LA-bound Armenian Christians held up in travel ban’s wake

February 17, 2017 By administrator

When President Donald Trump signed his executive order halting refugee admissions last month citing national security, he made it a point to say that religious minorities, especially Christians, would be given priority.

But some Christian refugees have been unable to enter the U.S. in the aftermath of the presidential order, even though the travel ban has been suspended for now by federal courts.

One family bound for Los Angeles is among the refugees held up in Iran, Southern California Public Radio reports.

George Haratoonian, a business owner who lives in Glendale and arrived himself as a refugee nearly three decades ago, was expecting his brother’s family to fly into Los Angeles on February 4. They were planning to live with him until they got settled.

But just as the president’s order took effect in late January, the family received disappointing news: their visas to Austria, the first leg of their journey, had been canceled. Haratoonian was with them in Tehran when they got the news.

“We had hoped that this thing was a rumor,” he said. It wasn’t.

The Haratoonians are Armenian Christians, a religious minority in Iran. The family was traveling to the U.S. through what is known as the Lautenberg program, which benefits religious minorities. The program was originally enacted in 1990 to assist refugees from the former Soviet Union. Today, the program mostly benefits Christian, Jewish, Baha’i and other religious minority refugees from Iran.

Under the program, refugees transit from Iran to Austria, then on to the United States. Because the U.S. has no embassy in Iran, they must complete their paperwork in Austria before they continue on to the U.S. In order to get to Austria, they receive what’s known as a “D visa” from the Austrian government.

An Austrian government official confirmed in an email to KPCC that the visas of Iranian refugees in the program were canceled “following a procedural modification on the part of the United States.” The action occurred just ahead of the ban taking place. Refugee agencies believe that the Austrian government anticipated a policy change and didn’t want refugees stuck in transit.

The U.S. State Department had no comment on the refugees’ status.

The president’s executive order issued on January 27 temporarily halted travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations and suspended refugee arrivals. The ban created chaos at airports around the country, including at Los Angeles International Airport. Those arriving from the affected countries were detained for hours and at least two people at LAX were put back on planes.

A federal district judge in the state of Washington placed a temporary stay on the president’s ban and the suspension was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

Administration officials are now weighing their options, which could include a revision of the travel ban to address legal issues and a request for the full Ninth Circuit to review the stay of the ban.

German court bans party hampering Armenian Genocide recognition

February 13, 2017 By administrator

A German court has banned the activities of a political party conducting a campaign against the Armenian Genocide recognition, DHA reports.

The party, Union of German Democrats, was founded by two Turkish businessmen and two Turkish lawyers from the city Cologne.

According to Aydinlik, a similarity with the right-wing populist party’s logo AfD (Alternative for Germany) was cited as a reason for moving on to close down the political force.

The German Bundestag adopted the historic resolution to recognize the 1915 genocide against the Christian minorities of Ottoman Turkey on June 2, 2016.

Azerbaijani dictator and Ukraine dictator ban imports from Nagorno-Karabakh and Donbas

February 7, 2017 By administrator

Ukraine and Azerbaijan have decided not to allow goods made on the territories that are not under control of Baku and Kiev to enter their territories without permits from official authorities, Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Oleksandr Mischenko has told Interfax-Azerbaijan.
“During the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Baku the heads of the two states instructed chiefs of customs agencies of Ukraine and Azerbaijan to meet and discuss the issue of passing goods coming from occupied territories of the two countries. Heads of customs agencies met and drew up a mechanism, according to which goods from these territories can be supplied only if they are licenses by central authorities – Kyiv and Baku,” Mischenko said.
The diplomat said that goods made in Nagorno-Karabakh could cross the Ukrainian border only if Baku gives a permit. The similar scheme is applied by Azerbaijan to goods arriving from Donbas.
“For example, let’s take a label on sparkling wine. If it says Ukraine, Artiomovsk factory (Donbas) this is good. If it says Novorossiya or something like this, of course, Azerbaijan would not take it. The similar approach applies to goods from Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.
“The rules took effect at once when the presidents issued the orders. We do not need to sign any international agreements here. The document was signed by the heads of customs agencies,” the ambassador said.

Kuwait imposes visa ban on five Muslim-majority nations, including Pakistan

February 2, 2017 By administrator

“The Kuwaiti Government has asked would-be migrants from the five banned nations not to apply for visas, as Kuwait City is worried about the possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists.”

But the U.S. is not allowed to have a similar concern. That would be racist! Islamophobic! Hateful!

This action by the Kuwaiti government neatly reveals the absurdity of such objections.

