President Erdogan has pulled the country out of a Council of Europe accord that provided a legal framework to prevent femicide and promote gender equality.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has withdrawn Turkey from an international accord to prevent violence against women, the country’s official gazette said on Saturday. 

The decision comes amid increasing calls in Turkey to combat domestic violence as femicide rates rise. 

“The guarantee of women’s rights are the current regulations in our bylaws, primarily our Constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed,” Family, Labour and Social Policies Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk said on Twitter. 

The decision sparked protests from women’s rights activists. Reporting from a rally in Istanbul, DW’s Julia Hahn said many women responded to the decision with “anger and outrage.” The marches are expected to continue, she added.

What is the accord? 

The 2011 agreement, commonly referred to as the Istanbul Convention, was drafted by the Council of Europe in the Turkish city in 2011. It is a legal framework seeking to protect women and promote gender equality through legislation, education and spreading awareness. 

According to the accord, signatories had to “take the necessary legislative and other measures to adopt and implement state-wide effective, comprehensive and coordinated policies encompassing all relevant measures” to prevent violence against women.

The convention was signed by 45 European countries, plus the EU as an institution.

Women’s rights groups had said Turkish authorities were not applying the legal norms of the Istanbul Convention nor providing the intended assistance and protective measures for women. 

Some conservatives in Turkey say the deal threatens family structures and  promotes homosexuality,citing its principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

But critics of Saturday’s decision said it kept Ankara further from aligning with the European Union’s values, which Turkey remains a candidate to join.

How is the decision met? 

Turkey’s withdrawal from the treaty sparked outrage among women’s rights activists on social media platforms. 

“I’m utterly appalled to learn that tonight Turkish government has officially announced they are withdrawing from Istanbul Convention. This in a country where three women are killed daily and femicide is a huge crisis,” prominent Turkish author Elif Shafak wrote on Twitter. 

The We Will Stop Femicide platform has called for protests in Istanbul against the decision. The same women’s rights group reported 300 femicides in 2020. 

At least 38% of women in Turkey are subject to domestic violence, according to the World Health Organization.

Hundreds of thousands of women had downloaded a smartphone app that Turkey created for them to report domestic violence, according to a Reuters report. 

fb/msh (dpa, Reuters) 

Science is the lifebelt for a state to recover from crises. In Armenia, however, the scientific potential goes down drastically and loses on high volumes. This is the alarm raised by dozens of associations, which have established Gituzh (Power of Science) initiative. They demand the government to increase the budget allocations to the science sector. The petition is published on Change.org website and  collected 7,500 signatures thus far. 

“Science is a nourishing source for other sectors,” Director of Engineering at VMware company, board member at the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) Khachik Nazaryan told an interview with Panorama.am. In his words, the science is often linked to the development of technologies, yet science, per him, is everywhere – in political science, diplomacy, linguistics, Turkish studies, etc. 

“Gaps in these humanitarian disciplines had a more negative impact on the country than the ones on the technological sector. It is now convenient to refer to the technological sector, the security, as those are related to business and income, yet there is no a possibility to assess the losses emanating from the defeat of the diplomatic thought. The Artsakh war is one of the vivid examples of the above-said,” Nazaryan explained. 

He highlights the education-science and primarily science-education links. In the words of the technologist, science is the producer of knowledge and the sector that prepares highly qualified specialists. 

“Everyone forgets who are writing textbooks. Those are the results of scientific work. The best form of higher education is through learning from a researcher and a scientist. That is to say, the science-education link is stronger and more important. We often hear recommendations to start improving the things from kindergartners. Who is tasked to solve that issue and what knowledge and models are needed for that? It is possible only through science. We may think there is much science in the world and no need for us to produce the one, instead taking and applying from others. However, even taking from others, adapting and localizing is possible only when you have specialists with relevant skills,” Nazaryan said. 

People with good understanding about the need of additional funding to the science sector have to explain to authorities the dire situation in the country and urge  them to take steps to prevent irreversible negative consequences, call on bold and revolutionary undertakings. 

“A country that once had some 40 thousand scientists, has only 4 thousand today, and most of them are aged. Young scientists obtain their Ph.D  and disappear. It is evident if we take no action in the next five years, there will be no scientists in Armenia. The issue is urgent and requires solution though increasing the funds directed towards science. When possible, we need also to organize a  brain-drain.”

In Nazaryan’s words, scientists may not be invited to live in Armenia but can be offered teaching online or managing scientific labs remotely. “The matter is urgent and acknowledging its urgency makes it easier to address all other issues,” stressed our interlocutor, noting no difficulty may impede and block the solution. 

