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Azerbaijan MP proposes that Armenians be allowed to enter country

October 29, 2016 By administrator

azerbaijan-mpDuring plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament, MP Zahid Oruc proposed that Armenians be allowed to enter Azerbaijan, reported Trend news agency of the country.

To note, however, this proposal refers solely to the Armenians that “have a neutral stance toward Azerbaijan.”

And as case in point, Oruc pointed to the attempt by Armenian refugee and provocateur Vahe Avetyan—who has left Armenia a long time ago—to visit Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.

Incidentally, Avetyan was not allowed to leave the Baku airport.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: allow, Armenian, Azerbaijan, entry, MP

German journalist refused entry to Turkey

April 19, 2016 By administrator

schwenck.thumbVolker Schwenck, a TV journalist for public broadcaster ARD, was detained on Tuesday after arriving in Turkey and appears set to be expelled from the country.
Authorities have yet to give Schwenck any reason for refusing his travel into the country, The Local reports, citing ARD’s tagesschau website.

“My travel into Turkey has been refused. There’s a black mark against my name. I’m a journalist. Problem?” the Cairo bureau chief and Middle East expert wrote on Twitter early on Tuesday.

Schwenck had been planning a trip to the Turkish-Syrian border, where he hoped to speak with refugees fleeing the war in Syria.

Turkey’s frontier with its war-torn neighbour have increasingly come into focus in recent days as NGO Human Rights Watch reported that border troops were using live rounds to scare refugees away.

Amnesty International has also accused Turkey of illegally expelling Syrian asylum seekers across the border, forcing them to return to their war-torn country.

“Our colleagues in Ankara and Istanbul are in contact with the responsible Turkish authorities and the person affected,” the German Foreign Ministry tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: entry, german, Journalist, refused, Turkey

CPJ-News Alert: Turkey, photographer denied entry and freelance journalist goes on trial #ArmenianGenocide

April 8, 2015 By administrator

News Alert

Istanbul, April 8, 2015—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to improve conditions for international reporters after news reports said German freelance photographer Andy Spyra, who flew to Istanbul to cover the anniversary of the Armenian massacre, was denied entry to the country. Separately, the trial of Dutch freelance journalist Fréderike Geerdink, who is facing terrorism charges over her reporting on the Kurdish minority, began today, according to news reports.
“Turkey has become increasingly hostile to international journalists, particularly those who cover sensitive topics, such as the plight of the Kurdish and Armenian minorities,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “We call on Turkish authorities to allow journalists to do their work freely, including by scrapping the absurd criminal case against Fréderike Geerdink and allowing entry to Andy Spyra.”
On March 29, Turkish authorities expelled Spyra, who had arrived in Istanbul the day before on assignment for the German magazine Der Spiegel, according to local and international press reports. He was denied entry to the country, detained overnight at the airport, and then put on a plane to Germany, reports said. After he was expelled, Spyra told reporters he had intended to cover the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacre, a sensitive topic in Turkey. The government refuses to use the term genocide even though historians believe about 1.5 million Armenians were killed.
When he arrived at Istanbul’s Atatürk international airport, plain-clothes security officers took Spyra aside and searched his luggage, paying special attention to his camera and other reporting equipment, according to multiple press reports. Despite support from the German Embassy, authorities citing “security reasons” sent him back to Germany, according to reports. Spyra told reporters that Turkish authorities accused him of having ties to Islamic extremists.
Separately, at today’s hearing in Geerdink’s trial at a criminal court in the southeast regional capital of Diyarbakir, a prosecutor who recently took over the case called for the journalist to be acquitted of all charges. The court is expected to rule in the case on April 13, and Geerdink’s attorney said an acquittal is expected, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Geerdink was indicted on February 1 with “making propaganda” for the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) through her reporting and social media posts, according to CPJ research. On January 6, terrorism police raided Geerdink’s home, reports said. The journalist, who has been based in Diyarbakir since 2012, was briefly detained and interrogated the same day as part of an investigation into allegations that she created “propaganda for a terrorist organization,” reports said.
A Diyarbakir prosecutor claimed at the time that Geerdink was spreading propaganda through social media posts and her regular column for the independent Turkish news website Diken, according to news reports. As her portfolio on the writers’ platform Beacon shows, Geerdink focuses on covering the plight of the Kurdish minority, politics, and human rights in Turkey.
###
CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
Contact:
Nina Ognianova
Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
Tel. +1.212.465.1004 ext. 106
Email: nognianova@cpj.org

