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Fars: Erdogan’s policy towards Muslim nations of region is false

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The Syria incident showed that the real aim of Turkey in the region is to restore the Ottoman Empire, says an article by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Slamming the dual and false policy of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards Muslim nations of the region, the Iranian news agency says, “After the incident between Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres in Davos, nations fighting for their rights in the region were enthusiastic about such a step taken by Turkish Prime Minister, however, as the time showed, this step was not in the interests of Islam, but was a tactical move aimed at raising his authority in the region.”

“Ankara’s passivity in connection with the deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the Israeli naval attack on the Turkish flotilla revealed secret relationship between Turkey and Israel. Anticipating things, we can notice that in the initial period of Syria destabilization Turkish government with the consent of Israel sent its servicemen for training for sabotage operations to Tel Aviv.

So the real face of Erdogan and his government gets unmasked more and more every day. The Syria incident shows that the real aim of Turkey in the region is to restore the Ottoman Empire,” says the author.

Summing up the criticism of Turkish authorities, the Iranian news agency says, “If Turkey has proclaimed itself the defender and supporter of the fighting nations in the region, then why doesn’t it stop its relationship with Israel, why doesn’t it cancel the security agreements with this country? The scream of Gaza children is a serious ordeal for Erdogan and the Arab world, Erdogan’s allies. The future will show if their statements proclaiming that they are patrons of fighting nations are real.”

Azerbaijani security forces arrest 38 people in Ganja

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The Azerbaijani security forces have arrested 38 people in Ganja, Iranian news website Ghafghaz.ir reported, citing Azerbaijan’s online newspaper Fakt Xeber.

38 people participating in a mourning ceremony as part of Ashura events were surrounded and arrested by Azerbaijani security officers in Ganja, said Ghafghaz.ir.

However, participants were not intimidated either by the security forces or the arrests and continued the ceremony, said the Iranian website.

Ahead of this year’s Day of Ashura (commemoration of martyrdom of Imam Husayn), Azerbaijani security forces take unprecedented measures to ban mourning ceremonies, Iranian news website Arannews.ir reported recently.

Azerbaijani officials have issued an order threatening to expel those students who attend Day of Ashura events, said the Iranian website.

“Azerbaijani authorities began the preparatory works several months ago. Police and security officials searched houses of many religious figures looking for religious literature, and some of them were jailed for cooperation with Iran.”

Armenia-produced mirrors on largest ever built Cherenkov telescope

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By Anahit Sargsyan

YEREVAN.- The largest ever built Cherenkov telescope has 875 hexagonal mirror facets each of them having a stamp with “Armenia” inscription on it.

The largest H.E.S.S. II telescope with an area of 600 square meters started operation in Namibia in September 2012. Together with other four 12-meter telescopes already in operation since 2004, the observatory will continue studying cosmic sources. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) observatory is operated by the collaboration of scientists from 12 different countries, including Yerevan Physics Institute.

Official inauguration of the first H.E.S.S. II telescope was held on September 28, 2012. The mirror facets for a telescope as tall as 20-storey building were produced by Galaktika CJSC (Garni) which is a part of physics and astrophysics department at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

The company has been cooperating with Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics since 2002, Galaktika CJSC Director Ara Mirzoyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. Armenia won the tender and was selected as a producer of mirrors for the world’s largest H.E.S.S II telescope.

Australia advocates for $24.5 million aid to Armenians in Syria

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November 26, 2012 | 13:34

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has announced it is working with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) in securing an aid package for Syrian-Armenians who have fled to the Republic of Armenia.

Australia has become the third-largest international donor of aid to victims with a current assistance package of $24.5 million, armenia.com reported.

The Hon. Walt Secord MLC added his voice in support of the Syrian-Armenian community, and the efforts to deliver to them some of the Australian government’s assistance package.

“I know that members of the local Armenian community are worried about their loved ones in Syria. My thoughts are with them at this time,” he said.

“I support the Australian Government’s commitment through AusAID, pledging $24.5 million to help refugees in the region.”

