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Turkish officials meet Armenian community representatives

February 8, 2018 By administrator

Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin met the representatives of the Turkish-Armenian community on Feb. 8 to evaluate the situation after the Istanbul Governor’s Office has canceled elections for the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, Agos reported.

Soylu said he would discuss the community’s concerns with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The meeting follows a letter sent to the Armenian Patriarchate by Istanbul Governor’s Office. The letter said Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan is alive and the necessary conditions in the election process had not been met, which meant keeping Mutafyan in the position.

The Patriarchate sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, in which they expressed their wish to hold an election for a new patriarch.

The move has drawn a fierce reaction from the Turkish Armenian community. The Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos said the letter was “historic” in terms of charting the relationship between the Armenian community and the state in an editorial published on Feb. 8.

“The Justice and Development Party has openly intervened in the traditions of the church and told them they cannot elect their own patriarch,” the article said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenian, Officials, Turkish

15 Turkish security officials indicted for attacking protesters during Erdogan visit to US

August 30, 2017 By administrator

A total of 19 people, including 15 identified as bodyguards of Turkish president, were indicted Tuesday in Washington in connection with scuffles that broke out outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence.

“19 people, including 15 Turkish security officials, indicted for attacking protesters during Erdogan visit to DC in May,” Associated Press tweeted.

As reported earlier,  bodyguards of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attacked peaceful protesters in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in the US capital city on May 16.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Indicted, Officials, Security, Turkish, Washington

Dink’s attorneys apply to ECHR demanding to resume prosecution of Turkish officials

June 1, 2016 By administrator

dink caseAttorneys of Hrant Dink, assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist, have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the Turkish court. The latter earlier decided to stop the prosecution of the officials linked with the investigation of Dink’s murder.

Dink’s attorneys also appealed to the Constitutional court, noting that those officials had to do with in the preparation of Dink’s murder.

Moreover, the attorneys noted that a number of officials weren’t involved in the investigation at all.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: dink, ECHR, Officials, prosecution, Turkey, Turkish

Los Angeles Officials to Lead Vigil for Peace in Artsakh

April 11, 2016 By administrator

Vigil at City Hall to call for peace in Artsakh

Vigil at City Hall to call for peace in Artsakh

LOS ANGELES- In response to the recent shelling of Armenian villages in Artsakh (also known Nagorno-Karabakh) by Azerbaijan, Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian and other elected officials are joining with Armenian-American civic and religious leaders to make a call for peace in the Caucusus region where violence by Azerbaijan’s government has taken dozens of innocent lives in recent days. The vigil comes just days after a protest of 3,000 community members outside Azerbaijan’s consulate in Los Angeles.

The conflict erupted just over a week ago after Azerbaijan killed Armenian civilians and soldiers, in violation of a two-decade old, internationally recognized cease fire. Among the casualties were young children and elderly grandparents in small, rural villages. The conflict is especially sensitive to stability in the region as any additional escalation in violence could spark a wider regional conflict, pulling in Russia and Turkey.

The Community Vigil for Peace in Artsakh will take place on Tuesday April 12 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Los Angeles City Hall (South Lawn), 200 N. Main St., LA 90012.

“This is a critical human rights issue for the Armenian-American community and anyone who cares about peace and justice,” said LA Councilmember Paul Krekorian. “Our own U.S. government is a beacon of hope and democracy in the world and must use its influence and ensure stability in this vital region. Elected officials and community organizations are gathering to urge peace and to speak out on behalf of the victims of this inexcusable violence.”

Expected to attend the event are LA City Councilmembers Paul Krekorian, Herb Wesson Jr., Nury Martinez, Mitch O’Farrell and David Ryu; LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region, Armenian Assembly Western District; and religious leaders Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Archbishop Mikael Mouradian, Rev. Berdj Djambazian, along with many hundreds of community members, city employees and others.

Twenty five years ago, the people of Artsakh declared independence from Azerbaijan. Their demand for self-determination in their historic homeland was met with Azeri pogroms and a devastating war in the Caucasus region. Against all odds, these people defeated the much larger and better armed Azerbaijani forces and established a free, independent and democratic Republic of Artsakh, following in the tradition of the revolutionary founders of the United States of America.

Since the ceasefire in 1994, Artsakh has flourished, despite constant threats and violent provocations by Azerbaijan. Last week, Azerbaijan broke ceasefire with unprovoked full scale military attacks on the people of Artsakh, just days after the U.S. government emphasized to Azerbaijan’s president the importance of continuing to seek a permanent peace.

The vigil will promote peace in the region and urge the U.S. government to speak out against Azerbaijan’s military aggression.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Artsakh, Los Angeles, Officials, Vigil for Peace

Armenian Officials Face No Investigations over ‘Donations’

June 8, 2015 By administrator

Armenia’s Presidential Palace in Yerevan

Armenia’s Presidential Palace in Yerevan

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Senior Armenian state officials tasked with combating corruption have faced no investigations into millions of dollars in financial aid which they and their wives claim to have received from undisclosed sources in recent years.

