Rescuers pull young girl from rubble of Italy earthquake

August 25, 2016 By administrator

girl-pullout The Guardian published a video showing how rescuers pull a young girl from rubble.

“Rescuers find a 10-year-old alive under the rubble of a collapsed building in Pescara del Tronto on Wednesday, 17 hours after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy. Bystanders applaud and cheer as five rescuers help uncover the young girl and lift her to safety,” the newspaper writes.

According to latest data, the death toll in the Italian earthquake has risen to 247, 368 people have been injured.

The RA MFA earlier reported that information on possible Armenian victims is being clarified.

150 Kurds ‘burned alive by Turkish military’ during crackdown on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

February 19, 2016 By administrator

A member of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party has accused the military of atrocities in Turkey’s southeast, claiming they have ‘burned alive’ more than 150 people trapped in basements.

“In the Cizre district of Sırnak, around 150 people have been burned alive in different buildings by Turkish military forces. Some corpses were found without heads. Some were burned completely, so that autopsy is not possible,” Feleknas Uca told Sputnik, adding that “most” of those killed were Kurds.

While Uca’s statements have not been confirmed by RT on the ground, or independently verified by a third party, the MP warned that more people could face a similar fate as more than 200 people remain trapped inside buildings across the region.

“The situation in Diyarbakir is terrible. Its district Sur is seeing its 79th day of curfew. Two hundred people were trapped in basements and Turkey’s special forces won’t rescue them,” Uca said.

Turkish security forces have been trying to clear southeastern towns and cities of PKK members since last July, when a two-year cease-fire collapsed. Dozens of civilians continue to be trapped in basements in the Cizre district of Turkey’s Sirnak province. Despite an official announcement that the military op was concluded last week, the curfew remains in place.

The reports of the massacre first surfaced earlier this week when the ANHA news agency, reported the discovery of 115 bodies.

The corpses were so badly burned that relatives were only able to identify 10 out of the 115 bodies found in the Sur and Cudi neighborhoods of Şırnak’s Cizre district. According to the report, DNA samples were taken from the victims to identify the bodies.

https://youtu.be/6E0kbUDrG9g

Terrorist State of Turkey military force Burned Alive Around 150 Kurds Sırnak Province

February 18, 2016 By administrator

Some 150 Kurds have been burned alive in different buildings by Turkish military forces, as government’s offensive on mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces brings new victims, a member of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, Feleknas Uca, told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Over the past month, Turkish forces have repeatedly attacked YPG positions in Syria, claiming the Kurdish militia is a terrorist group that threatens Turkish security.

“In Cizre district of Sırnak, around 150 people have been burned alive in different buildings by Turkish military forces. Some corpses were found without heads. Some were burned completely, so that autopsy is not possible,” Uca said on Thursday.

Uca added that all the victims in the Sırnak province that borders Syria and Iraq were Kurds.

“Many people and journalists rise against an imminent massacre like in Cizre,” she added.

Turkish Offensive Against Kurds Underway in Diyarbakir, 200 People Trapped

Feleknas Uca also stated that Turkey continues offensive against Kurdish-populated Diyarbakir province, where at least 200 people have been trapped in basements.

“The situation in Diyarbakir is terrible. Its district Sur is seeing 79th day of curfew. 200 people were trapped in basements, and Turkey’s special forces do not allow to rescue them,” Uca said Thursday, adding that an offensive in Sur continues.

The Washington Post: Aliyev showing signs of frantic despotism

March 2, 2015 By administrator

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, is showing signs of a frantic despotism. Journalists, bloggers, lawyers, human rights activists and others who speak out for individual liberty are arbitrarily being swept up in a wave of arrests and detentions, an article on the Washington Post says.

Aliyev, suffering a decline in the oil revenue that has propped up his regime for years, seems to be striking out at anyone who opposes him.

One of Aliyev’s favorite tools for silencing people is pretrial detention, the article notes. Azeri law states that it is to be used only in limited cases, and Azerbaijan’s criminal procedure code put this power in the hands of the courts, not prosecutors, more than a decade ago. In practice, though, the courts have become servants of the prosecution. The European Court for Human Rights noted in a case last year that Azeri courts have frequently endorsed prosecution requests for detention automatically.

Leyla Yunus, a prominent human rights activist, has been in pretrial detention since July 30 on arbitrary and trumped-up charges of treason and tax evasion. She is suffering from a liver condition and diabetes. On Feb 18, an appeals court dismissed her appeal and gave her another five months in pretrial detention, at the end of which she will have been behind bars for nearly a year without trial. Her husband, Arif Yunus, a historian who suffers from cardiovascular disease, was detained on Aug 5. His appeal was dismissed Feb 23, and he, too, was given another five months in pretrial detention.

