Turkey sued over violence in protests in Washington in 2017

May 11, 2018 By administrator

Twenty people beaten outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington in 2017 have filed lawsuits against the government of Turkey and five individuals after the bloody assault on demonstrators that drew international condemnation.

In a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District, 15 mostly pro-Kurdish demonstrators, nearly all U.S. citizens and residents, sought unspecified damages for injuries sustained when they said guards for visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged their ranks. Five other victims filed suit May 3 seeking more than $100 million in damages from Turkey.

Video of the May 16 melee outside the Sheridan Circle residence showed men in suits and olive-green military-style jackets kicking and bludgeoning protesters, including women carrying young children and men in their 60s. Victims contend they suffered concussions, seizures, neurological damage, lost and broken teeth and post-traumatic stress.

Analysts at the time of the high-profile violence on Washington’s stately Embassy Row called it another provocation in a U.S.-Turkey relationship strained by disputes over the war in Syria, Russia’s role in the Middle East and a conspiracy theory that the United States was behind a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

U.S. law generally bars private lawsuits against foreign governments but carves out exceptions, including for cases involving terrorism or wrongful actions by governments, officials or employees in the line of duty that result in injury or death on U.S. soil.

[Nine injured in violent confrontation outside Turkish ambassador’s residence]

A spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Washington could not immediately be reached for comment.

n the lawsuits, attorneys recite U.S. State Department and human rights groups’ objections to Erdogan’s tilt to authoritarianism, crackdown on dissent, and the Turkish government’s political and military campaign against its Kurdish minority as the basis for their claims of hate crimes, human rights and terrorism violations. The filings also make allegations of assault and battery.

“The attack carried out by Turkish security agents and their sympathizers was a direct and brutal assault not only on our plaintiffs, but on a hallmark of American democracy — the right to peacefully assemble,” said Agnieszka M. Fryszman, co-counsel in the lawsuit filed Thursday and chair of the Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll law firm’s human rights practice.

Fryszman and co-counsel Joshua Colangelo-Bryan of Dorsey & Whitney said that the incident “is shocking and should shock the consciences” of Americans, and that whatever its diplomatic complexities, it poses a straightforward question.

“These are foreign agents trying to suppress a peaceful protest in our country, which makes it a somewhat unusual case, but the underlying conduct” is violent attacks and beatings, Colangelo-Bryan said.

The legal team reviewed 400 hours of surveillance, cellphone and camera videos, but after “about three minutes and 30 seconds of it, you would understand the whole case from start to finish,” showing people carrying children pushed to the ground, kicked and stomped in the head by men with guns and ID badges on lanyards, and a woman on the grass, trembling with seizures, Colangelo-Bryan said.

Murat Yasa, 61, a flooring company owner from Great Falls, Va., was among the protesters and is among the 15 plaintiffs in the larger lawsuit.

Yasa, a U.S. citizen of Kurdish descent who immigrated in about 1987, said he helped lead a protest at the White House and then at the ambassador’s residence on May 16, 2017, before he said he was beaten, kicked repeatedly by a ring of men and left bloodied with a concussion and a missing tooth.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/lawsuits-filed-against-turkey-over-violence-with-guards-at-2017-dc-protest/2018/05/10/0a9f0b9a-5238-11e8-abd8-265bd07a9859_story.html?utm_term=.ad73777cf612

Armenian parliament passes anti-domestic violence law

December 13, 2017 By administrator

The National Assembly adopted in the second reading on Tuesday a draft law proposing measures to ban domestic violence in Armenia.

The bill received the parliament’s support with 75 votes “for” and 12 votes “against”. Eight lawmakers attending the session refrained from voting.

Members of the different parliamentary factions voted freely at their own discretion. The opposition alliance Yelk and the coalition Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) backed the measure.

The new legislation is aimed at preventing domestic violence, offering guarantees towards the protection of victims and re-establishing solidarity in families.

