Spezzatura

By Harut Sassounian The government of Azerbaijan, using its considerable oil income, has been waging a propaganda campaign to win over U.S. politicians and denigrate Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh). To accomplish these twin objectives, Azerbaijan has spent millions of dollars over the past three years to hire several major lobbying firms, such as the Livingston Group; JWI; Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates; and Melwood Communications. In addition, the consulate general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles hired Sitrick & Company over a year ago and later replaced it with the Tool Shed Group, founded by Jason Katz, the former director of public affairs for the American Jewish Committee. While Azerbaijan’s embassy, with the support of its lobbying groups, has been targeting top U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., its consulate in Los Angeles has been more interested in countering the political influence of California’s large Armenian community. Fortunately, neither the embassy nor the consulate has had much success. Recently, the embassy of Azerbaijan tried to get Members of Congress to go on record condemning Armenia for the alleged killings of hundreds of Azeris in 1992 during the Artsakh war. Despite concerted efforts by its high-powered lobbying firms, Azerbaijan succeeded in convincing just 1 out of 535 members of the House and Senate to do so. Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the co-chair of the Congressional caucus on Turkey, was the only member of Congress who made remarks about this highly controversial incident. Azerbaijan was even less successful in California, despite its heavy investment of time, money, and manpower. Back in 2005, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev appointed Elin Suleymanov, a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as Azerbaijan’s first consul general to Los Angeles. Suleymanov told the Azeri Press Agency that one of his key assignments was to counteract the political clout of California’s Armenian community. He promptly wrote a letter to the owners of a theater in Los Angeles, requesting the cancellation of an Artsakh-related event organized by a local Armenian group. The diplomat’s complaint was summarily dismissed and the event took place as scheduled. Sueleymanov’s failure cannot be attributed to his lack of enthusiasm and energy. He has actively tried to promote Azerbaijan’s interests, while missing no opportunity to belittle Armenia and Artsakh. The lobbying firms hired by his government have arranged for him to tour Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Oregon, Wyoming, and parts of California to deliver speeches to university students, greet local politicians, and have guest editorials published under his name in obscure newspapers. Suleymanov even visited the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and claimed that there are racial similarities between Azerbaijanis and Native Americans. A student at the University of Montana quoted Suleymanov as stating that Native Americans actually originated from the region of Azerbaijan and that is why the consul general “felt a certain kinship for tribal people of the U.S., like brothers or cousins.” A major accomplishment of Azerbaijan’s lobbying firms was arranging the visit of four California legislators to Baku in September 2007. Reciprocally, several members of Azerbaijan’s parliament and a minister have visited California more than once in the past three years. Nevertheless, despite Azerbaijan’s intensive lobbying of California legislators, only 1 out of 120 members of the State Assembly and Senate agreed to send a letter to President Aliyev in February 2009 expressing sympathy for “the victims of Khojali.” This letter, signed by assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, was copied from a draft provided by lobbyist Jason Katz. It was noteworthy that Katz had raised the possibility of sending friendly legislators on junkets to Azerbaijan. California state assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Glendale) worked to prevent other legislators from signing the Azerbaijani letter by alerting his colleagues about the falsehoods contained in it. The lone letter signed by Fuentes was hailed by Suleymanov as a major victory for Azerbaijan. The Azeri media disseminated that letter worldwide, misrepresenting it as a condemnation of an alleged “genocide” committed by Armenians! The government of Azerbaijan and its representatives in the United States do not seem to realize that it is not in their best interest to denigrate and provoke the influential Armenian community in California. It was no mere accident that Suleymanov’s recent appearance at California State University at Northridge was greeted with a student protest. Should Azerbaijan’s consul general and his hired guns continue to disseminate falsehoods about Armenia and Artsakh in the western U.S., Armenian Americans could neutralize the propaganda by establishing a public affairs office for Artsakh in LA, as a branch of the one now operating in Washington, D.C. ссылка

