politician Archives

Imagine disgusting Australian politician praising Azerbaijan election that surpassed Australia’s experience

April 13, 2018 by administrator

Craig Kelly

The Armenian National Committee of Australia has condemned Federal Australian parliamentarianCraig Kelly for comments he has made praising Azerbaijan’s democracy after leading a delegation to observe the oil-rich dictatorship’s most recent presidential elections.

Kelly, the Member for Hughes, remarked to Azerbaijan’s Azernews media outlet, that he “saw an election organisation that surpassed Australia’s experience in this field” and that “we, together with my colleagues, will undoubtedly bring this useful experience home.”

Kelly also said: “I learned a lot of new things and I propose to apply it in Australia. I saw the birth date of voters, there was a man born in 1928. This means that he is 90 years old. This is a significant day for him, since he voted in democratic conditions.”

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) expressed their dismay that these quotes by an Australian politician were so different to the testimonies of observers from other democratic countries, who have almost universally condemned the undemocratic environment in which these elections were held.

“We think it is a legitimate question to ask,” said ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian. “Why is Craig Kelly out of sync with every other international observer from a recognised democracy who monitored the very same elections?”

“To ignore that Azerbaijan has been ranked below countries such as Iran, Iraq, China and Russia in terms of civil and political freedoms by Freedom House, and to suggest Australia should learn from such a regime, is completely unacceptable,” Kayserian added.

New Zealand politician urges government to acknowledge Armenian Genocide

March 1, 2018 by administrator

New Zealand politician, calling Armenian Genocide

By Tony Wright

Re-published from NewsHubNew Zealand governments have been constantly running scared from officially recognising the 20th century’s first great crime against humanity – the Armenian Genocide.It’s believed up to 1.5 million of the 2 million Armenian civilians living in the Ottoman Empire (now modern day Turkey) were slaughtered during the First World War.

While the purges and mass-death events were front page news in New Zealand at the time, and even witnessed by Kiwi soldiers who were captured by Ottoman forces at Gallipoli, no New Zealand government has ever officially acknowledged that the Armenian Genocide took place, and that needs to change.

We recognise the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, and
closer to home, the East Timor genocide.So why don’t we do the same with the Armenian Genocide?The answer is simple: New Zealand’s link to Gallipoli and Turkey.Turkey refuses to admit that the Armenian Genocide took place at all – its official line is that thousands of Armenians died in military uprisings – not as victims of ethnic cleansing.

If a New Zealand government moved to officially recognize that the Armenian Genocide took place, then Turkey would likely threaten to ban Kiwi passport holders from visiting the old Gallipoli battlefields – or at least make the process much more difficult than it is now.Here are some of the 29 countries that officially recognise the Armenian Genocide:Germany, Canada, France, Russia, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Syria.In many of these countries, denial of the genocide is punishable by a fine or even imprisonment.

It’s interesting to note that soldiers from France and Canada also fought the Ottoman forces at Gallipoli, and yet those nations still decided to stand up to Turkey and recognise the Armenian Genocide.

So, my challenge to the Jacinda Ardern-led Government is this:

Take a stand and officially recognise that the Armenian Genocide took place. Make it law. Teach it in Kiwi classrooms alongside other genocides like the Jewish Holocaust. Do it for peace, and as a chilling warning of what can happen during a war.

Over 18,500 New Zealand soldiers didn’t die in World War I so that foreign powers could still hold us to ransom a century later.

German politician slams Turks as “camel herders”

February 15, 2018 by administrator

German politician slams Turks

German opposition politician slammed Turkish community as “camel herders” and reminded them of committing the Armenian Genocide, dpa reported.

Andre Poggenburg, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said the Turks should not speak about history and homeland.

“These caraway traders have the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians weighing them down … and they want to tell us something about history and homeland? They‘re nuts. These camel herders should set off to where they belong,” he said.

His criticism came in response to the statements of Turkish community, which is opposing the concept of a new Home Ministry as proposed in the new German government coalition agreement.

He also lashed out at calls by the country‘s Turkish community for dual citizenship.

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Dutch anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders calls for ban on Turkish cabinet visits

March 5, 2017 by administrator

Populist leader Geert Wilders has slammed a planned event in The Netherlands in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Wilders is hoping to come out on top in the country’s next general election.

With just 10 days until the Netherlands elects its next government, Wilders delivered a statement to reporters in which he slammed plans by Turkish officials to campaign in the European country.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and other Dutch officials have already criticized plans to hold the rally in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.

