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Azerbaijan to “blacklist” CNN Anthony Bourdain for visiting Karabakh

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Renowned American chef, author, and TV personality Anthony Bourdain will be put on the “blacklist” of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesperson of the ministry, told about the above-said to RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

Armenian media recently reported that Bourdain had visited Artsakh within the framework of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, his travel and food show on CNN.

In 2013, Azerbaijan publicized its “blacklist” of foreigners that have visited the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR). Those on this list are forbidden to enter Azerbaijan, and this list is “updated” on a regular basis.

Armenia enjoys some recognizable advantages over Azerbaijan: EurasiaNet

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Armenia does genuinely enjoy some recognizable advantages over Azerbaijan, such as its favorable geographic position in and around the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, Eurasianet.org analytical platform said in an article published on October 18.

“Armenian troops not only control the de facto republic itself, but broad swaths of its territories, offering significant strategic depth protecting Karabakh as well as Armenia itself.

Although both sides have established expansive defensive fortifications along their Line of Contact, Azerbaijani military objectives depend on the ability to go on the offensive. In the event of a large-scale conflagration, a preservation of the status quo would likely count as a victory in Yerevan, whereas Baku could only be satisfied with significant territorial gains.

This was evident in April 2016’s “Four Day War,” in which Azerbaijani forces successfully wrested territory from Armenian troops for the first time since the 1990s. Despite Baku’s widely perceived advantages in numbers, hardware, and the element of surprise, it is unlikely Azerbaijani forces could count on such advantages indefinitely in an extended shooting war,” EurasiaNet says.

According to the source, in its defensive posture, Armenia does not need to possess the same level of offensive capabilities being stockpiled by Azerbaijan, which has spent many millions of dollars on developing a full-spectrum, combined arms military capability.

“Still, Yerevan has significant capabilities of its own at its disposal, including an advanced S-300 air defense system (which Azerbaijan also fields), as well as the short-range Iskander-M missile system (which Azerbaijan notably does not)—the latter likely being much more useful for deterrence than in the event of open war,” the article says.

Reflecting on the recent Armenian-Azeri summit in Geneva, the author of the article noted the urgency of renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan may have found a moment’s reprieve following that meeting.

 

Source Panorama.am

Bundestag member accused of getting 15 thousand euros from Azerbaijan

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Karin Stenz Azerbaijan moneyThe deputy of the German Bundestag from the ruling CDU Karin Strenz received 15 thousand euros from Azerbaijan with the help of intermediary companies and lobbying companies connected with the former Secretary of State of Germany Eduard Lintner.

In exchange for money, the deputy always showed a loyal attitude towards the Baku regime, the First TV channel of Germany reported.

After the fact was revealed by REPORT MAINZ television show, the deputy was forced to declare this money, while refusing to explain where she got them from.

The authors suggested Strenz presented to the Council of Europe a false declaration of a conflict of interests.

While some members of the Council of Europe, for example Belgium’s Alan Destexhe, resign amid the corruption scandal associated with Azerbaijan, Karin Strenz still is in the office, the TV channel said.

Malta blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia killed in car bomb attack

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Galizia's alleged that the prime minister and his wife funneled payments from Azerbaijan to offshore accounts

Galizia’s alleged that the prime minister and his wife funneled payments from Azerbaijan to offshore accounts

Galizia’s alleged that the prime minister and his wife funneled payments from Azerbaijan to offshore accounts

Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who linked Maltese Prime Minister Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal, has died after a bomb destroyed her car. The PM has pledged to find those behind the killing.

One of Malta’s most renowned investigative journalists was killed Monday when a bomb exploded in her car just after she had left her home. Daphne Caruana Galizia ran a popular blog that exposed high-level corruption, including those at the very top.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday that he would “leave no stone unturned” in the search for the person or people behind the attack that killed one of his most outspoken critics.

Local television reported that Caruana Galizia, who had exposed links between Malta and information contained in the so-called Panama Papers, had filed a complaint to police earlier this month about threats she had received.

Read more: Six things to know about the Panama Papers

Among other things, she had alleged that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, as well as his energy minister and the government’s chief of staff, had held companies in Panama. Both Muscat and his wife deny the allegations.

In the final entry on her blog, posted within an hour of her death, Caruana Galizia repeated an allegation that the chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was using his influence for self-enrichment.

The crime has shocked Malta, which has a low crime rate. A vigil was planned later on Monday.

Read more: Panama Papers: German authorities carry out first raids in connection with tax leaks

‘Barbaric act’

Adressing the press shortly after the incident, Muscat said he would not rest before justice was done.

“Everyone knows Ms. Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally, but nobody can justify this barbaric act in any way,” he said.

