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Barzani’s failed policies could lead to his family’s departure from Kurdistan!

March 1, 2017 by administrator

KDP party leader Massoud Barzani, Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: AFP

By Hamma Mirwaisi | Exclusive to Ekurd.net

Kurdish people are loyal to leaders. It is hard to convince Kurds to accept new ideas, but when they were accepting ideas, it is hard for them to give it up easily.

It took few generations for Barzani family to take over South Kurdistan. Turkish Ottoman Empire hangs Sheikh Abdul Salam Barzani in the year 1914 in the city of Mosul-Iraq after he revolted against Turkish Empire.

The stars of Barzani family rise among Kurds in that part of Kurdistan because of the Turks murder of Sheikh Abdul Salam Barzani. His brother Sheikh Ahmed led the Barzani tribal revolt for a while, which followed by his younger brother Mullah Mustafa Barzani the father of current Barzani tribal leader Massoud Barzani.

From 1946 to 1979 Mullah Mustafa led Kurdish revolution with the support of Israel, Iran and the US. Jalal Talabani from Talabani Sheikh family challenged Barzani leadership, which resulted in the division of South Kurdistan into two regions.

Barzani established political party called Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) without knowing the meaning of the word Democrat. After the split of KDP in the year 1963 Ibraham Ahmed, the father in law of Jalal Talabani establishing the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) without knowing the meaning of word Patriot. The process of forming political parties become similar to open the new business in Kurdistan especially in South Kurdistan as the sources of income to make a living through corruption.

There are communist, Islamist, Socialist, Democrat, Patriot, Conservative on and on without knowing anything about such ideologies.

In the middle of the cause in Kurdistan came a group of young Kurds under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan to form the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK (Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê‎) started as Maoist or Marxist–Leninist political party. But in time the ideologies of PKK changed with the leader evolution. In time Abdullah Ocalan becomes knowledgeable enough to become one of the major world philosophers in his own, surpassing any other philosopher before him because he did solve women problem in the world.

Today KDP of Barzani is losing members and support of Kurdish people because Massoud Barzani and his brothers, nephew and children’s are submerged in corruption.

The PUK of Talabani is not better than KDP of Barzani, Jalal Talabani’s wife and his two sons are involved in the crime of corruption. His younger son Qubad Talabani suppose to be smarter than his older brother is working with Barzani family to share oil wealth of Kurdistan. Qubad married American Jewish girl, which give him a chance to be close to Israeli Government as the major protector of Barzani and Talabani families rule in South Kurdistan.

Iraqi Kurds are hopeless to be liberated from Barzani and Talabani yokes. Under the guidance of Israel Barzani allied with Turkey and Sunni Arabs of Iraq to stay in power for good. And again under the leadership of Israel Qubad Talabani and his mother allied with Iran and Shi’a of Iraq to stay in power for good. Many other players in South Kurdistan are allied with Turkey and Iran, but they are not making any progress because Turkey and Iran were only dealing with Barzani and Talabani families. One of the Talabani’s men by the name of Nawshirwan Mustafa come up with the idea of change to defeat Talabani and Barzani with the help of Iraqi Shi’a Government but failed. Nawshirwan Mustafa was trying to use PKK forces against Barzani and Talabani but failed too, because PKK leadership knows them very well.

It is evident for educated Kurds in South Kurdistan that only PKK forces can liberate Kurds from Barzani and Talabani families. But PKK does not have time now; they are in the middle of war in Turkey and Syria.

The US Government helped Barzani and Talabani to have significant military forces in that part of Iraq based on Israel recommendation. The new US administrations are very independent Government, oil lobbyist and Israel do not control over them anymore.

Iran is against the US interest in the Middle East, and the US knows very well that Barzani and Talabani’s forces are useless in the war. The US is seeking an alliance to be reliable in peace and wartime.

PKK are independent forces in the Middle East. They only depend on Kurdish people help, while they are seeking reliable partner too. The interest of PKK as the leader of the entire Kurdish population are sharing the common interest of the US interest in the Middle East, which could lead to the long-term alliance between PKK and the US against Iran expansion in that region.