Violence killed nearly 7,000 Iraqi civilians in 2016: UN

January 3, 2017 By administrator

The United Nations says at least 6,878 Iraqi civilians lost their lives last year due to violence perpetrated by Takfiri terrorists in the Arab country.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement that 12,388 other civilians were injured in 2016.

UNAMI noted that the numbers “have to be considered as the absolute minimum,” citing its inability to verify civilian casualties in conflict areas as well as those who “died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care.”

Furthermore, the data did not include casualties among civilians in Iraq’s western Anbar Province for the months of May, July, August and December, it added.

The figures further showed that only in December 2016, a total of 386 civilians were killed and 1,066 more wounded in Iraq, with the worst affected areas being Nineveh Province and the capital city of Baghdad in descending order.

Violence had claimed the lives of at least 7,515 civilians in Iraq in 2015, according UNAMI figures.

Over the past months, Iraq has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks, mostly claimed by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

The militants have recently increased their acts of violence across the country in revenge for the blows they have been suffering at the hands of Iraqi forces, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.

“This is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price,” said Jan Kubis, the special representative of UN Secretary General in Iraq and UNAMI head.

Daesh began its campaign of terror in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters are leading operations to win back militant-held regions.

UN in Armenia condemns recent cases of violence against women in Yerevan

November 28, 2016 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The United Nations (UN) Office in Armenia on Monday issued a statement condemning the recent cases of violence against women in capital city Yerevan.

“The United Nations in Armenia strongly condemns the recent cases of violence against women in Yerevan and widely reported by media and social networks.

“In one instance, on 25 November 2016, a 37 year-old woman was fatally wounded by her partner in Shengavit administrative district, while in another case, on 26 November 2016, a woman was brutally beaten by her spouse during the day on Teryan Street in front of many passersby.

“It is a brutal and sad irony that this happened during the days when the United Nations, together with international partners, national authorities and civil society, is observing the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, a campaign that runs annually from 25 November to 10 December.

“Stopping domestic violence, which is a serious violation of human rights, and bringing perpetrators to justice must be a priority not only for law-enforcement bodies, but for each and every citizen in our society. Indifference is as unacceptable as the crime itself, and the United Nations is determined to play its own part by ensuring that such cases are not left unpunished.

“These cases once again prove the urgency of adopting the Law on Domestic Violence, and we urge our partners, the Government and the Parliament of Armenia, to bring this legal protection mechanism to life as soon as possible. Any further delays may cost more lives,” the UN in Armenia statement reads.

Criminal investigation into Yerevan police violence launched

August 4, 2016 By administrator

investigation The Special Investigative Service instigated a criminal case over the police’s use of violence against demonstrators and journalists during the Yerevan police station siege, Armenian media reports.

According to the Special Investigative Service, the police exceeded authority “in the prejudice of service or deliberately”. In particular, the matter concerns the use of riot control devices in Yerevan’s Khorenatsi Street and Sari Tagh districts, violence against the detainees and journalists and hindering the meetings of lawyers and their defendants.

The Service also urges the persons injured in the police actions to provide the investigative body with facts on violation of laws by the law-enforcers.

Spread of violence in Turkey shows no sign of abating

June 10, 2016 By administrator

turkeytermoill Kurdish PPK said they were behind an Istanbul bombing as the violence in Turkey’s largely Kurdish south-east spreads. Turks in the country’s west are now seeing the deadly conflict play out on their doorstep.

A radical offshoot of the banned Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for a bombing in the center of Istanbul on Friday, marking the latest entry in a string of attacks across the country that shows no sign of abating.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who split with the PKK in 2006, and explicitly pursue civilian targets, detonated a car bomb next to a bus carrying Turkish police officers in Istanbul’s Veznecilar district on Tuesday. The attack was followed by another car bombing targeted a police station in Mardin, south-eastern Turkey, the following day.

For almost a year now the predominantly Kurdish provinces of Turkey’s south-east have been home to a large scale Turkish military operation nominally targeting the PKK that has left entire cities in ruins and hundreds killed.

