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Erdoğan advisor We unleash refugees EU bows to Turkey’s threat we got 3 billion euros

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Erdoğan's advisor Burhan Kuzu. (Photo: Cihan)

Erdoğan’s advisor Burhan Kuzu. (Photo: Cihan)

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s advisor Burhan Kuzu commented on the migrant deal between the EU and turkey, saying on his twitter account on Wednesday that the EU finally bowed to Turkey’s threat to open its borders to refugees by deciding to provide Turkey with financial support for the migrant crisis.

“The EU finally got Turkey’s message and opened its purse strings. What did we say? ‘We’ll open our borders and unleash all the Syrian refugees on you,’” Kuzu stated in his controversial tweet.

Kuzu’s tweet drew strong criticism, with a number of social media users saying that it is unethical to talk about “unleashing [the refugees] on” the EU as if they were animals.

A social media user reacted against Kuzu’s statement, saying, “Are those whom you are talking about [unleashing] dogs, Mr. Kuzu?”

Referring to the many incidents of migrant boats sinking in their attempt to cross the seas between Greece and Turkey, another Twitter user asked, “Is this the reason why all those people drowned in Aegean Sea?”

More than 400 migrants, including many children, have drowned in the Aegean since the start of 2015.

On Nov. 24 the EU’s executive branch confirmed it will set up a fund of 3 billion euros for two years to help improve the living conditions of migrants in Turkey and prevent further influxes into Europe. The agreement was finalized on Nov. 29 at the EU-Turkey summit held in Brussels, where Turkey promised to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for financial support, visa-free travel to Europe’s Schengen zone and renewed EU accession talks.

2/3 of those getting asylum in Montreal from Syria are Armenians

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armenian refugeesThousands of refugees from Syria being welcomed to Canada under the federal expedited plan will land in Montreal or Toronto.

The  Globe and Mail daily of the country informed that about two thirds of those arriving in Montreal are Syrian Armenians, and the local Armenian community has assumed their sponsorship.

“We don’t see much of them,” said Stephan Reichhold, the director of an umbrella group of 100 agencies serving newcomers to Quebec. “They arrive, they’re picked up by their sponsor group from the airport and then they disappear from our radar.”

According to the document obtained by the daily, only 311 of the people slated to arrive in Canada by the end of this year are sponsored solely by the Canadian government.

‘A very Canadian tradition’: Armenian community rallies for Syrian refugees

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image-syrian refugees

This undated images shows the Manougian family, Syrian refugees who are being sponsored by Toronto woman Arsho Zakarian

Emily English, Canada AM
Published Thursday, November 26, 2015 8:43AM EST

As Syrians begin arriving in Canada as part of the government’s plan to resettle 25,000 refugees, the Armenian community in Toronto is rallying to help by sponsoring hundreds of families fleeing the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Arsho Zakarian is an Armenian-Canadian woman who lives in Toronto. She has volunteered to sponsor a Syrian refugee family, and is eagerly awaiting their arrival on Canadian soil.

The Manougian family, who she is sponsoring, consists of a grandmother, her son, daughter-in-law and their infant son.

Inspired by her own family’s history of resettlement, Zakarian told CTV’s Canada AM on Thursday that she decided around this time last year that she wanted to sponsor a family. Her father and grandfather came to Canada to flee the Armenian Genocide. She says she can relate to the Syrian refugees’ experience of fear, hunger and being destitute.

“It is a very Canadian tradition,” Zakarian said of providing aid to refugees. “The first international humanitarian act by Canada was towards the Armenian orphans.”

Zakarian didn’t know her sponsored family ahead of time, but was matched with them through her local Armenian community centre. She signed up to sponsor them last February and has been waiting for their application to be approved ever since.

The Manougian family is currently in Beirut. The hold-up in their application approval involves the interview at the Canadian embassy. There hasn’t been a date set for that yet. There is confusion as to why it is taking so long, Zakarian said.

Other families have been approved to come to Canada after waiting only a few months, but the Manougian family has been waiting 10 months. Their baby was only two months old when Zakarian signed up to sponsor them. The family recently marked his first birthday.