By David Boyajian By any objective measure, the two-year-old campaign against the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) denial of the Armenian Genocide has been a spectacular success. The ADL, the Jewish American community, Israel, and Turkey were taken by surprise and shaken to their roots. As shockwaves from the campaign spread, Turkey’s ambassador to Israel cut short his vacation to return to Tel Aviv to complain to Israeli leaders. Grassroots Armenians in Massachusetts have flexed, and continue to flex, their political muscles as never before, targeting the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the elected officials and human rights commissions of 14 cities: Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Easton, Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Peabody, Somerville, Watertown, and Westwood. As a result, they have all ceased sponsoring No Place for Hate (NPFH), the alleged anti-bias program created, trademarked, and funded by the ADL. Successful Results Among campaigns initiated by Armenian Americans, only the Congressional genocide resolution has generated more exposure and controversy. The campaign has spawned thousands of news reports, editorials, commentaries, radio interviews, and letters in non-Armenian media in the U.S. and around the world. The battle against the ADL and NPFH has underscored to non-Armenians that the genocide issue directly affects them, their cities, and their schools. Armenian Americans now have a louder voice in their communities. And those who deny the genocide have been put further on the defensive. Exposing the ADL’s holocaust hypocrisy reportedly helped to push the House Foreign Affairs Committee into approving the Armenian Genocide Resolution two years ago. The campaign is the main reason why recent news reports on the strained relations between Turkey and Israel refer to the Jewish lobby’s collusion with Turkey in genocide denial. Other denialists, such as the American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith, have also been exposed. Armenian Leaders Fall Short Sadly, outside Massachusetts, Armenians and lobbying organizations such as the Armenian National Committee of America and Armenian Assembly of America have done little to defend Armenians and others against the ADL’s denialism and programs. This is a major failure. Even in Massachusetts, the Armenians who have been fighting the ADL are mostly grassroots activists and several ANCA leaders. With rare exceptions, our so-called Armenian leaders in politics, academia, business, journalism, law, medicine, and the Church have remained shamefully silent and uninvolved. The reasons? Laziness and, in my opinion, an unwarranted fear of criticizing a Jewish organization. The fact is that the Massachusetts campaign has drawn enormous support from non-Armenians, many of them Jews: human rights commission members, city officials, journalists, academicians, and more. Armenians must not permit genocide denial, whether by a Turkish, Jewish, or any other kind of group. The ADL and America As Americans, Armenians have a wider responsibility to expose the ADL and similar organizations that falsely claim to espouse “human rights.” ADL programs besides NPFH, such as World of Difference (WOD), have infiltrated thousands of cities, workplaces, law enforcement agencies, and public schools, the latter often attended by Armenian American children. When Glendale’s Hoover High issued an invitation to WOD, the Armenian community put a stop to it, but only—only—because it was aware of the campaign in Massachusetts. WOD even tried to penetrate St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School in Watertown. Were it not so damaging to society, it would be laughable that an organization that conspires with Turkey to cover up mass murder is strong-arming countless American citizens—children, teachers, workers, law enforcement officers, and ordinary citizens—into its “anti-hate” and “tolerance” training programs. Some ADL members who conduct these programs may be well intentioned. But the national ADL leadership is not. It is clear, particularly given its collusion with Turkey, that the ADL is a political, not a civil or human rights, group. Its “human rights” programs are a cover—a way to influence and buy unsuspecting Americans who will later support, or at least not criticize, the ADL’s foreign and domestic agenda. Incredibly, ADL agents have also conducted illegal surveillance of African Americans, Latinos, labor unions, and others. The police chief of Arlington, Mass., has even admitted that the ADL provides police with investigative intelligence that they cannot legally obtain themselves. One can surmise, therefore, that the ADL may operate covertly against Armenian Americans. Continuing the Campaign There are compelling moral and practical reasons why Armenians must continue this campaign. Human rights experts say that the Armenian Genocide was—and denial of any genocide is—an offense against humankind as a whole. All people, therefore, Armenians included, have a responsibility to confront denialists. Even Israelis acknowledge that Israeli-Turkish accords include an unwritten proviso that top Jewish lobbying groups such as the ADL work against Armenians on virtually every issue of concern to Armenian Americans, such as military aid to Azerbaijan and Turkey. According to political analyst Harut Sassounian, for example, AJC and B’nai B’rith officials issued “a public pledge to help enact pro-Azeri and pro-Turkish legislation and counter Armenian and Greek initiatives in the U.S. Congress.” Exposing the holocaust hypocrisy of the ADL and other organizations reduces their credibility and, therefore, their ability to damage Armenian American interests. Even locally, ADL members have worked against Armenian interests. A top ADL officer and well-connected Boston figure, Peter Meade, has made himself the main opponent of the proposed Armenian Heritage Park—which includes a genocide plaque—on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. Will Armenian Americans confront organizations that harm not just their interests, but also those of the wider American society? In Massachusetts, yes. Elsewhere, it remains to be seen. ссылка