The officials running the “oversight services” of President Serzh Sarkisian, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian and the Armenian parliament have reported such lavish financial contributions in their annual asset declarations filed with the state Commission on the Ethics of High-Ranking Officials.

So far none of them has been accused by the commission of using their position to enrich themselves and their relatives. Nor are law-enforcement authorities known to have investigated the origin of the “donations” which Armenia’s leading anti-graft watchdog believes carry serious “corruption risks.”

Hovannes Hovsepian, the wealthy head of the presidential Oversight Service, claims to have especially generous benefactors. Hovsepian’s income declarations say that from 2011 through 2014 he received a total of $2.75 million in dollar donations from individuals or legal entities not identified by him. According to the document, the minimum amount of a single donation to Hovsepian was $100,000, while the largest one stood at as much as $1.6 million.

The presidential service headed by him is supposed to monitor use of public funds by various government agencies and detect possible instances of their embezzlement.

Sargis Grigorian manages a similar oversight division in the prime minister’s office. He has reported no lavish donations and claims to live off his monthly salary of 314,000 drams ($660). His wife, Armine Kocharian, is apparently unemployed, having reported no financial incomes to the anti-graft commission.

However, Kocharian somehow managed to receive $530,000 in loans from Armenian banks from 2012-2014. She also admitted paying around $120,000 to buy several paintings last year.

Just how Grigorian’s wife secured the sizable loans is not clear. Armenian banks are extremely unlikely to lend so much money to a regular client who has no well-paid job.

The wife of Gagik Mkrtumian, a senior official at the parliamentary Audit Chamber, claimed to have received last year $100,000 in “donations” in addition to earning 180,000 drams ($380) per month. Karine Mazmanian too did not disclose the source of the cash.

The wife of Ishkhan Zakarian, the controversial Audit Chamber chief, reported a single and far more modest donation: $15,000. Zakarian’s asset declaration says that Gayane Soghomonian received the money in 2011.

The sum pales in comparison with the conspicuous wealth of Zakarian. Two years ago he was forced by opposition lawmakers to comment on sources of funding for his newly built villa in Yerevan reportedly worth millions of dollars. Zakarian said that the mansion’s construction was mainly financed by Albert Boyajian, an Armenian-American businessman described by him as his “friend.”

For the Anti-Corruption Center (ACC), the Armenian branch of the Berlin-based group Transparency International, these financial statements are a cause for serious concern.

“Such donations can be considered to be transactions fraught with high risks of corruption,” Artak Manukian, an ACC expert, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Friday. Manukian said that they would at least be investigated in many countries that are “really fighting against corruption.”

Siranush Sahakian, the chairwoman of the Commission on the Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, last month could not name a single state official who the anti-graft body believes has enriched themselves through abuse of power. The remarks suggest that the commission has never scrutinized the “donations.”

No such investigations have been reported by Armenian law-enforcement bodies either. They declined on Friday to respond to RFE/RL inquiries on the subject.

This stance will only fuel more skepticism about the Armenian government’s stated efforts to tackle widespread bribery, nepotism and other corrupt practices.

The government pledged to reinvigorate those efforts in February when it announced plans to set up a new Anti-Corruption Council that will be headed by Prime Minister Abrahamian and comprise several ministers and other top state officials. It also urged the political parties represented in the Armenian parliament and civic groups to nominate their representatives to the council. None of those groups expressed readiness to join the body.

Armenia ranked, along with four African states, 94th of 174 countries and territories evaluated in the Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released last December. It occupied the same position in the 2013 CPI which covered 177 nations.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenia, donations, nvestigations, Officials

Top FIFA Soccer Officials Indicted on Corruption Charges Report

May 26, 2015 By administrator

27soccer-web-master675The Justice Department has indicted several top FIFA officials as part of an investigation that alleges widespread corruption in soccer’s governing body over the past two decades, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
The charges include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering. They involve bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case. Prosecutors planned to unseal an indictment as early as Wednesday against more than 10 current and former soccer executives, the law enforcement officials said. Some of those being charged are living abroad and would face extradition to the United States.
The charges are a startling blow to FIFA, a multibillion-dollar organization that governs the world’s most popular sport but has been beset by accusations of corruption and bribery for decades. The inquiry is also a major threat to Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s longtime president who is generally recognized as the most powerful person in sports, though officials said he was not charged. An election, seemingly pre-ordained to give him a fifth term as president, is scheduled for Friday.
The Justice Department was working with law enforcement agencies in Switzerland, where FIFA is based, to coordinate arrests. The investigation is based in the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn

READ MORE »

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-face-corruption-charges-in-us.html?emc=edit_na_20150526

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: fifa, Indicted, Officials, Top

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