Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Belgian Kurd minister Zuhal Demir renounces Turkish citizenship

By

Belgium’s state secretary for socioeconomic affairs Zuhal Demir, a Kurd with roots in Turkey, speaks to an audience. (Photo: Zuhal Demir Facebook)

Belgium’s state secretary for socioeconomic affairs Zuhal Demir, a Kurd with roots in Turkey, announced Friday she was going to renounce her Turkish citizenship.

“It’s not a good time to say goodbye. Yet a little over 37 years after my birth, my Kurdish identity is still a thorn in the eye for Turkey,” Demir said in a statement she titled “Goodbye” on her personal Facebook page.

“But, unlike my parents, I am free of the tentacles of Ankara,” she added.

In her post, Demir, born and raised in Belgium to migrant parents from the Kurdish province of Dersim, highlighted her love for Turkey but stated the love was unrequited.

“A country that had no love for that other identity I was given at birth, for which there is no passport,” Demir said of Turkey, reminding of the Turkish state’s assimilationist policies against the Kurds and her people’s statelessness.

She said “Kurdishness” was an identity she “secretly had to bring together, despite Turkey and [her] intimidated parents” who she said Turkey did not allow to be free Kurds.

“We have grown apart, Turkey and I. I have become a Flemish woman with proud Kurdish roots. Everything Turkey did not want,” she wrote.

“I studied here, lived, found the love of a Flemish man. I have had the opportunity to grow here and to do politics. This is home. Flanders has adopted me, and I am Flanders,” she added.

Last February, Demir was sworn in as “Minister for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, People with Disabilities, Urban Policy, and Scientific Policy” by King Philippe of Belgium.

Her rise in politics with the Belgium secessionist Flanders Party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), caught the attention of the Turkish media.

Pro-government media accused Demir of being a supporter of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group waging a decades-long guerrilla warfare against Turkish troops for Kurdish rights and self-rule.

“The gap has become too big. The growing influence of Islam, the position of women, democracy and minorities: it’s all the wrong way,” she said in an interview with the Flemish daily De Morgen.

Demir revealed she recently sent a letter to the Turkish Embassy in Brussels for the process of the annulment of her citizenship and passport.

Genocide denial should be qualified as a crime, Chairman of the Belgian Senate says

By

christine-defraigneThe necessity for a legislative initiative criminalizing the denial for the Armenian Genocide was discussed at the meeting between Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne and the Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Galust Sahakyan.

“That is important in of view of the circumstance that a hundred years later the commemoration and condemnation of the genocide victims are actual today since the repetition of genocides are still a threat for the humanity,” Speaker of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan stated during the joint press statement on Tuesday in Yerevan.

Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne informed that her official visit to Armenia had been planned earlier, yet the Brussels terrorist attacks in March postponed the visit.

Mrs. Defraigne next stated that Belgium Senate was among the first European Parliaments that adopted ‘a strong resolution’ in 1988 condemning the Armenian Genocide.

“We have started initiatives aimed at criminalizing the Genocide denial long before. The denial should be qualified as a crime, a criminal act. We couldn’t realize our goal then, yet I think that through adoption of the relevant resolutions at the level of different Belgian parliaments condemning the Genocide, we will fulfill our goal,” Christine Defraigne stressed, adding the idea is not about a parliament dictating a history, but rather giving an opportunity for the current generation to learn about that tragic event and once and for all condemn all genocidal acts.

 

Source Panorama.am

Turkish-Belgian Parliament Member Expelled from Party for Refusing to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

By

Turkish member of Belgian Parliament Mahinur Ozdemir (Source: Armenpress)

Turkish member of Belgian Parliament Mahinur Ozdemir (Source: Armenpress)

YEREVAN (Armenpress)—Belgian “Humanist Democratic Centre” (CDH) has expelled a Turkish-Belgian politician Mahinur Ozdemir from the party for refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The final decision to expel the Turkish member from the party was made by the ethics committee.

CDH leader Benoit Lutgen hailed the decision to expel Mahinur Ozdemir from the party, mentioning, “Political commitment requires clarity and full faithfulness towards the values embraced by us.”

Mahinur Ozdemir, who was the first to enter the Belgian parliament with a head-scarf, boycotted the momenet of silence dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims last spring, announcing that “The resolution adopted by European Parliament is not mandatory.”

Later she refused to sign the communiqué submitted by the head of her party, Lutgen, which assessed the incidents of 1915 as genocide, for which she was dismissed from the party.

Afterwards, she appealed the decision of the party. She demanded “Humanist Democratic Centre” Party to renounce the decision of her dismissal explaining it as an illegal measure and discrimination.

