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Secret Jerusalem: the ancient Armenian quarter

December 27, 2017 By administrator

Armenian Jerusalem

Armenian Jerusalem

Did you know, #Armenian district is 1 of 4 districts of ancient #Jerusalem with dozens of ancient churches & buildings. Armenians didn’t flee from city after falling of Jerusalem in 13th c., preserve heritage up today. Cool pics by blogger #Lapshin.

“This Is Google Translation from Russian”

Perhaps the most inaccessible place for tourists of ancient Jerusalem is its picturesque Armenian quarter, the smallest of the four main parts of the city: Muslim, Jewish and Christian. It would be more accurate to say that the part of the quarter where the churches, cells and the monastery are located is not available, that is, its most interesting part. Today, thanks to my kind Armenian friends and the abbot of the Sv.Arkhangel family, Gevond Vardapetu, an old dream has finally come true and I saw this unusual place. From the west and south the quarter is surrounded by the walls of the old city and, accordingly, the Jaffa and Zion gates, from the north to the Christian quarters, and from the east to the Jewish quarters. It is not only the smallest area of old Jerusalem, but also the most sparsely populated. See for yourself: in the Muslim quarter about 20 thousand people, in the Jewish quarter about 12 thousand, in the Christian quarter (Greek, Catholics, Ethiopians, Copts) another six thousand. There are only 200 Armenians.

It is considered that the first Armenians arrived in Jerusalem almost 2 thousand years ago, in the first century of our era. At the same time, the construction of churches and monasteries began, which have not survived until our days, but in their place are a little more new temples built by Armenians in the 12-16 centuries. It turns out that the Armenian community in Jerusalem can be considered the oldest of all Christians living in this city. Also, an interesting fact is that after the fall of the Kingdom of the Crusaders in 1291 and the capture of the Holy Land by Muslims, from here all Christians fled, but apart from the Armenians. The latter managed to agree with the Muslims that they would allow them to stay in Jerusalem. Not just so, of course, and in return for paying a “tax for the infidels”, but this allowed to preserve its presence and property.

Many people mistakenly believe that the entire Armenian quarter is completely hidden behind powerful walls. This is not entirely true, as part of the quarter is quite open to itself, in particular the Armenian Patriarchate road, stretching from the Jaffa Gate to the Zion Gate along the western part of the old city and the walls. There are a lot of Armenian guest houses, shops, restaurants. Regarding the latter, to be honest, in my opinion all these establishments of Armenian traditional cuisine are unreasonably expensive and it did not occur to me to eat there.

The entrance to the Armenian Patriarchate and the monastery of St. Jacobs through the massive gate (note which these gates are ancient) under the signage of “Convent Armenien”, after which you immediately get to the churchyard in front of St. James Church –

Khachkars, brought from Armenia relatively recently and looking a little strange in these ancient walls –

Climbing the territory of the monastery, you get to a large courtyard with many doors and windows. It is like the cells of monks, and the administrative premises of the Patriarchate –

As we said above, in the old Jerusalem today there are 200 Armenians, plus 20 clergymen. In addition, about a hundred seminarians, mostly from Armenia and the United States. A further 2,000 to 3,000 Armenians live in a new part of the city, but many of them are secular people and parishioners of churches are not. Meanwhile, until the proclamation of the independence of Israel in 1948, 16 to 40 thousand Armenians lived in the city according to various sources, but almost all of them fled from Jerusalem, fearing to be between the “hammer and the anvil” in the war of the Jews with the Arabs. Bloody battles unfolded right in the Old City and around the Armenian quarter. No sooner had the remaining several thousand Armenians come to their senses after the first war, as the Six Day War of 1967 struck when Israeli troops stormed the Old City and despite the fact that none of the conflicting parties had anything against the Armenians, they decided to leave Jerusalem. For many years the Armenian part was in desolation and with incomprehensible prospects for the future.

As if there were few wars and conflicts, as in 1981 an incredible thing happened for the Armenian church – the Jerusalem archbishop Shah Ajamyan sold a portion of the Patriarchate’s land to the Jerusalem municipality for bribes. After that he fled from Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. If the conflict between Jews and Arabs was perceived by local Armenians as an inevitable evil, the betrayal of their own archbishop is truly a shameful page in the history of the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem.

