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Police find thousands of military food supply cans in trucks owned by arrested MP’s NGO, wife reportedly involved

June 19, 2018 By administrator

Police find thousands of military food

YEREVAN, JUNE 19, Amid the ongoing scandalous investigation into MP Manvel Grigoryan’s suspected embezzlement of military supplies and illegal possession of firearms, the organized crime unit of Yerevan police have received a report that two trucks loaded with military food supplies are parked in a parking lot at 22 Soghomon Taronts Street.

The drivers of the trucks, both members of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union – a paramilitary organization chaired by the arrested MP, who is also a former general, have been placed under arrest.

Police found nearly 3000 cans of canned meat labeled Not For Sale: Soldier’s Share. This type of canned meat is not available for sale anywhere and is the military food supply for the armed forces.

According to the drivers, Nazik Amiryan – the wife of the arrested MP – had instructed them to load the supplies into the truck on June 16 from the Yerkrapah Volunteers Union headquarters in Yerevan. Circumstances are being clarified.

Member of Parliament Manvel Grigoryan, a former general who chairs the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, a paramilitary organization, was arrested on June 16 by national security service in his hometown of Ejmiatsin (Vagharshapat).

The lawmaker from the Republican Party faction is suspected in embezzling military supplies and illegal possession of firearms. Upon searching the compound of Grigoryan, agents found huge amounts of military weapons and ammunition and supplies, including donated food and clothing which was meant to be sent to soldiers in Artsakh back in 2016. The donated supplies even include letters written by schoolchildren during the days of the April War of 2016.

The Prosecutor General requested an extraordinary sitting of the parliament to take place to strip the MP of parliamentary immunity, in order to keep him in pre-trial custody.

The MP has denied any wrongdoing, and in a letter sent to the Speaker said he will restore his reputation, and called on his colleagues to strip him of immunity since “he has no desire to obstruct the investigation”.

A private zoo and a large car collection were also found during the search of the compound.

On June 19, the parliament voted to strip the MP of immunity and approved launching criminal proceedings.

Thousands march in L.A. to mark anniversary of Armenian genocide

April 24, 2018 By administrator

Photo Illustration by Wally Sarkeesian

Thousands of demonstrators marched Tuesday along Hollywood Boulevard and through the Fairfax neighborhood to mark the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

Draped in red, blue and orange, the sea of demonstrators was led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to demand that Turkey recognize the 1915 atrocities that led to the systematic killing of 1.2 million Armenians.

“You don’t have to be Armenian to know what a human tragedy looks like,” Garcetti told the crowd in Little Armenia. “This was an Armenian tragedy and a human tragedy, and all of us will say, ‘Never again.’ ”

Every year, protesters lift their voices with a mixed sense of grief and indignation, determined to bring attention to this dark time in Armenian history.

This year, there was a renewed sense of hope in the crowd.

Earlier this week in Armenia, a national protest led to the resignation of the country’s prime minister, a man who had remained in power for more than a decade.

With peaceful protests, road blockades, even late-night clanging of pots and pans, Armenians in the capital of Yerevan brought down Serzh Sargsyan.

Tuesday morning, many said they felt empowered by the events in their home country.

“We are proud and more united than ever — here and in Armenia and all over the world,” said Nune Yenokyan, 31, of Tujunga. “We won’t stop until these crimes are brought to justice.”

The first of two demonstration marches began near Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue in Little Armenia at 10 a.m., and was organized by Unified Young Armenians. In addition to carrying flags and signs denouncing the genocide, marchers also called on the United States government to officially recognize it.

After the rally in Little Armenia, participants marched on a circular route east on Hollywood Boulevard, south on Normandie Avenue, west on Sunset Boulevard then north on Hobart Boulevard. Los Angeles police closed all the affected streets from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The second rally, organized by the Armenian Genocide Committee, began around midday at Pan Pacific Park at 7600 Beverly Blvd., and was scheduled to end at the Turkish Consulate at 6300 Wilshire Blvd. The demonstration route skirted the Grove shopping center, then proceeded west on 3rd Street, south on Fairfax Avenue then west on Wilshire Boulevard.