Muzaffar Suleymanov

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: cpj, denied, entry, Journalist, news-alert, Turkey

Azerbaijan: Rights Group Representative Refused Entry

March 31, 2015 By administrator

Human Rights Watch Researcher Planned to Monitor Trials

Azerbaijan-human-right(Berlin) – Azerbaijani authorities on March 30, 2015, refused to allow a Human Rights Watch researcher to enter the country. The senior South Caucasus researcher, Giorgi Gogia, was planning to attend the trials of two Azerbaijani human rights defenders who were arrested on bogus charges and have been behind bars awaiting trial. Report hnw.org

When Gogia arrived at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, authorities refused to allow him into the country, but would not provide an explanation. Immigration officials took his passport, and required him to remain in the passport hall. Thirty-one hours later they handed his passport to the flight crew aboard the plane Gogia took back to Tbilisi. No explanation was provided.

“Barring Giorgi Gogia from attending the trial hearings shows just how far Azerbaijan’s authorities have taken their crackdown on human rights,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “They’ve ruthlessly silenced many critical voices inside the country, and now they don’t want to let anyone in to bear witness to what they are doing.”

It is the first time that Azerbaijani authorities have denied Human Rights Watch staff members entry to the country.

For years the Azerbaijani government has had a poor human rights record, but in the past year a new crackdown has led to the arrest of the country’s human rights leaders and the forced shuttering of many independent groups.

Gogia had planned to attend hearings for Rasul Jafarov and Intigam Aliyev, both arrested in August, who are being tried in separate cases. Aliyev, one of Azerbaijan’s most respected human rights lawyers, is on trial on charges of tax evasion, abuse of power, illegal business activities, and embezzlement. Jafarov, who is being tried on similar charges, had planned a local “Sports for Rights” campaign, to draw attention to the human rights situation in the lead-up to the European Games, which Baku will host from June 12 to 28.

In the last year, the Azerbaijani authorities have used a range of bogus criminal charges, including narcotics and weapons possession, tax evasion, hooliganism, incitement, and even treason, to arrest or imprison at least 35 human rights defenders, political and civil activists, journalists, and bloggers. The crackdown has prompted dozens of others to flee the country or go into hiding. Many of the activists face similar charges, suggesting the punitive and political nature of the allegations.

In recent months Azerbaijani authorities also froze the bank accounts of numerous independent civic groups and their leaders, forcing these organizations to suspend their work or close. The government has also refused to register foreign grants and increased government control of foreign funding, making it virtually impossible for groups that criticize the government to function. The government has for many years harassed independent newspapers and television stations and forced many independent media outlets to shut down.

Human Rights Watch said other governments and international organizations should demand an end to the crackdown and the immediate and unconditional release of wrongfully imprisoned human rights defenders and journalists.

“It’s shocking that less than three months before the opening of the European Games, when the government is welcoming the world to Baku, it is closing the country to outside scrutiny,” Williamson said.

Photo essay highlights the plight of 12 people serving or facing long prison terms in Azerbaijan, apparently in retaliation for criticizing government policies.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Azerbaijan, entry, group, refused, right

Russian Upper House Ratifies Armenia’s Entry to EEU

December 18, 2014 By administrator

federation_councilMOSCOW—Russia’s parliamentary upper house, the Federation Council, ratified a treaty for Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union on Wednesday, TASS reports.

The accord was signed at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Union by the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia in Minsk on October 10. The deal is a basic document determining agreements between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on the terms of Armenia’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union seeking to lay a legal basis for functioning of the common Union.

The accord sets Armenia to become a full-fledged member of the Eurasian Economic Union, after all ratification procedures are complete by member states, no earlier than on January 1, 2015.

Armenia is also obligated to revise its agreements with the World Trade Organization (WTO) before joining, which could mean possible termination of its membership.

The Kazakh and Belarusian parliaments have yet to ratify the treaty, but are expected to approve it in the coming weeks. Armenia’s parliament approved the agreement earlier this month with an overwhelming majority of votes in favor.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Armenia, eeu, entry, Ratifies, Russia

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