Commenting on the recent meeting of the initiative members with the government representative, Nazaryan said with sorrow that the responsible bodies for the sector within the government do not recognize the urgency of the matter and that the respective minister lacks enough will to address the issue. 

“There were a lot of discussions, public promises recently, yet we fo not see long-term commitments. We were promised to see increased financing of the sector in this year’s budget, however the amount is too small and the general approach lacks strategy. We want the law to fix the increase of the funding continually year over year and be linked to the GDP percentage for the country to give a message to the scientific community and the world. That would be important in terms of the government commitments. Although we have heard promises, yet the practical solutions are in no way compatible with the depth and urgency of the problem,” noted Nazaryan.

What?

The government of Azerbaijan has launched a propaganda advertising campaign in England. Among other things, the campaign quotes Aliyev saying that Shushi is the ‘Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan.’ It also bills Azerbaijan as the ‘Center of Multiculturalism.’ Please see the attached photo. 

What Does It Mean?

Azerbaijan continues its cultural genocide by rewriting history, claiming Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, and erasing millennias of Armenian heritage.

What Can You Do?

Write an email to Guy Parker, CEO of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (see the contact information below) and copy all other contacts listed below.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)

Guy Parker

CEO

guyp@asa.org.uk

@guyparke2

enquiries@asa.org.uk

enquiries@cap.org.uk

Matt Wilson

Media and Public Affairs Manager

mattw@asa.org.uk

Toby King

Senior Media Relations Officer

tobyk@asa.org.uk

Freddie Alcock

Media and Public Affairs Officer

freddiea@asa.org.uk

Freestyle wrestler Vazgen Tevanyan (65 kg) defeated three-time world champion and Olympic vice-champion Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan 9:0 to clinch gold at European Boxing Qualification Event in Budapest, Hungary.

Vazgen Tevanyan defeated Bulgaria’s Vladimir Dubov 11:0 in the opening fight, then in the 1/8 final he defeated Nyurgun Skryabin (Belarus) with a score of 7:5.

In the quarterfinals, Tevanyan defeated Olympic champion Vladimir Khinchegashvili (Georgia) 6:4 in a tenacious fight, and in the semifinals he defeated Magomedmurad Gadji (Poland) 4:2.

GLENDALE – On March 17, Consul General of Armenia in Los Angeles Ambassador Armen Baibourtian met with the representatives of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians, headed by Chairman Mark Kosker.

The meeting was held at the Consulate General, during which issues concerning the Armenian community in California were discussed, as well as the situation developed in the aftermath of the Azerbaijani instigated war against Artsakh.The interlocutors touched upon the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh after the war and the avenues of the humanitarian assistance efforts that are provided by the Armenian community in California. Moreover, the interlocutors also discussed the modalities of cooperation between the Consulate General of Armenia and the Organization of Istanbul Armenians.The meeting was attended by Edgar Grigoryan, Counselor of the Consulate General, Edi Sarafoglu, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians, and Talin Sarafoglu, Adviser to the Executive Committee.

ՀՀ ԳԼԽԱՎՈՐ ՀՅՈՒՊԱՏՈՍ, ԴԵՍՊԱՆ ԱՐՄԵՆ ԲԱՅԲՈՒՐՅԴԱՆԸ ՀԱՆԴԻՊԵՑ ԼՈՍ ԱՆՋԵԼԵՍԻ ՊՈԼՍԱՀԱՅ ՄԻՈՒԹՅԱՆ ՂԵԿԱՎԱՐ ՄԱՐՄՆԻ ՆԵՐԿԱՅԱՑՈՒՑԻՉՆԵՐԻ ՀԵՏ
ԳԼԵՆԴԵՅԼ – Մարտի 17-ԻՆ Լոս Անջելեսում ՀՀ գլխավոր հյուպատոս, արտակարգ և լիազոր դեսպան Արմեն Բայբուրդյանը հանդիպեց Լոս Անջելեսի Պոլսահայ միության գործադիր մարմնի ղեկավար կազմի ներկայացուցիչների հետ՝ ատենապետ Մարկ Կոսկերի գլխավորությամբ։ ՀՀ գլխավոր հյուպատոսությում կայացած հանդիպմանը քննարկվեցին Կալիֆորնիայի հայ համայնքին հուզող օրակարգային հարցեր, ինչպես նաև Արցախի դեմ Ադրբեջանի հրահրած պատերազմից հետո ստեղծված իրավիճակը։ Անդրադարձ եղավ նաև պատերազմից հետո Արցախում ստեղծված մարդասիրական ճգնաժամին և կալիֆորնիահայ համայնքի ջանքերով մարդասիրական աջակցության հատկացման ուղղություններին։ Հանդիպման մասնակիցները խոսեցին նաև ՀՀ գլխավոր հյուպատոսության և Պոլսահայ միության միջև գործակցության ուղղությունների մասին։Հանդիպմանը մասնակցեցին ՀՀ գլխավոր հյուպատոսության խորհրդական Էդգար Գրիգորյանը, Լոս Անջելեսի Պոլսահայ միության գործադիր մարմնի փոխատենապետ Էդի Սարաֆօղլուն և գործադիր մարմնի խորհրդական Թալին Սարաֆօղլուն։