ANC Australia Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian stated: “The conflict in Syria is grave and we are engaged with the Australian government to ensure an allocation of the $24.5 million is provided to aid agencies in Armenia. Full details will be announced in due course.”

Hydropower plant construction kicks off in Armenia’s Meghri

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November 8, 2012 – 16:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Today, November 8, laying of the foundation stone of Armenian-Iranian Meghri hydropower plant took place Armenia’s Syunik province with President Serzh Sargsyan and head of Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, Iran’s Minister of Energy Majid Namjoo present.

Armenia and Iran signed an agreement on hydropower plant construction on River Arax in 2007, the document being ratified by both parliaments in 2008. On December 23, 2011, presidents of both countries instructed the ministers to launch implementation of strategic projects on construction of oil pipeline, Iranian-Armenian railway, and hydro station on River Arax.

Armenia and Iran have agreed to build the two most powerful hydropower plants in the South Caucasus, with the HPPs to be located in Meghri on the Armenian side and Karachilare – on the Iranian side.

Each of the plans will annually generate 793 mln kWh electricity, with the Meghri station construction estimated at USD 323 mln.

After completion of the construction, Iranian Farat-Sepasat company will assume the operation of the plant for 15 years, with the electricity to be supplied to Iran to cover-up the investments of the Iranian side. After the mentioned period, Armenia will take up the operation of the plant.

Former Turkish President Turgut Özal poisoned with 4 substances: claim

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Initial results of the forensic investigation indicate that four different types of poison have been found on the body of former Turkish President Turgut Özal, daily Zaman reported on Nov. 24.

The poisons have been identified as radioactive chemicals Cadmium, Americium, Polonium and DDT, which had formerly been used as an insect powder.

It has been claimed that Özal’s body was first weakened by radioactive chemicals before he was assassinated with DDT.

As part of the Ankara Prosecution Office’s investigation into Özal’s death, his body was exhumed from his grave earlier this year in order for samples to be collected for the investigation.

Syria Kurds unite against rebels

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Kurdish fighters have agreed to join forces in a standoff with hundreds of Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria, an activist opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday, according to the Voice of Russia.

This decision was taken after a series of clashes between Kurds and Islamists of the opposition Syrian Free Army (SSA) in the Kurdish city of Ras Al Ain which is on the border with Turkey.

The agreement sets the stage for an expanded conflict in the area between Islamist rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Kurdish forces.

The two councils are the main Kurdish organizations active in Syria.

On July 11, the Kurdish National Council, which comprises several Syrian Kurdish parties, met in Iraq with the People’s Council of Western Kurdistan, which is close to the PYD.

At the meeting they decided to form the Supreme Kurdish Council.

Kurds make up about 10% of Syria’s population. For years they accused Damascus of discriminatory policies and the suppression of their national movement. However, they have not participated in the confrontation with the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Azerbaijan is the wrong place to hold a forum on internet freedom

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Ian Brown
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 November 2012 13.00 EST

Freedom of expression has been at the top of the agenda this week in Baku at the internet governance forum (IGF), an annual United Nations “multi-stakeholder” meeting. The IGF has previously been held in less democratic states, such as pre-Arab-spring Egypt, and was set up by the UN world summit on the information society, held in Tunisia (and Geneva). But the Azerbaijan government has been particularly vicious in its attacks on journalists and bloggers.

Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor of the Azerbaijan Daily, was jailed in 2007 for criticising the government – after suffering beatings and the kidnapping of his father. Fatullayev recently won Unesco’s 2012 world press freedom prize. In 2011, the government threatened activist Elnur Majidli with 12 years in jail for “inciting hatred” (for calling for public protests via Facebook).

Human rights activist and blogger Emin Milli, previously attacked and jailed for “hooliganism”, has written a widely publicised letter this week to President Ilham Aliyev, warning that “the internet is not free in Azerbaijan and it is definitely not free from fear”. The visiting European commissioner, Neelie Kroes, gave a powerful speech stating “these repressive restrictions on media freedom, of whatever kind, are unacceptable … Members of the Council of Europe, including Azerbaijan, should follow the standards they have committed to. I want to pass this message to the president of Azerbaijan.”

