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Armenia Reaches New Political Agreement With EU

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BRUSSELS — The European Union and Armenia have agreed on a new pact tightening political ties, more than three years after Yerevan walked away from a more far-reaching political and commercial deal with the EU to join the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.

Talks on the agreement concluded during a visit to Brussels by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on February 27.

It is expected to be signed later this year, possibly in May.

Armenia negotiated an Association Agreement that included a free-trade deal with the EU in 2013, only to make a U-turn that same year and reject it under pressure from Moscow.

The negotiations on a new agreement with the EU started in December 2015.

It is less ambitious than the agreement that was abandoned in 2013, most notably lacking a free trade area component — which Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine now have as part of their agreements with the EU. But it will upgrade political relations between Brussels and Yerevan, which are currently based on a Partnership and Cooperation agreement that entered into force in 1999.

Armenia’s fierce rival, Azerbaijan, started talks on a new political agreement with the EU earlier this month.

Meeting of Armenian leader and European Council president starts in Brussels

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The meeting between President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has started in Brussels.

President Serzh Sargsyan is on a working visit to the Belgian capital city where he will hold meetings with the heads of all EU organizations as well as with European People’s Party (EPP) President Joseph Daul, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Czech Ambassador reminds Azerbaijan: MEPs enjoy parliamentary immunity at EU territory

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czech-ambassadorYEREVAN. — Citizens of the Czech Republic are not eligible for extradition by Czech authorities, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Armenia Mr. Petr Mikyska told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Members of European Parliament, being at the territory of European Union Member States, enjoy the parliamentary immunity. Regarding the implementation of international arrest warrant at the territory of third countries we esteem that current warrant sets a possible precedent that must and will be thoroughly studied,” the Ambassador said in response to comment on the Azerbaijani media reports.

Ambassador said they “noted that Azerbaijan Prosecutor General Office issued an international arrest warrant for European Parliament members Frank Engel (Luxembourg), Eleni Theocharous (Cyprus) and Jaromír Štětina (Czech Republic) for the “illegal visit” to Nagorno Karabakh.”

Turkish imam spy affair in Germany extends across Europe

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(DW) A German investigation into Turkey’s religious officials collecting information on its enemies may be the tip of the iceberg. DW has obtained several documents revealing Turkish activities in Germany and European states.

German police on Wednesday raided the homes of four imams alleged to have spied on the opposition for the Turkish government. The police action is part of an investigation into what documents obtained by DW show to be a broader Turkish effort to collect information across Europe on supporters of the religious movement Ankara blames for last July’s failed coup attempt.

The raids targeted the homes of four Turkish imams affiliated with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), Germany’s largest Islamic umbrella group with over 900 mosques tied to the Turkish government’s Directorate of Religion, or Diyanet.

The Federal Prosecutors Office (GBA) said in a statement no arrests were made in the raids in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Rhineland-Pfalz, which aimed to collect evidence into imams conducting alleged espionage against supporters of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for last July’s failed coup attempt.

The prosecutor’s office said the reason for the raids was related to a September order from Diyanet, a religious body tied to the Turkish prime ministry, for imams to pass information to diplomatic missions on Gulen supporters.

According to the documents obtained by DW, 13 imams and a “deputy coordinator” in the two states provided information to the Turkish religious attaché at the consulate in Cologne on at least 14 Gulen affiliated institutions and 45 people with alleged ties to the Gulen movement. NRW’s ministry of education has identified five people on the list as state-employed teachers.

A NRW interior ministry spokesman confirmed the documents from the Turkish consulate obtained by DW were the same as those in their possession. “It cannot be ruled out that further reports were drawn up from Germany and the neighboring countries,” he said.

In addition to naming people, the consular memos speak generally of those who “provide support or are sympathizers” of the Gulen movement, report on activity or name former institutions in their region.

German authorities have contacted those named on the lists and advised them against travel to Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has engaged in a massive post-coup purge.

Several of the imams have returned to Turkey, DW learned after making calls to some of the mosques, a factor likely to complicate the federal investigation.

Most of the Gulen-affiliated institutions are engaged in after-school tutoring for the socio-economically disadvantaged, inter-religious dialogue, cultural activities and projects to better integrate Turks in Germany. In NRW alone, the movement runs 63 associations and five private schools that get partial state support.

In the wake of the coup attempt, Turkey has called on all countries to clamp down on the Gulen movement, which it considers a terrorist organization.  The issue has raised tensions between Turkey and some of its NATO allies, including Germany.

Both reports from Austria say Turkish state religious officials have taken active measures against the Gulenist activities and its attempts at “infiltration.” The Salzburg memo says ATIB and other religious officials “destroyed all books, audio materials, video CDs, poetry, brochures, newspapers and propaganda material” related to the Gulenists.