As for the status of Armenians in Israel, this is an equally controversial issue, like everything related to the Armenian people. Some Armenians have Israeli citizenship, firstly, those who did not flee in 1948 and 1967 (their minority, several hundred people), secondly the families of Jewish emigrants from the USSR (2-3 thousand). Finally, Armenians from those who came to Jerusalem to serve on a religious line, they have a residence permit from the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel, or Palestinian identity cards (for those who primarily serve in Bethlehem). Those who came to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union also have Armenian citizenship other than Israeli.

Regarding the relationship between the Armenians of Jerusalem and the Israeli authorities, everything is generally normal. It is another matter that once the influential and large community has lost its importance and the authorities perceive the local Armenians exclusively formally. Visas are given, the norms of the law are generally respected, the treatment is answered, security is provided. But the letter does not go beyond dry trailing. The country’s leadership does not spoil the attention of the community, participation in those or other ceremonies (including the Day of Remembrance of Genocide Victims) does not participate. Well, by and large, and God is with them, with the authorities. The main thing is that they do not create problems and on this one already thanks.

By the way, the collapse of the USSR was a blessing for the Jerusalem Armenians, as the borders were opened and Armenians from already independent Armenia began to replenish the community. In addition, Armenian pilgrims and tourists come here more often, plus Armenians from the Diaspora from France and the United States.

Once upon a time, monks lived in cells without any comfort. Today they have quite comfortable rooms, facilities, internet, TV. Everything a modern person needs.

Actually, the monastic cells –

As far back as in the Armenian quarter, there is a unique library of Galust Gulbeknjan with tens of thousands of unique books, as well as a separate depository of ancient manuscripts (about 4 thousand of them), many of which date from the 12th to the 13th centuries. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to get to a person from the outside. How not to get into the chic museum –

Suddenly see a football field in the middle of the monastery? It will be even more unusual to hear that not only residents of the quarter play football here, but also fans of football from Catholics, Franciscans, Jews and many others. In the Old City chronically there is not enough free land (more precisely, it simply does not exist), so the football field in the center of Old Jerusalem is fantastic!

The administrative premises of the Armenian Patriarchate –

And this is a very unusual exhibit. The Yerevan artist applied biblical stories to the tile with computer graphics. One problem, the colors have partially faded, from which the hero on the left became a bit like Satan; at least such associations arose among many guests.

In the center of the quarter grows a very ancient olive tree, to which, based on the Gospel, they tied Jesus Christ at a time when the high priests Anna and Caiaphas were deciding what to do with it. Later came the belief that the fruits of this tree are cured of infertility. In truth, I do not believe in mysticism, but I do not doubt that only a belief in success cures from any misfortune and gives strength.

It is interesting that on the territory of the monastery, besides secular monks, secular Armenians also live, some of them also live in these two relatively new houses, closely adjacent to the Jewish quarter. There is also a small garden where vegetables and fruits are grown –

Inside the monastery are several churches: first, the Cathedral of St. James, the Church of the Archangels, the Church of St. Thoros and others.

These ancient gates have stood for centuries! But in the end they had to be replaced with new ones so that they would not fall on the parishioners –

Across the street and next to the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (the German Catholic, the Order of Benedictines), there is an Armenian cemetery and the Theological Seminary. Actually, young boys from Armenia and the Diaspora are studying here –

Did you notice that the floor is lined with gravestones?

Without a doubt, the Armenian quarter is the greenest in the whole of Old Jerusalem, here you can find even grapes over shady avenues –

And we say goodbye to the Armenian quarter and go to supper! And by the way, we pass by another island of the Armenian life in Jerusalem. At a distance from the Armenian quarter, surrounded by Muslim regions, is the Armenian-Catholic Patriarchate. This is the smallest Armenian community in Jerusalem with no more than 100 parishioners. It’s hard for me to judge how the traditional Armenian church accepts and accepts Armenian Catholics, maybe readers will tell about it?

Damascus (Shechem) gate of the Old City is already the epicenter of the Muslim quarter and the most dangerous place in all of Jerusalem. Before these gates in the past few years, several dozen terrorist attacks on passers-by or the police have been committed. Because of this, police and soldiers armed to the teeth are constantly carrying around the gate. But this is a completely different story!

