Pope finishes historic trip to Armenia

June 26, 2016 By administrator

6:46pm The papal plane has taken off from the Yerevan international airport.

6:02pm Wrapping up his three-day visit to the world’s first Christian country, Pope Francis on Sunday evening headed to the Zvartnots International Airport on Sunday evening to fly back to Rome.
The pontific is accompanied by President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, high-ranking clergymen and top government officials.

The Pope, who offered his Peace Prayer in Yerevan’s Republic Square on the first day of his visit, will be remembered in Armenia as a great philanthropist who never recoiled at voicing historical truths, condemning the Armenian Genocide and calling for peace over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Pope also stood out with his modest conduct and plain way of communicating with ordinary people in Armenia.

In the course of his historic journey, the Pope visited the Mother See of St Echmiadzin, the second largest city, Gyumri, and the monastery Khor Virap (where, together with the Armenian patriarch, he released doves towards Mount Ararat as a sign of peace).

Valley morning star Report: Trips by lawmakers to Turkey, Azerbaijan abound paid by Turkish TCAE or AFAZ,

May 17, 2015 By administrator

By EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO

On Jan. 25, 2011, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. accompanied by other senators, passed a resolution recognizing Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen for his ongoing and inspirational contributions to the promotion of global peace and understanding.

Gülen, who has lived in the United States since the late 1990s, is said to have inspired the establishment of Turkish institutes and organizations in this country, including the Gülen Institute, Harmony schools, and the reportedly non-profit organizations the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ), and the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE). Kemal Oksuz, based in Houston, has been at the forefront of numerous organizations.

Also in January 2011, the Valley Morning Star reported on Lucio Jr.’s campaign contributions and expenditures, finding that TCAE had paid for a $3,800 trip for Lucio Jr. to Istanbul, Turkey, from Oct. 10-18, 2010.

In his campaign statement, Lucio said that he had meetings with Turkish members of Congress during the “good will and fact finding mission.” “The Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians is an umbrella group that works to promote peace, understanding the community among people of different background,” the senator said at the time. “As chairman of the Senate Committee on International Relations and Trade, I was invited as part of a bipartisan group of senators to come to Turkey to learn about other cultures,” Lucio Jr. added.

According to TCAE’s website, its mission is, “to promote the cultural, educational, academic, business, social and arts relations and to organize events and activities to bring together the American and Turkish, Turkic and Eurasian communities within the U.S.”

Lucio Jr. is but one of the significant numbers of elected officials and staff that TCAE and affiliated organizations have taken on trips to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

A handful of these came to the limelight Thursday when the Associated Press reported that a bipartisan group of 10 U.S. House lawmakers said they had no idea that a May 2013 congressional trip to Azerbaijan was paid for by the country’s government. An investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics and the House Ethics Committee revealed that the travel had not been paid by TCAE or AFAZ, but that instead the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic had allegedly funneled $750,000 through the two organizations to pay for the conference. This would go awry of travel rules. Inquiries continue.

The 10 lawmakers are U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas; Yvette Clarke and Gregory Meeks of New York; Danny Davis of Illinois and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; as well as Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J. and former Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, the AP reported.

Information that the Star reviewed reflects that a staff member of Lujan Grisham’s office went on the trip, and that Lujan Grisham approved it.

But before this group of lawmakers went, the Star found that U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife traveled from Jan. 5, 2013 through Jan. 13, 2013 on a TCAE organized U.S. congressional delegation trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan. Data compiled by LegiStorm, which maintains documents about the U.S. Congress reflect that the cost of the trip was $26,145. Briefings at the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic were on the trip’s agenda.

One of Cuellar’s staff members went on May 2013 trip with the lawmakers at a cost of $5,290. Another staff member went to Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey Oct. 17 through Oct. 25, 2014. This trip was sponsored by the Turkish American Federation of Midwest that also is affiliated with TCAE. This trip cost $3,307.

