Turkey bomb blasts: Erdoġan’s government blamed as thousands take to streets in Ankara

October 11, 2015 By administrator

Mourners and protesters gather in Turkish capital, blaming Erdoġan’s government for twin bomb attacks in which over 100 civilians died

Thousands of Turkish citizens gathered in central Ankara a day after twin bombings targeted a peace rally in the city, killing over a hundred civilians in an attack that demonstrators and mourners blamed squarely on the government of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Witnesses and victims’ families, as well as opposition parties, ascribed direct responsibility to the government for allegedly failing to provide any security measures ahead of the peace rally, saying police officers who arrived at the scene after the bombing fired teargas at grieving families who rushed there to inquire about their loved ones.

They also blamed Erdoğan’s government for allegedly sowing chaos ahead of next month’s parliamentary polls, either to delay the elections and retain power for his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), or to increase his chances of securing a broader majority in the elections to maintain security.

“We are grieving, we are saddened, but we are also furious,” the Kurdish opposition leader, Selahattin Demirtas, told a rally in Sihhiye Square in central Ankara. “We will struggle, fight, and win back the democracy.”

Demonstrators shouted slogans condemning the Turkish president, chanting “chief and murderer Erdoğan” and “death to fascism”.

Brief scuffles earlier broke out as police used teargas to prevent people from laying red carnations at the site of the attack, the deadliest terrorist strike on Turkish soil in recent history. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic party (HDP) said said some members of its delegation sustained injuries.

Organisers searched the demonstration’s attendees and patted them down to avoid a repeat of the previous day’s attack as tension and anger rose at the previous day’s bloody events.

According to the HDP, the number of people killed in the bombing stands at 128, all but eight of whom have been identified and their names published by the HDP’s crisis desk.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, and the government has denied any part in it. The prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, cited the political upheaval in both Turkey and Syria and said the attack could have been carried out by Islamic State, Kurdish militants or radical leftist groups.

Kurdistan: Shivan Azad, a Kurdish man who criticized Iraqi Kurdistan govt released on bail

August 24, 2015 By administrator

“People have no money to drink milk, no electricity, no water. People have become annoyed, it’s enough!” Azad said in the video that has gone viral since it was posted on August 3.

ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— A local man arrested by Erbil police after he criticized Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a video posted to social media was released on bail Sunday, four days after being taken into custody.

Shivan Azad recorded and posted a cell phone video in which he blamed authorities for water and electricity shortages as well as delayed salaries for government employees.

“People have no money to drink milk, no electricity, no water. People have become annoyed, it’s enough!” Azad said in the video that has gone viral since it was posted on August 3. Report Ekurd

At the time of publishing, the video had over 10,000 views on Facebook.

“I talk on behalf of all people of Kurdistan. I am not afraid of being killed, arrested or executed,” he said.

NRT correspondent in Erbil, Omed Chomani said Azad was released on a three million dinar ($2,617) bail.

Azad spoke to NRT immediately after his release Sunday and said he does not regret posting the video, but that he also was not intending to incite violence or protests.

“I am free to say and express whatever,” he said. “I don’t mean to encourage people to go out on the streets and violate or annoy people. I am from Kurdistan and I want Kurdistan to be free and progressive.”

Erbil’s police directorate issued a statement Saturday saying it rejected allegations that Azad had been abducted and tortured by officers.

Azad said he had not been harmed while in custody.

Soran Omer, head of the Human Rights Committee in the Kurdistan Parliament, said Azad was arrested for expressing his anger towards Kurdish authorities, not for defamation, as police officials stated.

“He was accused of defamation,” Omer said. “Forming a committee to investigate his statements is against the law because he wasn’t at work when he did it.” Azad is a government employee working for the Erbil Civil Defense Directorate.

Omer also said he called on the KRG’s Interior Minister to review Azad’s case.

A number of civil society organizations gathered together in Erbil’s Minaret Park on Saturday to express concern over Azad’s arrest and call on the KRG to release him.

One of the demonstration’s organizers said the group had gathered to push for freedom of speech, which they feel is under threat in the Kurdistan Region.