Meanwhile, the campaign against critical journalists continues. The investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who described her situation in a letter from prison that ran as a recent Post op-ed, remains behind bars in pretrial detention. A closed-door trial was held Feb 23, three days after her letter appeared, and she was found guilty of criminal libel and fined. The libel charge stemmed from accusations made in 2014 by a man who claimed she defamed him on Facebook, which she denied. In the twisted, Orwellian nature of the Azeri justice system, she was first arrested in December on a charge of inciting a former colleague to attempt suicide and since has been slapped with new charges, including embezzlement, tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship and abuse of power.

Aliyev seems particularly uncomfortable with the work of the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, to which Ismayilova had contributed, the Washington Post says. On the same day as her snap trial, a former chief of the service’s Baku bureau was stopped at the airport, prevented from boarding a plane and told he was under a travel ban at the request of the prosecutor’s office. More than 26 journalists and staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been interrogated by Azeri authorities since a Dec 26 raid on the Baku bureau. The news organization is funded by the United States through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

In a recent magazine advertisement, Aliyev said he wanted to make Azerbaijan “one of the most developed and competitive countries in the world.” It certainly won’t become that if he continues to rule like a despot, the article concludes.

The Washington Post. Jailed without trial in Azerbaijan

Why is the Colorado Legislature Supporting Aliyev’s Dictatorship?

January 29, 2015 By administrator

On Thursday morning, the Colorado State Senate is scheduled to vote on SJR15-006, a resolution recognizing and supporting the partnership between the US and one of the most intolerant and corrupt regimes in the world, Azerbaijan.

The big question here is why?

Why would Colorado State Senators Larry Crowder and Laura Woods, and Colorado State Representative Edward Vigil, introduce a joint senate resolution tying the great State of Colorado with a brutal dictatorship like that of Ilham Aliyev’s Azerbaijan?

Why extend such ties between Colorado and a regime that is stifling American journalists, jailing them, and raiding the RFE/RL?

Why plan to honor and recognize on the Senate Floor Azerbaijan’s Consul General, Nasimi Aghayev — the hand-picked mouthpiece of the brutal dictator that pardoned, promoted and praised a convicted axe-murderer, Ramil Safarov, who had killed Armenian Lieutenant Gourgen Margaryan in his sleep?

It is peculiar for this resolution to spring up at all, but especially alarming since just this month, the Wall Street Journal published a scathing review of Azerbaijan’s gross human rights violations, referencing a statement by State Department Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski who “warned the government of Azerbaijan that its ‘crackdown on civil society’ risked damaging relations with the U.S. Eight days later, prosecutors and police in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku raided the office of RFE/RL.” A few days later, The New York Times published a piece criticizing Azerbaijan’s threats and attempts to blackmail the United States. The Times went on to urge the U.S. to stand up to Azerbaijan regarding the raiding of its own RFE/RL and other human rights violations.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Richard Kauzlarich recently called for sanctions on Azerbaijan. Kauzlarich deplored Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil society and the staggering number of its jailed journalists. Just yesterday, Azerbaijan extended the pre-trial detention of independent journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova, for an additional two months, in a decision that ignores international condemnation of her imprisonment.

On Monday, January 26, 2015, ANCA WR Executive Director Elen Asatryan submitted a written statement (read full below) opposing the resolution on behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region, noting “Resolutions such as SJR15-006 are being introduced in many states throughout the nation, not because of their veracity or because of deep ties between Americans and Azerbaijanis but rather, due to the well-financed and influential lobby which has emerged in light of Azerbaijan’s growth as an oil-producing nation.”

Earlier today, the ANCA WR issued an action alert by which concerned Coloradans have been contacting their representatives to press them on why this resolution, with its blatant misrepresentations of truth is being considered for a vote, urging them to vote No on SJR15-006, for what does Colorado have to gain through such entanglement with an undemocratic regime? The action alert may be found at www.ancawr.org.

There is still time for the Colorado legislators to rectify this dangerous situation. The initiators of SJR15-006 can simply choose not to advance the measure. And should they succumb to President Aliyev’s political pressure – Members of good conscience in the Colorado legislature can vote down the measure.

