politicians Archives

Republican presidential nominee meets with Armenian politicians in Lebanon

February 26, 2018 by administrator

Armen Sargsyan, whom the ruling Republican Party of Armenia nominated last week as its candidate in the upcoming presidential election, on Sunday visited to the Armenian Embassy to Lebanon to with representatives of the traditional Armenian political.The talks with members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D), the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal (Ramgavar) Party addressed Armenia’s domestic and foreign policies and urgent issues regarding the preservation of the Armenian identity. abroad

Sargsyan briefed the participants on the pressing challenges in Armenia, sharing his vision of ensuring sustainable development and solidarity among the Armenian worldwide. He also elaborated on the priorities of the step planned.

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Azerbaijan: serious suspicions of corruption on European politicians

December 28, 2016 by administrator

In its edition of 22 December the Spanish site Valencia Plaza reported suspicions of corruption by Azerbaijan on Senator Pedro Agramunt, which is nothing less than the president under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This article is based on the second report of the ESI (European Stability Initiative) dedicated to the diplomacy of caviar. This document, published on December 17, 2016, is extremely detailed. He places this elected member in a list of 5 European parliamentarians suspected of corruption. One of them has already admitted to illegally receiving more than two million Euros to “give advice on agricultural matters” to the Aliyev regime. Questioned by Valencia Plaza, Pedro Agramunt for his part denied any involvement.

The system of corruption, which uses all sorts of means (cash, silk mats, smartphones, MacBooks, prostitutes, etc.) aims, according to the ESI report, to improve the image of Azerbaijan in Within the Council of Europe. The work of this NGO benefits from the collaboration of prosecutors from different countries who are working on the possible relationship of a number of politicians with this alleged plot. The Italian MEP Luca Volonté (Christian Democratic Party) was denounced as being at the center of a network supporting the Baku regime in PACE, whose puppeteers are according to the report of the ESI Two Azerbaijani parliamentarians: Elkhan Suleymanov (lobbyist in the European Union, before being elected to the PACE) and Muslum Mamadov, who later joined the latter. Their actions were allegedly financed by the Eydar Aliyev Foundation, named after the former Azerbaijani president.

During his investigation, the Italian police were able to establish that Luca Volonté perceived through two structures, including the association Novae Terrae (an ultra-religious and homophobic association) founded and the company LVG (Luca Giuseppe Volonte) registered In milan under the name of his wife, a hidden salary of 30,000 euros per month, in addition to an initial payment of 100,000 euros. The investigation carried out by the Italian courts has proved that between 2012 and 2014 more than 2.4 million Euros were passed through his hands. The money came from Baku. It transited through Estonia and Latvia, and was distributed through a network of companies based in Bimingham and the Marshall Islands.

According to elements exploited by the Italian police, it appears that Pedro Agramunt is one of the main accomplices of Will, without sufficient evidence to make these suspicions lead to an indictment.

But in a report published in 2013 and titled “Senator Valencia guardian of Azerbaijan or why Pedro Agramun should resign”, ESI listed the different trips of the Spanish politician in Azerbaijan and his various efforts to present an image Favor of that State. A task facilitated by his responsibilities. He was between 2013 and 2016 president of the group “European People’s Party” (now a majority party) and since January 2016 is the fourth Spanish president of the Council of Europe … He was also four times observer of the ” EU in Azerbaijan and was the rapporteur for the monitoring of the country.

The ESI report quotes, besides the name of Agramunt, that of the following parliamentarians: the Spanish Jordi Xuclà the British Michael Hancock and Robert Walker, the Polish Tadeusz Iwinski and the Italian Luigi Vitali. But none is directly accused. The ESI calls on prosecutors’ offices in France, Spain, Germany and other countries to speak with their Italian colleagues and to cooperate on the investigation of suspicious behavior during this period. Also that the transaction between Suleymanov and Volonte be placed on the agenda of the next PACE plenary session at the end of January 2017.

Armenian Opposition Politicians Sent To Pretrial Detention

August 2, 2016 by administrator

Andreas Ghukasian, the leader of the Rise Up, Armenia civic movement is among those who have been detained. (file photo)

Three Armenian opposition politicians accused of organizing mass disturbances have been sent to pretrial detention.

On August 2, a court in Yerevan ordered David Sansarian and Hovsep Khurshudian of the Heritage opposition party, as well as Andreas Ghukasian — leader of the civic movement Rise Up, Armenia — to remain in detention for two months as investigations against them continue.

A group of armed men linked to the radical opposition movement Founding Parliament stormed and seized a police compound in Yerevan on July 17, demanding that President Serzh Sarkisian free the movement’s jailed leader, Zhirayr Sefilian, and step down.

Thousands of the gunmen’s supporters joined nightly rallies for two weeks, occasionally clashing with police.

The gunmen surrendered to police on July 31.

The violence claimed the lives of two police officers.

Based on reporting by Kavkaz-uzel.eu and Interfax

German politicians say Merkel left EU exposed to Turkish blackmail

May 15, 2016 by administrator

By Michelle Martin

BERLIN, May 15 (Reuters) – German politicians accused Chancellor Angela Merkel at the weekend of making Europe overly dependent on Turkey in the migrant crisis, leaving the bloc vulnerable to blackmail by President Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey, refusing to bow to European Union demands to rein in its broad anti-terror laws, said on Friday talks on a deal to provide visa-free travel in return for stopping illegal migrants reaching the EU had reached an impasse and the bloc must find a “new formula” to salvage the agreement.

