The Syrian army said on Thursday that it will shoot down any Turkish warplanes violating the Syrian airspace.

October 20, 2016 By administrator

syria-will-shoot-turkish The Syrian army said on Thursday that it will shoot down any Turkish warplanes violating the Syrian airspace.

ALEPPO (Sputnik) — The Syrian army said on Thursday that it will shoot down any Turkish warplanes violating the Syrian airspace in response to recent Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish villages in northern Syria that allegedly killed 150 civilians.

“The Syrian army warns that it is ready to shoot down Turkish warplanes by any means available if they attempt to once again violate the Syrian airspace,” the army general command said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Turkish authorities are responsible for the deaths of some 150 civilians in Turkish airstrikes on the villages of Hassajek, Vardia and Hasia on Wednesday night.

ECHR fines Turkey for violating Alevis’ right to religious freedom

April 26, 2016 By administrator

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled Turkey must pay 3,000 euros each to 203 applicants in a case concerning Turkish authorities’ “refusal to provide the applicants, who are followers of the Alevi faith, with [a] public religious service,” the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

In its decision, the court stated that Turkey had violated the applicants’ rights to freedom of religion and the prohibition of discrimination.

In its April 26 ruling, the court said the authorities’ “refusal of the applicants’ requests amounted to a lack of recognition of the religious nature of the Alevi faith and its practices (cem).” The ruling also elaborated that Turkey’s lack to recognize their religious practice had the “effect of denying legal protection to Alevi places of worship [cemevis] and religious leaders [dedes],” thus causing “numerous consequences for the organization, continuation and funding of their religious activities.”

OSCE and UN condemn Azerbaijan for violating human rights and freedom of speech

June 16, 2015 By administrator

Among the countries jeopardizing freedom of speech, OSCE points out Azerbaijan, Russian and Ukraine, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said speaking at a two-day conference “Journalists’ safety, Media Freedom and Pluralism in Times of Conflict” in OSCE’s Vienna headquarters, according to the Azerbaijani information agency Turan.

She said the governments of various countries must put an end to media manipulations. The world situation is characterized by the attack of corrupt regimes on freedom of expression, she added. Mijatovic called propaganda “a scar on the face of journalism,” stressing the importance of countering it in modern terms.

The Assistant UN Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Shemonovich cited data from journalists’ organizations as estimating that approximately half of the journalists killed in the world have lost their lives outside war zones.

On June 16, during the 29th session of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, came up with a statement calling on a number of post-Soviet countries to give up cracking down on NGOs and activists. He spoke up for the prisoners in Azerbaijan and condemned the draft laws introduced in several Central Asian countries targeting NGOs, UN website reports.

He further drew attention to the situation in Azerbaijan and said he was troubled by the reports about the violation of the right of fair trial and the cases of long-term pretrial detentions in that country. “I urge the authorities to release those having health problems on humanitarian grounds, as well as drop charges against those jailed just for exercising their rights,” the High Commissioner said.

The Chair of the Committee on Democracy and Human Rights of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Isabel Santos, commended Azerbaijani authorities’ decision to allow the human rights defender Emin Huseynov to leave the country. “It is good news that Emin Huseynov was allowed to leave Azerbaijan. I commend Switzerland’s determination to make it possible. Still, it is also a sad day as the civil society leaders are forced to leave the country under the authorities’ pressure,” Santos declared.

BBC: Baku jail is called ‘university’ because of number of ‘bright minds’ detained there for criticizing government