Mediaport Telegram channel reports the following: “According to Mediaport, yesterday the National Security Service of Armenia detained Gevorg Kocharyan, who is the nephew of deputy of the My Step faction of the National Assembly Andranik Kocharyan and is charged with fraud.

Earlier, Mediaport had reported that Nikol Pashinyan has instructed the National Security Service and other power structures to gather compromising materials on members of the ruling My Step bloc and their close ones.

Pashinyan is gathering the compromising materials to rule out the possibility of his teammates nominating a candidate other than the Prime Minister.”

The political power, headed by Nikol Pashinyan, is constantly trying to turn the judicial system into a structure for the realization of its own wishes. Artsvik Minasyan, a member of the ARF Bureau, stated this today, March 19, in a conversation with journalists on Baghramyan Avenue, referring to the legislative package of the ruling faction, which proposes that the BDK have the right to adopt legal-normative acts.

“Judges are just beginning to show independence. At the very first sign of independence, the attack by the political authorities becomes obvious. An attempt is being made to legitimize their actions in addition to illegal interference.” Today is one of these cases. With this change, the government gives the right to initiate proceedings against BDK members Դ to hold judges accountable. This is nothing but a violation of the basic principle of a fair trial. Judges who have exercised some independence, pro-government members of the Supreme Judicial Council may launch an organized attack on those judges already on lawful grounds. The government is trying at all costs to limit the work of the judges-lawyers who will try to administer justice, to reveal the truth, thus opening the way for them to exert fundamental pressure on the judges. I do not know what this government thinks. This bill, which passed the first reading, received only eighty votes. This means that as a change in the constitutional law it has passed with a minimum threshold. “And if there are 3-4 deputies who realize how important it is not to take the country to the next test, then at least they will stop this process,” said Minasyan.

According to Artsvik Minasyan, they want to hear the arguments and substantiations of the pro-government deputies.

“Our wish is peaceful. We want to have a meeting with the deputies of the National Assembly, especially with the deputies of the “My Step” faction. Those who leave this part of the Demirchyan entrance are ready to listen to their justifications with great pleasure և to convey our arguments. Those who will come out of those entrances, please help the police to meet us with those deputies. If they avoid, let them officially say that they do not want to meet. “Do not be afraid, the people will not try to use violence against you,” said Artsvik Minasyan.

by Mikayla Easley,

The Armenian diaspora is looking to team up with its Indian-American counterparts against their home countries’ common foe, Pakistan.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has joined forces with a longtime Indian-American community leader as it seeks to draw attention to Pakistan’s alleged military support for Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey in last year’s conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. The charge, first levied by the Armenian National Security Service at the height of the conflict last October, was widely picked up by media in India, which has had a fraught relationship with Pakistan since partition in 1947.

“That’s a common thread I think that runs through our experiences, is that we’re victims of Pakistani aggression,” ANCA’s executive director Aram Hamparian said in an online chat (see video below) this week with Jay Kansara, until recently the director for government relations at the Hindu-American Foundation and a longtime friend of Hamparian’s.

“There’s just a lot of interaction between our communities at the social level, educational level, commercial level, but not yet at the civic or advocacy level,” Hamparian said during his exchange with Kansara. “And I think that’s really a great place for us to grow.”

NCA notably hopes to get support from the 4 million-strong Indian diaspora in its new campaign calling on the Joe Biden administration to sanction Pakistan as a terrorist financing state. The group has an action alert to its members inviting them to sign on to a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging that Pakistan be added to a blacklist of countries deemed to be non-cooperative in the global effort to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism “due to its recent support for Azerbaijan’s war crimes.”

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental group based in Paris dedicated to fighting money laundering and terrorism financing, placed Pakistan on its “grey list” in 2018 over allegations that its financial systems had loopholes that allowed funding for terrorist and militant groups. The designation steered foreign investment away from the country, and Islamabad was given 27 a list of action items by the FATF to address in order to be removed from the list. Pakistan has until June to address the issues.