Her death comes four months after Muscat’s Labour Party won a resounding victory in snap elections called in part because of scandals for which her revelations were key.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia called the killing a “political murder,” and said it was reflective of “the total collapse of rule of law in our country.”

The US newspaper Politico in 2017 named Caruana Galizia as one of the 28 people who are “shaping, shaking and stirring” Europe.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/malta-blogger-daphne-caruana-galizia-killed-in-car-bomb-attack/a-40977557

Joint Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

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GENEVA, Switzerland, 16 October 2017- The President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a summit today in Geneva, Switzerland. Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov also attended the meeting, which was organized under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America). The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the summit.

The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere.

The Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact.

The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval. They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the Co-Chairs will organize working sessions with the Ministers in the near future.

Call for excluding Azerbaijan from Council of Europe very realistic, says Armenia’s top rep. to ECHR

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The PACE’s call to exclude Azerbaijan from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) should be understood in a broader context implying the termination of the country’s membership in the Council of Europe (CoE), the head of the Armenian Delegation to the ECHR has said, commenting on the recent statement released by the Assembly.

“What the Parliamentary Assembly says deals virtually with excluding [the country] from the European Court [of Human Rights], but the process is different in essence.

“Azerbaijan cannot possibly cease being subject to the European court’s jurisdiction while remaining in the Council of Europe. Hence [the entire process] deals with ending its membership in the Council of Europe, not the Court,” he said in an interview with Tert.am.

Kostanyan said they now rely on the CoE Regulations as a guarantee offering effective mechanisms. “It may really be very effective given that the CoE Regulations envisage such an opportunity and necessity to initiate a process of terminating a state’s membership whenever it fails to abide by a judgement. The Armenian Delegation relied upon the CoE Regulations while proposing such a process in spring. It is very realistic; we just need to be consistent,” he added.

Kostanyan also cited CoE Secretary General’s earlier call for releasing Ilgar Mammadov, the Azerbaijani opposition activist sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014. “What comes next is actually the reaction by the Parliamentary Assembly as a political body. And that implies that politically too, time has matured to exclude Azerbaijan from the Council.

“Another extremely important moment here is that we do not propose debates in the Committee of Ministers over Azerbaijan’s non-execution of the Court’s judgements. It cannot be that effective unless we see same approach by the political pillar. Hence, it is the Parliamentary Assembly’s effort to demonstrate such an approach that made the issue more real and more actual,” he noted.

Armenia, Azerbaijan presidents’ talk slated for October 16 in Switzerland

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YEREVAN. – At the initiative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chair countries (Russia, US, and France), a meeting will be held between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on October 16, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned the aforementioned from the Public and Media Relations Department of the Staff of the President of Armenia.

The last time when Presidents Serzh Sargsyan (Armenia) and Ilham Aliyev (Azerbaijan) met was about a year and a half ago in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin also attended this talk.

PACE Criticizes Azerbaijan On Human Rights, Justice System

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed concerns over Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented crackdown on human rights” and urged reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

Meeting in a plenary session in Strasbourg on October 11, the parliamentarians adopted a resolution denouncing “the reported prosecution and detention of leaders of NGOs, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and bloggers,” although some of them were released last year.

PACE cited cases of “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest, in police custody, and in prisons, and the lack of effective investigations, violations of the right to a fair trial, and violations of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.”

The resolution also called on Azerbaijani authorities to “begin real and meaningful reforms” to remove the obstacles to the work of journalists and rights defenders.

In another resolution adopted on October 11, the parliamentarians urged Azerbaijan to strengthen parliamentary control over the executive and to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

“Recent constitutional changes could make the executive less accountable to parliament,” PACE warned.

The assembly also urged Azerbaijan to establish a justice system “genuinely independent, impartial, and free from interference by the executive.”

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Samad Seyidov, rejected the resolutions and denounced a “campaign of hatred against Azerbaijan” aimed at creating a “cleavage” between Baku and the Council of Europe.

Western governments and international human rights groups have criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government for persistently persecuting independent media outlets, journalists, and opposition politicians and activists.

Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-producing South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has shrugged off the criticism.

Absurd Azerbaijan Propagandist Blames California Armenians

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Andrew Korybko (Photo: YouTube)

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Not a week passes without another propagandist for Azerbaijan writing anti-Armenian disinformation against either Armenia or the Diaspora.

The latest such article was written by Andrew Korybko, an individual described as an “American Moscow-based political analyst.” We don’t know what education or background qualifies him as an “analyst” on the Armenian Diaspora to make false accusations on the basis of the little he seems to know. One gets the impression that Korybko’s article is not simply the result of his ignorance, but a deliberate effort arranged by entities that are not difficult to guess!