Merkel, whose popularity has suffered due to her liberal migrant policy that saw Germany take in more than one million migrants last year, had spearheaded EU efforts to secure the deal, signed in March.

While the numbers of migrants have dropped sharply this year, Merkel continues to attract criticism from her conservative allies in Bavaria as well as the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“I’m not against talks with Turkey but I think it’s dangerous to become so dependent on Ankara,” said Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

Seehofer told Welt am Sonntag (WamS) that the deal with Turkey had helped boost support for AfD, which is currently polling at up to 15 percent.

Sahra Wagenknecht of the opposition far-left Linke party told the same newspaper Merkel had essentially negotiated the deal without involving her European partners.

“The chancellor is therefore responsible for Europe having become vulnerable to being blackmailed by the authoritarian Turkish regime and for Erdogan feeling noticeably strengthened to crush human rights underfoot,” she said.

Cem Oezdemir, co-leader of the Greens party and the son of Turkish immigrants, also told WamS the deal had put Europe at risk of being blackmailed and said Merkel was largely to blame.

While the EU is desperate for the deal to succeed, it also insists that Turkey meet 72 criteria, including anti-terror laws which it says Turkey uses to stifle dissent. Ankara says it needs sweeping legislation to fight Kurdish insurgents and Islamic State.

Merkel is due to attend the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 23 and there are plans for bilateral talks with other leaders in attendance, her spokesman said on Friday.

Members of the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s junior coalition partner, also expressed concern.

Carsten Schneider told WamS Merkel had made Erdogan the key to her refugee policy and if he stopped cooperating, “the extent of Germany’s isolation in Europe will become clear again”, while Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel said Merkel should not “kowtow” to Erdogan.

But SPD Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Tagesspiegel newspaper Turkey was still the key country for migration to Europe, adding: “We need to cooperate to some extent if we want to avoid the circumstances we had last year.”

Merkel has drawn heavy criticism for allowing German prosecutors to pursue a case against a German comedian at the Turkish leader’s behest. The comic had recited a sexually crude poem about Erdogan. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

Panama Papers bubble chart shows politicians are most mentioned in document leak database

May 13, 2016 by administrator

It appears to show that politicians are mentioned most often, followed by lawyers, business people, entrepreneurs, and those working in association football,

By Hazel Sheffield,

Politicians are by far the most referenced occupation in the Panama Papers.

That’s according to a chart created by a data researcher from Denmark, who used Wikidata to plot the occupations associated with those featured in the leaked documents.

Finn Årup Nielsen, senior researcher from the department of applied math and computer science at the Technical University of Denmark, published the bubble chart on his blog.

It appears to show that politicians are mentioned most often, followed by lawyers, business people, entrepreneurs, and those working in association football.

Nielsen said the flaw with the Wikidata means that only people who are notable enough to get their own Wikipedia page will be included in the data, which might mean many smaller business people featured in the papers don’t count towards the bubble chart.

At least three dozen Americans did business with Mossack Fonseca, the law firm based in Panama that wrote to all its clients to tell them it had leaked their details to the press on April 1.

Among the Americans listed are Len Gotshalk, a former Atlanta Falcons football star who was charged in 2010 with being a key player in a kickbacks scheme to inflate stocks of tech companies. Three days later, he bought a British Virgin Islands shell company that Mossack Fonseca had set up.

Emma Watson’s name has also been found in the searchable database published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Watson’s spokesperson confirmed the 26-year-old had set up an offshore company, but added that she does not receive any tax or monetary advantages whatsoever. The spokesperson said she uses it for privacy purposes.

Setting up an offshore company is not in itself illegal or evidence of illegal conduct.

A number of past and present world leaders were named in the first leak as having offshore holdings. The database is the largest ever trove of data about offshore companies to be made publicly available.

Top Australian politicians to attend Armenian Genocide Commemoration

April 22, 2016 by administrator

210858 The National Armenian Genocide Commemoration Evening on Sunday, April 24 will host supporters and friends of Armenian-Australians from both the Federal and NSW governments, who will gather with the community to honor and remember the over 1.5 million innocent victims of the first Genocide of the 20th Century.

The gathered will hear from keynote speaker, prominent military historian and co-author of the recently-published “Armenia, Australia & the Great War,” Professor Peter Stanley, Armenian National Committee of Australia reports.

The Member for Bennelong, John Alexander OAM will be in attendance, continuing his full-fledged support to the cause of Federal recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Alexander has been vocal in raising the issues and concerns of the Armenian community in the Australian Parliament.

The new Member for North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman will also be attending the Commemoration for the first time in his capacity as a Member of the Australian Parliament since taking over his seat from Joe Hockey, now Australia’s Ambassador to the United States.

On March 2, Zimmerman gave his maiden speech in Australia’s House of Representatives, calling on Turkey to recognise and atone for the Armenian Genocide.

Also, Senator Lee Rhiannon, NSW Treasurer and prominent Armenian-Australian, Gladys Berejiklian, the Member for Davidson from the NSW Parliament, Jonathan O’Dea will be joining the Commemoration.

Also joining Armenian-Australians on the night will be the Hon. Reverend Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the NSW Christian Democratic Party, who continues to pursue his party’s policy of full recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Australia. The Hon. David Clarke MLC, Hon. Courtney Houssos MLC from the NSW Upper House and member of the Parliamentary Friendship Group will also be in attendance.

The National Armenian Genocide Commemoration Evening will take place at The Concourse in Chatswood from on Sunday, April 24.