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ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY SUBMITS TESTIMONY TO HELSINKI COMMISSION BRIEFING ON PEACE IN ARTSAKH

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) submitted testimony today to the Helsinki Commission Briefing titled, “Averting All-Out War in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Role of the U.S. and OSCE.” The panelists featured were former OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair (1999-2001) Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, former OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair (2013-2016) Ambassador James B. Warlick, and International Crisis Group’s Europe and Central Asia Program Director Magdalena Grono.

“President Aliyev has plainly not abided by what he and his country agreed and we are grateful that this year the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in two statements already have begun to identify Azerbaijan as the cause for the loss of innocent lives. The false equivalency that so many observers and actors try to apply to this conflict does not square with effective conflict resolution or American values,” the Assembly stated in its testimony.
During the Commission Briefing, Amb. Warlick stressed the importance of peace in the region, and noted that all the points of the Madrid Principles are interrelated, of which the entire panel agreed there needs to be respect for the principles of self-determination, territorial integrity, and the non-use of force.

The Assembly also highlighted Azerbaijan’s cease-fire violations along the Line of Contact, which, since 2014, was more than 77,000 times, and over 1.4 million shots fired. Azerbaijan continues to fire at several kindergartens, targeting young children in Armenia’s Tavush region.
“Instead of negotiating in good faith, Azerbaijan’s president has made it clear that he intends to continue to escalate hostilities in order to force concessions,” the Assembly continued. “The breadth and scope of the violations demonstrate a systematic pattern that must be addressed, and that is the reason why the Assembly strongly supports the agreements brokered by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and reached by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to reinforce respect for the 1994 cease fire agreement signed by the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.”
In its testimony, the Assembly called for confidence building measures (CBMs) to help reduce tensions and build a path toward a just and peaceful resolution, which was supported by all of the panelists during the briefing.
“While Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) have repeatedly agreed to confidence building measures, Azerbaijan has consistently rejected such initiatives. Earlier this year, despite U.S. objections, Azerbaijan unilaterally forced the closure of the OSCE office in Yerevan, Armenia because of its humanitarian de-mining activities,” the Assembly said.
Amb. Cavanaugh mentioned the exceptional work that The Halo Trust continues to do clearing land mines in Artsakh, and commended them for their efforts. He pointed out that it is in the best interests for Azerbaijan to cooperate with this organization for mine clearance, which would ultimately benefit everyone in the region.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

 

Terrorist State of Turkey: Four Kurdish HDP lawmakers taken by force to give testimony

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DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— Four Kurdish lawmakers from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were detained on Jan. 25, including Sanliurfa MP Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakir MP Imam Tascier, Igdir MP Mehmet Emin Adiyaman and Mus MP Ahmet Yildirim.

HDP MPs Baydemir, Yildirim and Tascier were taken by force to testify on Wednesday. Another HDP MP Adiyaman was taken by force too to give testimony. All four deputies were released following their testimony.

Yildirim and Baydemir were detained in accordance with a warrant of taking by force in Diyarbakir Courthouse where they went to watch trial.

Same action was taken against HDP Diyarbakir MP Imam Tascier a few hours before that.

A probe was launched by Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into Tascier on charges of “overtly insulting government of Republic of Turkey”, “defaming President”, and “defaming a civil servant based on his/her duty”.

The prosecutor’s office on Wednesday has issued a warrant to take them by force. In line with the warrant, Tascier was detained as he left his home and brought to Diyarbakir Courthouse.

HDP Igdir MP Mehmet Emin Adiyaman as well was taken to prosecutor’s office by police in accordance with the warrant of taking by force this morning.

Meanwhile, the jailed and ousted mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin, Ahmet Turk, was taken to hospital in the eastern province of Elazig in order to obtain a health report. His lawyer and family have repeatedly said his health condition is deteriorating.

In May 2016, parliament voted to strip lawmakers of their legal immunity, paving the way for the HDP legislators’ arrests.

In November 12 Kurdish HDP lawmakers, including the two co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were arrested on charges of links to the PKK which they deny.

Thousands of officials from the HDP have been detained since 2015. Turkey detained 200 HDP members in December 2016.

The government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK, a charge that the HDP denies.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.

A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974, and has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.

Syria Life testimony Aleppo

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Pierre Le Corf is a very good friend. There are more than a year, with only luggage a computer and a smartphone, this young Breton has undertaken to the World Tour to gather the stories of those whom we never speak, those forgotten and abandoned the humanity, but which are nonetheless men and women with a history. This is a humanitarian goal journey called ” #WeAreSuperheroes. “, An organization dedicated to supporting marginalized communities to develop their self-confidence through the Storytelling. The idea is to achieve a participatory journalism platform.