Korybko’s article, published by the Center for Research on Globalization, Canada, is titled: “The US-Based Armenian Lobby is on a Mission to Provoke Azerbaijan and Russia.” Even from the title, it is obvious that the author is trying to incite a conflict between Russia and Armenians, whereas in reality, there is no such conflict. A note at the end of the article indicates that the article was “originally written for the ‘Moscow-Baku.ru’ online information portal,” which provides a clear evidence of who the author is trying to please.

In his first paragraph, Korybko attacks the Armenians of California for their extreme nationalism and working for the United States against the interests of Armenia. Of course, none of these statements are true. The author’s aim is to start a baseless controversy. Here is the first paragraph of Korybko’s faulty commentary:

“One of the most influential weapons that Armenia has in its foreign policy toolkit is its US-based diaspora lobby in California, which supports their homeland’s most nationalistic and firebrand policies. Instead of behaving as a responsible and pragmatic instrument of the Armenian government in what could have been a calculated policy to balance between Great Powers, it’s oftentimes the case that the roles are reversed and Yerevan is used as an instrument and tool of the US-based Armenian lobby in working against the country’s national interests in order to promote the US. All states aspire for their people to build robust and influential diaspora communities abroad, but the Armenian one is heavily politicized and regularly exerts negative influence on Yerevan in order to bring it under further American control.”

First of all, California Armenians neither try nor have the power to influence the policies of the Republic of Armenia. Secondly, anyone who has the slightest knowledge of Armenian-Americans knows that they are often quite critical of U.S. relations with Turkey, position on Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh), and Turkey’s undue influence on U.S. government leaders who refuse to use the term “Armenian Genocide.” Therefore it is completely untrue that California Armenians blindly serve the interests of the U.S.

Korybko then blames “the U.S.-based diaspora” for taking a congressional delegation in mid-September, not only to Armenia, but “whisked off on a highly publicized visit to the occupied regions of Western Azerbaijan.” By describing the Republic of Artsakh as “the occupied regions of Western Azerbaijan,” Korybko makes amply clear whose interests he is serving. Strangely, the author goes on to describe the congressional visit, not only as a pro-American move, but “to Russia’s overall strategic detriment.” Thus, Korybko is accusing Armenian-Americans of undermining Russian interests in Armenia, which is false, because they have neither the wish nor the ability to undermine Russia. The author is simply showing who his second master is, in addition to Azerbaijan…

Korybko then resorts to an extreme exaggeration by fabricating the following untrue scenario about Armenian-Americans:  “In fact, they want to do everything that they can to ruin the historic Russian-Armenian friendship in their feverish attempt to tear Yerevan away from Moscow and bring it under Washington’s proxy tutelage.”

To back up his fake claim, the author mentions that complaints by citizens of Armenia last month about a government official’s announcement to provide more support to Russian language programs “closely aligns with the position pushed forth by some elements of the U.S.-based diaspora and their American-linked associates in Armenia.” The fact is that not a single person in the entire diaspora said one critical word about the Russian language. Korybko then resorts to another unwarranted exaggeration by claiming that the Armenian Education Ministry “felt pressured to cave in to their diaspora’s demands and reaffirm that Armenian is the only national language in the country… Whether he intended or not, [Education Minister Levon] Mkrtchyan fell into the information warfare trap laid out for him by the cunning minds organizing the U.S.-based diaspora’s political activities.” This is yet another pure invention by the author.

Exceeding all logical bounds, Korybko alleges that “the Armenian lobby in the U.S. is very similar to the Gulenists in Turkey, in that they represent a shadowy power network with a concrete geopolitical agenda advanced through manipulative means, and both serve the interests of Washington against their homelands.” Korybko with a completely erroneous conclusion claims that “the U.S.-based Armenian lobby is getting dangerously close to seizing full control over their homeland’s foreign policy.”

There are other falsifications in Korybko’s article—too numerous to mention. Whoever commissioned this article must realize that such authors, by their ridiculous falsehoods, are causing more damage to the interests of their paymasters than the Armenian community in California.

Azerbaijan to be expelled from the Council of Europe?

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Azerbaijan’s not carrying out the decisions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) may lead to its expulsion from the Council of Europe (CoE), wrote Kommersant newspaper of Russia.

According to the paper, the CoE Committee of Ministers is for the first time preparing a petition to submit to the ECtHR Grand Chamber, since the Azerbaijani authorities refuse to carry out the ECtHR decisions, and the procedure was launched against Azerbaijan.

Kommersant recalled that if a country violates Article 46 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, it may be expelled from the CoE.

Azerbaijani authorities refuse to release opposition activist Ilgar Mammadov, despite the ECtHR decision that his detention was unlawful and politically motivated.