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Freedom House report names NKR “partly free” country

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January 15, 2013 – 16:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Freedom House NGO published its annual report of 2013, according to which Nagorno Karabakh improved its rating, moving from “not free” country to “partly free”.

The advancement, according to the organization’s report, is mainly stipulated by the competitive NKR presidential elections held in July 2012.

Freedom House assesses the policy of the authorities of the world’s states per two criteria: political rights and civil liberties. Each of these dimensions is assessed on a scale from 1 (maximum) to 7 (minimum). According to both criteria, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic got “5”.

The NKR used to be included in the reports of Freedom House and was generally assessed as “partly free”, NKR MFA Press Service reported.

Profile: Sakine Cansiz Slain PKK member was a rebel with a cause

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Reported By Leela Jacinto  France 24
Sakine Cansiz, one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), led a tough life that included stints on the frontlines and in notorious Turkish jails, making her a legend in PKK ranks.

At a conference on the Kurdish language in the French capital in the early 2000s, Kendal Nezan, president of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, was approached by a gaunt, soft-spoken woman who spoke to him in his native Kurdish.

“She said she was Sakine Cansiz and she asked me if I knew who she was,” recounted Nezan in a phone interview with FRANCE 24. “Of course I knew her. Sakine Cansiz was a prominent resistance personality. She was arrested, she was very heavily tortured, she was very courageous, she was a symbol of resistance.”

One of the founders of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Cansiz — along with two other female activists — was found dead with gunshot wounds inside a Kurdish institute in the heart of Paris on Thursday.

Nezan has little doubt that Cansiz, a close associate of the iconic PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Turkish jail, was “the real target” of the assassinations.

While French police sources have described the murders as an “execution style” killing, some members of the Kurdish institute say the bodies of the three women were found inside a locked room and that the gunman — or gunmen — had used a silencer.

Shortly after the news of her killing broke, social media sites such as Twitter were flooded with tributes and expressions of shock by the Kurdish diaspora across the world.

The PKK is born – and jailed

Born in the mountainous Tunceli province in eastern Turkey, Cansiz’ family belongs to the minority Alevis — a historically persecuted sect that is considered an offshoot of Shia Islam.

Not much is known about Cansiz’ early years until 1978, when she was present at the founding meeting of the PKK in a village in the Diyarbakir province of south-eastern Turkey.

The meeting, called the First Constitutional Congress, was a milestone moment in the Kurdish resistance movement and the 20-odd members present went on to form PKK’s central committee.

In 1979, she was arrested and proceeded to spend the 1980s in Diyarbakir Prison, a notorious jail where more than 30 prisoners died of torture between 1981 and 1989, and hundreds more were injured for life.

“This Turkish prison is no holiday camp,” said Nezan. “It was very tough. She was repeatedly tortured but she was admired — even by the Turkish prisoners — as someone who was very courageous and she was respected for that.”

In a 1998 interview with the Kurdistan Report, Cansiz referred to that period as “a significant phase” that set the “stamp on the liberation struggle”.

Recalling that era, Cansiz noted that, “In the prisons, the enemy had a plan, which was to destroy the party by condemning and destroying the PKK prisoners. Against this plan the prison resistance came into being in a manner which was in the true spirit of the PKK.”

A fighting life under code name ‘Sara’

After her release in 1991, Cansiz is believed to have trained in the PKK camps in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, which was then under Syrian control. After her stint in the Bekaa, Cansiz also fought in northern Iraq. At some point in her fighting years, she acquired the code name “Sara,” according to the Turkish English paper, the Hurriyet Daily.

In the mid-1990s, Cansiz was dispatched to Europe by Murat Karayilan, then the leader of the PKK’s armed wing, according to the British daily, the Guardian. She spent some time in Germany before finally moving to France, where she was granted asylum.

While Cansiz was not a household name in France, there are indications that French authorities and security services were well aware of her stature in Kurdish resistance circles.

In an interview with FRANCE 24 shortly after the news of the murder broke, Armel Taverdin, a lawyer for one of the three women, maintained that the French police had plenty of evidence to work on in the case since, he said, at least two of the three victims had been under surveillance by the French police.

Taverdin, however, declined to disclose which of the victims were being monitored by law enforcement.

