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Knesset speaker withdraws Armenian Genocide recognition from parliament agenda

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The expected vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide was not on the Knesset’s agenda for this week as of Monday, JPost reported.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein withdrew the item from the agenda, his spokeswoman said, to avoid an embarrassment to the Knesset, because it was unclear there would be a majority in favor. Edelstein has repeatedly voiced his support for recognition over the years, including last week.

The vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, was set for Tuesday, after a motion to do so by Meretz chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg was approved.

Zandberg accused Edelstein of putting politics ahead of morality, dismissing the Knesset Speaker’s words in favor of her motion.

“Holding this debate, with a historic vote to recognize, is the right thing to do. Some preferred politics to doing the right thing,”
Zandberg said at a Meretz faction meeting Monday. “The Knesset should do what it promised. This is a matter of historic justice.”

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide has the potential to anger Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tensions between Israel and Turkey are already high, with the countries withdrawing their ambassadors after Turkey supported Hamas when the terrorist organization tried to violently break through the Gaza border into Israel earlier this month.

However, Israel and Azerbaijan have warm ties, and the latter’s proximity to Iran makes it a strategic ally, important to Israeli security.

Azerbaijan is in an ongoing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Zandberg, however, said that should not be taken into consideration.

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide, she argued, “shouldn’t hurt ties with any country. This is a basic moral issue…. We, the Jewish people, know the value of recognizing national tragedies.”

 

Breaking News: The parliament speaker of Iraq’s Kurdistan first to resigns amid fatal protests against the (KRG).

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Who Is the Next?

The parliament speaker of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan resigns amid fatal protests against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Sources within leading Kurdish opposition movement Gorran said on Wednesday that its member Yousif Mohamed had resigned as parliament speaker. The party also withdrew its ministers from the KRG.

The Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), another opposition party with a smaller presence in parliament, also quit the government.

The news comes after Kurdish security forces fatally shot five protesters as demonstrations continued for the second day on Tuesday amid widespread anger over unpaid salaries and corruption.

UN denounces violence in Kurdistan protests

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) expressed its deep concern about violence and clashes during the demonstrations, urging all sides to show restrain.

“The people have the right to partake in peaceful demonstrations, and the authorities have the responsibility of protecting their citizens, including peaceful protesters,” UNAMI said in a statement on Wednesday.

During the protests, people attacked several offices of the main political parties in Sulaymaniyah.

“Security forces also are urged to exercise maximum restraint in dealing with the demonstrators. UNAMI also calls on the demonstrators to avoid any act of violence, including the destruction of public and private properties,” the statement said.

UNAMI also urged the KRG to respect media freedoms after Kurdish Asayish security forces on Tuesday raided the offices of Kurdish private broadcast NRT in Sulaymaniyah, and cut its transmissions.

Frustration over unpaid salaries to teachers and other civil servants, in addition to the deterioration of basic services and widespread corruption, have been described as the main reasons behind mass protests in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The Kurdistan region has been suffering from financial and economic hardships as a result of disagreement with the central government in Baghdad over distribution of crude oil revenues extracted from the northern oilfields.

Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the KRG after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of Kurdistan on September 25.

Turkey’s parliament speaker Kahraman demands Islamic constitution, no place for secularism

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0,,19214449_303,00(DW) Ismail Kahraman, head of the parliament in Ankara, has said the country needs an Islamic constitution. He said Turkey was a Muslim nation and there was no place for secularism

“We are a Muslim country. That is why we need a religious constitution,” Kahraman, who belongs to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, said on Tuesday. He was speaking at a conference with academics and authors from Islamic countries in Istanbul.

Lamenting the fact that, unlike in other Middle Eastern countries, the word Allah did not appear in the current version of the Turkish Constitution even once, the AKP politician also pointed out that the country’s current constitution was not secular: There were many religious holidays and lessons for students that the document prescribed for Turkey’s citizens.

“Why should we, as a Muslim country, distance ourselves from religion?” Kahraman asked. He said that the French and Irish Constitutions were the only ones that used the word “secularism” other than Turkey, but that each country interpreted the word as it liked.

The ruling party, AKP, distanced itself from Kahraman’s statements. Mustafa Sentop, the head of the AKP’s constitutional committee in parliament, said the speaker was not speaking “on behalf of any party.”

There were also reports of protests in front of the parliament in Ankara. Turkish reporter network 140 Journos posted this video on Twitter:

USA: Paul Ryan was elected Speaker of the House & is Strong Supporter of the Armenian cause

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Rep. Paul Ryan

Rep. Paul Ryan

Representative Paul Ryan was officially elected President of the House after getting 236 votes of members of the House of Representatives.

The vote proved a formality after House Republicans have nominated Wednesday for the position.

Paul Ryan is a strong supporter of Armenia, including the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States and the safety of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.


The Jerusalem Post: Knesset Speaker calls to rethink Israel’s stance on Armenian genocide

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Yuli Edelstein

Yuli Edelstein

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday called to rethink Israel’s stance on the Armenian genocide, calling the murders a “moral stain” on humanity.”

“History cannot be changed,” he said during a speech in the Knesset. “The disaster can’t be obscured by diplomacy anymore.”

Armenia recently marked the centenary of a mass killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, at the height of World War I.

“It is no secret that Israel has taken an ambivalent position about the genocide,” Edelstein said, calling Israel’s reaction “too hesitant and too restrained.”

“As the Jewish people, we cannot stay silent,” he addressed MKs in the plenum. “We cannot turn a blind eye or lessen the extent of the Armenian tragedy,”

Syrian Parliament Speaker Calls for Genocide Recognition

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sarkisian-al-lahamYEREVAN—On the sidelines of a global forum on crimes against humanity and genocide being held in Yerevan, Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian met with Syria’s Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, who called for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Sarkisian welcomed the dignitary to his country and thanked him for his participation in the forum, which, according to Sarkisian, once again speaks to the “sincere respect of the friendly Syrian people toward the Armenian people.” The President expressed his gratitude to the People’s Council of Syria, as the Syrian parliament is called, for its steps aimed at the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The President praised the special session of the People’s Council of Syria held in March in connection with the Armenian Genocide and the influential speech delivered by Speaker al-Laham.

Al-Laham conveyed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s warm regards and best wishes to President Sarkisian and stressed that Syrians have a special attitude towards Armenia and the Armenian people. He noted that the participation of his delegation in the Yerevan forum bears witness to the fact that Syria recognizes the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. Speaker al-Laham said that the global forum, titled “Against the Crime of Genocide,” is a good opportunity to mobilize the efforts of the international community and prevent the repetition of such crimes in the future.

President Sarkisian lamented the internal political situation prevailing in Syria for more than four years now and expressed the hope that the friendly country of Syria will grow stronger as a result of this hardship and will manage to ensure domestic peace and stability.

At the meeting, the parties also attached value to the strengthening of inter-parliamentary ties which lie at the core of relations between Armenia and Syria.