The election outcome, the result of popular discontent with established parties, is the latest in a recent wave of successes for European populists, including in Austria and Germany. The populist ascendancy highlights a shifting political landscape in Europe where runaway multiculturalism and political correctness, combined with a massive influx of unassimilable migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, have given rise to a surge in support for anti-establishment protest parties.- “It is unthinkable that the indigenous European population should adapt themselves to the refugees. We must do away with such nonsensical political correctness. The refugees should behave like guests, that is, they should be polite, and they certainly do not have the right to choose what they want to eat…. There is a deep chasm between what people think and what the media tell them.” — Andrej Babis, in the Czech daily Pravo, January 16, 2016.
- As prime minister, Babis would share government with Czech President Milos Zeman, who has described political correctness as “a euphemism for political cowardice.”
Czech Rep. parliament adopts resolution condemning Armenian Genocide
Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide.
A total of 104 deputies voted for the resolution, which was introduced by MP Robin Bohnisch from the Czech Social Democratic Party.
“I believe that it was the Czech Republic’s duty to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide,” said Bohnisch. “Yesterday marked the 102nd anniversary of the Genocide, and the adoption of such a resolution today is symbolic.”
Members of the Czech Chamber of Deputies condemned the Armenian Genocide, and described it as a crime against humanity.
Czech Rep. President: Ottomans committed genocide against Armenians
The Ottomans committed a genocide against the Armenians, and I urge the Czech parliament to capitalize on the example of German’s Bundestag, which recognized the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, said in an interview with Parlamentní listy.
Zeman noted that he will discuss the aforementioned issue with the Czech Republic FM Lubomír Zaorálek after returning from Armenia.
He also recalled that the mass killings of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire have been recognized by Russia, Germany, France, Poland, Slovakia and other countries.
Miloš Zeman will arrive in Armenia Tuesday. The official part of his visit will start Wednesday and with the visit to the Armenian Genocide Museum. Following this, the Czech leader will be received by his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan.
Czech leader says Muslims ‘impossible to integrate’ in Europe
This file photo taken on September 09, 2014 shows Czech President Milos Zeman during a press conference with at the Elysee Palace, on September 9, 2014 in Paris, during an official visit. AFP photo
PRAGUE – Agence France-Presse,
Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his fiery anti-migrant comments, said on Jan. 17 that it was almost impossible to integrate the Muslim community into European society.
“The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible,” Zeman said in a televised interview.
“Let them have their culture in their countries and not take it to Europe, otherwise it will end up like Cologne,” he added, referring to the mass New Year’s Eve assaults on women in Germany and elsewhere.
“Integration is possible with cultures that are similar, and the similarities may vary,” pointing out that the Vietnamese and Ukrainian communities had been able to integrate into Czech society.
Zeman, a 71-year-old leftwinger and the first-ever directly elected president of the Czech Republic, has repeatedly spoken out against the surge of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe.
Earlier this month, Zeman claimed the influx was masterminded by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood which uses money from several states to finance it in a bid to “gradually control Europe”.
Late last year, Zeman called the surge in refugee numbers “an organised invasion,” urging young men from Iraq and Syria to “take up arms” against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group instead of running away.
More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
But few asylum seekers have chosen to stay in the largely secular Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.5 million people, with the majority heading to wealthier Germany and other western EU states.
January/17/2016
Czech Republic President voices opposition to Turkey’s EU accession bid
Czech President Milos Zeman speaks during a conference on the Holocaust, commemorating the liberation of concentration camp Auschwitz in 1945 in Prague on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/CTK, Michal Kamaryt) SLOVAKIA OUT
Czech President Milos Zeman has voiced opposition to Turkey‘s bid to become a member of the European Union, saying that although Turkey is a NATO member, it sometimes acts as if it is an ally of the radical terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Czech news agency reported.
In his remarks made at the end of his three-day visit to north Bohemia on Wednesday, Zeman reportedly criticized the EU’s recent offering to Turkey of 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial aid in exchange for keeping Syrian refugees on its soil.
“The Roman Empire, before it collapsed, too, paid tribute money to barbarians [for them not to pilfer its territory],” Zeman was quoted by the Czech news agency as saying.
Zeman argued that Turkey is able to accept Syrian refugees because both Turkish and Syrian nations share the same religion. “The danger does not rest in Islam as such but in transferring these [Muslim] habits to Europe,” he reportedly said.
The Czech leader also said that Turkey must be approached with “caution.”
The EU recently offered Turkey 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial aid to keep Syrian refugees on its soil in return for accelerated EU accession talks and speeded-up visa liberalization for Turks visiting Europe.
An exhibit on the Armenian Genocide will be held in 2015 at the Parliament of the Czech Republic in Prague
The Armenian parliamentary delegation, led by Edward Sharmazanov, the President of Armenia-Czech Parliamentary Friendship Group, was visiting Prague. At a press conference on September 27, Edouard Charmazarov stated that an exhibition dedicated to the Armenian Genocide will be held at the Parliament of the Czech Republic next year. Various elements of the Museum of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan are so incurred in the Czech parliament in Prague for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Krikor Amirzayan
Czech firm to build livestock breeding facility in Artsakh
Representatives from Czech company Genoservice met with the head of Artsakh’s Rural and Agricultural Support Fund Ashot 
Bakhshiyan to discuss a project that envisions a large livestock breeding facility in the village of Talish, according to Asbarez.
The Czech businessmen said the location will adequately provide all of the necessary resources required for the project, such as water, power, and agricultural products.
The first stage of the project will establish a complex that will house some 400 cattle. The second phase will expand the complex and will add a milk processing plant.
Further opportunities for cooperation were discussed with Artsakh Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan