Washington: ANCA outraged over reduced charge in Erdogan-ordered attack plea agreement

December 22, 2017 By administrator

Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director Aram Hamparian, a witness to the May 16 Erdogan-ordered attacks on peaceful protesters in Washington, DC, sharply criticized a plea agreement to drop multiple hate and bias charges against two of the assailants in return for a guilty plea and one year of imprisonment.

“A proposed one year sentence for a brutal, unapologetic foreign government directed assault against Americans on U.S. soil is an absolute travesty,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The Erdogan-ordered attack wasn’t just a violent hate crime against Americans but an open assault on American values. This sentence, if approved by the court, will effectively serve as a green light to Erdogan and other foreign dictators intent on exporting their violence to American shores.”

Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu proudly tweeted his September jailhouse visit with Eyup Yildirim and Sinan Narin, arrested and charged for the Erdogan-ordered brutal beating of peaceful protesters in May. The tweet reads: “We visit and send the love and regards of our nation to our brothers Sinan Narin and Eyup Yildirim, who are under arrest in Washington.”

Hamparian and representatives of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC) were on hand at District of Columbia Superior Court when the plea deal was registered for Eyup Yildirim and Sinan Narin, two of the 19 perpetrators indicted for the brutal beatings, which included 15 members of Turkish President Erdogan’s security detail, and two Canadians, who have reportedly since repatriated to Turkey. All 19 defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, with a bias crime enhancement – charges of hate crimes – which carry a maximum 15 years prison sentence. The plea deal would remove the hate-crimes component of the charges, which have been reduced to one charge of assault.

The final sentencing, to be issued by DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo, is set March 15.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian was videotaping live at the scene of the May 16th attack, which took place in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence where President Erdogan was scheduled to have a closed-door meeting with think tank leaders. Hamparian’s video showed pro-Erdogan forces crossing a police line and beating peaceful protesters – elderly men and several women – who were on the ground bleeding during most of the attack.

Russia outraged by award for photo of Turkey ambassador killing

February 15, 2017 By administrator

The Russian Embassy in Ankara on Feb. 14 expressed anger over the awarding of the prestigious World Press Photo Award for an image of an off-duty Turkish policeman assassinating the Russian envoy to Turkey last year, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The embassy, whose ambassador Andrey Karlov was shot dead in the Dec. 19 killing, said the decision by the jury showed a “complete degradation of ethics and moral values.”

“Propaganda of the horror of terrorism is unacceptable,” it said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

The famous image was taken by Burhan Özbilici, a photographer for the Associated Press, who stood his ground as 22-year-old policeman Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş killed Karlov at the opening of an Ankara exhibition.

Jurors commended the courage of the photographer and symbolic resonance of the picture but the choice split the jury, with its president Stuart Franklin opposing the choice.

“Placing the photograph on this high pedestal is an invitation to those contemplating such staged spectaculars,” Franklin wrote in the Guardian.

The head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian senate Konstantin Kosachev said the choice was “on the edge of morality” and asked “how many more terrorists could be inspired by this photo,” RIA Novosti reported.

Altıntaş was killed at the scene by Turkish security forces.

Authorities claimed that he could be part of the Gülen network led by the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gülen, who Ankara blames for the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Russia, which sent an investigation team to Ankara after the killing, has yet to back this conclusion.

The street in Ankara where the embassy is located was recently renamed after Karlov.

‘Regressive bigotry’: Athens outraged as Ankara launches Koran readings at Hagia Sophia

June 8, 2016 By administrator

Turkish authorities will allow Koran readings at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a former Christian church and mosque which now is a secular museum. Greece slammed the move, with some fearing that Erdogan’s government is taking steps to turn the site back into a mosque.

Verses from the Islamic sacred book will be read at the Byzantine masterpiece daily during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The readings which started this Monday will also be broadcast live on Turkish state religious channel TRT Diyanet.

“Muslim rituals at the [UNESCO] World Heritage site are incomprehensible, demonstrate disrespect and show lack of contact with reality,” the ministry statement said. Athens also added that “such actions are not compatible with modern, democratic and secular societies.”

Greece’s former minister of foreign affairs and former mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis said that the new Koran readings at Hagia Sophia have “virtually transformed it into a mosque for the first time in 80 years.”

In a joint statement with another chief member of Greece’s largest conservative opposition party, New Democracy, the politician said that Ankara’s move is “provocative” and “shows disrespect against Orthodox Christians across the world and is not in line with Turkey’s European course.”

Last week, a deputy for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Samil Tayyar, suggested that the site should be open for Muslim worship as a response to Ankara’s western partners’ recent actions which the government regards as unsupportive. In a widely shared and liked post on Twitter, the Turkish MP said: “Since the United States are siding with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], and Germany has clung to the [Armenian] genocide lie, friendship has shifted. It’s our turn – [Hagia] Sopia should be open for worship.”