Old ties with the French left

Responding to the killings on Thursday, French President François Hollande described the crime as terrible, and said he had met one of the victims, as had many French politicians, because “she was regularly seeking to meet with us.”

Nezan speculates that Cansiz was the victim the French president was referring to.

The presence in France of one of the founders of the PKK — an outlawed militant group considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and Turkey among other countries — has raised eyebrows in some international circles.

But Dorothée Schmid, an expert on Turkey at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, noted that during the 1980s, the French left was very active in supporting the Kurdish cause.

“When François Mitterrand was president, his wife [Danielle Mitterrand] very actively supported the cause, so the Kurdish question gained wide awareness among the French public,” said Schmid. “François Hollande’s reaction has to be understood in that context. It doesn’t mean he endorses the PKK or its stance on violence.”

But even in Europe, Cansiz was never free from scrutiny and occasional detentions.

According to a May 4, 2007 US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Cansiz was arrested in the German city of Hamburg on March 19 on a Turkish arrest warrant distributed via Interpol.

She was released on April 25 and had “already returned to Paris,” the cable noted, after the Hamburg High Court ruled that “the request did not meet the minimum European requirements for extradition”.

“She was arrested several times, it happens to many prominent PKK and former PKK members, as well as Kurdish parliament members,” said Nezan. “That’s their life.”

‘She never married, she never had children’

A leftist Marxist group, the PKK’s ideology combines Kurdish nationalism with communist goals, such as equality and communal ownership of property. In theory, resistance to patriarchy forms one of the important tenets of PKK ideology and the group’s ranks have long included female fighters.

An eloquent women’s rights proponent, Cansiz insisted that women’s participation in the PKK’s armed struggle was not a “token gesture” nor were they “a showpiece”.

While she acknowledged “shortcomings” in female PKK members’ fight to achieve equality, Cansiz insisted that the group was “trying to build an egalitarian society for both men and women”.

When asked if Kurdish women would be “sent back home” after the revolution in a conservative society, Cansiz was adamant that “no man will ever dare to advance the old reactionary demands and attitudes”.

Revolution and resistance permeated every facet of her life, according to Cansiz’s associates, which meant she did not have too much of a private life.

“She never married, she never had children,” said Nezan. “In these revolutionary movements, people don’t get married, they say they are waiting for the victory of the struggle. The resistance becomes their life.”

 

 


 

Another Senior PKK killed in operation in southeastern Turkey by Turkish Govenment

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Another A senior member of  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been killed during an operation in the southeastern province of Mardin, daily Hürriyet reported today.

The militant was reportedly killed in clashes that erupted when anti-terror police launched a raid on a house in the Nusaybin district of Mardin, after gaining information that PKK militants were staying there.

Hand-grenades and long barreled weapons were used during clashes that lasted almost 30 minutes.

A group of protesters gathered around the house during the raid and clashed with police before security teams dispersed them by using gas bombs.

Mardin Mayor Turhan Ayvaz has confirmed that a senior militant was killed.

Three Armenians become new Georgian parliament members

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October 10, 2012 | 00:36

Three Armenians have become deputies in Georgia’s new parliament, Georgian-Armenian community representative Alexander Ohanyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Capital city Tbilisi resident Ruslan Poghosyan, who was in the top forty of the “Georgian Dream” bloc, was elected MP. Also, United National Movement’s (UNM) two representatives, namely, former Javakheti Police Chief Samvel Petrosyan and former parliament member Henzel Mikoyan, were elected MPs, by the majority election system, from Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda cities.

To note, Georgia’s previous parliament likewise had three Armenian MPs: Armenak Bayanduryan, Henzel Mikoyan and Harutyun Hovhannisyan, all of whom represented UNM.

Why the media is Asking Who Killed the three Kurdish woman? Don’t they know?

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Who kill hundreds of thousands of Kurdish man woman and children for last one hundred years? Who wiped out hundreds of Kurdish villagers, whose Jill is the Kurdish Leader setting in, and why do the media act as naive? Why they don’t point the finger on the number one Kurdish killer? why is it so hard for the media to tell the truth?

People hold placards reading : “This brutality will not weaken us” during a demonstration on January 12, 2013 in Paris, two days after Cansiz and two Kurdish activits were found shot dead at Paris Kurdistan Information Bureau.