Так ударим же дашнакской правдой по примитивной ялбанской дэзе ! VINA DEL MAR, Chile—ARF Bureau member Mario Nalbandian met with Vice President Joe Biden on Sun., March 29 during the sixth Conference of Progressive Leaders, which was being held in South America for the first time, reported the ARF Press Service. Nalbandian, who is the ARF’s representative to the Socialist International where he is a co-chair of the CIS, Caucasus, and Black Sea Committee, discussed pressing issues of concern to Armenia and Armenians. The Conference of Progressive Leaders was attended by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, and Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay. Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet hosted the summit, which opened Fri., March 27 with a seminar on “a progressive response to the global crisis,” organized by the Policy Network, an international think tank, and Chile’s Instituto Igualdad (Equality Institute). Other participants in the gathering were the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, and the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena. The Progressive Leaders summits, the first of which took place in 1999 at the urging of then-President Bill Clinton and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, bring together heads of state and government and other high-ranking officials with ties to socialist, social democratic, labor, and democratic parties around the world. ссылка

Когда ваш недруг саморазрушается, самым уместным в этот момент будет взять бутылочку холодного пива и отойти в сторону.

Общественный транспорт фтопку. Даешь каждому Тате по Тате ! На все про всё $2500 за машину. Безлошадные девушки вообще будут в восторге.

Don’t say genocide: CSIS WASHINGTON - A major think tank calls on President Obama not to recognize the killings of Armenians as ’genocide.’ ’If Obama uses the word genocide, the Turkish response will be harsh and trigger a bitter breach in relations,’ the CSIS says. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a major and bipartisan think tank in the United States capital, Monday called on President Barack Obama not to recognize World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide." Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser for former President Jimmy Carter, and Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser for former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush, jointly introduced the CSIS report at a meeting. Encourage and support rapprochement "If President Obama takes no action to prevent congressional enactment of the (Armenian) resolution (pending in the House of Representatives), endorses the measure, or uses the word genocide himself, the Turkish response will be harsh and trigger a bitter breach in relations," the CSIS said. It said the United States, "rather than seek to legislate history," should encourage and support rapprochement that Turkey and Armenia are trying to accomplish. At the end of a European tour, Obama will visit Turkey April 5-7. збигнивушка брентушка ссылка

В тот день когда на армянский ресурс придет кто-то из них, представится как Мамедов Тофик ( а не тат, украинец, лезгин, горский еврей и прочие персонажи из этнопалитры Азербайджана) и не будет бубнить зазубренные даунизмы (20 пирасентов, бизимдир, многострадальные армяне, Ырыван, умирающая Армения, время работает на нас, ялбанские церкви, карабахский клан, дашнкаские террористы, у нас Мерседесов больше, красивей Мехрибан не бывает и прочий букет) - не забудьте меня разбудить. Плиз

So much for "independent Kurdistan" which vagha che myus ora shall emerge out of the ashes of Iraq. Я понимаю что подобная перспектива вызывала у многих армян schandenfreude, но нельзя же быть настолько наивными - клянусь Буддой...

