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.

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.

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

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”!

Azerbaijan’s aggression to Nagorno-Karabakh population is the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian told reporters in Baku, Azerbaijan’s Turan news agency reported.

Raffi Hovannisian is visiting Baku to attend the 7th General Assembly of International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

“I think that the sides should set aside the legacy of the past and treat themselves critically,” noted Hovannisian.

Speaking of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, one should not use such political terms as occupation, according to Hovannisian.

“If we base on this term, then it turns out that most of the Armenian lands are under the occupation of Turkey and Azerbaijan,” the Heritage leader said.

In spite of professing different religions, the Armenians and Iranians have been living peacefully side by side for centuries, Iranian ambassador to Armenia Mohammad Raiesi stated during a conference at Matenadaran under the title “Two nations, two cultures and two religions,” Iran’s news agency ISNA reported.

Referring to Armenian-Iranian relations, the Iranian ambassador said, in part: “The Armenians and Iranians proved during history that the two peoples professing two divine religions, Christianity and Islam, have lived side by side in absolute peace and calm.”

Mohammad Raiesi, speaking of Iranian-Armenians and bilateral cultural relations, said: “Currently Iranian-Armenians are represented in Iranian Majlis by two MPs – those from northern and southern Iranian-Armenian communities (Tehran and Isfahan). Chair of Armenian Language and Literature has been operating in the University of Isfahan for more than 50 years. Besides, there are Armenian schools, publishing houses and other cultural institutions in Iran.”

AYF and UCLA ASA educate Conference attendees about Vice Consul’s opposing principles

LOS ANGELES—On Saturday, November 17, the collective efforts of the UCLA Armenian Students Association (ASA) and Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), with the support of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR) caused Tolga Arslan, Turkish Vice Consul to cancel his appearance at the Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference at UCLA.

The Los Angeles Model UN Conference has been hosted by BruinMUN (Bruin Model United Nations) for the past eight consecutive years and attracts more than 1,000 high school students from across Southern California to gather at UCLA and participant in dialogues regarding current events, international relations, and above all, the United Nations principles.

“The United Nations is an international organization whose mission includes the advancement of friendly international relations, thus emphasizing regional peace and stability, the freedom of thought and expression, and human rights in general,” explained Stepan Keshishian, Executive Director of the AYF, “Many of Turkey’s policies are in direct violation of UN principles. It is therefore highly problematic to invite the Vice Consul of Turkey to serve as the keynote speaker at this conference, and to essentially present himself and his country as a valid representation of UN principles.”

Arslan was invited to be the keynote speaker at the BruinMUN conference, and was supposed to deliver an introductory speech to the conference participants. Just as the conference began, it was announced that Arslan had made a last minute cancellation.

“When the Vice Consul of Turkey, a country notorious for its Human rights violations, is invited to our campus to speak to thousand impressionable high school students on human rights, we cannot stay silent.” said Knarik Gasparyan, Publicity Director for UCLA ASA. “It was not only our right but also our responsibility to protest against his presence and speech as well as to educate the students on what the Consul and his country stand for and represent.”

During the event, as students started filing into Ackerman Grand Ballroom, the UCLA ASA the AYF combined forces, protesting outside and passing out informative flyers about Turkey’s complete disregard for Human Rights and the United Nations Charter.

“It is not only important that the student participants are educated about Turkey’s blatant violations of human rights and the UN Charter, but that the organizers of the event are abreast of these issues as well,” remarks ANCA-WR External Affairs Deputy, Tereza Yerimyan. “The ANCA-WR is very pleased to have seen the youth organizations come together on a college campus to highlight the facts of the situation.”

The Armenian Youth Federation along with the UCLA ASA would like to thank the ANCA for their continuous support of our activities and commend them on their work for the Armenian Cause.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation is the largest and most influential Armenian American youth organization in the United States, working to advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness of Armenian-American youth.

November 22, 2012 | 16:23

YEREVAN.- ArmTech Congress 2012 annual high-tech industry business forum will be held in December in Stanford University, the heart of Silicon Valley, Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan told reporters on Thursday.

The Armenian delegation will be headed by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. The conference will be dedicated to the problems of Armenia’s high-tech industry.

Heads of world famous IBM, Intel, Microsoft, National Instruments, D-Link are expected to attend, Davtyan said, adding that nearly 120 experts were invited.

The Minister is confident the conference will have immediate results: the sides are likely to sign two or there agreements to make investments in Armenia’s high-tech industry. It is also planned to open permanent representation in Silicon Valley.

ArmTech is a nonprofit global network and recurring event officially adopted by Armenia as its global high-tech industry platform.