Supporters of Azerbaijan’s hosting of the Eurovision song contest this year claimed it would shine a spotlight on the regime’s human rights abuses. Unfortunately, this did not seem to happen to any significant extent. Will the presence of government officials, senior internet industry figures, and civil society campaigners in Baku this week do a better job of improving human rights?

The EU’s aid and investment to the country might be a more concrete way for the European commission and member states to put further pressure on Aliyev’s regime. Perhaps the UN should make sure 2012 is the last year that an event with such significance for freedom of expression is held in a country that has such a questionable commitment to this fundamental right.

Mexico is planning to dismantle the statue of dictator Heidar Aliyev. Baku threatens with suspending ties

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17:32, 23 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Azeri Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov has declared that in case of dismantling Heydar Aliyev’s monument in Mexico Azerbaijan will apply to the court.

As reports Armenpress Mexican “Reform” newspaper wrote on this occasion that Mukhtarov had referred to the agreement signed on August 26, 2011 according to which Aliyev’s monument should be installed in Chapultepec Park, which is Mexico’s own Central Park. In the interview with Mexican La Razon newspaper Ambassador threatened “If Mexican Municipality decides to remove the monument Azerbaijan will suspend its diplomatic relations, close the Embassy and stop 4 billion dollar investment” which according to him “will be shameful for Mexicans”.

Ambassador declared that they are not expecting a positive result from the special committee on this issue as the goal of the committee was initially known and that some members of the committee were initially against the installation of Aliyev’s statue. “The decision of Mexican Prime Minister is very important for me because the future of relations between Azerbaijan and Mexico depends on it” Mukhtarov said.

For installing Aliyev’s monument in Mexico Azerbaijani government has spent about 5 million dollars on the renovation of Mexican parks.

Earlier the New York Times has reported that when the mayor inaugurated a pretty little garden fronted by a very large statue at the edge of the central Chapultepec Park last summer, it seemed another step forward in his drive to improve the quality of life in this impossible city. But a quick check on Google might have spared Mayor Marcelo Ebrard from what happened next.

Speaking off the cuff, the mayor praised the statue’s subject — a complete stranger to many Mexico City residents — as “a great political leader, a statesman.” The statue portrays Heydar Aliyev, who ruled Azerbaijan with a stern hand after the breakup of the Soviet Union. A K.G.B. general and Communist Party boss, who died in 2003, Mr. Aliyev made himself the center of a cult of personality, his image gracing villages across the tiny country.

But the statue — a gift, along with the garden, from Azerbaijan — has put the mayor in a bind. The United States State Department repeatedly pointed out Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record under Mr. Aliyev, which included serious abuses and the suppression of democracy. A few weeks after his bronze figure materialized along Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma, newspaper columnists, radio hosts and human rights activists began to press for its removal.

“In Mexico City, on our main avenue, our Champs Élysées, there are statues of Gandhi, Churchill — and Aliyev,” said Denise Dresser, a writer and academic who sits on a citizens’ commission that oversees projects for Chapultepec Park, which is Mexico’s own Central Park. (Gandhi is actually a few hundred paces inside the park, in a more contemplative spot.)

Officials in Mr. Ebrard’s cabinet were tongue-tied. They argued that it was not Mexico’s place to pass judgment on other countries’ leaders. That unleashed a spate of commentary in which writers threw out the names of undesirable strongmen who might one day find a pedestal on Mexico City streets under such reasoning. (Pinochet! Mubarak!)

Mr. Ebrard looked for a way to stem the damage that is tarnishing the end of his term. The mayor, who has been open about his presidential ambitions in 2018, will hand the city over next month to a successor from his own left-wing party, whose landslide win this summer was widely seen as a vote of approval of Mr. Ebrard’s stewardship.

“It’s a mistake, and we should have evaluated that this could be problematic,” Mr. Ebrard said.

Azerbaijan’s Consul in Los Angeles Needs to Learn How to Use a Laptop

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By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier

A funny thing happened to the Consul General of Azerbaijan on his way to make an audio-visual presentation at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council last week.