Indeed, ‘The Return of the Medes” are in the process no one can stop that. Kurdish people are accepting Abdullah Ocalan philosophy finally; they are joining PKK ideologies by millions, while other political parties in Kurdistan are going down rapidly.

After 2539 years (Since Persian took over Median Empire) of abuses by Persian, Arabs, and Turks, the Kurds will be free to live in peace in Kurdistan, the land of the forefather of Kurds.

References

– The History of the Kurdish People: The Survival of the White & Aryan Kurds in Last 12,000 Years
https://www.amazon.com/History-Kurdish-People-Caucasian-Civilization/dp/1539002128/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488290861&sr=1-3
-Barzani Kurds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barzani_Kurds
-Mustafa Barzani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Barzani
-Turkey: Ankara Bargains With Iraqi Kurdistan’s President
Stratfor Think Tank Analysis FEBRUARY 27, 2017 | 21:36 GMT
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15a8493f35f78e55?projector=1
-The History of the Caucasian People: The Civilizations without Hatred and Racism
https://www.amazon.com/History-Caucasian-People-Civilizations-without/dp/1543172784

Hamma Mirwaisi, a senior Kurdish writer and author of the book, “Return of the Medes” and the forthcoming book, “Enemies with the Same DNA“. Born in Iraqi, Kurdistan, he is a US citizen; he currently resides in the United States; is an electrical engineer by trade; he spent the early years of his life participating in the struggle for the freedom of Kurd from the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein. Mirwaisi was a regular contributing writer for Ekurd.net between 2010-2013.

Source: http://ekurd.net/barzani-failed-policies-kurdistan-2017-03-01

German Family Trades Sexually Permissive & influx of refugees of the West For The Wilds Of Siberia

January 25, 2017 by administrator

Eugen Martens with some of his 10 children whom he and his wife relocated from “sexually permissive” Germany to a remote village in Siberia, where they intend to “live by the Bible.”

KYSHTOVKY, Russia — In the early 1990s, Eugen Martens and his family left Siberia’s Omsk Oblast hoping to build a better future in Germany.

Now, at the age of 45, he, his wife, and their 10 children have returned to Russia, fleeing what he describes as the sexual permissiveness of German society and the influx of refugees there.

“[Our daughter] Melita didn’t want to attend sex-education classes because she is a Christian, so we were fined for her truancy,” Martens told RFE/RL’s Russian Service. “There, children of the age of 1 are viewed as sexual objects.”

He explained: “In our kindergarten, they gathered the parents together for an information evening where they told us about child sexuality. They make up special games like ‘doctor’ so that they can touch each other. There are special spaces where they can do this without being disturbed. They encourage girls to be attracted to girls and boys to boys because every child has the right to choose their own sexual identity.”

“On the edge of our town, they built a residence for 20 refugees, young men,” he continued. “They can’t work, so what are these young guys to do? How can we let our children out onto the streets?”

Repatriation Program

Eugen met his wife, Louisa, in Germany, but she is also from Omsk Oblast. They married and began their family there.

Despite having been active participants in German concerned-parents organizations and participating in demonstrations against sex education in several German cities, the Martens family decided late last year to take advantage of a Russian government program aimed at repatriating Russians who left the country or found themselves outside Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union two and a half decades ago.

Now they are in this remote Siberian village about 540 kilometers north of Novosibirsk, enduring temperatures that routinely hover around minus-30 degrees Celsius. Their four-room log house is heated by a traditional Russian stove and illuminated by dim bare bulbs. They sleep on mattresses placed on the floor; the table and chairs were donated by a local newspaper that was downsizing.

It is a region that Russians have been fleeing for generations. Before World War II, there were 250 villages and 58,000 people living there. Now there are just 14,500 people living in 54 settlements.

But the Martenses are together. “Children are like the arrows in a quiver,” Martens said. “What kind of warrior has just a few arrows? Louisa and I are from Baptist families. We don’t go out much. We are simple Christians who live by the Bible.”

One-Time Payment

The government resettlement program is pretty modest. Established by President Vladimir Putin in 2012, it provides a one-time cash allowance, expedited citizenship procedures, and a reduced personal tax rate. It does not provide housing. Or a job.