This week, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) suffered a similar trade-off, when Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Baghdad and met with Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani (the grandson of Mustapha). The latter promised that the Kurdistan-based PKK would lay down its arms completely - thereby ending a state of war with Turkey that has lasted for 30 years - in exchange for a full pardon for all Kurds who had fought the Turkish government. Clearly, Barzani had not consulted with the PKK before making Gul his offer. The PKK immediately snapped back, saying that Barzani's offer was "wrong, because it benefits nobody but enemies of the Kurdish people”. Barzani - whose meeting with Gul was a remarkable event in its own right - added that he would not allow non-state players, like the PKK, to use the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan as a base to launch war against Turkey. Gul said, "I told him [barzani] explicitly that the PKK terrorist organization and their camps are ... in your region [and] you need to take a clear position against them. Once the PKK is eliminated, there are no bounds to what is possible: you are our neighbors and kinsmen." For his part, Barzani said, "We are determined, and we confirm again our territory will not be used to attack Turkey." Falling in line with the "new mood" in relations between Turkey, Iraq and the Kurds, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, recently said that creating an independent Kurdish state - his dream for over five decades - was "impossible", describing it as a "dream in poems". His comments were carried in the Turkish daily Sabah. "I tell this to my Turkish brothers: don't be afraid of Kurdish independence. To stay within Iraq is in the interest of the Kurdish people in an economic, cultural and political sense." Coming from Talabani, the Kurdish version of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, this was a bold statement, reflecting wisdom that comes with age, and a strong understanding of what can be achieved in real life and what has to remain nothing but an inspiring dream. Twenty years ago, it would have been impossible for Talabani to make such a thundering statement. Barzani grabbed the cue from the veteran Kurdish leader, who is on the verge of political retirement, and offered the PKK on a gold platter to Gul. Had it not been for Talabani's blessing, the PKK would not currently be based in Iraqi Kurdistan. This is the first time that a Turkish president has visited Iraq in 33 years, and the first time ever that one has met with an official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has had de facto autonomy in northern Iraq since 1991. остальное тут

By YAAKOV KATZ Israel will take part in a joint naval exercise with Turkey this summer despite months of tense relations between Jerusalem and Ankara. Defense officials said the Israel Navy would allocate at least one missile ship to participate in a search-and-rescue exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in July. Other NATO member countries are expected to join the drill. The Israeli and Turkish navies have enjoyed years of strong ties and participate annually in joint maneuvers throughout the region. While there was never a real fear that this year's exercise would be canceled, the possibility was raised due to the strained relations between Turkey and Israel since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan castigated Israel during Operation Cast Lead, defense officials said. OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi also raised Ankara's ire in February when he told a conference of IDF officers at the National Defense College that Erdogan needed to look in the mirror before criticizing Israel. Mizrahi said Turkey was not in a position to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza when it stations troops in northern Cyprus and massacred Armenians during World War I. Mizrahi's comments followed Erdogan's harsh criticism of Israel at the World Economic Forum in Davos during a panel with President Shimon Peres. ссылка

Turkey, U.S. play down tensions over Armenia issue By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - Seeking to avert tensions during President Barack Obama's visit to Turkey, both sides are playing down potential fallout from a renewed attempt by some U.S. lawmakers to declare the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide. Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters on Thursday the issue, which caused U.S.-Turkish relations to plummet in 2007, would not "hijack" Obama's visit to the NATO ally early next month. "Nothing can shadow the success of this visit," Davutoglu told reporters after meeting Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, at the White House. During his 2008 campaign for the White House, Obama referred to the killings of Armenians in World War One as genocide, which Turkey strongly rejects. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton co-sponsored a genocide resolution on Armenia when she was in the Senate. The reintroduction on Tuesday by several lawmakers of a new resolution in the House of Representatives could complicate Obama's visit and Davutoglu said the issue was discussed in his meeting with Jones. Asked whether Obama's views might have changed, Davutoglu was noncommittal. "I did not say yes or no," he said. "Of course, I cannot speak on behalf of General Jones, but we went through all these issues in a very friendly and cooperative manner." White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer declined to comment on what Jones and Davutoglu discussed regarding the Armenian issue. "Our focus is on how, moving forward, the U.S. can help Armenia and Turkey work together to come to terms with the past," he said. "It is important that countries have an open and honest dialogue about the past. At the same time, we want to work closely with both Turkey and Armenia on the key issues that confront the region." Recognizing how sensitive the issue could become in U.S.-Turkish relations, the State Department has avoided comment on the resolution or what the Obama administration's policy is on labeling what happened as genocide. "I don't want to go any further on it until we have had a chance to take a closer look at it and discuss it within the government, and that's where I'm going to leave it," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters on Wednesday. NO CONGRESSIONAL VOTE 'ANY TIME SOON' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked if it was a good time to bring up the Armenian resolution, reiterated her view that genocide occurred. Whether Obama travels to the region or not "does not deny the fact that there was an Armenian genocide, and there are those of us in Congress who will continue to make that point," the California lawmaker told Reuters. Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly, said he did not know whether the sponsors of the latest resolution had enough support for it to pass in the House but "no one's talking about a vote any time soon." Similar resolutions have been introduced in Congress for years and Pelosi has been a longtime supporter of having Congress declare the killings a genocide. But as speaker, she did not bring the legislation to the floor for a vote in 2007 after pressure by the Bush administration, amid concerns over the sensitivities of Turkey. ссылка