We’re having supper. Bon Appetit everyone!

p.s Abbot of the Monastery of St. Arkhangel, Gevond Vardapet conducted a magnificent escursion around the monastery, for which a huge thanks from us. An interesting and intelligent person. But I would like to add that he is also a chic photographer. Look at his work in his facebook, and all filmed on a regular phone. Terrific.

p.s 2 And tomorrow I’m going to take an excursion to the Palestinian territories from Abraham’s hostel, where I live in Jerusalem. This is interesting doubly, firstly because serving in the Israeli army, I rode there on a patrol jeep, and secondly, after the service, I often visited there as a tourist, while posing as a journalist for Russia Today 🙂

Source: http://bit.ly/2oHVHz6

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenian, Jerusalem, secret

US interrogates inmates in secret UAE-run jails in Yemen: AP

June 22, 2017 By administrator

secret UAE-run jails in Yemen: AP

Yemeni militia loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, hold a position in the in the southwestern Yemeni city of Ta’izz during clashes with forces of Houthi Ansarullah movement on June 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

US forces have been involved in interrogation of hundreds of inmates in clandestine prisons run by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in war-torn Yemen, with reports of brutal torture and abuses at the facilities.

The Associated Press documented at least 18 secret jails across southern Yemen run by the UAE or by Yemeni militia loyal to the former Yemeni government, where prisoners face extreme abuse and torture on a routine basis.

On Wednesday, senior US defense officials confirmed that the American forces have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human rights violations.

Several torturing methods are being used at the jails, including the “grill” in which the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spins in a circle of fire, according to the report.

Former inmates released from one main detention facility at Riyan airport in the southern city of Mukalla, said they were crammed into shipping containers covered with feces and blindfolded for weeks. They said they were beaten, trussed up on the “grill,” and sexually abused.

“The entire place is gripped by fear. Almost everyone is sick, the rest are near death. Anyone who complains heads directly to the torture chamber,” said a former detainee held for six months at Riyan airport.

So far, over 400 men have disappeared after being swept up in Mukalla.

The UAE secret jail network in Yemen was established during former US president Barack Obama’s administration and still continues its operations, according to the report.

In another report on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the UAE runs two “informal detention facilities” in southern Yemen and has “moved high-profile detainees outside the country,” including to a base in Eritrea.

The New York-based rights group said it had documented 49 cases, including those of four children, who had been “arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared,” most of them by UAE-backed forces.

In a statement to the AP, the UAE’s government denied the allegations, saying, “There are no secret detention centers and no torture of prisoners is done during interrogations.”

However, lawyers and families say nearly 2,000 men have disappeared into the clandestine prisons across Yemen. The issue has triggered days of protests by families seeking information about missing sons, brothers and fathers.

Read more:

  • ‘UAE-tied militants kidnap, torture 100s in Yemen’

Several US defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that American forces participate in interrogations of detainees in Yemen, provide questions for interrogators and receive transcripts of interrogations from Emirati forces.

They said senior US military leaders have looked into the allegations of torture at the clandestine prisons in Yemen, but were satisfied that there was no case of abuse when the US forces were present.

However, a member of the Hadramawt Elite, a Yemeni security force set up by the UAE, told AP that American forces were sometimes only yards away from the scene of torture.

According to international law experts, obtaining intelligence that may have been extracted by torture inflicted by another party is considered as violation of the International Convention Against Torture and constitutes an instance of war crime.

The UAE has served as an ally of Saudi Arabia in the latter’s US-backed campaign in Yemen to restore the impoverished country’s former Riyadh-allied government. The Elite Forces have been fighting in Yemen since the same year to assist the Saudi-led campaign.

According to various reports, Abu Dhabi holds notable sway in southern Yemen and looks to be trying to expand its leverage there by lending its support to southern separatists.

The separatists are led by two pro-Emirati officials of Yemen’s former president Hadi, who have been sacked by him over suspicions of serving the Emirates.

In March 2015, the Saudi regime and its allies began the campaign against Yemen to reinstall its former government. The war has killed over 12,000 civilians. The invasion has been compounded by a Saudi blockade of the country.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: jails, secret, UAE-run, yemen

Why Armenia might be Europe’s best-kept secret: The Telegraph

November 10, 2016 By administrator

best-kept-secretThe Telegraph on Thursday, November 11 unveiled an article about Armenia and its capital, Yerevan, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.

“You know you’re in wine country the moment you arrive at Yerevan airport. You can’t really miss it as there’s a 20ft high inflatable wine bottle parked outside the terminal,” author Frank Gardner says.

“A Christian country sandwiched between predominantly Muslim Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, Armenia likes its alcohol.”

They also produce what they say is the best brandy in the world and driving into town the advertisements are everywhere for brandy and cognac, he says.