IN OPPOSITION TO: SJR15-006 Concerning Recognition and Support for the Strategic Partnership between the United States of America and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

To: Senator Bill Cadman, President of the Colorado Senate, Representative Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, All members of the Colorado General Assembly

On behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America, I submit the following testimony to voice my strong opposition to SJR15-006. We are opposed to the resolution because it misrepresents the truth with respect to the Republic of Azerbaijan, U.S.-Azeri relations and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This resolution’s stated purpose is to recognize and support the strategic partnership between the United States of America and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The truth is that Azerbaijan has demonstrated itself to be one of the most intolerant and corrupt regimes in the world. The only value which Azerbaijan offers to any other nation is its oil reserves. Similarly, other despotic regimes in the region have had substantial oil resources, yet this does not serve to render those nations as peace-loving nations, or worthy of such accolades by the State of Colorado.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published a scathing review of Azerbaijan’s gross human rights violations, referencing a statement by State Department Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski who “warned the government of Azerbaijan that its ‘crackdown on civil society’ risked damaging relations with the U.S. Eight days later, prosecutors and police in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku raided the office of RFE/RL.” A few days later, the New York Times published a piece criticizing Azerbaijan’s threats and attempts to blackmail the United States. The Times went on to urge the U.S. to stand up to Azerbaijan regarding the raiding of its own RFE/RL and other human rights violations.

Resolutions such as SJR15-006 are being introduced in many states throughout the nation, not because of their veracity or because of deep ties between Americans and Azerbaijanis but rather, due to the well-financed and influential lobby which has emerged in light of Azerbaijan’s growth as an oil-producing nation. Influence peddling for the benefit of Azerbaijan is rampant as a result of the millions of dollars which have been spent by Azerbaijan in recent years in Washington and state capitals, in conjunction with the junkets to Baku which have been provided to numerous Members of Congress over the past several years.

In 2005 and 2006, 100 members of Congress agreed that “The Republic of Armenia is a valued ally of the United States and democratic countries throughout the world. The United States continues to value the strong bond that exists between Armenia and the United States. The [Baku-Tbilisi-Kars] railroad specifically bypasses Armenia and serves to isolate Armenia from East-West commercial corridors. The exclusion of Armenia from regional economic and commercial undertakings in the South Caucasus undermines the United States policy goal of promoting a stable and cooperative environment in the region. Azerbaijan’s leading role in developing the proposed Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad and other similar actions by Azerbaijan serve to undermine and avoid a just solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and potentially destabilize the region.”

In February of 2012, president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev —in a sweeping and hateful indictment of an entire ethnic group, chillingly similar to Hitler’s attempts to demonize all Jews—publicly announced that “our main enemies are Armenians of the world,” and also said that “Armenia is a country of no value.” As recently as July of 2012, officials of Aliyev’s government have threated to shoot down civilian airplanes flying between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Since the cease fire began between the Armenians and Azeris, more than 100 Armenian soldiers have been killed by Azeri soldiers in unprovoked attacks. Azeri snipers seriously wounded a 16 year-old civilian girl in addition to killing three Armenian soldiers in recent weeks.

In August of 2012, in an act condemned by President Obama and leaders worldwide, Aliyev pardoned, praised and promoted an unrepentant axe-murderer, who was convicted in a Hungarian court for murdering an Armenian NATO Partnership for Peace participant in his sleep in Budapest.

In February of 2013, Aliyev stripped an Azerbaijani writer, Akram Aylisli, of his state honors and pension (and also caused Aylisli’s relatives to be fired from government jobs) because he wrote sympathetically about Armenians in his recent novel. A political ally of Aliyev had offered a bounty of $12,000 for Aylisli’s ear. In March of 2013, U.S. Ambassador to Baku Richard Morningstar criticized Aliyev’s crackdown on dissenters, and publicly called on Azerbaijan to respect the right of peaceful protest, promote the rule of law, and engage in a meaningful dialogue with citizens to address legitimate public concerns.

This resolution continues to make reference to Azerbaijan’s rapidly growing economy as an asset to the United States. In reality, Azerbaijan remains one of the most corrupt and despotic countries in the world. According to independent reports by international human rights watch-dogs including Transparency International, despite its massive oil resources, “Azerbaijan is plagued by endemic corruption that prevents ordinary Azerbaijanis from sharing in their country’s natural wealth and is a significant barrier to Azerbaijan’s development.” In light of this reality this resolution or others are unlikely to foster a partnership between Azerbaijan and Colorado and its people in any way.

This resolution is flawed in so many ways that it should be opposed if not because of its misinformation, but for its inherent connection to a despotic regime. Azerbaijan continues to acquire weapons and continues its threats to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to restart the war. Azerbaijan is the main impediment to the region’s security, peace, cooperation, and to the settlement to this conflict.

On behalf of the Armenian-American community of Colorado, I ask that you please oppose this resolution. The sides should not be busy re-writing history or using politics to gain an advantage, but instead should be focusing on ways to achieve lasting peace and security in the region. Thank you for your attention.

Respectfully Submitted,
Elen Asatryan
Executive Director