Thousands of Kurds have taken to the streets of Paris, demanding justice for the killings of three Kurdish women.

The leader of the PKK’s armed wing explains the role of Kurds in the Syrian conflict.

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Murat Karayilan, PKK’s leader Talk to Al Jazeera  13 Oct 2012 13:02

“Turkey does not want us to be part of the changes in the Middle East …. Turkey is afraid of the changes in the region. They are afraid that the Kurds will wake up and also rise like the rest of the people in the Middle East …

There are no PKK fighters inside Syria. This is Turkish propaganda. As far as I know and I follow the Syrian situation very closely, there are PYD  forces in that area but they are not cooperating with the regime or the government forces. PKK is an organisation that wants peace and democracy in the region. PKK has been fighting for peace for 40 years.  PKK supports change and democracy in Syria. But PKK does not accept Turkish interference in Syria. That’s the main problem …

There are many Kurdish political parties inside Syria and they don’t cooperate with either the Syrian government or opposition, they have chosen a third path, in the middle. For example in Aleppo, the Kurds decided to stay outside the fight because they see that the opposition in Syria is backed by Turkey. The opposition has not recognised Kurdish rights. They have not reached an agreement. So the Kurds in Syria have decided to stay neutral. But they also want change …. Generally speaking if the opposition recognise the rights of the Kurds in that area, then the Kurds might join the opposition there …

Now the Kurds in the area are not fighting any battles or getting involved because their goal is not to take over the Damascus regime. The Kurds just want to have their own natural rights. This is the Kurdish reality …. We want a revolution and we are on the side of the revolution. But we believe in a different way of achieving the revolution. We do not support the regime, we are on the side of change and democracy …

The region is heading towards a sectarian war. This is very dangerous. We will not get involved in the Sunni Shia divide. Kurds will stay neutral. We would like to see constructive politics. Turkey is trying to twist our position. Because they want to finish the PKK and they want us to become a target in the current war …

It’s a path for democracy and freedom that started in Tunisia and Egypt. We will take part in this path. The Kurds will not be anybody’s army. We have to stay independent and work with the people. We will be on the side of democracy, if the West brings democracy we will take part in it. But if the West has hidden agendas then we will not take part. This is what we are preparing for …

This is the time to end those kinds of regimes. Sooner or later they will fall. But the use of force alone will only bring more destruction now and later. Change is a must and Assad should not insist on staying in power.”

Murat Karayilan, PKK’s leader

Echoes of Genocide: Who’s hunting Armenians in Istanbul?

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January 12, 2013 – 15:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A computer science teacher working for an Armenian school in İstanbul’s Kadıköy district was killed on Friday, January 11, Today’s Zaman reported.

İlker Şahin (40), a computer science teacher at Aramyan Uncuyan Primary School, was found dead in his home.

Şahin was living alone in the district’s Caferağa neighborhood, and had not shown up at school since the Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on Jan. 7. Worried about him, his friends broke down his door and found him dead. His throat had been slit by a knife.

The İstanbul Police Department’s homicide bureau determined during their inspection at the scene of the incident that there were signs of struggle.

Şahin’s body was taken to the morgue of Göztepe Education and Research Hospital after an examination by experts and a public prosecutor.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Şahin’s neighbors told the police that they do not think Şahin had such serious problems with anybody that would lead to his murder. He was a happy and easygoing man, they said.

Şahin divorced three years ago and has one daughter.

Initial reports also said that the police found bullets in Şahin’s body.

In the most recent two attacks against Armenians, an 87-year-old Armenian woman in the Samatya neighborhood of İstanbul’s Fatih district was wounded by a burglar who broke into her apartment and stole her jewelry along with some other valuable possessions in December. Again in late December, an 84-year-old Armenian woman was murdered in her apartment in Samatya. The act is believed to have been a hate crime because a cross was carved into her chest with a sharp object.

Turkey involved in looting northern factories, Syria claims

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DAMASCUS – Agence France-Presse

Syria on Thursday accused neighbouring Turkey of involvement in looting factories in the industrial city of Aleppo, in letters sent to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council that also urged swift action.

“Some 1,000 factories in the city of Aleppo have been plundered, and their stolen goods transferred to Turkey with the full knowledge and facilitation of the Turkish government,” the foreign ministry said in the letters.