The campaign has been compared to the Turkish army’s operations in the Kurdish regions in the 1980s and 1990s that left more than 44,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. This week’s attack in Istanbul is yet more evidence that this time the violence is spreading west.

Kurdish militants linked to the PKK, who see themselves as resisting an incursion by the Turkish military, have suffered heavy losses in pitched urban battles with Turkish soldiers in the south-east and are increasingly turning to hit-and-run style guerrilla tactics and car bombings. Major Turkish army operations are continuing across the region, and are still ongoing in the city centers of Sirnak and Yuksekova in the country’s deep south-east.

The Turkish army has declared 24-hour military curfews in the centers of Kurdish towns and cities that independent rights groups such as the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Mazlumder claim have resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Speaking at a meeting of the relatives of soldiers killed in the operations on Tuesday, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the military operations were succeeding. “The PKK has experienced its biggest ever blow over the last year … the trenches they dug have become their graves and the bombs they planted to divide the nation have exploded in their own hands.”

President Erdogan claimed 7,600 “terrorists” had been killed or captured in the operations since July 20, 2015, however, death tolls in the conflict are hotly disputed.

An independent casualty count maintained by the International Crisis Group puts the total number of confirmed PKK fatalities at 519 (However, the organization notes that the true figure should be higher due to the difficulty of verifying reports). Crisis Group has also documented 517 police, military personnel and village guard fatalities and at least 271 civilian deaths, along with an additional 191 individuals between 16 and 35 years of age who have been killed at times of clashes or in curfew zones but cannot be positively identified either as civilians or militants.

String of attacks

PKK guerrillas have recently taken credit for a string of attacks on police and army positions across south-eastern Turkey and say they plan to ramp up the attacks. Though they have received little international or domestic attention, attacks in the south-east have been deadlier than more high profile attacks such as Tuesday’s car bombing in Istanbul.

Hostilities spiked after PKK militants shot down a Turkish army helicopter with an anti-aircraft system on May 13. The organization’s guerrillas followed up the attack on May 16 with a raid on an army outpost in Oremar, Hakkari province that the group claimed left more than 30 soldiers dead. The Turkish army reported only two deaths.

On June 4, PKK guerrillas targeted Turkish soldiers in the Semdinli region of Hakkari province in the far south-east, claiming subsequently to have killed 26 soldiers. Then, on June 5, PKK guerrillas attacked a bus carrying Turkish gendarmes on the main road between Trabzon and Gumushane in the country’s north, claiming to have killed six officers.

The same day, in Tunceli province, PKK guerrillas attacked an army outpost killing one soldier, and on June 6 they carried out a further attack in Sirnak’s Uludere district in yet another raid on a Turkish army outpost.

The Turkish army responded on June 8 by carrying out airstrikes on the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, where the PKK’s leadership is based.

‘A low-intensity war’

“The results of this war have been pretty grim for the Kurdish people,” Mehmet Sanri, a veteran Kurdish journalist and analyst from Sirnak, now living in Istanbul, told DW.

“But the Turkish generals have labeled the conflict a ‘low intensity war,’ or at least one of a lower intensity than the previous conflicts, meaning they think they have things more or less under control.”

Sanri points out that some in the region question the logic of the PKK’s strategy of continuing to fight, but that the rules of the game are still fundamentally being set by the Turkish state. “Don’t forget that the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, is still held in prison by Turkey,” he said.

“The presence of Russia in Syria, and the situation in Iraq, is also complicating and deepening the conflict and unfortunately the destruction continues at full speed.”