“We think that this new information about what Pakistan did with Azerbaijan elevates their problem [with the FATF],” Hamparian told Foreign Lobby Report. “It takes it to a new level, it goes beyond just the South Asian issue and makes it more of a global issue.”

Pakistan firmly denies the claims that it aided Azerbaijan militarily, calling them “ irresponsible propaganda” and insisting that it only supported Azerbaijan diplomatically. The Pakistani Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

The Armenian government itself has also courted India’s help on the issue. Soon after the national security service first made it claim, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan conducted an interview with Indian news channel WION (World Is One News) claiming that “armed fighters from Pakistan are participating in the war.” During the conflict the hashtag #IndiaSupportsArmenia was trending on social media.

Kansara, a hawkish supporter of India’s territorial claims over disputed Kashmir, came under fire from some Indian-American groups for his open support for President Donald Trump during the 2020 campaign. But while the Indian diaspora has a diversity of views, he expressed hope that it will be able to find common ground with its Armenian counterpart when it comes to Pakistan.

“These two communities, given that they have been pretty recent victims of this type of aggression, have first-hand knowledge that we can present to lawmakers across the political spectrum here in America,” Kansara said in an interview.

Common issues the two communities can collaborate on, he said, include lobbying against US arms sales to Pakistan and Turkey. He added that the two diasporas can also bond over their shared traumas, including pressing the US to recognize as genocides both the 1915 Armenian massacre by the Ottoman Empire and the 1971 massacre of mostly Hindu Bengalis by Pakistani forces and their allies in newly independent Bangladesh.

Just today, ANCA responded to a tweet from Kansara’s former group, the Hindu American Foundation, announcing a virtual commemoration of the 1971 massacre on March 23. “Honored — as Armenian survivors — to support this solemn remembrance,” ANCA retweeted.

“We feel that there is a budding relationship that is forming between our two communities in the diaspora here in the United States,” Kansara said.

Mikayla Easley

Mikayla Easley is an editorial intern at Foreign Lobby Report. She is a graduate student at the University of Missouri researching U.S. media coverage of Russia. In the past she’s worked at the Columbia Missourian and Vox Magazine as a reporter and editor, covering state government, public health and public safety. She is also a proud University of Michigan alumna.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized U.S. leader Joe Biden’s remarks describing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer,” the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Friday.  

Biden ignited a diplomatic crisis with Moscow on Wednesday when he answered “I do” after being asked in an ABC News interview if he thinks Putin is a “killer,” adding that the Russian leader would “pay a price” for election meddling.

“Mr. Biden’s comment about Putin does not suit a head of state,” Erdogan was quoted as saying after Friday prayers in Istanbul. 

“For me, Mr. Putin has done what is necessary by giving a very, very smart, very classy response,” he added.

On Thursday, Putin mocked Biden’s comments by saying “it takes one to know one” and wishing the 78-year-old “good health.” 

Biden has not minced words for Erdogan, calling him an “autocrat” in a 2019 interview and highlighting Turkey’s deteriorating record on human rights. Turkish-U.S. relations are also hampered by Ankara’s purchase of advanced S-400 air defense systems from Moscow, which Washington says threaten NATO defenses. 

Erdogan and Putin normally share a close relationship but their bond has been strained over conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria and Libya.

Despite their opposing interests, Putin called the Turkish leader “a man of his word who does not wiggle his tail” at his annual press conference in December. 

AFP contributed reporting.

The timing of the arrest has again raised suspicions about a senior officer around whom rumors had long swirled.

Ulkar Natiqqiz

A senior Azerbaijani general who was the subject of widespread rumors of treason has been arrested on 20-year-old murder charges.

The arrest represents the second case of a prominent military leader facing punishment following the country’s victory over Armenia in last year’s 44-day war. Najmaddin Sadikov, the chief of staff of the army, is no longer serving in the military and has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. 

Now, Lieutenant General Rovshan Akbarov, whose most recent post was commander of the Baku Corps, has been arrested on charges related to a murder from 2001 in Kyiv. Akbarov is accused of stabbing to death an Azerbaijani businessman, Elchin Aliyev, during an argument outside a cafe.

On a decision by the Baku Military Court, Akbarov was arrested on March 15 and ordered to be detained for four months. Two days later, the general prosecutor’s office announced that it was reopening criminal proceedings in the case. 