Про дружбана всея-турецкого Робика Векслера я уже писал в другом треде. А товарищ John Murtha это, значить, go to guy на капитолийском холме для эмисаров от военных. Во время прошлогодних дебатов по принятию резолюции, он от имени Пентагона лоббировал Пелоси на предмет того что необходимо это дело похерить. В свое время ФБР взяло его за яйца по делу о коррупции, но он сумел отмазатся .

US lawmakers back Armenia-Turkey thaw WASHINGTON (AFP) — A group of US lawmakers told leaders of Armenia and Turkey on Monday that they stood ready to help the neighbors as they strive to end decades of animosity and forge closer diplomatic ties. "It is essential that the building blocks of trust and cooperation are established between Armenia and Turkey to heal open wounds, mend broken hearts and create a better future for both nations and peoples," they wrote Armenia President Serzh Sarkisian and Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The group, all Democratic allies of US President Barack Obama, included Representatives Robert Wexler, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. It also included Representatives John Murtha, who has close ties to the Pentagon, and Alcee Hastings, co-chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. "As members of Congress who agree that lasting Armenian-Turkish rapprochement should be a top priority for the United States, please know we are ready to assist your nations' efforts to normalize relations and build a better future for generations of Armenians and Turks," they wrote. "This process is difficult and at times painful, but we remain hopeful that ongoing bilateral engagement will lead to a positive breakthrough that forever changes the dynamics of the region and opens the door to new possibilities and brighter futures for Armenia and Turkey," they said. ссылка

Philip Gordon, recently appointed by US President Barack Obama as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, has refused to call Turkey's presence in Cyprus an "occupation" and insisted that any US move to back Armenian "genocide" claims would be counterproductive, despite pressure from a senator at a Senate committee. At his confirmation hearing at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday, Gordon was asked to comment on a pre-election statement by Obama outlining his foreign policy priorities in which he said "a negotiated political settlement on Cyprus would end the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus and repair the island's tragic division while paving the way to prosperity and peace throughout the entire region." When asked if he agreed with the statement, Gordon said "yes," but when Sen. Robert Menendez pressed him to say if he considered the Turkish presence on the island an occupation, he only said the Greek Cypriot government and a number of experts considered it an occupation. Gordon was then criticized by Menendez for opposing past attempts in the US Congress to pass a resolution recognizing claims that Armenians were subjected to a genocide campaign at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Menendez then said he was concerned over whether Gordon would act in a balanced manner regarding this matter. Gordon, for his part, insisted that congressional measures on the issue would provoke a "nationalist backlash" in Turkey. To prove that he would take a balanced approach, Gordon talked of the need to "recognize that terrible tragedy took place," and said "more than 1.5 million people were driven from their homes and massacred." Congress has recently introduced a new resolution calling on the US president to describe the killings of Armenians as genocide. Turkey says any such move would both harm Turkish-US relations and undermine the efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize their relations, severed, among other reasons, due to the dispute over history. Ankara denies the genocide accusations and says the killings were a result of civil strife. In a sign of the importance attached to Turkey by the new US administration, Obama is expected to visit Ankara to discuss a wide range of issues including Iran's nuclear program, Iraq and Afghanistan. When asked why good relations with Turkey were important by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Gordon noted that the US image in Turkey had deteriorated badly in recent years and added that it was "hard to get work done in a democracy when there is such skepticism about our country." He added: "We have a lot of work to do with them. Turkey is critical for the energy routes between the Caspian, the Middle East and the West. Turkey is a country that has borders with Greece, the Black Sea, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean. For that reason alone it's a critical strategic player in the world. And it is an aspirant to EU membership. The global symbolism of a majority Muslim country joining EU will be very powerful." "We have a compelling national interest in working with Turkey, which is not to say we agree with them on everything," he also said. Gordon, a senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, was nominated to replace Daniel Fried on March 11. ссылка