“Kuwait imposes visa ban on five Muslim-majority nations including Pak,” ANI, February 2, 2017:

Following the Muslim ban in the U.S., Kuwait has now suspended the issuance of visas for travellers native to Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Tourism, trade, and visitor visas from the above mentioned nations have been restricted following an order from the Kuwaiti Government to slap a “blanket ban” on possible migrants, according to Sputnik News.

The Kuwaiti Government has asked would-be migrants from the five banned nations not to apply for visas, as Kuwait City is worried about the possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists.

A group of militants bombed a Shia mosque in 2015, killing 27 Kuwaiti nationals….

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel calls for ban on Islamist mosques

January 6, 2017 By administrator

Social Democrats leader and German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has called for tougher measures against Islamist trends in Germany. His demands come just weeks after the “Islamic State”-claimed terror attack in Berlin.

In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said that “Salafist mosques must be banned, communities dissolved, and the preachers should be expelled as soon as possible.”

“Those who encourage for violence do not enjoy the protection of religious freedom,” the Social Democrat (SPD) leader added, stressing that he had “zero tolerance” in combating Islamism.

‘Cultural fight’

Radical Islamism is regarded as the fastest-growing extremist movement in Germany. Its followers are convinced that Islam and modernity can not be reconciled.

“If we are serious about the fight against Islamism and terrorism, then it must also be a cultural fight,” Gabriel told Spiegel.

This means strengthening the cohesion of society and ensuring that “urban areas are not neglected, villages are not degenerate and people are not becoming more and more radicalized,” the vice chancellor added.

Half of the followers of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) who have travelled to Syria, are Germans, often with German parents, Gabriel said.

Berlin IS attack

The vice chancellor’s calls for tighter measures against Islamists come just weeks after Berlin was victim to an IS-claimed terror attack. Twelve people were killed and almost 50 were wounded after IS-sympathizer Anis Amri rammed a truck into a Berlin Christmas market.

During his time in Germany, Amri, a Tunisian refugee, is believed to have mingled in Islamist circles. He was also linked with Iraqi preacher Abu Walaa, who was arrested in November along with others for seeking to recruit fighters for IS.

Despite German authorities’ originally monitoring the 23-year-old, surveillance was dropped in September after it was determined he did not pose a security threat.

Amid the apparent intelligence failure, Merkel pledged in her new year’s speech to conduct a “comprehensive” analysis on everything that has gone wrong in combatting Islamist terror.

ksb/kms (KNA, epd, dpa)

Human Rights Watch report: EU and USA should impose visa bans on senior Azerbaijani officials

October 22, 2016 By administrator

human-right The Azerbaijani government has renewed its vicious crackdown on critics and independent groups. The European Union and international financial institutions have a rare opportunity to insist on human rights reforms, as Azerbaijan actively seeks financial and other partnerships to offset a recent economic downturn, international organization Human Rights Watch said in a new 75-page report.

According to the report, the Azerbaijani government concerted efforts to undermine civil society.In 2016, the authorities used false, politically motivated criminal and administrative charges to prosecute political activists, journalists, and others.The government has built a restrictive legal and policy framework to paralyze the work of independent groups.Lawyers willing to defend critics have faced retaliation and disbarment. Although the authorities released several human rights defenders and others in early 2016, many others remain in prison or fled into exile.

“With the release of some wrongfully imprisoned activists earlier this year, there were high hopes that Azerbaijan was turning a corner,” said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But optimism is fading fast as the government relentlessly pursues critics and tries to shut down independent groups.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 90 human rights defenders, leaders of independent organizations, journalists, lawyers, and political party activists.

It is reminded that in April 2015, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes government openness in natural resource development, downgraded Azerbaijan’s status in the group because of its crackdown on independent groups. However, it is highlighted in the report that the Azerbaijani government has not taken any meaningful steps to carry out the EITI requirements on civil society.

The government prosecuted at least 20 political and youth activists in 2016 on a range of spurious charges, including drug possession and illegal business activity. Officials also arrested activists for alleged links to FethullahGulen, the United States-based cleric whom Turkey accused of organizing the failed July coup attempt there. Authorities have ill-treated some detainees, including with beatings, rape threats, threats of violence against relatives, and solitary confinement to coerce confessions or as punishment.

Arrests in Azerbaijan increased sharply as activists and other citizens spoke out about the economic downturn, currency devaluation, and inflation in early 2016, and ahead of a September constitutional referendum that expanded presidential powers.