Martens said he is hanging on to as much of his 130,000-ruble ($2,200) one-time payment in case the family needs to relocate.

“No one has lived in this house for about 20 years,” Viktor Kuzmin, deputy chairman of the Kyshtovsky region for social affairs, who settled the Martens family in its current quarters. “Of course, it is cold. There are holes everywhere.”

Martens plans to build his own house and said he doesn’t need any help. A carpenter by trade, he initially hoped to start a farm in Russia but was put off by the estimated 30 million ruble ($51,000) start-up cost and Siberia’s short growing season.

“In Krasnodar they are able to bring in two harvests a year,” he said. “But they say all the land there is taken.”

Now he’s thinking about going back to making fine furniture like he did in Germany.

“It is good stuff,” local official Kuzmin said approvingly, “but who here needs such beauties? People around here don’t have much money.”

‘Arbitrary’ Officials

Although locals have welcomed the Martenses and have brought clothing, food, and other necessities to the exotic foreigners, Eugen Martins has not been impressed with Russian officialdom.

“All you have to do is start talking to people and everything becomes clear,” he said. “They complain to me — a foreigner — about how bad it is for them, how arbitrary the officials are. I met one guy from a former Soviet country who came here on the same program as I did. But he said he only got part of the money he was promised — there was no more, they told him. People can’t say anything good about the authorities, but they go out and vote for them because they don’t see any choice. Be that as it may, you have to try to change things.”

Rostislav Aliyev, the editor of the local paper that donated furniture to the newcomers, has befriended Martens and visits him often.

“I respect people who go against the system,” Aliyev told RFE/RL.

The main thing for Martens, however, is that he insists on home-schooling his children. Although Russian legislation allows the practice, it is virtually unheard-of in this remote region.

“We tried to learn some best practices and methodologies,” said local education official Tatyana Serebryakova. “But we think it is best for children to go to school, if only to learn Russian. After all, only two or three of these children speak any Russian at all. We offered everything we could — free textbooks from the school library, consultations, music and sports lessons. This stuff is good for social adaptation.”

But social adaptation is not what the Martenses want for their children.

“We want to teach the children so that they know how to learn for themselves,” Eugen Martens said.

Louisa Martens has written the Russian alphabet out in large letters on a piece of cardboard. Surrounded by many of her children, she goes through the letters with them, beginning with words that begin in Russian with the letter ‘A’: oranges, watermelons, pineapples…

Outside the wind howls and a draft pushes under the window frames. “Oranges, watermelons, pineapples…” the children repeat.

RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson contributed to this report

Turks visit the last Armenian family of Derik on the occasion of the Holy Nativity

January 13, 2017 by administrator

In Derik is a town and a district of the province of Mardin in the south-east of Turkey, a group of inhabitants visited the only Armenian family in the region, on the occasion of the Nativity. According to the Turkish site Mardinlife, among the group of people who visited Derik’s only Armenian family, the writer Eyoub Gyuven said that the Armenians are among the peoples originating from the region and it is to congratulate the birth of Christ, the group visited with gifts to the last Armenian family that of Nayif Demirdji.

“The fact that Armenians have left this region is of great problem, but we remember them and bring them our congratulations on the occasion of the Holy Nativity” said Eyoub Gyuven. Recall that the Armenians did not leave the region of Mardin of their own free will. As on all the Ottoman Empire they were victims of the genocide between 1915 and 1923. Armenians who were massacred, died on the road of exile or who fled so as not to suffer the death programmed by the Turkish authorities.

Krikor Amirzayan

Armenian collection translation efforts connect family and neighbors

January 12, 2017 by administrator

LOS ANGELES — It really is a small world after all.

When he reached some of the final Armenian Genocide Collection testimonies to be indexed, translated and subtitled into English, Armenian Genocide Collection researcher Manuk Avedikyan realized he needed some help. The testimonies he had saved for last were in rare Armenian dialects — from Mush, Musadagh (Musaler) and Kessab — that he couldn’t understand.

So, he asked his friend Garen, whose family is from Kessab, if his mother could verbally translate one of the testimonies for him. She agreed, and Avedikyan brought the testimony to her house.