Когда в Армению попрет курдский десант с запада вот тогда будет настоящий tesekkur ederim. Они бедные от нищеты снег кушают зимой, а тут и в Стамбул на поиск счастья звездюхать не надо. Ереван без бинокля видать. Вот тофики из Ирана Novruz bayramı приезжают отмечать в столицу Армении. Кто сказал что курды хуже ?

А революционер новой волны Николай Пашиненко не собирается вернутся из эмиграции и подключится к борьбе за пост мэра ?

Kurdish nationalism on the rise, ballot suggests DİYARBAKIR - Local election results manifested, once again, evidence that Kurdish nationalism is strong and the tactics of the incumbent Justice and Development Party, or AKP, do not appease its adherents or win any hearts and minds in the country’s southeastern region. The victory was most clear in Diyarbakır, the biggest city in Southeast Turkey Sunday’s local elections opened a whole new chapter in one of Turkey’s most acute problem: The Kurdish question. The Democratic Society Party, or DTP, which openly champions Kurdish nationalism and has at times sympathized with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, won a clear victory in the southeastern region of the country. This manifested, once again, evidence that Kurdish nationalism is strong and the tactics of the incumbent Justice and Development Party, or AKP, do not appease its adherents or win any hearts and minds. The victory was most clear in Diyarbakır, the leading city in Southeast Turkey. The DTP mayor of the city, Osman Baydemir, who recently called the city "our castle," was re-elected with a sweeping 65.4 percent of the votes. The candidate supported by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who vowed to "take that castle," Kutbettin Arzu of the AKP, could only take 31.6 percent. Besides Baydemir’s metropolitan area, the DTP also won 14 of the 17 districts of Diyarbakır. Other parties showed almost no signs of presence there or in the rest of the southeastern cities. AKP’s decline The rivalry between the AKP and the DTP on Kurdish votes peaked in the general elections of July 2007. Then, it was the AKP that won most of the southeastern cities. In Diyarbakır, its votes skyrocketed and almost equaled the DTP. This was a shock to the latter, which sees itself as the only true representative of the Kurdish people, and blames the AKP for deluding Kurds with welfare programs and a religiously inspired propaganda of "brotherhood" (of all Muslims, whether they be Turkish or Kurdish.) But the AKP’s ascendance also lays in the liberal stance it took on the Kurdish issue. Before the 2007 elections, Erdoğan made several remarks that made the Kurds and others hopeful, and he rejected the calls for military operations against the PKK separatists in northern Iraq. But after the elections, Erdoğan, who was cornered by a court case that considered closing his party and banning him from politics, stepped back from some of his more reformist rhetoric. He agreed with the demands of the Turkish military to launch operations, and the European Union process, which most Kurds like, waned. For the people here, this retreat was synonymous with treason. "Some of us were fooled by Erdoğan in 2007," said Mehmet Uzun, 47, who proudly said he voted for the DTP in Sunday’s polls. "But we will not be fooled again." The paradox is that Erdoğan was commended in the rest of the country for "tuning himself with the military" and, at least apparently, minimizing the conflict between him and the generals. In the Kurdish areas, though, this seems to have been a kiss of death for him. The perception gap between Southeast Turkey and the rest is indeed jaw dropping. The PKK carries a bad image in the eyes of many Turks but in Diyarbakır, the party is not seen that way at all. The thousands of people who gathered in front the DTP headquarters Sunday night to celebrate the election victory made this obvious. The ecstatic crowd, which included men and women from all ages and walks of life, were cheerful for not just the DTP, but also the PKK. Its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been in a Turkish prison since 1999, was praised. When his posters were unfurled, people started to chant his nickname, "Apo, Apo, Apo." At one point a slogan filled the air: "PKK is the people! And the people are here!" It was followed by another: "Hey Turko, go home, Amed is not yours." Amed is the ancient name given to Diyarbakır in the Kurdish language. "The Kurds who vote for the AKP are traitors," said one young man in the crowd. "They think more about money than freedom." Zeynep, a young university student, put this in better perspective: "The AKP gets votes from the older generation who are more conservative and religious," she said. "But for us young adults there is only the DTP, because we yearn for freedom." A glass half-full In fact, the AKP was hoping for better results in the Southeast because it recently took some revolutionary steps: TRT 6, an official 24-hour Kurdish language channel was launched and an investigation unearthed some of the crimes committed in the Southeast by security forces. The problem is that these are, at best, a glass half-full for the Kurds. And the more nationalist among them are not willing to be satisfied with anything less than a full glass. But what is that full glass? "We want our own country, a federation," said Recep, 23, who was among the excited crowd at the DTP headquarters. "And we also want Öcalan to be free, he is our leader." But for the rest of the country, these are unthinkable options. Most people, especially Turkish nationalists, even think that the AKP has gone too far in its effort to win over the Kurds, and that it started to erode the country’s only legitimate identity: Turkishness. For them, the AKP’s half-full glass is a dangerous deviation, if not treason. All this makes Turkey’s Kurdish question even harder to answer. An impending milestone is the verdict of the Constitutional Court on the closure case opened against the DTP. The future of Öcalan is also crucial for the people here. "If something happens to Öcalan, our people will burn this country, it will be like hell," said Zeynep. Perhaps this will force the authorities to come to a point that almost nobody wants to speak about: To make a deal with Öcalan, and start to negotiate with the DTP for a "political solution." Because all other options Ğ the "military solution" and the AKP’s half-glass strategy Ğ do not seem to have worked. ссылка