Azerbaijan’s authorities also regularly used questionable misdemeanor charges, such as “swearing in public” or “hooliganism,” to detain political activists, including peaceful demonstrators. Officials have often targeted activists using Facebook and other social media to criticize government policies or support peaceful protests.

Among those detained were two youth activists, GiyasIbrahimov and BayramMammadov, who were arrested in May for painting graffiti on a statue of former President Heydar Aliyev. Police ordered the men to apologize on camera in exchange for their release. When they refused, police beat them and threatened to rape them. The men finally signed confessions falsely admitting to drug possession and face up to 12 years in prison.

The Azerbaijani government has also made it virtually impossible for independent groups to function. Laws and regulations adopted since 2014 require both donors and grantees to separately obtain government approval of each potential grant. The authorities have broad discretion to deny grant approvals. A foreign donor organization now must also register an office in Azerbaijan and receive government approval to make grants.Numerous activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported closing their organizations or severely reducing staff and programming as a result of the government’s policies.

Summing up, the authors of the report highlight that the EU and the US should impose visa bans on senior officials responsible for the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of critics as retaliation for peacefully exercising their rights.

In the World Report 2016, Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch, said that the government’s crackdown in Azerbaijan is unprecedented in the country’s post-Soviet history, and that although the government is opening the country for international sporting and other events, it is closing the country to human rights scrutiny.

French PM open to temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques

July 29, 2016 By administrator

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says he is considering a temporary ban on the foreign financing of mosques after a series of attacks reportedly perpetrated by Islamic State, including the recent Nice tragedy and the killing of a priest at French church.

Speaking to Le Monde newspaper, Valls said that France needs to re-think its relationship with Islam.

I believe in particular that the imams should be trained in France and elsewhere. I support that there won’t be any foreign financing for the construction of mosques for a period to be determined,” Valls said.

The French PM added that he hopes that “millions of Muslims in our country will be loyal to play the democratic game and will stick to our republican values.”

“We must be uncompromising with those who defend fundamentalist ideologues and those who, under a fundamentalist discourse, prepare the minds to violence. Salafism has no place in France,” he added.

Valls admitted that it was a “failure” that one of the extremists, who killed 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel on Tuesday, had been released from prison with an electronic tag and was living with his parents under curfew.

Hamel was killed by having his throat slit during a hostage situation at a church in Normandy, northern France. IS claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by two terrorists who were subsequently shot dead by police.

France has been on high alert following a deadly attack in Nice on July 14. At least 84 people were killed when a truck plowed through a crowd during Bastille Day celebrations. Weapons and grenades were found in the vehicle following the rampage. Several days later a news agency linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) released a statement in which the group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Meanwhile on Friday, the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) called upon the country’s Muslims to attend a church mass to show solidarity with Christians. CFCM dubbed the attack as a “cowardly assassination.”

The move is “to show our Christian brothers the solidarity and compassion of France’s Muslims in the wake of this new tragedy that has struck our country through an attack on a place of worship,” the group said.

Professor Bruno Drweski from the National Institute of Languages and Eastern Civilizations says the aim of terrorist groups is to make people feel endangered all over France.

“I think they [terrorists] have different scenarios and methods and they use different methods at different times so the police will never be sure what will happen next. That’s part of their psychological warfare. It can be aimed to create a gap between Christians and Muslims – especially between the French Catholic Church and Muslim organizations,” he told RT.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/353869-france-foreign-financing-mosques/

USA: FAA Bans All Flights Between US and Turkey Indefinitely

July 16, 2016 By administrator

FAA ban flight USA The Federal Aviation Administration has banned all flights between the United States and airports in Turkey.

The indefinite ban took effect on Saturday in the wake of the failed coup attempt in Turkey that left 265 dead and over 2,000 injured.

“The FAA is monitoring the situation in Turkey in coordination with the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and will update the restrictions as the situation evolves,” the agency said in a statement.

The US embassy in Ankara issued a statement Saturday warning that US government officials have been told not to use the airport in Istanbul and that US citizens in the country should continue to seek shelter despite Turkey’s claim that they have completely neutralized the attempted coup.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that US warplanes have stopped flying missions against Daesh in Syria and Iraq from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey after the government closed its airspace to military aircraft.

Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook, said Saturday that US officials are working with Turkish officials to get permission to resume air operations as soon as possible following the attempted coup.

Cook acknowledged that US Central Command was forced to adjust flight operations in the anti-Daesh effort to minimize the effect of the Turkish airspace closure.