With little financial means, previously saved, he lived among each other. In his journey, sometimes dangerous, he even took the time to help some to get by.

After collecting more than 500 accounts across the globe, Pierre has recently joined the Middle East, against the advice of his friends, because of the potential danger that locally prevailing there. Thus, after passing through Lebanon, he arrived in Damascus early April, then towards Aleppo where he will meet many Armenian, which he hopes to take evidence in the next days.

Meanwhile, here’s what Peter Corf lived the last two days (Friday, Saturday) in Aleppo.

According to our latest information, in the night from Friday to Saturday, the armed rebel groups launched rocket raids against the Kyugh Nor populated district of Aleppo Armenians. The attacks were mainly civilians.

Jean Eckian

Turkey Former Trabzon police chief summoned to testify in Dink murder trial

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198883_newsdetailFormer Trabzon Police Chief Reşat Altay has been summoned by Prosecutor Yusuf Hakkı Doğan to testify in the trial into the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Dink was assassinated in broad daylight outside the office of his Agos newspaper on Jan. 17, 2007.

Media reports say the prosecutor will also request that Yasin Hayal, a convict in the ongoing trial, and Erhan Tuncel, who was earlier found not guilty of the Dink murder, testify as part of the ongoing investigation.

When he testified in January 2012, Tuncel had accused former Trabzon Police Chief Altay of destroying all the evidence concerning the Dink murder.

According to a media report, Prosecutor Doğan also listened to the testimony of a police officer, Bahadır Tekin, on Monday. Tekin was asked about claims saying that he doctored a report to show he had checked out an address that was mentioned in an intelligence report sent from the Trabzon Police Department on Feb. 17, 2006. The doctored report also said one of Tekin’s colleagues, Özcan Özkan, went with him to scope out the address, which was located in İstanbul’s Ümraniye district, even though neither had gone there.

The intelligence report sent by Trabzon police had warned that Hayal — now a convict in the Dink murder trial — was planning to assassinate Dink. There are claims that Tekin had doctored his own report after the murder took place in order to make it seem as if he had gone to scope out the address before the murder. Tekin denied all claims directed at him in his testimony, according to media reports.

As part of the same investigation, two former heads of the intelligence unit of the National Police Department — Sabri Uzun and Ramazan Akyürek — and a former police chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, testified as suspects. Other high-profile figures have been called to testify as suspects, including former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, former İstanbul Vice Governor Ergun Güngör and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler.

Furthermore, Ogün Samast, who was sentenced to 21 years and six months in prison in 2011 for assassinating Dink, also testified as a witness in the ongoing investigation into the murder on Dec. 5. Samast had sent a letter to Prosecutor Doğan saying he wanted to speak about the murder. The prosecutor decided to listen to Samast as a witness in the investigation.

Dink was shot and killed by an ultra-nationalist teenager seven years ago. Samast and 18 others were brought to trial. During this time, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Hayal was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder. However, Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department and was the man accused of initiating the effort to have Dink murdered, was found not guilty of the murder.

ISTANBUL: Hitman in Dink murder testifies to prosecutor as witness

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198679_newsdetailOgün Samast, who was convicted in 2011 of killing Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper, is escorted to court by gendarmes. (Photo: Cihan)

TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL

Ogün Samast, who was sentenced to 21 years, six months in prison in 2011 for assassinating Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, is testifying as a witness in the ongoing investigation into the murder.

Dink was assassinated in broad daylight outside the office of his Agos newspaper on Jan. 17, 2007.

The convicted hitman was taken from Kandıra Prison and brought to the Çağlayan Courthouse on Friday morning to testify as a witness. The police have taken strict security measures on the seventh floor of the courthouse where Samast is delivering his testimony to Prosecutor Yusuf Hakkı Doğan.

Samast had sent a letter to Doğan saying that he wanted to speak about the murder. The prosecutor decided to listen to Samast as a witness in the investigation.

As part of the same investigation, two former heads of the intelligence unit of the National Police Department — Sabri Uzun and Ramazan Akyürek — and a former police chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, testified as suspects. Other high-profile figures have been called to testify as suspects, including former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, former İstanbul Deputy Governor Ergun Güngör and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler.

Dink was shot and killed by an ultranationalist teenager seven years ago. The hitman, Samast, and 18 others were brought to trial. During the process, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder. However, Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department and was the man accused of initiating the effort to have Dink murdered, was found not guilty.