After she translated the testimony, Avedikyan asked her if she would be able to translate another in the Musadagh dialect, due to its similarities with the Kessab dialect and the interview was filmed in the village of Anjar, in Lebanon, where she used to live during a part of her youth.

Although she couldn’t quite understand the entire interview, her son deciphered a part of a conversation and was surprised to hear the interviewee mention the family name of a mutual friend of his and Avedikyan’s, Hovannes Zeithlian. Avedikyan sent Zeithlian the testimony and asked him to listen to it, which he did.

Zeitlhian was amazed to hear the man in the testimony speak in his dialect and talk about his (Zeithlian’s) own great-grandmother. She was one of two people who fired the first shots against the encroaching Turkish soldiers during the famous Musadagh resistance during the Armenian Genocide in 1915.

After discovering the testimony about his great-grandmother, Zeithlian was so excited that he translated the whole tape with the help of his father.

The coincidences didn’t stop there. That same man who mentioned the Zeithlians’ great-grandmother turned out to be the family’s next-door neighbor back in Anjar, Lebanon. Another interview of a survivor that was filmed in Kessab that Avedikyan showed his friend Garen ended up being a relative of theirs from Kessab.

“We found their grandmother, a relative, and their neighbor all in one hour,” Avedikyan said. “It’s so unexpected.”

Discovering and translating rare dialects has been an unexpected bonus of the Armenian Genocide Collection. USC Shoah Foundation didn’t know such testimonies were part of the collection when it partnered with the Armenian Film Foundation to integrate the collection into the Visual History Archive, but translating them and making them available to the public is a unique opportunity.

A small number of people do still speak these dialects, but the languages are not well-known or preserved, Avedikyan said. The Syrian civil war also threatens the communities where native speakers live.

“These people [in Kessab and Musadagh] are not going through easy times,” Avedikyan said. “These are rare dialects and the fact that this collection has a plethora of these different dialects shows the linguistic wealth of this collection, the unintended linguistic wealth.”

The English subtitles for the non-English testimonies in the Armenian Genocide Collection are expected to go live in the Visual History Archive in February 2017.

Source: http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2017/01/12/armenian-collection-translation-efforts-connect-family-and-neighbors/

Family of Armenian soldier killed in April war welcomes New Year in new house but without him

January 1, 2017 by administrator

The photos of contract servicemen, Private Hrachya Muradyan, 33, who died during the April war, can be seen in each corner of his house. It is the first time Hrachya’s wife and his three children have welcomed the New Year without him…Hrachya’s wife, Mrs Anna, says the only way to quench the yearning for her late husband is to ”illuminate” the house with his photos.

She cannot put up with the death of Hrachya: the only meaning of her life is to bring up her children and ensure their respectable life, as Hrachya dreamt of. The state provided a house to Muradyan family, who used to rent a flat for many years.

In fact, this is the first time the family has welcomed the New Year in their own house, but alas without their most dear one…

”We have a new house but without Hrachya nothing can make us happy. The state has awarded a pension, which we live on now. Soon I will look for a job: I hope to find one. I am an Orinetalist by profession, but it is not easy to find a job by that major, so I will try to find some other job and continue living…”

Hrachya Muradyan died on the night of April 7 to 8, while helping his wounded friend.

The last thing he managed to do was to congratulate his mother’s day on April 7. He then assured that he was not in the positions and was taking part in military exercises. Hrachya told nothing about the tense fights. Meanwhile his family was waiting for him at home: On April 1 he was to come down form positions and return home.

Hrachya’s elder daughter is 8 years old, while his small son is 2.5.

The saga of an Armenian family of Old Dhaka

October 23, 2016 by administrator

Parents, Michael and Joan Stephen, visiting Henrietta in her Convent Boarding School, England, 1961

By Waqar A. Khan,

Henrietta Aimee Elizabeth Simpson, née Stephen, lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. We were introduced by a mutual friend, the eminent British Historian, Dr Rosie LlewelIyn-Jones, MBE, of the “Nawabi Lucknow fame”. I was intrigued ever since Henrietta first told me in 2011, that her family is of British- Armenian heritage and that her ancestors were once domiciled in old Dhaka in the 19th century. I requested her to tell me the remarkable history of her family. A regular correspondence ensued between us. Slowly a story began to take shape supplemented by my own research. I also received from Henrietta some rare vintage photographs of her family, mostly taken in the Victorian era.