“It is an illegal act of aggression that amounts to piracy. It is an act of aggression against the Syrian people’s livelihood,” the ministry added.

The ministry charged that Turkey, which backs the armed rebellion against the Damascus government, “is supporting terrorism while providing the conditions to help plunder Syria’s riches.

“This requires a reaction by the UN Security Council,” the ministry said.

Turkey’s alleged actions “contribute directly to cross-border crime and piracy, which require an international reaction,” it said.

The ministry also called on Turkey to “return the (looted) property to its owners, and pay compensation to those affected.” On Tuesday the head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Fares Shihabi, wrote the foreign ministry accusing “armed groups” — the term used by the government to describe the rebels — of having stolen machinery, equipment, vehicles, cranes and raw materials from the northern city of Aleppo.

Shihabi said that these groups smuggled the stolen goods into Turkey across Syria’s porous northern border via rebel-controlled crossings.

He also urged the Syrian authorities to press the UN to investigate the “plight of Syrian industrialists.” Aleppo, Syria’s second city and commercial hub, is home to some 30,000 factories that were churning out everything from soap to textile before the uprising launched against the regime in March 2011.

But much of the industry has ground to a halt as the city and surrounding areas have been engulfed in violence since a major rebel onslaught in July last year.

Dink hit organized, says top prosecutor

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ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

January/10/2013

The prosecutor’s office of the Supreme Court of Appeals has asked the top court to overturn the rulings in the Hrant Dink murder case, arguing that the assassination was organized.

“It is obvious that the murder was not an ordinary killing, the actions filed in the report had the goals of causing chaos in society, weakening authority, disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state and putting our country in a disturbing position,” the office’s appeal, made public today, read.

Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist, was assassinated in Istanbul in January 2007 by Ogün Samast, a 17-year old Turkish nationalist, in front of the offices of Agos, the weekly for which he was the editor-in-chief.

After two years of proceedings Samast was convicted on July 25, 2011, of premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm by Istanbul’s Juvenile Court for Serious Crimes and sentenced to 22 years and 10 months. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was convicted of ordering the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Not an organized crime

However, the court ruled that Dink’s murder was not an organized crime despite serious claims that some civil servants were “indirectly” involved.

The appeal by the prosecutor’s office also noted that there was no active investigation in the beginning to determine the network among the conspirators.

The Turkish Presidency’s State Supervisory Council (DDK) recommended in an official report in February 2012 that top police and gendarmerie officials be prosecuted in the Dink murder case due to their alleged negligence before and after the journalist’s killing.

The DDK also touched on the need to reform the secret services in order to have the ability to prevent the murders of key personalities or social unrest like the bloody incidents that took place in Sivas in 1993 or in Kahramanmaraş in 1978. “Hrant Dink’s murder must be evaluated as a whole, starting from when Dink was singled out as a target and threatened,” the 650-page report said.

Claims were directed at Istanbul’s former Gov. Muammer Güler, as well as the Istanbul Police Department’s intelligence director, Ahmet İlhan Güler. Accordingly, the Trabzon chief of police sent a report to the Istanbul Police to warn of an assassination plot against Dink, but Güler allegedly did not take it seriously. Attempts to investigate Güler after the murder have been blocked.

The report’s findings regarding the negligence of the Trabzon Police Department have been omitted from the file put on the web. This section includes the assessment of six important criticisms leveled against the verdict.

Noting that senior civil servants had a direct role in not protecting Dink before the murder even though they had received crucial intelligence regarding the impending danger, the report suggested that these civil servants should also be prosecuted.

Vast program dedicated to Armenian Genocide to be introduced

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15:56, 10 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Advancing the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide various Armenian administrations and organizations will introduce wide range of events. In this respect the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia has a lot of work to do. It’s necessary to introduce to the world that one century ago not only the Armenian people, but the Armenian culture as well fell victims of the genocide organized by the Turks.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Armenia Hasmik Poghosyan stated that the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia will organize a number of exhibitions, which will be introduced in different countries. Hasmik Poghosyan stated: “We must spare no effort to organize everything so that wherever you look, you could see exquisite pieces of the Armenian culture.”

On the order of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan a special state committee has been formed to support the procedure of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and coordination of the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan took over the chairmanship of the aforementioned committee.