In Austria, religious official have “just like in the homeland assessed possible connections of the nefarious terror organization” and informed the Turkish government, the document reads.

Earlier this week, Austrian Greens Parliamentarian Peter Pilz announced he was in possession of religious attaché reports from Salzburg and Vienna. Pilz said he was working on publishing documents from 30 countries that revealed a “global spying network” at Turkish diplomatic missions.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/turkish-imam-spy-affair-in-germany-extends-across-europe/a-37590672

EU parliament approves trade deal with Canada

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The European Union parliament has voted in favour of a landmark trade deal with Canada.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is designed to unite the markets of 35 million Canadians with 500 million Europeans.

Ratification by the European Union parliament, with a 408-254 vote, now paves the way for the agreement to come into force on a provisional basis, meaning over 90 per cent of it could be put into practice within months, while the rest must be ratified by individual EU member countries.

Turkey Threatens Annulling EU Migrant Deal if Greece Doesn’t Extradite Soldiers

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By Kerry Kolasa-Sikiaridi,

On Friday Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made a statement of veiled threats to annul the EU-Turkey migration deal if Greece does not allow the extradition of the eight Turkish officers who fled Turkey for Greece following July’s failed military coup attempt.

According to the hurriyetdailynews.com, Minister Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara would take the “necessary steps, including possible annulment of the bilateral readmission agreement,” following Thursday’s decision by the Greek Supreme Court to deny extradition of the eight Turkish officers.

The officers, who were soldiers in the Turkish military, flew their helicopters to Alexandroupolis on July 16, 2016 as the military coup attempt in Turkey failed. The soldiers have since claimed that if they return to Turkey their lives will be endangered, leading them to apply for asylum in Greece.



Greece, as well as all of Europe relies heavily on the EU-Turkey migration deal as it details that asylum seeking migrants who come to Greece from Turkey will have their asylum requests denied and be sent back to Turkey.

Erdogan implies Tsipras promised to return Turkish officers, expresses anger
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras making it clear that failure to return the officers would harm bilateral ties.

Erdogan made comments suggesting that Tsipras had promised him that the eight officers would be returned. “The first night [after the attempted coup] I called him. He said the matter would be settled in 15 to 20 days,” Erdogan said, referring to Tsipras.

The Turkish leader spoke of “terrorists” who must be tried in their country. “The delay in their return obviously undermines trust,” he said, in reference to bilateral ties.

Polish FM calls EU Donald Tusk ‘icon of evil and stupidity’

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Donald Tusk suffered another attack from Poland’s populist government on Monday (2 January), when Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski told Krakow radio station RMF FM that he was an “icon of evil and stupidity” and that he should stay “far away from Poland”.

In an interview with RMF, Waszczykowski responded to the Council president’s recent tweet on his Polish language account, in which he wished his compatriots “A Fatherland free from evil and stupidity,” on the occasion of the New Year.

“I wish that he would stay far away from Poland,” Waszczykowski said, adding that Tusk is “the icon of evil and stupidity”.

Waszczykowski also said that as president of European Council, Tusk “hasn’t helped [Poland] with anything yet”.

In the interview, Waszczykowski said that he was concerned about Poland’s image and that he wants Poland to have a “normal” democracy.

He said that Russia is fighting for a “sovereign democracy” and the West for a “liberal democracy” but that he wants Poland to be a “democracy without adjectives”.

“We would like to have a normal democracy, that when someone wins an election, they have the right to rule, to achieve their plan and programme,” Waszczykowski said.

The minister added that he would like Poland to be perceived as a stable country.

Last week, the head of the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jarosław Kaczyński, said that the Polish government would not support Donald Tusk for a second term as president of the European Council.

Tusk, who served as prime minister of Poland between 2007 and 2014 and had earlier co-founded the Civic Platform (PO) party, now in opposition, has recently infuriated the PiS with extremely critical comments.

Could Tusk be re-elected?

It is difficult to say to what extent the verbal exchanges would effect Tusk’s chances of being re-elected as Council president.

Tusk was appointed to the Council’s top job for a two-and-a-half year mandate that started on 1 December 2014. This means that his mandate expires in June 2017 and that a decision to keep him in the position or to replace him should be made by early 2017.

The president of the European Council is elected by a qualified majority for a term of two and a half years, which is renewable once. Former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was the first president between 2009 and 2012, and was then re-elected for a second term until 30 November 2014.

It is assumed that the candidate for president of the European Council is strongly supported by their own country, but the treaties say nothing on the matter.