The interesting story of the Stephen family, its initial diaspora from Julfa, Persia (Iran), domiciliation in 19th century colonial India and final migration to Britain is a fascinating one. It all begins with Henrietta’s Armenian great-great-great grandfather Johannes Stepannosean (later anglicized to Stephen) , who left Julfa once the pontifical seat of the Armenian Church in Ispahan, Persia (Iran) in the early 1800s to come to Calcutta, then the thriving capital city of British India. What circumstances actually impelled him to do so is not known. But it was perhaps the lure of trade and commerce in colonial Bengal. The ethnocentric, industrious Armenian community in both Calcutta and Dhaka were already well established. Some had indeed become prominent and prosperous citizens by then. These facts must have influenced Johannes to try his luck also. Although he first arrived in Calcutta, he soon relocated to Dhaka, where he engaged himself in trading. There is no mention of his first wife who was the mother of at least two of his older sons, one of whom was popularly known as,” John Stephen Esquire of Dacca” (born 1823) and Carapiet/Carr Stephen (born 1835). It is also not clear if his first wife had actually died in Dhaka or was divorced by him after the birth of their son Carapiet/Carr Stephen in 1835. In 1838 Johannes who must have been doing well by then, married a Greek lady named Sultana Athanes, presumably his second wife at the Greek Church in Dhaka. The church built by the Greek community in 1821, was once located a little inside the then Muqim Kuttra road east of the Chawk Bazaar. It was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1897 and was never rebuilt.

John Stephen Esquire(1823-1876) of Dacca (L) and Lou, wife of John Stephen Esquire (R). PHOTO COURTESY: HENRIETTA SIMPSON

In Dhaka, Johannes Stephen (1790-1843) lived in Armanitola, then a predominantly Armenian quarter. He had a large family. He sired according to available records seven sons from his two marriages. However, there is no mention of a daughter or any other wife apart from Sultana Athanes. Johannes died in 1843 and was buried in the Armenian Churchyard in Armanitola, Dhaka.

The seven sons of Johannes are: Stephen Stephen, John Stephen Esquire of Dacca (1823-1876), Hume Stephen, Carapiet or Carr Stephen (1835-1891), Arathoon Stephen, Mackintosh Stephen and William Stephen. Of his sons, the one worthy of mention, in particular, for the continuation of our story is the great-great grandfather of Henrietta. Even today, he is fondly remembered in the Stephen family as, “John Stephen Esquire of Dacca.” Nothing much is known about him or his life spent in Dhaka, except that he was a man of means and thus prosperous. He may also have been a landholder or Zamindar in Eastern Bengal. In reading the scant information available on the Dhaka Armenians, one will invariably come across the surname, Stephen, listed along with other illustrious Armenian names of the 19th century.

Johannes’s son, John Stephen Esquire, is said to have married at least twice. His first wife Catherine (1836-1861) lies buried in the St. Thomas Anglican Church, Dhaka. Her epitaph reads on marble: “In affectionate memory of Catherine. The beloved wife of J Stephen, Esq, who died 10 December 1861. Aged 25 yrs 3 mths 17 days. I shall go to her but she shall not return to me.” On the other hand, John Stephen Esquire is buried in the Christian graveyard at Narinda, Dhaka. His grave has a white marble base. His epitaph simply reads: “JOHN STEPHEN Esq of Dacca. Born 5 October 1823. Died 27 November 1876”.

ohn Stephen Esquire, was a close friend of one of the most prominent and influential Armenians of Dhaka in the 19th century, named Nicholas P. Pogose alias Nicky Pogose. The wealthy Nicky was also a pioneer educationist who had established the once famous Pogose School in Armanitola, old Dhaka in 1848. He was Godfather to St. John Stephen, son of his good friend John Stephen Esquire on his baptism in 1854. The Stephen family in Edinburgh, Scotland, still possesses the silver dish presented to St. John Stephen on his Baptism by Nicky Pogose. Along the inner rim of the silver dish is a simple engraved inscription which reads: N P Pogose to his Godson St. John Stephen. It is not dated. But there is no doubt in the Stephen family that it was gifted to St. John on his Baptism day in 1854. The beautiful silver piece was most probably crafted by skilled silversmiths for which Dhaka was renowned in the past.