“After the criminal case was re-examined by the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2020, The Office revoked the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings, and the Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted numerous investigative actions and collected enough evidence to investigate the case,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “Grounds for suspicion” were established to charge Akbarov, it said.

Like Sadikov, with whom he was associated, Akbarov was frequently accused of treason by Azerbaijani social media users during last year’s war.

Akbarov began his career in the Soviet armed forces and served in Afghanistan. He was named a “National Hero” in 1994 for his performance in Azerbaijan’s first war with Armenia, and was first appointed commander of the Baku corps in 1998.

He had denied involvement in the murder, saying he only learned about Aliyev’s death from employees of the Azerbaijani embassy in Kyiv when Azerbaijani authorities questioned him in 2002. The same year, the Azerbaijan prosecutor office said it had decided to return the case to Ukraine, that there was insufficient evidence and contradictions between the testimonies that eyewitnesses gave. At about this same time, in Azerbaijan, Akbarov was promoted to lieutenant general.  

In 2010, the Serious Crimes unit of the Prosecutor General’s office said it was suspending the criminal proceedings into Aliyev’s death, explaining that “it was not possible to determine the person (persons) who committed the crime despite the fact that at the time being all possible operational investigative measures were taken.” (sic)

In 2014, following an appeal by Aliyev’s parents to the European Court of Human Rights, the court ruled that the crime had not been investigated properly.

Since Aliyev died, his family has sent dozens of letters to various government agencies, including the Presidential Administration and the Prosecutor General’s Office, demanding that Akbarov be punished. His mother, Samaya Aliyeva, said in a 2016 interview with Meydan TV that she had approached President Ilham Aliyev about the issue, and that she had documentation from Ukraine that supported her contention. 

“I was begging the president …. to not put the killer of my child face to face with me. I cannot live. He (the president) turned to me and said, “Mother, I will help you.” Then I turned to his wife and asked her a question. I said, ‘I have spent a lot of time with your assistant. I appealed but I did not receive any answer. I swear to you wherever you go, take this letter. This letter came to us from Kyiv and has been properly investigated,” Aliyeva said.

Last year’s war brought renewed attention on Akbarov. In December, he was asked by local news outlet Qafqazinfo about reports that he had been removed from the army and that his name never appeared in any news about the war. “At present, I have no connection with the army. I’m busy with something else. Therefore, I will not say anything,” he replied. 

In February, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that Akbarov, along with another general, had been relieved of their duties, without offering further explanation.  

Aliyeva said she is finding a little comfort now that Akbarov has been arrested. 

“I did not lose hope,” she told Meydan after the prosecutor’s announcement. “I’m not like 20 years ago, I’m much older. But still, we did not stop. Thankfully, they helped. True, it will not return my baby, but it is a bit of comfort.” 

Many commentators have suggested that the arrest and charges for the 2001 Kyiv murder were merely a pretext to go after Akbarov.

“The European Court ruled in 2014” on the case, one Azerbaijani lawyer, Agil Layic, wrote on Facebook. “If he was going to be arrested it should have happened then. It is absurd to see this as the motive for his arrest.”

“Twenty years after the murder, the prosecutor’s office woke up to the fact that there were reasonable suspicions that Rovshan Akbarov had committed this crime,” activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev wrote on Facebook. “One of the real reasons for his arrest was treason during the war,” he argued.

Even pro-government media suggested that there was more to the arrest than was being announced officially. 

“Why didn’t the Azerbaijan military political leadership use Akbarov in the war?” asked the news website azar.az following his arrest. “There is only one logical answer to this question: How much of a traitor do you have to be that as soon as the war begins, a veteran of Afghanistan and the First Karabakh War – that is, with professional experience, including in Karabakh – is immediately removed from the military process?”

It added: “Of course, all this does not mean that Akbarov did not commit a crime in 2001. It is a matter of ‘remembering’ the crime.”

There could be several explanations for the removal of Akbarov, along with Sadikov, said Jasur Mammadov, the head of the think tank Caspian Defense Studies. One is related to concerns that they could have passed information on to Russia, which then could have found its way to Armenia, Mammadov said. Another is from a genuine fear that they could sabotage operations during the war. “These men led tens of thousands of servicemen, and they could at any time make a subversive order to withdraw their troops,” he said.

The two generals’ ouster also coincides with a broader push to reform the Azerbaijani military to be more in line with a Turkish model, which means that Soviet-legacy officers are not wanted. “Now they can be an obstacle, in this context, they need to be removed in some way,” Mammadov said.

Ulkar Natiqqizi is a reporter based in Baku.