PanARMENIAN.Net – Many international organizations on human rights alerted about flagrant cases of racism, intolerance and violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, on the policy of hatred against Armenians, RA Foreign Minister said.

“Azerbaijan is not only ignoring the expectations of the international community, but is constantly taking new steps against the values of civilized world. The latest such case is the Azeri government’s release and glorification of the murderer Safarov, who had slaughtered with an axe Armenian officer in his sleep, during a NATO program in Budapest simply because he was Armenian. The Azerbaijani leadership made him a symbol of national pride and an example to follow by youth. The world’s reaction was unanimous in condemning what was done by Baku, which has seriously undermined the Nagorno Karabakh negotiation process and endangered the fragile regional stability,” Edward Nalbandian said at Dublin-hosted OSCE ministerial council meeting.

“Azerbaijan poses a threat to the regional security by constantly menacing to use force against Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia along with daily war-mongering, by rejecting the proposals on the consolidation of the ceasefire, by systematic provocations and ceasefire violations, by ceaseless acts of vandalism towards the Armenian historical and cultural heritage.

Azerbaijani authorities are notorious for violations of fundamental freedoms in their own country, and are now trying to spread this behavior onto others. Their approach is – if a state is not recognized, then the people living there should be deprived of the human rights and fundamental freedoms. According to this logic, the people in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic should not exercise the right to freedom of movement, be cured, get education, use drinking water and even give birth,” Minister Nalbandian said.

PanARMENIAN.Net – Yerevan-based Moscow cinema will host a photo exhbition titled “Different Faces, Shared Hopes. The Human Side of Conflict” on Monday, December 10.

The exhibit, highlighting Nagorno Karabakh conflict is organised in cooperation with the International Alert NGO.

Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea will deliver an opening speech.

In March-April 2011, International Alert commissioned a series of portraits of people throughout the conflict torn region from international award-winning photographer Jonathan Banks. The aim of the project was to capture faces of different people that vividly represent the human side of the conflict, where each individual remains above all a human being with a right to be what they are, wherever they live, with dignity and in peace.

This initiative is financed by the European Union.

December 07, 2012 | 17:27

CEYLANPINAR, Turkey — In plain view of the patrons at an outdoor cafe here in this border town, the convoy of gun trucks waving the flag of the Syrian rebels whizzed through the Syrian village of Ras al-Ain. They had not come to fight their primary enemy, the soldiers of Bashar al-Assad’s government. They had rushed in to battle the ethnic Kurds.

The confrontation spoke not only to the violence that has enveloped Syria, but also to what awaits if the government falls. The fear — already materializing in these hills — is that Syria’s ethnic groups will take up arms against one another in a bloody, post-Assad contest for power.

The Kurdish militias in northern Syria had hoped to stay out of the civil war raging in Syria. They were focused on preparing to secure an autonomous enclave for themselves within Syria should the rebels succeed in toppling the government. But slowly, inexorably, they have been dragged into the fighting and now have one goal in mind, their autonomy, which also means the Balkanization of the state.

“We want to have a Kurdish nation,” said Divly Fadal Ali, 18, who fled the fighting and was recently staying in a local community center here for Kurdish refugees. “We want our own schools, our own hospitals. We want the government to admit our existence. We want recognition of our Kurdish identity.”

PanARMENIAN.Net – Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Minister Delegate for European Affairs of France Bernard Cazeneuve issued a statement on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“On the occasion of the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Dublin, we, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, call upon the parties to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to demonstrate the political will needed to reach a peaceful settlement. As our Presidents stated at Los Cabos on June 18, 2012, the parties should be guided by the Helsinki principles, particularly those relating to the non-use of force or the threat of force, territorial integrity, and equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and the elements outlined in our countries’ statements at L’Aquila in 2009 and Muskoka in 2010. Recalling the statement of our Presidents at Deauville in 2011, we again urge the parties to take decisive steps to reach a peaceful settlement.

“We regret that the expectations of more rapid progress in the peace process, which were raised by the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the President of the Russian Federation at Sochi on January 23, 2012, were not met. Instead, the parties have too often sought one-sided advantage in the negotiation process, rather than seeking to find agreement, based upon mutual understanding. While recognizing the decrease in serious incidents along the Line of Contact and the border in recent months, we remind the parties of the need to continue to respect the ceasefire of 1994, and that the use of military force will not resolve the conflict. We urge the parties to refrain from actions and statements that foster feelings of enmity among their populations and have raised tensions in recent months. The leaders of the sides must prepare their populations for the day when they will live again as neighbors, not enemies, with full respect for each others’ culture, history, and traditions.

“We call upon the parties to demonstrate a greater sense of urgency in the peace process and to work with the Co-Chairs to give full and careful consideration to ideas presented by the Co-Chairs during their trip to the region in November. We welcome the readiness of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to meet jointly with the Co-Chairs early in 2013 to continue these discussions. Our countries continue to stand ready to do whatever we can to assist the parties, but the responsibility for putting an end to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict remains with them,” the statement said.

CNN Türk reported that civil rights activist and students in Istanbul staged a protest in front of the US consulate shouting slogans against the country’s policies in Turkey.

The demonstrators threw eggs at the consulate building and set fire to the US flag.

“Criminal US! Leave Middle East,” the chanted.

Israel needs to “stop feeding on blood and tears” and follow a “responsible” path to a solution with the Palestinians, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a party meeting today.

“Israel needs to act responsibly for the sake and safety of the region,” Erdoğan said. “The region is not what it used to be. Neighboring countries, as well as the world, are now tired of Israel’s lawless acts. Israel needs to stop feeding on blood and tears.”

Erdoğan also called on Israel to stop “deceiving and torturing its own people.”

“Israel is hurting regional peace,” Erdoğan said. “It’s hurting its own people as much as the outside world.”

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız was forced to abandon plans to fly to Arbil and land in Kayseri instead when the Iraqi government canceled permission for him to land in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, daily Hürriyet reported.

The news of the cancelation reached Yıldız and his delegation while they were waiting at Istanbul Atatürk Airport for takeoff. Yıldız then opted to head for Baghdad first before continuing toward Arbil.

A delay in response, however, forced Yıldız to abandon either Arbil or Baghdad as a destination, causing the crew to land in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri instead.