As far as can be traced, John Stephen Esquire had three sons and two daughters. It is not possible to tell now which of his children were borne by his two wives, Catherine and Lou. The names of the children are St. John Stephen ( born 1854) and Godson to Nicky Pogose, Carr Stephen (1859-1896), who was the great grandfather of Henrietta and another son whose name remains unknown. The names of the daughters are Rosaline or Rosie Stephen (1857-1938), who died in England and, Kate or Katie who was unmarried and also lies buried in England.

Caar Stephen (1859-1896) described as the third son of John Stephen Esquire, was a prosperous land agent in Dhaka with business interests in Calcutta and Rangoon, Burma. He married Primrose Saunders and had a son Christopher Gerald Stephen (1890-1954), Henrietta’s grandfather, who was born either in Dhaka or in Calcutta. Gerald Stephen, was educated in England. He joined the Royal Fusiliers in the British Army and fought in the First World War. During the War he was briefly stationed at Fort William, Calcutta, in 1914. It was in Calcutta that he met his future wife Hetta (Ivy), while she was on her way to meet one of her brothers in the North West Frontier. He married Hetta (Ivy) who was born in Grenada in the British West Indies in 1889. Both eventually died in Britain – Christopher in East Sussex in 1954, while Hetta in Croyden, Surrey in 1968. They had a son, Henrietta’s father, Michael Gerald Stephen (1916-1975), born in London. Michael married Joan (1918-1971). He too, served in the British army but never visited India in his lifetime. He and wife Joan, lived in Sussex, with Henrietta where he died. Their daughter Henrietta, born in 1950 in Crowborough, East Sussex, attended a private Anglican convent boarding school called St. Mary’s in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England. It is a community of St. Mary the Virgin. This ecclesial order has an institutional presence in Poona, India. Henrietta’s siblings Richard Stephen (born 1952) lives in Denmark, while twin brothers St. John Stephen and Roland Stephen (born 1957), live in London and in Maryland, USA, respectively. Henrietta is the sole narrator of this ‘human interest story’ of the Stephen family.

From Julfa in Iran to colonial Bengal and finally emigration to Britain, the trail of the Stephen family makes for compelling reading. Due to lack of more detailed information, it is not exactly clear when this Armenian family started to lose its Armenian identity by inter-marriage with other Europeans belonging to different Christian denominations and assimilate into a larger world. It seems evident that with the exception of Johannes Stephen all other male members of the Stephen family lie buried mostly in Anglican Christian cemeteries, instead of Armenian churchyards.

It is also not sure as to when members of the Stephen family started to immigrate to Britain. The earliest on record to have done so, are Kent Hume Stephen (1857-1907), Rosaline/Rosie Stephen (1857-1938) and Kate/Katie Stephen all of whom are buried in England. But it seems certain that Christopher Gerald Stephen (1890-1954), Henrietta’s grandfather, who was either born at Dhaka or in Calcutta, was a more recent migrant to Britain from the family. His son Michael Gerald Stephen (1916-1975) and grand-daughter Henrietta both born in Britain are, therefore, British with an Armenian legacy and the fascinating 19th century old Dhaka connection.

(Condensed from a forthcoming book by the writer: Illustrated News & Tales)

The writer is founder of Bangladesh Forum for Heritage Studies

60 Armenian families trapped in Syria’s Hasakah

August 22, 2016 by administrator

Despite heavy fighting in the Syrian city of Hasakah, 60 Armenian families are still living in the town, Arevelk reports.

Situated in the far north-eastern corner of Syria, the city was trapped in fighting between the Kurdish forces and troops loyal to President Bashar-al-Assad.

As the Syrian air forces hit Kurdish positions in the city, the United States declared it will send fighter aircraft in support of the Kurdish forces.

According to a source from the Syrian city of Al-Qamishli situated nearby, Armenians in Hasakah are relatively safe.

However, heavy battles were staged in a number of neighborhoods where Armenians live.