Belgian Parliament President Says Karabakh is Rich in Democracy, Not Oil

By

President of the Francophone Parliament of Brussels, Julie De Groot (Source: Orer.eu)

President of the Francophone Parliament of Brussels, Julie De Groot (Source: Orer.eu)

YEREVAN (News.am)—Nagorno-Karabakh is rich in democratic values, not oil, head of the Francophone Parliament of Brussels, Julie De Groote, told reporters on Saturday while visiting the National Assembly of Armenia, commenting on her recent visit to Artsakh with a Belgian parliamentary delegation.

De Groote said that people need to see and realize what democracy means in Artsakh.

“We met with the ruling and opposition parties, and saw how the parties are working after the parliamentary elections on May 23,” De Groote said. “Now, we have a starting point, based on which we can track the development of democracy in Armenia.”

Member of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, Simone Susskind, said for her part that the Belgian parliamentary delegates knew that because of their visit to Nagorno-Karabak they could be restricted from entering Azerbaijan, but that they have taken it in stride. They have already received writs from the Azerbaijani embassy in Brussels.

“[But] this does not prevent us from coming back to Armenia and Karabakh again and again, and to introduce the ongoing processes in these republics to European society,” Susskind said.

Susskin added that the Belgian lawmakers who traveled to Armenia and Karabakh were surprised by the lack of anti-Azerbaijani propaganda.

“We were surprised to see that there is no propaganda of hatred against the opponent, especially knowing about Azerbaijani leadership’s attitude toward civil society. Of course, it will be difficult to compare [the] situation with Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, we know that a part of Azerbaijani civil society does not share [the] position of the authorities,” she added.

Susskind said that this does not mean that the superiority of one party has to be underlined. According to her, it is necessary to maintain contacts between the societies of Armenia, Karabakh, and Azerbaijan.

“We have to understand how to promote dialogue,”she said.

Belgian parliament’s commission adopts Armenian Genocide resolution

By

Bulgeim-recognizeCommission for foreign relations of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies has adopted resolution on the Armenian Genocide. This was reported by the European Armenian Federation for Justice Democracy.

The draft resolution presented by parliamentary majority has been adopted.

The parliamentary majority has introduced a draft bill for an urgent debate to adopt it at the plenary session before the recess. The draft bills were also introduced by Humanist Democratic Centre, Socialist Party and “Flemish Interest”.

Last month Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on behalf of his government recognized the Armenian Genocide that occured in the Ottoman Empire one hundred years ago.

The Belgian PM said he believes the 1915-1917 events  should be “considered a genocide”.

Belgian Prime Minister recognizes the Armenian Genocide

By

Charles-Michel-620x300Belgian Prime Minister said that the tragic events committed between 1915-1917 in the Ottoman Empire should be “considered a genocide,” Public Rdaio of Armenia reports, quoting Belgian Le Soir.

Prime Minister Charles Michel acknowledged Thursday on behalf of his government, the Armenian genocide a century ago committed by the Young Turk government.

“The relationship between history and the future are occasionally complicated. My position is well known, I am of the view that the tragic events should be labeled as genocide, and that is the position of the Belgian government,” Charles Michel declared in the Parliament today.

Welcoming this statement, MP Peter De Roover (N-VA) announced the filing of a resolution allowing to move forward on this issue.

Belgian MP of Turkish origin expelled from party for denying the Armenian Genocide

By

OzdemirNews.am – Belgium’s Christian democratic party Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) expelled Turkish MP Mahinur Özdemir for denying to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, the Belgian newspaper Knack reports.

“Ms Özdemir refused to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, which contravenes CDH values. Tortuous position is impossible here; utmost clarity is what is needed,” CDH committee statement reads.

Earlier, party’s President Benoît Lutgen said that if there was an Armenian Genocide denier in the party, they would be immediately expelled.

Baku will fund a Belgian documentary propaganda anti-Armenian city of Aghdam

By

A Belgian organization, “Point of union of the Caucasus” wants to make a documentary about the city of Aghdam located in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh film. But this film is said “documentary” that proposes to “make arton99103-434x325known to the European public the occupied city of Aghdam” is actually funded by Azerbaijan! Knowing the strong distortion of historical facts by Baku, the future documentary film has every chance of becoming a mere film anti-Armenian propaganda. That Azerbaijan will present as a European documentary film made in Belgium will actually Azeri pure product. Especially since according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, no organization called “Point of union of the Caucasus” has submitted a request to visit the city or film Aghdam. Also, this film “documentary” will no doubt, realized in Baku with images arranged by the Azeri propaganda archives and stamped “Belgian production”!

Krikor Amirzayan