Syria safe zones hit by clashes on first day

May 7, 2017 By administrator

Syrian government forces and rebels clashed in the north-western province of Hama on Friday shortly after a Russian-led deal to establish safe zones took effect, a monitor and a rebel official said, according to The Guardian.

The zones, agreed to by Russia, Turkey and Iran, went into effect at midnight on Friday. The plan’s details will be worked out over the next few weeks but the zones appear intended to halt conflict in specific areas between government forces and rebels, and would potentially be policed by foreign troops.

Fighter jets fired at the rebel-held village of al-Zalakiyat and nearby positions in the Hama countryside, where the combatants exchanged shelling, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based war monitoring group said government forces shelled the nearby towns of Kafr Zita and Latamneh. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

The source reminds, the de-escalation zones are the latest international attempt to reduce violence in the war-ravaged country, and represent the first effort to envisage armed foreign monitors on the ground in Syria.

Turkish President Erdogan says Europeans won’t be safe to walk the streets,

March 22, 2017 By administrator

By Samuel Osborne

(independent) Europeans across the world will not be able to walk the streets safely if they keep up their current attitude towards Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned.

Turkey has been mired in a diplomatic row with Germany and the Netherlands after they banned Turkish officials from campaigning in support of an April referendum on boosting the Turkish President’s powers.

“If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets,” Mr Erdogan told journalists in Ankara.

He added: “We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy.”

Turkish government officials are still participating in events for expatriate Turks across Europe, but are not campaigning for the referendum, the Turkish deputy prime minister has said.

Numan Kurtulmus said the row had helped Turks in Europe better understand the constitutional changes proposed in the referendum.

He said the “footsteps of neo-Nazism and extreme racism” were being heard in Europe.

Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier used his first speech as president to accuse Mr Erdogan of jeopardising everything Turkey has achieved in recent years.

“The way we look [at Turkey] is characterised by worry, that everything that has been built up over years and decades is collapsing,” Mr Steinmeier said in his inaugural speech in the largely ceremonial role.

“President Erdogan, you are jeopardising everything that you, with others, have built,” he said, adding he would welcome “credible signs” to ease the situation.

Nato ally Turkey has repeatedly accused Germany of using Nazi tactics and has caused anger by holding German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.

“But end the unspeakable Nazi comparisons!” Mr Steinmeier added. “Do not cut the ties to those people who want partnership with Turkey! Respect the rule of law and the freedom of media and journalists! And release Deniz Yucel.”

Mr Erdogan has previously branded the Netherlands “Nazi remnants” and accused Germany of “fascist actions.”

He has said his country may review its ties with Europe after the referendum, which he hopes will give him sweeping new powers, and has described Europe as “fascist and cruel,” saying it resembles the pre-World War Two era.

European leaders have made repeated calls for Turkish officials to avoid Nazi comparisons and the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany accused Mr Erdogan of disrespecting the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

“The comparisons between today’s Federal Republic of Germany and National Socialism, which we have heard in recent days, are not only insulting and absolutely false — they also relativize the Nazis’ rule of terror,” Josef Schuster said, German newspaper Die Welt reported.

“The comparison is monstrous and denigrates the suffering of the victims of the Shoah.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Turkey should stop Nazi comparisons “with no ifs or buts.”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-erdogan-germany-netherlands-warning-europeans-not-walk-safely-a7642941.html

Armenia 20th safest country globally, study finds

August 31, 2016 By administrator

Armenia was listed among countries with a low crime level and, correspondingly, a high safety level in the 2016 mid-year Crime Index for Country compiled by Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-generated content.

To present survey results, Numbeo uses the scale 0-100. Crime Index is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country. Numbeo considers crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high. Safety index is, on the other way, quite opposite of crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe.

In particular, Armenia’s crime and safety indices stand at 29.02 and 70.98, respectively, placing the country in the 20th spot on a list of 118 countries worldwide. The country ranked the 16th in the same report a year earlier, and came in 33rd in the 2014 mid-year data.

Neighboring Georgia is the third safest country in the world, Azerbaijan ranks the 24th, Turkey and Iran follow in the 44th and 81st spots, respectively, while Russia is the 69th globally.

Also among the top five safest countries are South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan, while Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Honduras, South Sudan and South Africa have the highest crime rates in the world.

Interestingly, Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan with a safety index of 69.42, ranks the 30th among 141 cities around the globe. Based on the cost of living index, Yerevan is the 15th in the list, while the purchasing power index tells a whole different story, putting the city fifth to last.

Numbeo gathers statistics from a range of sources, such as websites of supermarkets, taxi company websites, governmental institutions, newspaper articles and other surveys.