“Yerevan is a delightful capital. Its wide, leafy boulevards are lined with cafés and wine bars where Armenians like to sit chatting late into the night.

“Armenians from the large overseas diaspora who visit for the first time are said to be pleasantly surprised by how modern, safe and civilised Yerevan is, and then rudely disappointed to find the suburbs and roadsides littered with the hangover detritus of the failed Soviet economy.”

When you look up to the horizon, Gardner says, there, towering over everything, is the magnificent, awe-inspiring snow-capped peak of Mount Ararat, 5,165 metres high and just across the border in Turkey. “It used to be ours,” lament Armenians.

The author then goes on to recount his visits to several of the most beautiful sites in the world’s first Christian country, including the monastery of Khor Virap, the Hellenic-style temple of Garni and the monastery of Geghard, also giving an insight into his experience during the wine festival in Areni.

Related links:

The telegraph. Why Armenia might be Europe’s best-kept secret

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenian, best-kept, europe's, secret

Turkey Whistleblower claims Turkish defense company trains secret armed organization for Erdoğan

June 26, 2016 By administrator

Erdogan the terrorist 1A Turkish whistleblower has claimed that a defense consulting company in Turkey has been training a secret armed organization to serve as an alternative army to Turkish Security Forces (TSK) and carry out bloody attacks on the orders of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Fuat Avni, a Twitter user with nearly 3 million followers, took on Twitter late on Saturday to report about the SADAT International Defense Consulting company, which he claims to be training a secret army to serve for Erdoğan’s purposes.

Avni has a credible record of uncovering corruption and irregularities rampant among the government officials. He claims to be in the inner circle of President Erdoğan.

He claimed in a series of tweets that a secret army as well as some Islamic State and the Levant (ISIS) members have been trained by SADAT defense company, which was founded by the retired Brigadier General Adnan Tanrıverdi as an illegal formation under legal disguise on the orders of Erdoğan in 2012.

The whistleblower says that the defense company once trained ISIS members but stopped when western intelligence organizations found out about it.

According to Fuat Avni’s tweets, the company now trains teenagers from the youth branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Osmanlı Ocakları (Ottoman Organization) – a movement whose members are open supporters of Erdoğan – as triggermen to stage bloody attacks in Turkey and abroad.

“People and organizations that speak out against the narcissist [Erdoğan] will not only be tried, but will also be targeted by this secret armed organization,” the whistleblower said, regarding the alleged organization as a building stone for a possible civil war in Turkey.

Source: turkishminute.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Army, Erdogan, secret, Turkey

Book (Armenian Genocide) of the German historian Michael Hasemann uses the secret archives of the Vatican

October 15, 2015 By administrator

arton117485-400x300The scientific and German historian Michael Hasemann just published in Germany the book “an den Armeniern Völkermord” (Armenian Genocide) whose essential elements is based on the revelation of the Vatican secret archives. During 5 years, the German historian searched the documents relating to the genocide of Armenians in the Vatican archives are drawing some 3000 pages of documents that can shed new light on the genocide. Historians had once got hold of the documents of the German archives, USA, Italy, Austria, but the Vatican archives remained closed to researchers.

It proves especially from those documents that the Vatican Pope Benedict XV had written two handwritten letters to the Sultan to ask him to stop the massacre of the Armenians. Letters unanswered effects. After that the Pope would have alerted the world public opinion about the fate of Armenians slaughtered in the Ottoman Empire. Michael’s book Hasemann “Völkermord an den Armeniern” was released in Germany in April and the author hopes the face of success, it will be translated into Armenian and published in Armenia. He also hopes that the Vatican documents related to Armenian genocide are received by the Academy of Sciences of Armenia. Michael Hasemann also claims that today the Vatican has a very important role in the recognition of the genocide, including the declaration of Pope Francis in April recognizing the Armenian genocide.

Krikor Amirzayan

Filed Under: Articles, Books, Genocide Tagged With: archives, Armenian, Genocide, secret, Vatican

Armenian hackers publish secret Azerbaijani documents

September 28, 2015 By administrator

198082An Armenian hacking group, Monte Melkonyan Cyber Army attacked the official website of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations, uploading some secret documents online.

The group reported at the same time that they managed to crack nine other Azerbaijani websites. They published the documents of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the list of hacked sites in a Facebook post.

The attack was prompted by the Azerbaijani armed forces’ shelling of the Armenian border and the peaceful villages.