LAPD officials said all streets affected by the march would be closed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Although the genocide has been chronicled by historians, who often view it as having been a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing, Turkey has denied it occurred, saying the deaths of Armenians were a function of the chaos of World War I, which also claimed Turkish lives.

More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles County, making the Southland home to the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia. Glendale Unified School District does not hold classes on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

Despite calls by some legislators — most notably U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) — for the federal government to formally recognize the genocide, U.S. presidents have long refused to do so. President Trump last year continued that tradition in his first year in office, issuing a statement denouncing the deaths as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th Century” but failing to use the term “genocide.”

Former President Obama, a Democrat, also failed to recognize the genocide during his eight years in office, despite indications during his original campaign that he would do so.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Over 150,000 Iraqis flee amid operations to liberate western Mosul

March 16, 2017 By administrator

Iraq says more than 150,000 people have fled fighting in and around the western side of Mosul since security forces launched an operation to retake the area from Daesh terrorists.

According to Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displaced, civilians continue to leave Mosul’s western side as armed forces are struggling to dislodge Daesh terrorists from their last urban stronghold in the country.

The ministry said Thursday that 152,857 people have so far fled the operation zone since February 19, when the battle began.

In the figures released on Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration had put the number of those who have escaped at nearly 100,000.

Iraqi forces and allied fighters had gained control of the eastern side of Mosul in January, after 100 days of fighting.

They have managed to liberate several areas of western Mosul, a city divided into two halves by Tigris River.

On Thursday morning, Iraqi soldiers were trying to encircle Mosul’s Old City to bottle up Daesh elements, but military officials say the operations have been slowed due to bad weather as well as the bombs and booby traps planted across the combat area.

“Operations in the Mosul west Old City have been halted on Thursday due to bad, rainy weather. We can’t advance without airstrikes cover due to the fog,” Reuters quoted an Iraqi Rapid Response unit as saying.

A federal police officer confirmed the halt and said commanders were meeting to adjust their plans.

“The new offensive plans should adapt with the difficult terrain of the complicated, narrow alleys,” he said.

Federal Police Major General Haidar Dhirgham also said the complete liberation of Mosul to take at least a month.

“I will not tell you one or two weeks, because that’s not true, but within one or two months it will be completely liberated,” he said.

Turkey: Thousands of public employees suspended after failed coup attempt

July 19, 2016 By administrator

15,200 Education Ministry personnel were suspended

The licenses of 21,000 teachers working in private institutions were also canceled.

100 people from National Intelligence Organization (MİT) were also suspended.

Turkey’s Prime Ministry suspended a total of 257 personnel, including 230 judicial clerks, 19 specialists, six advisers and two legal advisers.

Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK) has demanded the resignation of all deans on duty at all private and state universities throughout the country.

a total of 492 people were suspended from Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet)

A total of 393 personnel were also suspended from the Family and Social Policies Ministry and 16 were suspended from the Development Ministry.

7,899 police officers, 614 gendarmerie officers, 30 provincial governors and 47 district governors.

1,500 officials in the Finance Ministry had also been suspended.

In a related case, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters that 9,322 people were currently under legal proceedings in relation to the attempted coup.

A total of 240 people, of whom 62 were police officers, 173 were civilians and five were soldiers, were killed during the failed coup attempt and 1,535 people were wounded, Anadolu Agency reported. A total of 24 coup plotters were also killed and 50 coup plotters were wounded.

SYRIA Syria: 6,000 civilians fleeing the offensive of the EI in the Aleppo region

May 30, 2016 By administrator

Beirut, May 29, 2016 (AFP) – More than 6,000 civilians fled 24H in the advance of Islamic State group in the province of Aleppo taking refuge in the Kurdish-controlled areas in the northern region of Syria, reported Sunday the Syrian Observatory for fingers Rights (OSDH).

Friday, the Islamic State group (EI) cut the supply route between two strongholds of the rebellion in the region by taking villages between Marea and Azaz, 20 km further north.

“More than 6,000 civilians, mostly women and children, fled these villages Marea and fell the last two days in the hands of the EI”, told AFP the director of OSDH.