US authorities are also blocking access on and off the Incirlik air base where American nuclear weapons stockpiles are stored until the security situation subsides.

source: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160717/1043140643/faa-erdogan-obama-ankara-washington.html

Armenian Gov’t Plans to Stimulate Domestic Manufacturing, Ban Turkish Imports

July 16, 2016 By administrator

Ban Turkish product YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenia’s government plans to ban imports of some Turkish goods as part of broader protectionist measures designed to boost domestic manufacturers, Economy Minister Artsvik Minasian announced on Friday.

Minasian said that the ban will initially apply to around 50 of 700 types of Turkish-made products imported to Armenia. Its imposition will mark the “first stage” of a government effort to stimulate the domestic manufacturing sector and thereby create more jobs in the country, he told reporters.

Outlining further protectionist measures planned by the government, Minasian said “If a particular product imported from any country hurts local manufacturers, drives them out of business, or limits the possibility of producing it here, we will use legitimate non-tariff methods [against its imports].”

The minister, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), did not specify what concrete form those non-tariff barriers will take. The government has announced no decisions to that effect yet.

Landlocked Armenia has long had a liberal trade regime with the outside world. It remains to be seen whether the trade protectionism heralded by Minasian will fall foul of its membership commitments to the Eurasian Economic Union or the World Trade Organization.

Minasian, whose party favors a hard line on Turkey, called for a full or partial ban on Turkish imports shortly after he was appointed as economy minister in March as a result of Dashnaktsutyun’s power-sharing deal with President Serzh Sarkisian.

According to Armenian government statistics, Armenia imported about $50 million worth of Turkish goods in the first five months of this year. With the Turkish-Armenian border closed since the early 1990s, the bulk of them reached the country via Georgia.

As part of its economic embargo imposed on Armenia out of solidarity with Azerbaijan, Turkey has also banned imports of all Armenian products.

Overall, imports of goods and commodities to Armenian stood $1.2 billion in January-May 2016. By comparison, Armenian exports totaled $657 million in that period.

Germany: German MP calls for a travel ban on Erdogan

June 12, 2016 By administrator

mp erdogan ban (DW) Sevim Dagdelen has urged action after receiving death threats over the Armenian genocide vote in Germany’s parliament. She said she wants Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be prevented from entering Germany.

Sevim Dagdelen, a German member of the Bundestag, demanded that “anyone in Turkey who calls for violence against the German parliament to get an entry ban (to Germany). This includes President Erdogan,” she told the German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag.”

The Duisburg-born politician has a 100,000 euro ($112,000) bounty on her head, the paper reported, following a resolution adopted by the German parliament on June 2 calling the massacre of Armenians genocide.

German lawmakers voted to join 29 other countries by interpreting the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 a genocide. Turkey, which was formed out of the Ottoman Empire, insists the killings were a collective tragedy in which equal numbers of Turks and Armenians died but denies it meets legal requirements to be termed a genocide.

Erdogan, personally, reacted furiously to the decision, sinking ties between the Berlin and Ankara governments to new lows.

Personal threats

Since the vote, Dagdelen and 10 other German MPs of Turkish origin have faced the ire of Turkish nationalists, receiving death threats and even having their personal details published in newspapers and in mosques.

Dagdelen, who is the Left Party’s migration policy spokesperson, told the paper that German Chancellor Angela Merkel should respond more forcefully to Erdogan’s attacks.

The politicians are now under 24-hour police protection after Erdogan compared them to terrorists and demanded they have blood tests to prove their Turkish origins.

The lawmakers have also been warned not to make trips to Turkey for the time being as their safety cannot be guaranteed.

Tolerance urged

Aydan Özoguz of the Social Democrats (SPD) called on Turkish groups in Germany to unequivocally denounce the Turkish response. Özoguz, who is the government’s integration commissioner, has also received death threats.

“I expect Turkish associations in Germany to clearly condemn the threats against MPs,” she told the “Bild am Sonntag” weekly paper, adding that Turks can remain committed to their origins without being an extension of Turkey.

Her comments were backed up by Green Party leader Cem Özdemir, who was one of the initiators of the Bundestag’s Armenian resolution.

“You may not agree with the resolution, but Turkish organizations must issue unqualified denouncements of the death threats,” he told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.”

Earlier, he told the paper that Erdogan’s response to the issue was “unworthy of a head of state” adding that he was worried that “what if someone goes crazy,” referring to threat against him and his family.

Germany’s Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) supported German politicians and called the threats made against lawmakers inacceptable.

“No one should be dehumanized or threatened,” DITIB national spokesperson Murat Kayman said. “This is not up for discussion and there is no justification for it. That’s the basic agreement of civilized societies.”