Azerbaijan commits ISIS-style violence in Nagorno-Karabakh – Armenian diplomat

April 23, 2016 By administrator

Armenia’s ambassador to Italy has compared the Azerbaijani agression against the civilian objects and military objectives in Nagorno-Karabakh with the violence typical to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) militants’ actions in the Middle East.
Sargis Ghazaryan talked of the recent four-day war and their devastating aftermaths in an interview with the Milan-based newspaper Libero.
“As early as just a few days ago, the military chaplains in Nagorno-Karabakh put on armored coats to stand by the soldier defending the elderly and kids [the Christians]. They were on the frontline to hit back the Azerbaijani army’s attacks threatening villages. There are well-grounded facts [proving] that Azerbaijan’s military received arms supplies from dozens of mercenaries. Some sources report about ISIS terrorists who had moved from Racca. Those aren’t yet well-grounded facts, but the violence committed is typical to the ISIS’s action. Civilians were killed in the village Talish; just have a look at those photos …” the diplomat was quoted as saying.
Ghazaryan called the Italian journalist’s attention to the fact that the conflict has no religious motives despite the Azerbaijani authorities’ continuing attempts to use religion as a pretext to express solidarity to the Islamic world. “These actions are a result of the tyrannical regime which, despite the costly campaigns to reinstate its reputation, is accused of repeated violations of human rights by more respectable international organizations. Chronologically, the latest [efforts] is the European Parliament’s resolution calling upon the Union to enforce sanctions against the Azerbaijani regime,” he noted.
Asked whether he has enough evidence to insist on the ISIS militants’ presence in the recent war, the diplomat cited the photos and videos shared by Azerbaijani fighters, which featured tortured and beheaded soldiers. “Those images remind one of Syria and Iraq rather than the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. We have photos and videos telling us about three detainees – I mean servicemen of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. They were tortured and beheaded, i.e. – had their bodies mutilated, in blatant violation of the First, and Third Geneva Conventions. Thanks to the ICRC’s mediation, 16 Armenian servicemen’s bodies have to date been handed over to Armenia, and they too, were barbarically tortured and mutilated. What we speak of constitute real war crimes,” he said.
“It is more than obvious that it is the Islamic militants’ style; however, no grounded and final facts are available as yet.”
The diplomat added that against the 64 military losses in Armenia’s army Azerbaijan lost over 200 soldiers.

Armenia unveils names of seven soldiers killed in Artsakh violence

April 4, 2016 By administrator

Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan released the names of seven Karabakh soldiers, killed in the course of military actions in the conflict zones.

Among the fallen soldiers are Captain Hovsep Kirakosyan (b. 1988), Private Nodarik Margaryan (b. 1963), Private Sasun Mkrtchyan (b. 1989), Captain Armenak Urfanyan (b. 1990), Private Qyaram Aloyan (b. 1996), Sergeant Yuri Paramazyan, Major Hovsep Mayilyan (b. 1978).

On the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 18 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 35-40 were wounded in the course of military operations. A civilian, 11-year-old Vaghinak Grigoryan was also killed, with 6 other civilians, including two kids, wounded.

As of April 4, the Azerbaijani side has lost 20 tanks and over 5 armored vehicles, including an IFV, as well as 2 military helicopters and 3 unmanned aerial vehicles.

One Karabakh tank has been destroyed so far.

Related links:

Artsrun Hovhannisyan’s Facebook page

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

Terrorist State of Turkey Police violence against journalists

February 19, 2016 By administrator

arton122367-480x305 The trick President Erdogan does not want the world to see these images. As clashes between the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the Turkish army intensified in Diyarbakir and several Kurdish towns in south-eastern Turkey, media are harassed on the ground by the authorities. A report Spicee.com our partner, the new Media 100% video.

“When I say do not film, do not you Films’! The reporter holds in his hand a camera. Turkish policeman him, holding a gun, he relies on the temple of the journalist, while grabbing her neck with his other hand. Welcome to the war of images, in the conflict between the PKK and Turkey.

Washington calls for immediate end to violence in Karabakh

September 11, 2015 By administrator

The State Department has called for an immediate end to violence in Karabakh conflict zone.

“We have received credible reports that Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have used mortars and other heavy weapons along the international border, resulting in civilian casualties and damage to villages. We are deeply troubled by the escalation and condemn any military action that targets civilians. We call for an immediate end to such violence, for the de-escalation of tensions, and, in the strongest possible terms, for the avoidance of civilian casualties,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.

“We also remind the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan of their commitment to reach a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict working closely with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.”