation of the crimes of genocide recognized by the Parliament of Greece, the Holocaust and the Nazi crimes condemned by the international or Greek court. The bill suggests a punishment of up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 euros.

The same measures will be applied to those who incite violence and hatred on the racist, religious or ethnic basis, as well as those who participate in xenophobic or racist organizations. Legal entities will be fined 10,000 to 100,000 euros and will be deprived of any public support from one to six months.

The bill has been signed by almost all members of the Party and the Government.

Vardaton celebrated in Tbilisi

By

June 2, 2013 – 18:48 AMT

Vardaton (holiday of roses) dedicated to Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova was celebrated in Tbilisi. Famed writer Hovhannes Tumanyan was the first to celebrate 160683the holiday in 1914.

The event was attended by Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili who congratulated the local Armenian community on the holiday.

Ivanishvili described Vardaton as a common holiday for both Georgians and Armenians, deeming Sayat-Nova as a symbol of Gerogian-Armenian friendship.

“Sayat-Nova was a famous Armenian poet who was killed in the monastery by the invading army of Mohammad Khan Qajar. He was a great humanist. Sayat-Nova is equally dear to both Armenian and Georgian people,” Ivanishvili said.

‘Genocide’ cartoon in French school shocks Turkish students

By

Hurriyet.com.tr

Two Turkish students in a French school have reacted after a cartoon depicting a Turk carrying a basket full of skulls with the words “Armenian Genocide” written on its side was shown in class.

Turkish Scalaton CartonThe incident occurred at the College Anatole France high school in the city of Montbéliard in France’s Comte region.

A teacher displayed a cartoon during a geography and history class and asked students: “What do you understand from this cartoon? Why can Turkey not join the EU according to this cartoon?”

The cartoon depicted a mountain with the EU flag erected at its peak. Three stereotypical caricatures of Balkan peoples were drawn climbing the mountain. At the very bottom of the mountain was a “peasant” Turkish man struggling to get up from the ground with a very large basket on his back. The basket was filled with human skulls with the word “Turkey” written on it and the words “Armenian Genocide” above. Behind the Turkish character, a slender man with “France” written over his head was shown adding a skull to the already-full basket. Turkish students Muhammed Ali Erki, 17, and İsmail Erdal, 14, said they were shocked to see the cartoon. Erki reportedly asked his teacher, “We did not commit genocide, yet you accuse us of it. What do you think about Algerians?”

“You are right but this cartoon is not my idea, I need to give this class as part of the curriculum,” the teacher said in reply.

Erdal said he understood from the cartoon that “the French do not want to see Turkey in the EU.”

The students said they had not been able to concentrate on their classes after seeing the cartoon and added that were especially saddened to see North African students making fun of Turkey and Turks.

The families of the students notified the anti-racism COJEP International foundation. COJEP President Ali Gedikoğlu said they would bring the cartoon to the attention of the authorities in France and file a complaint with the French Education Ministry to have the cartoon removed from the curriculum.

French lawmaker: Artsakh will one day be recognized

By

Artsakh will one day garner international recognition, said French lawmaker and chairman of the France Artsakh Friendship Group Francois Rochebloine, who was visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic along with two of his parliamentary colleagues Tuesday, according to Asbarez.com.

g_image-1Rochebloine, who is a member of the France’s center-right party loyal to former President Nicolas Sarkozy said the first step in advancing cooperation was the creation of the France-Artsakh Friedship group, adding that the priority at the moment is to preserve the peace and to ensure that achievements within the peace process are not hindered.

Rochebloine, a member of the French lower house is being accompanied to Artsakh by Senators Henri de Raincourt and Bernard Saugey who held meetings with Karabakh’s President Bako Sahakian and Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan.

Rochebloine observed that non-recognition of Artsakh has not slowed the development and work of state bodies, saying that youth in Artsakh will provide a “bright future” for the country.

On the last day of their visit, the legislators were accompanied by Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulian on a visit to the Stepanakert Memorial where they laid wreaths at the tomb of Artsakh’s first president Arthur Mkrtchyan and French political figure Henri Sabi, who is buried in Artsakh.

After the Memorial the French parliamentarians went to Shoushi, where they visited the Museum of Fine Arts. At a special ceremony there, Ghulyan awarded the French visitors with a special medal dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Artsakh’s Liberation Struggle.

While in Shoushi, the French leaders visited the St. Ghazanchetsots Church and other sites.

Back in Stepanakert, the members of the France-Artsakh Friendship Group met with the representatives of the youth organizations in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and members of the French Club in Stepanakert.

Source: Panorama.am

Russian S300 anti-aircraft missiles ‘delivered to Syria’

By

Syria has already received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defence system, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is reported to have said in a Lebanese TV interview.

3-2Russia vowed to go ahead with sending the weapons soon after an EU decision not to renew an arms embargo on Syria, BBC reports.

“Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets,” Al Manar quoted Mr Assad as saying in an interview due to be broadcast later on Thursday.

“The rest of the shipment will arrive soon.”
The S-300 is a highly capable surface-to-air missile system that, as well as targeting aircraft, also has the capacity to engage ballistic missiles.

The delivery of such missiles raises fears of further tension with Israel as Syria has said it will respond directly if Israel launches any further air attacks on its territory.

Some analysts have characterised the possible use of the missiles as a “game-changer” in the Syrian conflict.
It is also feared that the missiles could endanger efforts to convene a peace conference on Syria in Geneva in June.
Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, said on Wednesday that Syria’s armed forces were back on the offensive.
“Our armed forces have regained the momentum,” he told the Lebanese media.

Armenian News – Tert.am

BBC Reports On Aliyev’s Crackdown of Dissidents

By

BAKU—“I try not to cry so that I can be strong for my son,” mathematics teacher Sakina Gurbanova tells BBC’s Damien McGuinness, struggling to hold back the tears, as she shows me a picture of her son.

A handsome, smiling 27-year-old law graduate, Zaur was pulled off the street by plain-clothed policemen on 1 April. Since then he has been in jail awaiting trial, accused of possessing arms.

But his mother says their home was never searched for weapons and that he is being punished for criticising the government.

According to human rights groups, the charges are trumped up – an authoritarian government’s attempt to stamp out any Arab Spring-style uprising, they say. And now, faced with presidential elections in October, the authorities are accused of clamping down even more heavily.

New regulations mean that participants in anti-government demonstrations in the city centre face heavy fines worth more than the yearly earning of many Azeris. And tough new libel laws are criminalizing criticism online.

Read the entire BBC report by Damien McGuinness.