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Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed on Thursday a decree declaring the day of funeral of Charles Aznavour day of mourning in Armenia.
“I have signed today a decree declaring October 6, the funeral day of Armenia’s National Hero Charles Aznavour day of mourning in Armenia,” the PM wrote in his Facebook page.
A non-commissioned female officer, accompanying the mother of a killed soldier during his funeral, took the attention of the media when she said that rich people would not become soldiers nor be martyred, while trying to soothe the mother’s pain.
In an attempt to comfort Cennet Özata, the mourning mother of 23-year-old Mustafa Kemal Özata, who succumbed to his injuries days after being wounded in clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the female officer said the rich would not die in clashes as they would not become soldiers at the fallen soldier’s funeral, held in Turkey’s central province of Konya on Aug. 29.
“Aunty, don’t I know? Would the rich become soldiers? No. The rich would neither become a soldier nor a martyr,” said the female soldier, as Cennet Özata was explaining her hard economic situation while raising all seven of her children.
Specialized Sgt. Özata, who was injured in clashes in the southeastern province of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district on Aug. 14, succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 28, at the GATA military hospital in Ankara where he was being treated.
His mother said his son had to work in bazaars after graduating from high school and added that her husband was a driver.
The female soldier’s words came a week after the brother, also an officer, of a killed soldier had lashed out the country’s main political figures, during his younger brother’s funeral ceremony.
Lt. Col. Mehmet Alkan, the elder brother of slain army captain Ali Alkan, who was killed after PKK militants attacked a military outpost in the southeastern Şırnak province’s Beytüşşebap district late Aug. 21, directly targeted politicians during the funeral in the southern province of Osmaniye on Aug. 23, where more than 15,000 people, including several members of the parliament participated, while also questioning the reasons behind the latest outbreaks of violence.
“Why do those who have been saying ‘solution’ since yesterday now say war?” Alkan asked, in reference to the Kurdish peace process, which came to a halt late July after being conducted for more than two years, bringing an end to the 30-year-long clashes between the Turkish security forces and PKK militants.
“This son of our homeland was just 32 years old. He couldn’t get enough of his country or his beloved ones yet. Who is his murderer?” Alkan asked at the ceremony.
Following the outburst, which was caught on camera, sources told daily Hürriyet that the gendarmerie general command is set to start disciplinary proceedings in accordance with internal procedures.
Meanwhile, speaking to Hürriyet, Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk said the lieutenant colonel’s reaction was “understandable but wrong.”
Source: hurriyetdailynews
He had 30 wives, 60 children and $20 million of wealth,
KONYA / ŞANLIURFA
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş has lamented the declaration of national mourning for Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, arguing the presence of holy sites in the Saudi territories does not automatically make the king a divine figure.
“Today, they declared national mourning. Of course, we have holy sites in the Saudi territories. Of course, we have our Prophet’s entrusts, which are of course assets of the Islamic world. However, is the Saudi king, the one who lives in the golden palace, holy too because of being on the holy land?” Demirtaş said on Jan. 24, referring to Saudi Arabia being the birthplace of Islam and is home to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
As of Jan. 23, the Turkish government announced that it declared Jan. 24 a day of national mourning for bin Abdulaziz, who passed away early Jan. 23 at the age of 90.
“We declare Saturday, Jan. 24, a day of national mourning for bin Abdulaziz,” the Turkish Prime Ministry said in a written statement, shortly after bin Abdulaziz passed away.
The national flag was to be flown at half-mast across Turkey and at foreign delegations on Jan. 24, accordingly. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, meanwhile, delayed a planned trip to Somalia to attend bin Abdulaziz’s funeral.
While speaking at a HDP provincial congress, Demirtaş argued bin Adbulaziz did not live according to the rules of Islam.
“He had 30 wives, 60 children and $20 million of wealth,” Demirtaş said. “God forgive him for his sins. Are we supposed to hold national mourning for him? No offense, we are not mourning. It is not our mourning. The king may be your king, but we do not recognize any kings. This country has 12 million subcontracted workers; the cost of your king’s dinner for one day is the salary that 1,000 subcontracted workers receive in total in a month,” he added.
In a message posted to his Twitter account, Demirtaş said: “Don’t lean on the king; you will fall.”
Delivering a speech at another HDP provincial congress, this time in Şanlıurfa, Demirtaş said on Jan. 25 that the government has been imposing discriminative policies based on people’s identities.
He suggested that they used women being victimized for wearing headscarves as a tool for scoring in domestic policy and used those people to “climb to the top.”
Anwar Muslim, head of the Kobane canton in Syria, also joined the congress in Şanlıurfa and delivered remarks through a teleconference.
January/25/2015