And while Kurdistan region in the north often promotes itself as safer and more respectful of human rights than the rest of Iraq, it has been sharply criticised by rights groups for infringing on free speech.

Armenian Government to assume the burden of price hike until audit conducted #ElectricYerevan

June 27, 2015 By administrator

By Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held consultations with the agencies responsible for the Republic’s economic policy to discuss issued of energy security and solution of existing problems.

Speaking about the ongoing protests against the planned electricity price hike, President Sargsyan hailed the mutual trust established between the protesters and the law-enforcement bodies over the past days.

“I have been following the recent developments and I can assert that over the past week Armenia has turned into a large and effective educational center, where our citizens and law-enforcers, journalists and lawmakers, intellectuals and foreigners teach each other, listen to each other, tolerate each other, something that rarely happens in the world.,” the President said.

The President reminded that during a meeting with Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov he stressed the importance of conducting an audit at the Armenian Electric Networks. He added, however, that the decision on price hike was justified.

“I’m confident that if the price is not increased, the energy system will face the danger of collapse.”

He suggested to select an experienced international consulting company to conduct an audit at the Electric Networks, to give an answer to the following questions: to what extent the price hike is justified and which are the dangers threatening the energy system in case the price is not increased.

The President said that before the final decision, the government will assume the burden of the increased prices.

“If the audit comes to prove that the price hike is justified, the consumers will start paying the cost. In case the audit concludes that the planned price hike was groundless, the government will do its best to get back the sums spared by the Electric Networks and will call the officials to accountability,” President Sargsyan stated.

Georgia government collapses after ministers quit

April 29, 2015 By administrator

Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Garibasvili’s government collapsed Wednesday after a seventh minister quit his 20-member Georgian Dream coalition Cabinet, AFP reported.

“I am resigning from my post,” sports minister Levan Kipiani told a press conference. The move spells the end of the Cabinet, as replacing one-third of its members automatically requires the entire Cabinet to dissolve.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili has a week to formally nominate a new prime minister proposed by the parliamentary majority.

The prime minister-designate will then have two weeks to pick his team but will have to go back to parliament for a confidence vote.

As the legislature is dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream coalition led by the previous and now acting Prime Minister Garibashvili, it is expected to back his re-appointment.

Source: Panorama.am

Pamuk: ‘Authoritarian and Islamist government’ replaced soldiers in Turkey

February 14, 2015 By administrator

ISTANBUL – Agence France-Presse

Turkish Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk poses during an interview at his house in Istanbul. AFP photo

When the book begins in the 1970s, Istanbul’s population was just two million, but now it is up to 16 million, he noted.

Pamuk may be reluctant to be seen as a political figure, but he remains unequivocally critical of Erdoğan who has boasted of transforming the country into a “new Turkey” with ambitious building projects.

He said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was “destroying the balance of powers, which is in fact the key to any democracy.”

“In that sense, Turkey is only an electoral democracy, but a democracy where the respect of human rights, free speech are violated every day.”

Pamuk leaves Turkey every year to teach for a semester at New York at Columbia University and said he could sense the change when he returned last.

“When I came back, I felt a climate of fear, people whispering.”

Commenting on Turkey’s recent history, from coup-happy generals to Erdoğan, he said: “Authoritarian soldiers were (pushed) out, (an) authoritarian and Islamist government took their place.”

Erdoğan and the AKP have dominated Turkey’s highly diverse society for over a decade but have been facing unprecedented challenges after 2013 mass protests followed by stunning corruption allegations against the elite.

“In a sense, the mystery of political Islam vanished because of the convincing power of corruption allegations,” said Pamuk.

He is far more reticent when asked to comment on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I, a tragedy which Pamuk had in 2005 labelled a “genocide.”

Those comments brought him death threats as well as legal proceedings that were eventually abandoned.

“In a sense, the mystery of political Islam vanished because of the convincing power of corruption allegations,” said Pamuk.

He is far more reticent when asked to comment on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I, a tragedy which Pamuk had in 2005 labelled a “genocide.”

Those comments brought him death threats as well as legal proceedings that were eventually abandoned.

“I had a lot of trouble eight to 10 years ago because I talked freely about this subject.”

Time to Unite time to #deturkification of Washington