LegiStorm data show that TCAE has sponsored 29 trips at a cost of $202,454 for 19 republicans and 10 democrats, but Turkish groups combined have spent more than $1 million to fund trips of elected officials.

Other organizations linked to Oksuz, TCAE, and AFAZ include Niagara Foundation, IID, Target Design & Management, TDM Construction, Cosmos Foundation, and Harmony Public Schools.

Texas Ethics Commission records reflect that TCAE also has funded trips to Turkey and the area besides the trip that Lucio Jr. took. These include Judge Randy Clapp of El Campo and a family member, Justice Molly Francis of Dallas, Rep. Joseph Deshotel of Beaumont, Rep. Hubert Vo of Houston, Sen. Troy Fraser, Rep. Rafael Anchia of the Dallas area, and former Rep. Lon Burnam of the Fort Worth area.

As Lucio Jr. did, some disclose the trips on the statements of campaign contributions and expenditures. Others disclose the trips as gifts in their personal financial statements.

Lucio did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: Valley morning star

Eperez-trevino@valleystar.com

Barzani’s Washington Trip: PR Without Substance

May 12, 2015 By administrator

By: kurdistantribune

Family trip? Presdient Barzani is greeted by his son and grandson

What to make of President Massud Barzani’s visit this week to Washington? His Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) supporters want to trumpet the occasion as an example of their leader performing on the world stage, negotiating face-to-face with the US president on critical issues such as securing direct military aid for the Peshmarga and independence for Kurdistan. But the truth is that no substantive gains were achieved for the people of Kurdistan. Instead Barzani has treated us to a costly PR exercise – a deception for internal consumption, designed to help prolong his grip on power.

The pro-KDP media in the Kurdistan Region is trying hard, almost North-Korea-style, to misrepresent reality. ‘White House supports Kurdish demands’ said ‘Bas News’, which is owned by President Barzani’s son Masrour, who is also chancellor of the Security Council. It claimed that ‘Kurds have green light to declare independence’. The pro-KDP ‘Khabat’ and ‘Hawler’ celebrated Barzani’s apparent big achievement in being ‘received at the White House like the president of a developed country’.

Here is what actually happened.

When Barzani arrived in the US he was greeted at the airport, not by a mobilisation of the Kurdish émigré community nor by any senior US officials but rather by his sons and grandsons and two junior US officials.

Barzani was not a guest of the White House: his invitation came from the State Department.

On Tuesday he did not meet US President Barrack Obama in the Oval Office: he had a White House meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden, and Obama showed up to participate halfway through their discussion.

During this meeting Barzani did not raise the issue of independence for Kurdistan and the US President and Vice President reaffirmed their commitment to a united Iraq.

Biden rejected Barzani’s call for the US to directly arm the Peshmerga – instead of sending all its weaponry to Baghdad – and yet Barzani still agreed that the Peshmerga will engage fully in the highly risky Mosul operation against ISIS due to take place this summer.

What was achieved by the Kurdistan president and his sizeable delegation (which included, as usual, the KRG foreign minister acting as Barzani’s interpreter)? Some misleading headlines.

On Wednesday, Barzani delivered a speech to the Atlantic Council – an organisation reportedly with interesting financial links to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) – full of the usual rhetoric and repetition, boasting once again that “independence is coming” but providing no answers to the KRG’s growing problems.

He did refer to the terrible atrocities suffered by the Shengal Yazidis, but only to blame this on “local tribes”, even though everyone knows that Barzani’s KDP forces fled the area last summer and left the Yazidis at the mercy of ISIS. The KDP is trying to re-write history (and there are reports of Yazidi refugees being sacked and victimised for speaking the truth about what happened to them), but this will only serve to remind people of a shameful betrayal.

As the clock ticks towards the expiration of Barzani’s extended presidential term, the Kurdistan Parliament’s majority of non-KDP MPs should not be fooled by the Washington razzmatazz and they must not waver from their democratic responsibility to renew the presidency and establish a parliamentary system of government.