Though she’s anxious to welcome the family to Toronto, Zakarian said it is an “exciting” time.

“I want that little boy to grow up in a safe environment with all the opportunities of life and education,” she said.

While she waits, the Armenian-Canadian community is coming together to help, Zakarian said.

She knows of about 300 Syrian refugee families being sponsored through her Armenian-Canadian community centre and other church organizations.

“The help is overwhelming, it’s so positive,” Zakarian said.

Zakarian has been collecting donations to help these families resettle and adapt to life in Canada. The items she’s collecting include kitchen supplies, clothing, and winter coats.

She has been storing these items in her home, which is getting crowded with boxes.

“Now my house looks like the Tower of Babylon,” Zakarian said with a laugh.

On Canada AM on Thursday morning, host Beverly Thomson informed Zakarian that a local business, All Canadian Self Storage, has offered her the use of donated storage space for one year.

Greek island has run out of burial ground after influx of dead refugees – mayor

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5637f853c46188116c8b45c2A surge in the number of bodies of refugees whose boats capsized as they desperately tried to reach Europe has filled the burial grounds of the Greek island of Lesbos to capacity, the island’s mayor said, adding that over 50 bodies remain unburied.

The island’s morgues, cemeteries and emergency services have been overwhelmed with a record number of bodies of migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in October. According to the latest UN data, over 218,000 people arrived in the EU during the month, beating the total annual number for the whole of 2014.

Some 744,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe in 2015 alone, of which at least 3,300 died while making the journey.

Mayor Spyros Gallons told the Greek media that, while five funerals were held this weekend, 55 bodies remain at the morgue and the island is having a hard time finding burial ground for them.

“Yesterday we held five funerals, but there are still 55 bodies at the morgue,” NBC News quoted Galinos as saying. “Who could have anticipated such a carnage in the Aegean?”

Lesbos, with a population of 86,000, lies in the Aegean Sea near Turkey’s cost. It has served as one of the main destinations for refugees and other migrants trying to escape violence and poverty in Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa.On Monday, the tragic situation was exacerbated, as 11 refugees, most of them children, drowned in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach Lesbos. Moreover, on Sunday another 15 people, including six children, died in the Aegean after their boat capsized off the Greek island of Samos.

 

Political analyst: Armenia doesn’t get millions and billions for hosting Syrian refugees

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Refugees no millionsRussia interfered with the Syrian conflict when the situation reached the breaking point: there was an actual possibility for the genocide horrors to recur, Andrey Areshev, officer at the Institute of Political and Social Research of the Black Sea and Caspian region, expert at the Research Center of Central Asia-Caucasus Institute said during the space bridge on international terrorism and ISIS threat in the region.

According to him, significant part of the population of the Syrian state are refugees. “By virtue of the historic ties with Syria, Armenia also hosted many refugees – over 16,000 of them. But the country isn’t receiving any millions or billions from the European institutions,” Areshev said.

Austrian Journalist 800,000 Refugees Returning to Syria Thanks to Russia

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1028627987Journalist Christan Saarländer from the Austrian Contra Magazin called Russia’s military operation in Syria a “blessing” and blamed German media for its propaganda war against Russia.
German media publishes one-sided reports about Russia, spreading propaganda lies about the country and its activities in Syria, the journalist wrote.

Recently, some media sources accused Russia of bombing a hospital in Syria without any proof, the author wrote, adding that Western journalists actually rarely make live reports from the spot and come to conclusions sitting in the office.
At the same time, Saarländer argued, more and more videos are being uploaded, documenting successful Russian airstrikes in Syria. Even US generals are praising Russia’s armed forces, as the news agency PressTV reported from neighboring Iran.
The US portal “Veterans Today” wrote, citing the Iranian Fars News Agency (FNA), that more than 800,000 refugees from Syria are expected to return to their homeland thanks to the Russian military operation.
According to the latest data, Russian fighter jets have destroyed 285 ISIL and al-Nusra Front targets in Syria over the past three days. The military operation itself started on September 30 after the Syrian president Bashar Assad had sent Russian authorities an official request.