It is expected that the Obama administration will please Turkey and honor its expectations with respect to Armenian claims of genocide on April 24 and that Turkey will make attempts to normalize its relations with Armenia. The establishment of diplomatic relations will be a first step to this end. This will be followed by the opening up of the border between the two countries. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will attend the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Ministerial Council meeting in Yerevan on April 15. Turkey has informed Baku of the rapprochement with Armenia. Baku is only following the developments. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry wants to hold a meeting on the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey and regional security in Ankara in June to make its views clear. However, this meeting is relatively insignificant and does not carry any weight. Baku has failed to interpret the ongoing changes in the Southern Caucasus and to develop adequate measures to protect its interests. Since its independence, Azerbaijan has never paid attention to Turkey. It has followed a policy suggesting that ignoring Turkey would not do much harm. Only clichéd slogans -- "two states, one nation" -- have been voiced. A branch of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation was opened in Moscow, but there is no such branch in Ankara. Azerbaijani diplomats have paid only a small number of visits to the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Baku has neglected Turkish intellectuals, bureaucrats, civil society organizations, the media and the public. It has chosen the easy way and tried to carry out its relations through high-level talks between party leaders, government members and military officers. Despite the fact that part of Azerbaijan's territory is still under Armenian occupation, Baku has not developed an accepted Armenian policy. Baku has also failed to extend the economic privileges it has given to Iran and Russia to Turkey. It overlooks the close relations between Iran and Armenia. However, this policy is no longer sustainable. Baku has to realize that its policy of negligence is not applicable. The development of a new style and policy in Azerbaijani-Turkish relations is now a necessity. It is now time to honor the brotherhood between the two nations by developing a realistic policy. To make sure that these bilateral relations go beyond empty gestures and are based on realistic policies, it is necessary to recall the foundations of the strategic partnership between Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Caucasian army led by Nuri Paşa liberated Baku in May 1918. In 1921, Soviet Azerbaijan donated oil and 1 million rubles for use in the Turkish War of Independence. Azerbaijani volunteers fought together with Turks against their adversaries. Despite the fact that bilateral relations between the two countries were relatively insignificant during the Cold War era because of their alignment with different poles, relations between the peoples of these two nations were always warm. The soccer game between Neftçi Peşekar and Galatasaray in 1962 exemplifies this warmth. While elderly people and women did not usually attend soccer games back then, a number of older people and women watched that game. The goal was not to see Galatasaray. Their goal was to see Turks and sense the presence of Turks. In August 2001, around 1 million people were present at the Azatlık Square in Baku to watch the ceremonial flights of Turkish military jets. This amounted to one-sixth of the whole population of the country. Turkish jets, which made the Azerbaijanis feel they were not alone, did not fly as part of a foreign military establishment. The people did not feel they were aliens. They considered the jets and the pilots as their own sons and assets. It is now time to appreciate these feelings and the sensitivity that comes with them and develop new policies for relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan. ссылка

