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Great News from Armenian: Justice Ministry suspends Russian-Turkish visa company’s activity in Armenia

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Ministry suspends Russian-Turkish visa

Ministry suspends Russian-Turkish visa

Gagrule.net was first media to ask for rejection of Russian-Turkish visa company and Armenian respond by suspending the operation

The Justice Ministry’s Agency for the Protection of Personal Data has called for suspending the activities of a joint Russian-Turkish visa company on the territory of Armenia It has issued an order for temporarily banning the VisaMetric company’s authority to process the personal data of Armenian citizens applying for entry permits to several countries in the Schengen zone (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Sweden, Austria).

Earlier, the German Embassy in Yerevan processed the visa applications for the above countries.The procedures of personal data collection, registration, coordination or transfer will be suspended until the end of the investigation, ARMENPRESS reports, citing the Ministry.On March 30, VisaMetric notified the Agency of its plan to deal with the procession of biometric or special categories of personal data.

After considering the application, the Agency asked the company (in a written statement) to submit the necessary documentation authorizing such activities.

Australia Suspends Syrian Airstrikes Over Russia, U.S. Tensions

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Australia Suspends Syria Air Strikes

A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet at an air show. Australia’s decision to back out of the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria follows Russia’s warning that it would track American and coalition aircraft in the country as targets. PHOTO: IAN HITCHCOCK/GETTY IMAGES

By Ben Kesling

BAGHDAD—Australia has suspended air operations in Syria amid escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow after Russia threatened to track American and coalition aircraft in the war-torn country as targets.

“As a precautionary measure, Australian Defense Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” a statement from the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The American ally’s decision to back out of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria comes hours after the U.S. shifted some of its own flight patterns in the country to minimize risks, following Russia’s warning on Monday that it would use air defense systems or Russian pilots to track flights west of the Euphrates.

The current tensions between the U.S. and Russia, which back opposite sides in the Syrian conflict but are also fighting Islamic State in the country, began Sunday when an American jet fighter shot down a Syrian regime warplane after it targeted U.S.-backed Syrian fighters who were leading the assault on Islamic State’s de facto capital, Raqqa.

Russia, allied with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, responded to the U.S. strike with threats to cut official lines of communication that are meant to prevent midair mishaps and to treat U.S.-led coalition planes as “targets.” It, however, stopped short of threatening to shoot them down, giving some U.S. officials hope that the situation won’t worsen.

“ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course,” Australia’s defense ministry said in the statement. It will continue its mission in neighboring Iraq, the statement added.

The U.S.-led coalition has stepped up its operations to push Islamic State out of its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. Australia has deployed six warplanes, as well as an aerial tanker and an airstrike control aircraft, to the region to support the fight against the extremist group.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/australia-suspends-syria-air-strikes-over-russia-u-s-tensions-1497956784?mod=e2tw

Russia’s Defense Ministry suspends interaction with Pentagon over Syria

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Russia suspends interaction with Pentagon over Syria Russia’s Defense Ministry has suspended interaction with the Pentagon within the framework of the  bilateral memorandum across Syria, after the US  shot down Syrian warplane, RT reported quoting the Ministry.

On July 19, it halted cooperation in the framework of the Memorandum on the Prevention of Incidents and Ensuring Air Safety in Syria.

The ministry has demanded a thorough investigation by the US military command into the incident with the Syrian government military jet, with the results to be shared with the Russian side.

“In the areas of combat missions of Russian air fleet in Syrian skies, any airborne objects, including aircraft and unmanned vehicles of the [US-led] international coalition, located to the west of the Euphrates River, will be tracked by Russian ground and air defense forces as air targets,” the Russian Ministry of Defense stated.

US gov’t suspends 14 aid programs in Turkey upon corrupt practices in aid to Syria

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n_98977_1The U.S. government has suspended millions of dollars in funding to more than a dozen organizations providing aid for Syria from Turkey, after discovering they were systematically overpaying Turkish companies for basic goods with the collusion of some staff members, a U.S. official said on May 10.

Upon a complex investigation into cross-border aid programs providing humanitarian relief in Syria and running from both Turkey and Jordan by multiple nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with funds from USAID and other international donors, the Washington-based U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has identified corrupt practices involving a number of these programs operating from Turkey, the OIG announced on May 6.