“They should not come here and interfere with our domestic problems,” Wilders told reporters, referring to the Turkish officials planning to attend the rally.

He went on to call for a ban on the politicians from entering the country, saying in English, “If I would be prime minister today I would declare – until at least the half of April when they have the referendum – I would call the whole cabinet of Turkey persona non-grata for a month or two, not allowing them to come here.”

Wilders, who officially launched his campaign in February, also said the Dutch government was weak for not banning the rally and referred to Erdogan as an “Islamo-fascist leader.”

Vying for votes

Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) led opinion polls for several months, with around 20 percent support, which was seen as enough to lead a multi-party coalition, if only the other parties hadn’t ruled out a deal with Wilder’s party. But the PVV has lost ground in recent weeks.

In the most recent poll released on Wednesday, it now trails Rutte’s conservative liberal VVD by 16.3 percent to 15.7 percent.

Wilder’s who last month launched his campaign denouncing what he called “Moroccan scum who make the streets unsafe,” has previously being fined for inciting racial hatred.

The controversial MP suspended campaigning for a few days last week after one his security officials was arrested on suspicion of passing classified information about Wilders to a Dutch-Moroccan crime gang.

The firebrand lawmaker, who has courted controversy with his hardline anti-Islam, anti-immigrant stance and incendiary insults against Moroccans and Turks, has long been under 24-hour police protection.

He promised to return to campaining this weekend on an anti-immigration and anti-EU platform.

The 53-year-old has vowed that if elected he will pull the Netherlands out of the EU, ban the sale of Korans, close mosques and Islamic schools, shut Dutch borders and ban Muslim migrants.

Italian politician facing charges over €2m bribe from Azerbaijan

June 25, 2016 by administrator

A prominent Italian political figure representing the country in the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is facing charges over taking bribe from Azerbaijan.
According to La Stampa, the Prosecutor’s Office in Milan accuses Luca Volonte of illegal possession of means and money laundering. Particularly, he has been charged with receiving 2.39 Euros from the company Baktelecom in the period between 2012-2014.
The Italian investigative bodies believe Volonte was given the money for initiating political activities in support of Azerbaijan.

Turkish nationalist politician jailed over ‘hunting for Armenians’ remarks

May 25, 2016 by administrator

A Turkish nationalist politician has been jailed over controversial remarks suggesting “hunting for Armenians” after a concert last year by a renowned Armenian pianist in the ancient city of Ani in the eastern province of Kars, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Garo Paylan had filed a lawsuit against Tolga Adıgüzel, the Kars provincial head of the “Idealist Hearths” (Ülkü Ocakları), which has organic ties to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), after Adıgüzel suggested “going out to hunt Armenians in the streets of Kars” as a counter-move after the concert.

The Kars third criminal court of first instance initially sentenced Adıgüzel to six months in prison, along with a pecuniary punishment of 11,240 Turkish Liras on May 25 on charges of “overtly insulting some segments of the public based on difference of social class, race, religion, sect, sexuality or region.” The court then increased the sentence to seven months and fifteen days as the crime was committed via the media, which carries a heavier sentence.

Paylan described the court ruling as “hopeful” both for Armenians and for all parts of society in Turkey that believe in social peace and justice, vowing to fight against “all kinds of racist remarks and hate speech.”

World-renowned Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan and the Yereven State Chamber Choir gave a concert at Ani, on the Turkish border with Armenia, on June 21, 2015.

After the concert, Adıgüzel issued a press statement “strongly” condemning the performance, questioning its “aims,” and accusing its supporters of “treason.”

“Should we go out for hunting for Armenians in the streets of Kars? Can we give a concert at a place that they consider holy, or march our janissary band?” he had said.

Politician with Armenian roots is appointed Australian ambassador to US

January 29, 2016 by administrator

aaad Joseph Benedict “Joe” Hockey on Thursday presented his credentials to President Barack Obama as the new Australian Ambassador to the United States.

The newly appointed ambassador is of Armenian descent, as his father is a Palestine Armenian.

His father’s original surname, Hokeidonian, was anglicized to “Hockey” in 1948 after arriving in Australia.

Hockey, 50, was the Member of Parliament from 1996 until 2015.

He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Tony Abbott Government.

He previously served as the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the John Howard Government.

Bulgarian politician dumped for backing Turkey over downing of Russian jet

December 25, 2015 by administrator

Lutvi Mestan (Photo: Cihan)

The leader of Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party has been ousted from his post and expelled from the party, apparently for declaring support for Turkey in its row with Moscow over the downing of a Russian warplane.