Source: sputniknews.com

Memorial in commemoration of Armenian refugees opens in Egypt

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Armenian refugees egyptPort Said city of Egypt hosted a ceremony on the opening of a memorial commemorating the survivors of the heroic battle of Musa Dagh and Armenian refugees who settled there in 1915-1919, Armen Mazlumyan, Egypt’s Armenian National Committee member told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

According to him, the memorial was opened upon the initiative of the Armenian community in Egypt. The ceremony was attended by Armenia’s Ambassador to Egypt Armen Melkonyan, Chairman of the Committee on the 100th anniversary of Musa Dagh Battle, and the representatives of the Armenian community and Armenian Apostolic Church.

“By this memorial the Armenian community once again thanked Egypt for helping Armenians in hard times,” Mazlumyan said. He also noted that following the opening of the memorial, funeral service was held in commemoration of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey Blackmail EU with Refugees: EU Throws Money at Turkey to Stem Migrant Crisis $3.4 billion

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1028571326European Union leaders have agreed to pay Turkey US$3.4 billion and allow visa-free EU travel for its citizens in return for Ankara doing its utmost to stem the tide of asylum-seekers crossing its borders to reach Europe.
The deal — reached just two weeks ahead of a general election in Turkey — has been criticized by some for adding impetus to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign amid claims over his human rights record and policies toward, among others, the Kurds and the media.
The deal also includes a promise of expediting negotiations over Turkey’s accession into the European Union, but AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said the US$3.4 billion should not be seen as a matter of “political bribery”. He said nothing had been concluded with the EU over the handling of migrant and refugee flows, but that talks were continuing.
“Bordering on Insanity”
The process of becoming an EU member is divided into chapters, but Turkey’s bid has stalled in recent years over sharp differences on issues such as rule-of-law and rights. But the major issue is over Cyprus where — in 1974 — Turkey occupied a third of the island in response to an Athens-backed coup aimed at annexing Cyprus to Greece.

Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Republic of Cyprus (an EU member since 2004) as the sole authority on the island, and recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since its establishment in 1983.

This has been a major sticking point in the question of the accession of Turkey into the EU as a full member. Another is a dispute over territorial sea limits between the two nations.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk, expressed “cautious optimism” saying:
“Our intensified meetings with Turkish leaders… in the last couple of weeks were devoted to one goal: stemming the migratory flows that go via Turkey to the EU. The action plan is a major step in this direction.”
However, the plans to allow visa-free access for Turkish citizens to the EU was branded “bordering on insanity” by Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UKIP Party:
“This Commission proposal is bordering on insanity. Agreeing to liberalize border requirements for 75 million Turkish nationals is a form of EU madness.”
“From a cost, security and cultural perspective, this is completely the wrong move.
“If Cameron and Co allow this to happen it’s the British people who will be the turkeys at Christmas. Yet another reason to leave the EU.”

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151016/1028613815/eu-turkey-refugee-crisis-deal.html#ixzz3okOBaG9d

Boat collision off Turkish coast kills several refugees

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The events on Sunday highlight the risks that those fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe [Reuters]

The events on Sunday highlight the risks that those fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe [Reuters]

At least 13 refugees die after their boat collides with a ferry off Turkish coast, while dozens are missing off Lesbos.

At least 13 refugees have died after their boat collided with a ferry off the Turkish coast, officials there said, while the Greek coast guard fanned out in the choppy waters of the Aegean Sea searching for another 27 people missing after their boat sank off the island of Lesbos.

The bodies of the 13 refugees have been brought to the Turkish port city of Canakkale on Sunday.

Turkey’s coast guard agency said that it intervened after being alerted the vessel had hit the migrant boat and that bodies were in the water.

Coast guard officials said some 29 people were rescued in the two incidents, which followed another sinking near Lesbos on Saturday, in which a 5-year-old girl drowned. Between 10 and 12 people went missing.