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Knesset speaker withdraws Armenian Genocide recognition from parliament agenda

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The expected vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide was not on the Knesset’s agenda for this week as of Monday, JPost reported.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein withdrew the item from the agenda, his spokeswoman said, to avoid an embarrassment to the Knesset, because it was unclear there would be a majority in favor. Edelstein has repeatedly voiced his support for recognition over the years, including last week.

The vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, was set for Tuesday, after a motion to do so by Meretz chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg was approved.

Zandberg accused Edelstein of putting politics ahead of morality, dismissing the Knesset Speaker’s words in favor of her motion.

“Holding this debate, with a historic vote to recognize, is the right thing to do. Some preferred politics to doing the right thing,”
Zandberg said at a Meretz faction meeting Monday. “The Knesset should do what it promised. This is a matter of historic justice.”

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide has the potential to anger Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tensions between Israel and Turkey are already high, with the countries withdrawing their ambassadors after Turkey supported Hamas when the terrorist organization tried to violently break through the Gaza border into Israel earlier this month.

However, Israel and Azerbaijan have warm ties, and the latter’s proximity to Iran makes it a strategic ally, important to Israeli security.

Azerbaijan is in an ongoing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Zandberg, however, said that should not be taken into consideration.

Recognizing the Armenian Genocide, she argued, “shouldn’t hurt ties with any country. This is a basic moral issue…. We, the Jewish people, know the value of recognizing national tragedies.”

 

ISIS withdraws from Syria’s Aleppo

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ISIS withdraws from Syria's Aleppo The Islamic State group no longer has a presence in Syria’s Aleppo province after withdrawing from a series of villages where regime forces were advancing, a monitor said on Friday, Al-monitor.com reports.

“IS withdrew from 17 towns and villages and is now effectively outside of Aleppo province after having a presence there for four years,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Regime forces had been advancing on a sliver of southeastern Aleppo province around a key highway linking Hama province to the southwest and Raqa province further east. Abdel Rahman said regime forces seized control of the road late Thursday night, prompting the remaining IS fighters to flee. A Syrian military source in rural Aleppo confirmed the withdrawal.

“The military operation is ongoing and Daesh withdrew from the Aleppan countryside towards rural territory in Hama and Raqa,” the source told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “The Syrian army is clearing out the last few metres,” the source added.

Since early 2015, multi-front offensives against IS have eaten away at territory the group held in Aleppo province.

US-backed Kurdish and allied Arab fighters ousted the jihadists from Kobane on the Turkish border in 2015 and from the key city of Manbij last year. Rebels backed by Turkey seized the town of Al-Bab in February, and Syrian government troops have steadily chipped aw ay at IS towns in the south of the province. In neighbouring Raqa province, a US-backed offensive is bearing down on the provincial capital of the same name, which has served as the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capita

Breaking News: KENTUCKY STATE SENATE WITHDRAWS ANTI-ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

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ALIYEV-FAILS-YET-AGAIN-400x300By anca.org,

FRANKFORT, KY – The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) announced today that it successfully defeated Senate Resolution 168 in Kentucky, which grossly misrepresented the facts of Artsakh-Azerbaijani conflict. Dozens of Kentucky residents responded to the ANCA-ER action alert and successfully defeated the measure. Kentucky joins Idaho, New Hampshire, and other states which have already rejected similar misleading pro-Baku measures in the recent past.

“Our experience in Kentucky proved again that the democratic process works and our state legislators will not tolerate any attempt of interference and misrepresentation that serve the interests of a foreign dictator like Ilham Aliyev, who has ruthlessly repressed his own people and taken an increasingly anti-Western stance, while continuing aggression against Armenia and Artsakh effectively endangering fragile peace in the region,” said ANCA-ER Communications and Community Outreach Director Artur Martirosyan. “With our wide network of local ANCs and advocates, we will continue to work diligently to ensure the rights of the free people of Nagorno Karabakh Republic are protected and affirmed by the international community.”

S.R. 168, sponsored by Senator Damon Thayer, was introduced in the Kentucky Senate on March 1, 2016. Upon learning about the resolution by local advocates, ANCA-ER immediately mobilized the grassroots and spoke strongly against the deceptive and dangerous resolution calling upon the Senate President and Majority Floor Leader to withdraw it. Earlier today, the Kentucky Senate officially withdrew the measure from the proceedings of the legislative body and effectively killed the resolution.

The numerous calls and emails generated by the ANCA-ER and local residents caused Senators to educate themselves on the realities of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Sumgait and Baku massacres of Armenians, Azerbaijan’s gross human rights track record, Baku’s destabilizing role in the region as well as the rightful aspirations of the people of Artsakh Republic to live in an independent state free of Azerbaijani repression.

About ANCA-ER

The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) is the grassroots advocacy organization representing the views and advancing the policy priorities of Armenian Americans and other friends of Armenia across the Eastern United States. Working in coordination with a network of local ANCs, community advocates and local supporters, the ANCA-ER actively advances the concerns, interests, and priorities of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.