Lutvi Mestan, who headed the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms party (MRF), which represents ethnic Turks, voiced support for Turkey’s action last month in a declaration to the Bulgarian parliament in which he said Russian military aircraft had repeatedly violated Turkish airspace.

Turkey said it shot down the plane in defense of its airspace. Moscow denied its plane had passed over Turkish territory.

A spokeswoman for the MRF said on Thursday that Mestan had been dismissed from his post and expelled from the party by a unanimous decision by its leadership taken at a meeting in the villa of party founder Ahmed Doğan.

“All the decisions regarding Mestan were unanimous,” the spokeswoman, Velislava Krasteva, told reporters.

Doğan, a respectable elder statesman of Bulgarian politics, said during the meeting that “this would be the fate of everyone who stands up against Bulgaria’s national interests,” the spokeswoman said.

We leave behind painful past to look to future – Turkish-Armenian politician

June 4, 2015 by administrator

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) has issued a statement justifying its decision to endorse the pro-Kurdish Democracy of Nations (HDP) party in Turkey’s upcoming parliamentary election.
The move has provoked both positive and negative reactions across Turkey.
At a recent demonstration in Batman, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a statement downplaying the party’s role for collaboration with the Armenian diaspora. “What benefits can one expect from someone whose friend is the Armenian diaspora?” he said. The remark spurred serious controversies.
The Istanbul based Turkish-Armenian publication Agos has talked to Peto Demirchyan, a spokesperson for an Armenian organization.
Asked why they back HDP, Demirchyan said they believe that the party represents different ethnic identities, a fact they find very important for shaking off the ruling Justice and Democracy party’s monarchy.
“We have left behind the painful past with the Kurds, so both sides are now openly looking to the future. To confront the past and look to the future, we need grounds to reach an agreement between the Armenians and Turks,” he answered.
Demirchyan said he knows that it is the first ever call of the kind by an Armenian organization on Turks residing in Europe (asking it to vote in favor of a specific political party).
“This call was accepted positively especially by intellectual circles. We have also seen positive and negative comments in the Turkish media. And Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed Selahattin Demirtaş, a co-chairman of the HDP party, for reaching an agreement with the Armenian Diaspora. As we see, our support did have its impact,” he added.
Commenting on the statement’s powerfulnes, Demirchyan said he finds their organization influential. “We represent the Armenian community and Armenian organizations in Europe. We collaborate with minorities and groups subjected to violence in Turkey. Those groups have created a big diaspora in Europe, especially in Western Europe,” he added.

Armenian politician vows to ‘oust’ leader of Turkey’s Liberal Party

May 28, 2015 by administrator

A young politician has set his eyes on becoming Turkey’s first Armenian party leader by “staging a coup” inside Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The LDP’s Istanbul deputy candidate Arda Karapınar told Turkish news portal Radikal on May 28 that he is ready to replace the party’s seasoned chair, Cem Toker.

“As [Armenians in Turkey] want an Armenian candidate, I promise that if they vote for me I will stage a coup against Cem Toker to become the first Armenian party chair in Turkish political history,” Karapınar said in remarks both bold and teasing.

He admits that it is highly unlikely that he will enter parliament after the June 7 parliamentary election due to the 10 percent national election threshold, as the tiny LDP was only able to score only 0.04 percent in the 2011 general election.

“My goal is not to enter parliament but to manage the country. It might not be with these elections and perhaps I will never be in power, but also I won’t be a tool of power,” he said.

“We find ethnic politics ugly. Such politics provoke all quarrels, but this does not change the fact that my ethnic origin is Armenian,” Karapınar added, stressing that his main ambition is to contribute to the transformation of Turkish politics by “making it more fun for the youth.”

“If the average age of parliamentarians is 60 in a country where the average age is 29, then politics must change,” he said.

Karapınar became well-known for his tweets supporting the massive Gezi Park protests in 2013, which were mainly led by the youth. Speaking to Radikal, he criticized the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which now portrays itself as pro-Gezi, for actually condemning the protests in the early days of anti-government activism.

“[HDP Co-Chair Selahattin] Demirtaş had somehow labelled the Gezi protests as ‘a quest to undermine Kurdish politics,’” Karapınar said, noting that the HDP’s stance changed to support Gezi after its politicians later visited the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“The real owner of the popular demands voiced during the early days of the Gezi protests is neither Demirtaş or Sırrı Süreyye [Önder, a HDP politician], but it the ordinary citizen Mehmet, who left his apartment [near Istanbul’s Taksim Square] wearing his slippers and was exposed to police tear gas,” the LDP hopeful added.

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