EU human rights prize-winners: this brings ‘honor and dignity’ to the Yazidi women

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Aji Bashar managed to escape her Islamic State captors in March, on her fifth attempt

Lamiya Aji Bashar and Nadia Murad have been awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. They talked to DW about what the prize means to them and how the EU can help the Yazidi community.

DW: Given the situation we have now in Iraq, the fight for Mosul, and the many women still in the same situation you were in, do you have hope for those who are still in Iraq at the moment? 

Lamiya Aji Bashar: Frankly yes, we have hope. We cannot stop hoping. We are hopeful that the captives will be liberated and freed, yes. We look forward to the day when Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, or IS) will be held accountable for the crimes and I hope that the captives will be liberated and freed.

Nadia Murad: For me, it is not about hope. We should combat Daesh. We should stop the interaction between Daesh in Iraq and Syria. Then Daesh will be diminished as a force and will lose ground – and then we will liberate the girls and women in an easier way. So it is not a question of hope. We have to combat Daesh so that we can liberate everybody.

DW: Do you think enough is being done at the moment, to liberate women who are in the same situation that you were in?

Murad: No, for more than two years now the captives are still with Daesh. Those who were liberated, liberated themselves. They did not know what their fate would be – either death or liberation. I think the world has not done enough yet. Daesh has taken women from their houses, they sell them. These women do not know when Daesh members will come and get them. So there were no parties that supported Yazidis to liberate their women. There are some people who go and pay huge sums of money to liberate some girls and women. But that is not enough. You know that the sums of money do not go to Daesh but to those who actually jeopardize their life in order to go and liberate women.

Aji Bashar: Yes, for more that two years now, most of the captives have not been liberated yet. Many countries lay down their arms – they do not do anything. Some people try to liberate their acquaintances through other people, but it is a dangerous adventure. So far, we have not seen enough that has been done to liberate our children, our women, from Daesh.

EU’s €7 mln financial aid to support electoral reform in Armenia

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eu-support-electrolThe European Union has decided to allocate a financial support of up to €7 million to help implement the electoral reform agreement in Armenia, the EU said in a statement.

“Following the important first steps in the implementation of the agreement on electoral reform between the coalition and the opposition parties, drawing on consultations with civil society representatives, we count on the government to spare no efforts in realising this reform. We appreciate the commitment of the authorities to allow a fair and open competition. We expect the Central Election Commission, the law enforcement bodies and the judiciary to do their best to fulfil this promise. We perceive the presence of political will as a key prerequisite for a fair electoral process,” the statement said.

“In partnership with the UNDP and the United States, the European Union has responded positively to the government’s request for assistance in funding implementation of this electoral reform package. EU financial support of up to €7 million will close the identified financial gap and will thus allow for the smooth implementation of the electoral reform agreement. This includes support to election observation. Together with the contributions of Germany and the United Kingdom, European support amounts to 90 percent of the overall financial assistance to the electoral process.”

“The European Union attaches great importance to the transparency, integrity, inclusiveness and effectiveness of electoral processes. Therefore, we will continue to support the efforts of all stakeholders to ensure full alignment with international standards, including those related to the prohibition of the use of administrative resources and electoral corruption and to ensuring unhindered work by observers and media.

“Ensuring free and fair future elections will be crucial for Armenian democracy and for the country’s relations with the European Union. We stand ready to continue to support Armenia on its democratic path based on the future EU-Armenia Agreement and within the larger framework of the Eastern Partnership.”

Air transport agreement with Armenia: EU Council adopts mandate

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transportationOn 1 December 2016 the Council adopted a mandate that will allow the Commission to start negotiations on a comprehensive air transport agreement with Armenia.
Comprehensive EU-level aviation agreements aim to increase Europe’s international connectivity, ensure a high-quality service and more choice for the passengers, and boost the international competitiveness of the EU’s aviation industry.

The agreement with Armenia will take the form of a Common Aviation Area Agreement, since Armenia is one of the countries with which the EU is creating closer ties under its neighbourhood policy.

“Nowadays, we can hardly imagine travel without aviation. Aviation agreements are great means to enable Europe to tap into the growth markets elsewhere and to connect the EU directly to other regions. I warmly welcome the Council´s green light today to open negotiations with Armenia. Once negotiated, the agreement will promote a vibrant exchange of travellers, lower prices and ensure new business opportunities for our companies. It will be a great example of cooperation between the EU and Armenia in the context of the Eastern Partnership,” said Arpád Érsek, Slovak Minister for Transport, Construction and Regional Development and Chair of the Council.

The Commission will carry out these negotiations on behalf of the EU and its member states.