The source also said that those in Al-Qamishli are instructed to host Armenians from Hasakah should the latter decide to evacuate the city.

Family Mounted Melkonian wrote an open letter to Serzh Sargsyan

July 29, 2016 by administrator

Dear Sir :

We have learned with concern the detention by the National Security Service of July 27 great patriot, Ara Alec Yenikomshian. Mr. Yenikomshian has for decades been engaged in charity work in Armenia and the improvement of a country he loves more than anything else. He dedicated his life to the good of the Armenian homeland, and was one of the closest and most trusted comrades of your former comrade in arms,

the Armenian national hero Monte Melkonian. Despite the suffering of its major physical injuries he suffered in the process of his patriotic activities, Alec continues to work for the benefit of Armenia. Mr. Yenikomshian is an extraordinary patriot, conscientious and dedicated civil debate and legality, the peaceful improvement of institutions. We join the many others who ask that he be released immediately from the custody.

Respectfully,

Maile Melkonian
Markar Melkonian
Marcia Melkonian
Seta Melkonian-Kbranian
Suzy Mahseredjian-Melkonian

Meydan TV: Being from mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani family is verdict in Azerbaijan

June 18, 2016 by administrator

Azerbaijani opposition online Meydan TV published an article in the frameworks of “Tabooed themes of the South Caucasus” project, in which the stories of the Armenian-Azerbaijani families and their children’s representatives, as well as the challenges following the interethnic conflicts blazed up in the region are narrated.

As for the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the article represents the lives of children born to mixed marriages, when the father is Azerbaijani, and the mother – Armenian: a woman named Sofia in Azerbaijan and a man named Felix in Armenia.

“It was not easy for Sofia to tell her story, because many hurtful events she would not want to remember have remained in her memory since her adolescence and her life in Baku after the Karabakh conflict,” the article reads.

“Everything changed in almost one day. All the Armenians became enemies just by default. It surprised and scared me very much at that time. I was 12 or 13, and I realized that it was absurd. My mother, a native Baku woman, who had never ever been to Armenia, suddenly became an undesirable person in the society,” Sofia says. As a result, a “permanent and steady feeling of guilt and fear” appeared in her.

Sofia felt guilt because she was reckoned among enemies, and fear because someone may look at her and ask: you are so fair, are you really a native Azerbaijani? According to Sofia, she often had to lie and say that she was native, or that her mother was Russian.

They did not leave out the problem of her mother’s sisters. When the conflict began, they had to be moved to their Azerbaijani father’s house, while people were running after the car and throwing stones at it. “My aunts lived several months with us, then they left abandoning everything, even their apartment,” she says noting that being protected by her father, her mother was almost condemned to house arrest: for about two years, she did not come out of the house, even for shopping.

According to Sofia, after the conflict began, Armenians, Jews, sometimes Russians left Baku, new neighbors occupied their places, and even minor domestic conflicts with them led to considering them enemies. “They really hated us. My sister and I did not feel comfortable to go out to the yard, and talk to others. We felt a constant fear of hearing the horrible word ‘Ermenidi’ (Armenian),” she recalls.

Three years after the beginning of the conflict, Sofia’s father — unable to stand the humiliations — died from infarction. It was the time when she could already get a passport. “I think he felt the constant fear in which we lived even more than we did. He felt responsibility for his women; however, he could not do anything,” she says remembering how the employee of the passport office addressing him informally reprimanded the grown-up man as a guilty child for “marrying an Armenian woman.”

After a while, being unable to stand such treatment, Sofia’s father died from infarction. And the nationality of her mother hung over her as a shadow. As a result, in order not to hear that horrible “Ermeni” any more and not to twitch when hearing that word, Sofia escaped from Azerbaijan, and her mother stayed in Baku.

Nowadays there is a situation in Azerbaijan when “half-Armenian enemies” are an absolute and vast majority. They start to look for Armenian roots in everyone who calls upon normal treatment towards people not guilty of the conflict. “I can be silenced with one word: your mother is Armenian! This is the phrase, against which my every logical argument will crash,” Sofia says.
Half-Azerbaijani, half-Armenian Felix Aliyev’s “reflecting” life story is also presented in the article. He lived all his life in the Armenian city Etchmiadzin.