According to Rami Abdel Rahman, “the displaced arrived last night in areas west and northwest of Aleppo under control of Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS)”, an Arab-Kurdish alliance that fights on EI fronts in Syria.

The fighters of the IU, who want to take their strongholds for rebels of Azaz and Marea, are now only 5km from the second city, according to OSDH.

“There are only four medical staff at Al-Horriyya hospital, the only one in the city of Marea,” he told AFP an anesthetist of the institution who spoke on condition of anonymity .

Yehya, a nurse responsible for Assalama hospital in the north of Azaz for his part said that Doctors Without Borders had to evacuate patients and doctors in the hospital, fighting now taking place 3 km away.

“Our hospital is de facto closed except for emergency and relief,” said Yehya. He further pointed that “the new camps (for displaced people) are overcrowded and living conditions are precarious, without sanitation.”

The fighting left since Friday start of the offensive launched by the EI 47 deaths among the jihadist suicide bombers including 9 and 61 among the rebels and 29 civilians, according to OSDH which has a wide network of informants across the country.

In Aleppo itself, several areas of the city and areas to the north have been the target of violent Russian aerial bombings and the regime, according to OSDH.

Thousands Protest in Baghdad Against Terrorist State of Turkey Deployment of Turkish Troops to Iraq

December 12, 2015 By administrator

Thousands of protesters, including members of Iraq’s Shiite paramilitary forces, gathered in downtown Baghdad on Saturday demanding the pullout of Turkish troops from the country, local TV Alsumaria reported.

Turkey sent troops and tanks to a base in northern Iraq last week setting off an angry diplomatic row with Baghdad.

Ankara insists it deployed forces near Mosul to protect military instructors working with Iraqi soldiers at the base, but Baghdad demands their immediate withdrawal and brought the matter before the UN Security Council.

Saturday’s protest rally in Baghdad was initiated by paramilitary groups of the Hashad al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias.

“As the leader of a military brigade, I am not fully satisfied with the government’s action, and we are here to say that Iraq’s patience has run out,” Ali Rubaie, the commander of a unit stationed west of Baghdad, told AFP on Saturday.

The demonstration was mostly attended by young men in military uniforms and was well organized, with large processions converging on Tahrir Square in central Baghdad.

Gyumri Thousands attend funeral of murdered baby

January 22, 2015 By administrator

Thousands of mourners attended in Gyumri yesterday at the funeral of the baby six months died of his injuries a week after the brutal attack that killed six members of his family.

Silently, the crowd walked behind the body Seryozha Avetisyan while being transported to the church of Surp Nshan to a cemetery in the second largest city of Armenia, still reeling from the massacre of January 12, attributed to a Russian soldier.

Christian priests sang songs for the child while he was buried next to his family. Hundreds of people threw handfuls of sand on his grave at the end of the ceremony in the presence of Armenian MPs and local government leaders.

Serzh Sargsyan did not attend the funeral. He had already been conspicuously absent when the six other members of the family were buried Avetisian on 15 January.

Turkey, Thousands march in Diyarbakır, Istanbul for Kobane

November 1, 2014 By administrator

DİYARBAKIR / ISTANBUL

Thousands of people march in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır and Istanbul in a peaceful support rally for Syrian city under ISIL fire

Protesters carried posters of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) at the Diyarbakır rally. DHA photo

Thousands of people marched Nov. 1 in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır and Istanbul in a peaceful support rally for Kobane, the Syrian city under jihadists’ attack for more than one month.

Dozens of people were killed last month October in a string of Kobane protests as 12 were murdered in the Oct. 6 and 7 street clashes in Diyarbakır only, making the Nov. 1 rally rather crucial.

The government has blamed political parties for irresponsibility for making a call for such street action.

Speaking at a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) event in the western province of Afyon today, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the state backed the right to hold meetings but would take active measures against those who pick violence. “Do you remember any peaceful calls by the HDP [People’s Democratic Party] in the past two months,” Davutoğlu asked.

However, no violence emerged at demonstrations in Diyarbakır and Istanbul as the organizers also took measures in the southeastern province along with the police and military precautions.

Rather smaller rallies were held in some European cities.

The rallies came at a day when Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters entered Kobane from Turkey to join the battle against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.