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Armenian president meet Elton John

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Elton John arrives to hotel in Yerevan

World-famous singer and songwriter Elton John Arrive Armenia,

The renowned musician, who has friendly relations with British-Armenian businessman and entrepreneur Vatche Manoukian, will arrive in Armenia as part of a charity mission, but his concert in capital Yerevan is also possible during this year.

Another world-famous musician Peter Gabriel, who has reportedly warm relations with President Armen Sarkissian, is also expected to visit Armenia in 2018.

Austria: EU must prepare borders for end of Turkey migrant deal

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refugees-hotelAustria’s defense minister has said the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey is dead. The EU must now prepare to strengthen its external borders, he added.

The European Union should bolster its border defenses against another influx of migrants in anticipation of the possible collapse of the bloc’s refugee deal with Turkey, Austria’s defense minister said Saturday.

“I have always said that the EU-Turkey deal should only be a stop-gap measure until the EU is in the position to effectively protect its external borders and thereby stem the flow of migrants,” Hans Peter Doskozil told the German daily “Bild” in an interview.

“The time to organize for that is ever closer,” he said, adding that he invited defense ministers from Central European states to Vienna early next week to discuss joint measures and the situation in Turkey.

Doskozil’s comments come as the EU-Turkey migrant deal, which went into effect in March, has encountered a number of stumbling blocks even as it has reduced the number of migrants arriving in Greece.

Under the deal, Turkey agreed to take back Syrian migrants in Greece who did not apply for or did not receive asylum in the EU in exchange for aid and the bloc taking a set amount of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey.

But since the deal went into effect, migrants who previously tried to reach richer northern European states before applying for asylum have put in applications in Greece. This has slowed down deportations back to Turkey and left Greece overburdened as applications are processed. The EU, meanwhile, has been slow to develop a refugee distribution plan as countries, mainly in central and eastern Europe, refuse to accept asylum-seekers.

Political developments in Turkey have also cast the deal into doubt. Doskozil said Turkey was “on its way to becoming a dictatorship,” a reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s consolidation of power and targeting of the opposition.

The political situation in Turkey makes implementation of another part of the migrant deal problematic. Under the agreement, Turkish citizens are to obtain visa-free travel to the bloc, but EU officials have questioned whether this will happen due to draconian anti-terror laws and the deterioration of democracy in Turkey. The security situation and instability in Turkey also casts doubt over whether it is a “safe country” to return migrants.

Absent visa-free travel, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu this week suggested his country would pull out of the deal by year’s end.

Vienna has allied itself with the Visegrad group – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – against the EU’s migrant policy. Earlier this year, Austria was instrumental in the closure of the Balkan route used by migrants to travel to northern Europe after it tightened its border controls and set a ceiling on asylum applications.

Also earlier this week, Austria sent 60 troops to Hungary to help build infrastructure along the border with non-EU member Serbia.

Austrians head to the polls on December 4 for a rerun presidential election that pits anti-immigration and eurosceptic Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer against the left-leaning Alexander Van der Bellen. Migration has been a centerpiece of the campaign.

cw/sms (dpa, Reuters)

Source: dw.com

Mali hotel attack: 80 hostages freed from seized hotel (updated)

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maliEighty hostages held by Islamist gunmen have been freed from a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital as government special forces moved floor by floor to clear the building, Reuters reports, citing the country’s state broadcaster and a security source.

Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako, to end a siege by gunmen who had been holding 170 people hostage.
“The attackers are still inside. We’re hearing gunfire from time to time,” said a witness outside the Radisson Blu hotel.Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali’s capital, Bamako, the BBC reports.
The hotel’s owners said that two people had locked in 140 guests and 30 employees, the AFP news agency reports its statement as saying.

Police have surrounded the hotel, which the gunmen entered shooting, and shouting “God is great!” in Arabic, a security source told Reuters.

A BBC reporter says the US-owned hotel is popular with expats working in Mali.

In August, suspected Islamist gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.

France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in the country in January 2013 when al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako after taking control of the north of the country.

The US embassy in Bamako has tweeted that it “is aware of an ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel”.

All US citizens were asked “to shelter in place” and “encouraged to contact their families”.

“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor,” a security source told AFP.

Some reports say about 10 gunmen in total are believed to be involved in the incident.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson Blu, said it was aware of “the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today”.

The UN force in Mali took over responsibility for security in the country from French and African troops in July 2013, after the main towns in the north had been recaptured from the Islamist militants.

 

Every 20 years Turkey shows it’s ugly face “massacre” Sivas massacre remembered through new documentary

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Emrah Güler

It will be 21 years on July 2 since a group of fundamentalist Muslims torched a hotel in Sivas, burning 35 people alive, including artists, writers and musicians. On its anniversary, you can watch ‘Menekşe’den Önce’ (Before Menekşe)

n_68428_1The documentary ‘Menekşeden Önce’ follows the lives of the survivors and those who lost loved ones through the eyes of a young girl born into a tragedy.

“Time?” asks the woman, her voice bemused and heart-broken at the same time. “It doesn’t heal anything. It hurts more with each passing day.” The woman is a living testament to one of the most horrific, shameful and heart-breaking days modern Turkey has experienced. She is the mother of the two youngest victims that were among the 35 people who were burnt alive by fundamentalist Muslims in the central Anatolian city of Sivas on July 2, 1993.

The Sivas massacre, or the Madımak massacre (referring to the name of the torched hotel), has become a symbol of some of the darkest moments that humanity can endure. From the planning of the attack, including the involvement of the police and some politicians, to the controversial trial, then the case going back and forth with it eventually being dropped in 2012 due to charges against the suspects exceeding the statute of limitations.

The woman’s painful remarks are captured in a feature documentary that looks at that fateful day through the eyes of those who lost members of their family and friends, as well as the survivors. “Menekşe’den Önce” (Before Menekşe) of 2012 is a communal project, that was started by journalist and writer Soner Yalçın. Yalçın was arrested and charged for being linked to the alleged terrorist organization Ergenekon in Feb. 2011 while filming. The film was completed by Yalçın’s friends: Halide Didem, Elif Ilgaz, Zeynep Altıok, Tuğçe Tatari, Ebru Köktürk, Elif Yıldız, Melda Onur, Canan Kaftancıoğlu and Tuğba Ezeroğlu.

the Hurriyet Daily News reports.