Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity bears no relation to Nagorno-Karabakh – Defense Minister

August 17, 2013 By administrator

August 17, 2013 | 12:20

YEREVAN. – Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said Armenia’s approaches towards settlement of Karabakh conflict are in accordance with the international norms: right of nations to self-determination, non-use of force and territorial integrity

Minister Ohanyan spoke about Armenia’s stance during the meeting with the participants of Baze 2013 annual All-Armenian youth camp.

He noted that territorial integrity of Azerbaijan bears no relation to Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is much larger than the current territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

As regards Azerbaijan’s military buildup, Armenian side has enough forces and resources for defense and counterattack.

Facebook censorship against Turkey’s Kurds continues

August 16, 2013 By administrator

ISTANBUL,— According to Turkish paper Radikal, the social network Facebook has closed the accounts of Kurdish parties and personalities, as well as of opponents, “as part of an agreement with the Turkish authorities”.

Among the pages which have been closed during the month of July are the account of the main Kurdish party,www.ekurd.net the BDP, as well as those of its members: deputies Hasip Kaplan, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Ayla Akat Ata, DTK co-chair Ahmet Türk, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and deputy Leyla Zana the Sakharov Prize.

The Turkish Minister of Communication Binali Yildirim had said in late June that “Facebook has a long harmonious collaboration” with the authorities. An approach that has not been shared by Twitter. According to the Minister, Twitter refused to cooperate.

The social network Facebook has denied sharing information about its users, in the strife of Gezi Park protest, from late May 2013. But the facts are there.

According to the reporter of the daily Radikal, Ezgi Basaran, control authorities on social networks is becoming more visible, especially in recent days. For the journalist, Twitter still face strong pressure from the Turkish authorities.

The British newspaper The Guardian has recently published papers on the spy programs put in place by the American services. According to these documents, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI can easily access the systems of nine of the largest Internet companies in the world: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Skype, YouTube, AOL, PalTalk …It was former CIA analyst Edward Snowden who disclosed information about this global espionage.

Egypt Recalls Its Ambassador to Turkey

August 16, 2013 By administrator

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says it has recalled its ambassador to Turkey for talks, the latest sign of worsening relations between the two countries following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown on his supporters.

The short statement Thursday by the ministry did not elaborate.

The move comes shortly after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West of ignoring bloodshed in Egypt and called on the U.N. Security Council to meet urgently to discuss the situation, where around 640 people have died in violence over the past two days.

Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo has been summoned for consultations by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry recently over Turkish criticisms of Morsi’s July 3 ouster.

Relations were warm under Morsi, like Erdogan an Islamist.

Huge deadly car bomb in Beirut, Lebanon (Video)

August 15, 2013 By administrator

A car bomb explosion has killed at least 20 people in Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry.
The explosion struck near a complex used by Hezbollah, the Shia political party and armed group that in recent months has become increasingly and more publicly involved in the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

At least 200 people were injured in the blast, which occurred between the Bir el-Abed and Roueiss neighbourhoods on Thursday.

The blast put buildings and cars on fire and sent a column of black smoke over the densely populated area.

Hezbollah’s television channel showed firemen helping residents trapped in their homes escape the flames, as well as a crowd of people in panic and rage, gathered near the site of the explosion.

“Terrorism has struck the southern suburbs again,” said Al-Manar’s television presenter, adding that Hezbollah was “paying the price for its position”.

Hundreds of Morsi supporters torch govt building in Giza after brutal crackdown

August 15, 2013 By administrator

Hundreds of Morsi supporters have stormed a government building in Giza and set it alight, reports state TV. This comes after Wednesday’s brutal crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood loyalists in which over 630 people died.

The Giza incident was confirmed by interior ministry sources, who told Al Jazeera that protesters had been flinging Molotov cocktails at the building and firing live ammunition. However, government employees managed to evacuate the main colonial-style vialla building before it fell under siege. Earlier, it was reported that MB supporters set on fire the governorate headquarters in Cairo. This is yet to be confirmed.

In Giza, a nearby four-story administrative buildings was torched alongside the governorate building. People could be seen frantically trying to escape from the top levels of a block in the area with the aid of firefighters. The affected Giza government offices are situated on Pyramids Street, on the west bank of the River Nile.

Brotherhood write “Islamic Egypt” on the wall of the Armenian Church Abbasia (Video) السادة المحترمون: الإخوان يكتبون “مصر إسلامية” على سور كنيسة الأرمن بالعباسية

August 15, 2013 By administrator

الوضع بيتطور لأبعد من ذلك فوصل إلى القاهرة وقيام أعضاء جماعة الإخوان المسلمين بتشويه سور كنيسة الأرمن بالعباسية وكتبوا عليها مرسي والشعية ومصر دولة إسلامية

Send in By Hagop Tatyosian

International Organizations Urge Azerbaijan To Stop Harassing Journalist

August 15, 2013 By administrator

RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service correspondent Khadija Ismayilova accepts the 2012 “Courage in Journalism” award from the International Women’s Media Foundation in New York in October 2012.

By RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service

BAKU — Eleven leading international human rights organizations have urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to stop a blackmail campaign against Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

In the letter sent to the Azerbaijani leader on August 12, the rights-defending organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and others, write that a smear campaign against Ismayilova that started last year continues as investigators are hesitant to probe the situation.

In March 2012 an explicit video showing Ismayilova with her boyfriend appeared on the Internet.

Last month, a new video containing Ismayilova’s intimate and illegally obtained images was leaked after she reported about Aliyev’s possible involvement in improper financial activities.

The groups reminded Aliyev that his country “has unambiguous international obligations to respect and protect both the right to privacy and freedom of expression.”

Another Azerbaijani Opposition Leader’s Detention Extended

August 15, 2013 By administrator

REAL leader Ilqar Mammadov (left) and Musavat Party deputy head Tofiq Yaqublu were arrested in February and charged with helping organize riots in the town of Ismayilli, northwest of Baku.

By RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service

BAKU — A court in Baku has extended the pretrial detention of Ilqar Mammadov, the head of the Republican Alternative (REAL) opposition movement.

Mammadov was ordered on August 14 to stay in detention until November 4.

On August 13, another opposition leader, Tofiq Yaqublu, who is the deputy head of the opposition Musavat Party, was remanded in custody until December 4.

Mammadov and Yaqublu were arrested in February and charged with helping organize riots in the town of Ismayilli, northwest of the capital, Baku.

On January 23, thousands of Ismayilli residents demanded the resignation of the district’s governor, setting fire to his residence, to cars, and a local motel.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters.

Arriving in Ismayilli the following day, Yaqublu and Mammadov called for civil disobedience.

With reporting by AFP

‘We will not cower’: Muslim Brotherhood pledges fightback as Egypt death toll climbs to 525

August 15, 2013 By administrator

By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

CAIRO – The Muslim Brotherhood pledged to bring down Egypt’s military-backed interim government Thursday, deepening the country’s political crisis as the official death toll from clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi climbed to 525.

“We will rise and rise again until we push the military back into the barracks and restore democracy,” Gehad El-Haddad, spokesman for the Islamist organization, said on his Twitter feed.

“We will not bow down, we will not cower,” said El-Haddad, adding that the security forces had shown “unbelievable brutality”.

The Muslim Brotherhood also announced plans to hold a march Thursday in Cairo. Hundreds of its members went on the march in Alexandria.

As clashes became more violent between Egyptian troops and pro-Morsi protesters, injured were treated inside the Rabaa al-Adwiya Mosque in Cairo. Some images may be disturbing to viewers.

El-Haddad’s call to arms followed a bloody day of unrest in Egypt, after security forces – backed by bulldozers – cleared two Cairo sit-in camps protesting the military’s removal of the country’s democratically elected leader. The health ministry announced Thursday that the death toll from subsequent clashes reached 525, with 3,572 others injured. Activists said the true death toll was much higher.

The violent clearance of the camps triggered a backlash around Egypt, prompting the interim government to declare a month-long state of emergency and impose a night-time curfew.

Secretary of State John Kerry described the situation as “deplorable.” The unrest also sparked the resignation of Nobel Peace Prize winner and interim government minister Mohamed ElBaradei.

In a troubling indication of the increasingly sectarian nature of Egypt’s divisions, Reuters cited state media and security sources as saying that a number of churches had been attacked across Egypt.

Churches were attacked in the Nile Valley towns of Minya, Sohag and Assiut, where Christians escaped across the roof into a neighboring building after a mob surrounded and hurled bricks at their place of worship, state news agency MENA said.

Authorities referred 84 people from the city of Suez, including Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, to military prosecutors on Thursday on charges of murder and burning churches, the state news agency reported.

As Egypt awoke to the first full day of its month-long state of emergency, Cairo appeared calm and traffic flowed through the former site of the Rabaa camp, according to Reuters. The overnight curfew stemmed most of the violence, with usually-crowded streets deserted.

Google: Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’

August 14, 2013 By administrator

As tensions worsen among privacy-focused email users amid the escalating scandal surrounding government surveillance, a brief filed by attorneys for Google has surfaced showing that Gmail users should never expect their communications to be kept secret.

Consumer Watchdog has unearthed a July 13, 2013 motion filed by Google’s attorneys with regards to ongoing litigation challenging how the Silicon Valley giant operates its highly popular free email service.

The motion, penned in hopes of having the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismiss a class action complaint against the company, says Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that’s passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an array of options, such as selling ads to customers.

“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient’s [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion reads in part. “Indeed, ‘a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.’”