A U.S. government official, speaking with the Hürriyet Daily News on May 10, confirmed that the investigation had led to the suspension of 14 entities and individuals involved in aid programs from Turkey.

“It is an independent investigation being conducted by an independent inspector general,” said the U.S. official, who requested anonymity.

“As it is an ongoing investigation, we cannot provide any information on the name of any specific organization or individual involved,” the U.S. official added.

The investigation to date has identified a network of commercial vendors, NGO employees, and others who have colluded to engage in bid-rigging and multiple bribery and kickback schemes related to contracts to deliver humanitarian aid in Syria, USAID OIG said in a May 6 statement.

“Some early concerns about these practices surfaced through one USAID implementer, which identified and self-reported procurement irregularities affecting its programs,” it said.

“To date, OIG’s investigation has established grounds resulting in the suspension of 14 entities and individuals involved with aid programs from Turkey. As a result of the suspensions, these parties are no longer able to receive U.S. government awards. A portion of USAID-funded cross-border programs in Syria were suspended as a result of this investigation, and several NGOs delivering aid to Syria have terminated staff members’ employment based on demonstrated misconduct,” the statement added.

Citing humanitarian sources, Agence France-Presse reported from Washington on May 10 that among those affected are the International Medical Corps (IMC), the Irish charity Goal, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), headed by former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Germany suspends spy tech exports to Turkey over democratic regression

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Chancellor Merkel

Chancellor Merkel

German authorities have suspended the sale of intelligence equipment to Turkey over its NATO ally’s regressing democracy under the rule of Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which allegedly profiles its own citizens, Today’s Zaman has learned.

According to German official sources, Turkey applied Berlin to purchase audio surveillance equipment and software to be used by the National Police Department last year. However, German authorities have failed to approve Turkey’s request. While the process of such a sale would normally last 6-8 weeks, the sale has not taken place yet although more than six months have passed.

German Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is responsible for granting arms and intelligence technology export permits, is thought to have personally blocked the sale. Gabriel last year openly declared that he would use his right to veto surveillance and monitoring technologies export to anti-democratic countries to prevent spy software made in Germany from being used for internal repression by autocratic regimes.

Berlin’s new policy on spy technology export to Turkey comes on the heels of a series of diplomatic crises between the two countries in the past few years.  

The relations between Germany and Turkey, two NATO allies, received a sharp blow due to an intelligence crisis in August of last year, when leaked records revealed that Germany had been spying on Turkey since 2009. While this incident angered Turkish authorities, Germany remained mostly silent about the claims.

A report by German magazine Der Spiegel suggested that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was and is still spying on Turkey, citing a confidential 2009 BND document.

Ties between Turkey and Germany were further strained after the recent arrest of three Turkish citizens in Germany on charges of spying on German-Turks for Turkish intelligence.

On Dec. 18, German federal prosecutors announced that three Turkish men had been arrested on charges of having close links with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and spying on their compatriots in Germany for MİT. The three men are in custody, pending a possible indictment.

Turkish officials have denied that the three Turkish men arrested in Germany have any links with MİT.

 

 

 

UN human rights body suspends Azerbaijan visit citing official obstruction

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UN suspendThe United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has decided to suspend its visit to Azerbaijan due to obstructions it encountered in carrying out its mandate under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), to which Azerbaijan is a party.

The delegation was prevented from visiting several places where people are detained and was barred from completing its work at other sites, despite repeated attempts to do so and assurances of unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty by Azerbaijani authorities, SPT said in a statement.

As a result of these serious breaches of Azerbaijan’s obligations under the Optional Protocol, the delegation concluded that the integrity of its visit, scheduled to run from 8 to 17 September, had been compromised to such an extent that it had to be suspended.

The delegation members halted their work on 14 September but some members remained in Azerbaijan to seek further engagement with the Azerbaijani authorities on the basis of the information currently at their disposal. The head of the delegation, Aisha Shujune Muhammad, met the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs on 16 September.

The SPT expects Azerbaijan to abide by its international obligations under the Optional Protocol and enter into a constructive dialogue with the SPT with the view to preventing torture and ill-treatment.