Related links:

Monte Melkonian Cyber Army – MMCA: Եթե ադրբեջանը շարունակի իրեն նման լկտի կերպ դրսևորել, խոստանում ենք ոչնչացնել իրենց ողջ կիբեր տիրույթը:

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Armenian, Azerbaijani, document, hackers, publish, secret

Turkey’s dirty secret about al-Qaeda

January 14, 2015 By administrator

e-uslu-bBy: EMRE USLU,

Since 2012, political observers has been questioning Turkey’s relationship with al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist terrorist organizations.

Three interesting developments related to this took place in last 10 days. First, a suicide bomber attacked the İstanbul police. It was revealed that the suicide attacker came from Russia and is affiliated with an Islamic terrorist organization. Interestingly enough, the Turkish police, for the first time in its history, did not reveal the name of the terrorist organization. Three people were arrested for their connection to the attack, but no one knows who they are and what terrorist organizations they belong to.

Those who know how the police work and how counter-terrorism operations are conducted easily noticed that a suicide attack is not a typical terrorist attack. If it was a typical terrorist attack, police would have revealed the name of the organization, shared further evidence, etc. Instead of revealing the truth behind the attack, the police tried to cover up the real story behind the attack.

More importantly, the Turkish media, too, ignored the attack and acts as if no attack took place in İstanbul. We all know from the Uludere incident in which 34 Kurdish villagers were killed by Turkish warplanes, when the Turkish media ignores a terror-related incident, one needs to know Ankara doesn’t want them to investigate the incident.

All in all, the suicide attack in İstanbul seems to be related to the Turkish intelligence community, not to a typical terrorist attack.

Secondly, an anonymous Twitter user claiming to be part of a leftist group shared some documents about Turkey’s assistance to al-Qaeda. The documents indicate that Turkey was transferring weapons to al-Qaeda organizations inside Syria. The documents show that the trucks stopped by gendarmes were full of Russian weapons and heading to al-Qaeda militants inside Syria.

Soon after the documents were leaked on Twitter, Turkish authorities stepped up and got court orders to shut down Twitter and other websites that posted the documents. Such attempts indicate that the documents showed the dirty secret of the Turkish government and made it unhappy.

The weapon transfer to al-Qaeda was much-debated by the Turkish public but for the first time documents prove the allegations about these bizarre relations. Turkish authorities, instead of denying the allegations and proving that they did not help al-Qaeda, tried to cover up the story by attempting to shut down Twitter and other websites that published the document.

Third and more importantly, a witness revealing the dirty secrets of Turkey came out this week. Onder Sığırcıklıoğlu, a former National Intelligence Organization (MİT) agent who was assigned to coordinate anti-Assad activities in Hatay, spoke out about his activities. While working for MİT, Sığırcıklıoğlu organized the handing over of the Syrian colonel Huseyin Hormoush to Assad’s forces.

Sığırcıklıoğlu claims that he has witnessed many illegal activates, including helping illegal groups, transferring arms from Libya to al-Qaeda and bringing jihadists from abroad to Syria.

It is interesting to note that UN inspectors were investigating allegations that the Turkish state was transferring arms from Libya to al-Qaeda; now a former MİT agent speaks out about it.

The documents that show that the Russian weapon systems being transferred into Syria must be related to those weapons brought from Libya.

Seeing all three incidents in the same week is unusual. It seems that there is a serious battle going on behind the curtain; certainly one side of the battle is Turkish intelligence community, but we don’t know the other side.

It could be a sign of rivalry within the state apparatus as well as rivalry between Turkey and other countries.

No matter what the real reason is, revealing Turkey’s dirty secret about al-Qaeda the week of the terrorist attacks in Paris shows that Turkey will face a difficult time for its support to al-Qaeda.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Al Qaeda, dirty, secret, Turkey

SPECIAL REPORT: The Secret U.S. and Iraqi Casualties of Hussein’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons

October 14, 2014 By administrator

Report by NYT
From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule, an investigation by The New York Times has found.
The American government withheld word about the chemical weapons from both the troops it sent into harm’s way and from military doctors.
The United States had gone to war with Iraq declaring that it had to destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program, but instead, American troops found the remnants of long-abandoned programs built in close collaboration with the West — often in territory that is now controlled by the Islamic State.

READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?emc=edit_na_20141014

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: chemical weapons, Iraq, secret, USA

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