“I did not change anything: neither my Azerbaijani surname, nor the country named Armenia,” Felix says.

A celebrated weightlifting coach in Armenia, who has brought up many generations of champions and Masters of Sports of international level, he is sure that he will give new world champions to the country, and that the world is yet to hear of Armenia. According to Felix Aliyev, he is Askar Aliyev’s (a famous and respected clarinetist in Etchmiadzin) descendant, the musical instrument of whom is still preserved by his son.

“We lived in peace and harmony. We brought up three children, a son and two daughters. My father-in-law was very upset during the interethnic clashes. However, his neighbors and friends used to say: ‘Ali jan, you are a good person, do not worry, we will not allow them to offend you. They will not even touch a hair on your head!’,” Felix Aliyev’s wife, Julietta, says adding “And really, nobody offended our family.”

At the beginning of the conflict, Felix Aliyev did not change his surname, which his grandchild uses now, and he did not think of leaving the country. “I would not respect myself if I changed my surname. I am the bearer of my father’s surname. However, I would not have left Armenia. This is my country. Only scums can leave their families,” he says adding that he could only leave Armenia if his students turned their back on him.

Felix has relatives in Azerbaijan, however, he does not hold any contacts with them.
It is noted in the article that once, when a friend of Felix’s father learnt that he continued to live in Etchmiadzin, he was shocked.

Now Felix Aliyev already has five grandchildren. His two daughters are married and live in Etchmiadzin, and his son Vladik Aliyev – Master of Sports in weightlifting – lives in Ukraine. His son, again Felix Aliyev, became Ukraine’s champion in junior weightlifting in 2015. Felix’s two grandchildren will soon go to the army.

“The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict changed everything but our family,” Felix Aliyev’s wife says adding that he is a wonderful person, and that she is very happy with him.

The problem of the “secret” Armenians and searches for their guilt in craftiness is quite a relevant topic in Azerbaijan. An “admixture of Armenian blood” is found in every scandalous person disagreeable for the authorities, and they face persecution later on. For example, at different times, opposition journalist Khadija Ismayilova, Gyulyar Ahmedova, who was arrested on bribery charges, Rashad Mammadov – the former head of the National Flag Square and “Azimport” company, and many others were found to have Armenian relatives.

According to Jumshud Nuriyev, an Azerbaijani political analyst, who holds PhD in political science, the Karabakh conflict will remain unresolved as long as people who have “Armenian blood in their veins” work in state institutions, and the unresolved conflict is the result of the Armenians’ activities who changed their documents.

According to Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Musavat, Armenophobia became a nation-wide activity in Azerbaijan and has reached such an extent that for a easy stay in this country one needs only to accuse someone that he is either “Armenian” or has “pro-Armenian views. At the same time, no one needs any proof, you just have to blame a person to become the favorite of the power. “Cases of no-Armenophobia are only a result of obligations towards the West. If a person will show hatred towards Armenians, the West would not cooperate with him,” the newspaper concludes.

According to Azerbaijani media recently in articles and stories about Armenia and the Armenians published in the press the insulting speech, swearing and unflattering remarks is increasing. In early November, the head of the Examining Division, programming and analysts of the National Television and Radio Council of Azerbaijan TavakkyulDadashov in turn called on Azerbaijani media to continue using insulting speech in the articles about Armenia.

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP): Azerbaijani Aliyev’s family owns property of over $140 mln

May 11, 2016 by administrator

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has published information on the property of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family.

According to the information, Aliyev’s daughters – Leyla and Arzu – live in a US$26 mln penthouse in downtown London. The penthouse was purchased in September 2006, being registered via an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Aliyev’s family overall owns property of over US$140 all over the world, these being only the known properties.

“Other international properties include a US$ 25 million London mansion; a flat valued at up to US$ 8 million overlooking the Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park; nine waterfront mansions in Dubai valued at US$ 44 million; a dacha near Moscow worth at least US$ 37 million; and a US$ 1.1 million villa in an exclusive neighborhood in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary,” the information reads.

OCCRP earlier published information revealing the activity of the Azerbaijani lobbyists in the U.S.