Consul General Nasimi Aghayev stepped up to the podium, turned on his fancy laptop, and proudly urged the audience to watch scenes of Azerbaijan on a large screen on the wall. To his horror, nothing but a frozen partial image appeared on the overhanging screen. The Consul’s aides and the World Affairs Council’s president rushed to the stage and began pushing all sorts of buttons on the laptop, as the guests waited impatiently. Mr. Aghayev not only was unable to showcase his native land, he could not even present his speech, because the text was locked up in his uncooperative laptop!

In desperation, the Azeri diplomat began speaking off the cuff, after pulling a piece of paper from his pocket on which he had scribbled some notes. This was the inauspicious start of an evening that was intended to show off Azerbaijan’s impressive advances and dazzle the audience with high-tech gadgets.

The Consul General appeared agitated throughout the lecture. Perhaps he was unaccustomed to speaking before such an august gathering or he was nervous because there were “representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in this room,” including myself and a handful of Armenians.

Mr. Aghayev talked at length about Armenia “occupying” a part of his country’s territory, a reference to the liberation of Artsakh (Karabagh). Calling this conflict “Azerbaijan’s top problem,” he expressed his chagrin that “one million Azeris today are refugees.” However, he failed to explain why a government with billions of dollars in oil revenue would allow such a large number of its citizens to live in abject poverty for over 20 years.

Imitating the Turkish regime, the Consul General made a serious gaffe by referring to the Armenian Genocide as a “so-called genocide.” Is it wise for Azeri officials to insult Armenians by denying the Genocide, at a time when they have their hands full with the Artsakh conflict? Why would Azerbaijan’s leaders want to complicate matters by associating themselves with Turkey’s denialism and further antagonize Armenians, making them less likely to sit with them at the peace table!

Mr. Aghayev’s remarks completely ignored the massive violation of the human rights of Azeri citizens, including those of ethnic minorities, as he falsely described Azerbaijan as a land of “religious and ethnic tolerance.” He went on to engage in gross historical revisionism by forgetting the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait and Baku and claiming that Armenians enjoyed their full freedom in Soviet Azerbaijan. He also described Muslim Azerbaijan as “one of the earliest nations to accept Christianity, in 313 AD!”

After several pre-arranged questions from some in the audience on how “tolerant” Azerbaijan is to “Mountain Jews” and the great relationship it enjoys with Israel, the World Affairs Council president cautiously avoided giving me the chance to pose a question. Fortunately, two other Armenians, Aroutin Hartounian, President of Unified Young Armenians and Garo Ghazarian, Chairman of the Armenian Bar Association, were granted the opportunity ask questions. The two Armenians raised the issue of Ramil Safarov, an axe-wielding Azeri soldier who killed a sleeping Armenian officer during a NATO training course in Hungary. After the Hungarian government released Safarov from prison prematurely and extradited him to Azerbaijan, Pres. Aliyev pardoned and glorified the axe-murderer! Foolishly contradicting his President, the Azeri Consul General stated that Azerbaijan “does not condone” Safarov’s crime!

Mr. Aghayev’s appearance before the World Affairs Council raises some troubling questions. Why did the Council take the unusual step of inviting a lowly Consul General to offer “a competing view” to the one presented by Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, at the same venue, on September 24? One wonders what inducement Azerbaijan offered to the World Affairs Council to secure a presentation by a junior diplomat, possibly undermining the reputation of this prestigious organization!

Days later, when Mr. Aghayev’s lecture was posted on the Azeri Consulate’s website, the laptop glitches were carefully eliminated from the heavily edited video. The 48-minute speech and question and answer period had been reduced to 15 minutes!

The incident with the Consul General’s laptop is symptomatic of a much larger problem for Azerbaijan. The country’s leaders have spent billions of dollars to acquire a massive amount of advanced military hardware. But, if they don’t know which button to push, the sophisticated weaponry will be as useless as Mr. Aghayev’s laptop!

Rather than labeling the Armenian Diaspora as Azerbaijan’s “main enemy,” Pres. Aliyev should be more worried about his diplomats who cannot use a laptop! Incompetent officials are more of a liability for Azerbaijan than the Armenian “enemy”!