У Степашки такой глубокомысленный фэйс что я просто кушать не могу.

Во время выборов в местные парламенты Турции возникли беспорядки, в ходе которых погибли пять человек и более 90 получили ранения. Об этом сообщает AFP в воскресенье, 29 марта. Как отмечает агентство, беспорядки происходили, в основном, на востоке и юго-востоке страны, где большинство населения составляют курды. В провинциях Шанлыурфа и Диярбакыр произошли перестрелки, в результате которых погибли три человека. В городе Диарбыкар (столица провинции), как сообщает AFP, один человек умер от сердечного приступа во время спора на избирательном участке. В провинции Ван один избиратель скончался от многочисленных ножевых ранений. Как показали недавние опросы общественного мнения, фаворитом местных выборов в Турции является правящая Партия справедливости и развития, возглавляемая нынешним премьером страны Тайип Эрдоганом. Социологи полагают, что партия может получить более 40 процентов голосов избирателей. Основными конкурентами правящей партии являются Республиканская народная партия и Партия национального действия, ожидается, что они займут второе и третье места. Как уточняет AFP, в воскресенье, 29 марта, около 48 миллионов турецких избирателей имели право принять участие в выборах около 93 тысяч местных депутатов. Ожидается, что предварительные итоги голосования будут известны в воскресенье вечером. Напомним, летом 2007 года во время внеочередных выборов в парламент Турции также произошли массовые беспорядки в различных провинциях, но тогда были ранены 17 человек, и обошлось без погибших ссылка

Москва начала кампанию по пересмотру брюссельской газовой декларации Оцепенение, в которое впала Москва после болезненного удара - подписания крайне невыгодной для нее газовой декларации Украина-ЕС, продлилось недолго. Лучшие силы российского руководства и "Газпрома" перегруппировались и пошли в контрнаступление сразу по нескольким фронтам. Причем уже с первых залпов стало ясно: новая "газовая война" будет долгой и кровавой, а ее исход вовсе не очевиден. Удачным для Москвы начало сражения не назовешь: российское руководство, убаюканное лучезарным дружелюбием частой своей гостьи - Юлии Тимошенко, 23 марта пропустило молниеносный и сокрушительный удар в спину. Именно так, если верить украинской прессе, в Кремле расценили тот факт, что именно она подписала злосчастную декларацию. "В Кремле считают, что Тимошенко их "кинула". Путин ей поверил, хотя ему и говорили, что верить Юле нельзя. Понятно поэтому, что ВВП так зол теперь именно на Тимошенко", - заявил источник газеты "Сегодня" в дипломатических кругах. Понять болезненную реакцию российского руководства можно: в последние месяцы Москва не жалела ни сил, ни денег на поддержку Тимошенко в ее противостоянии с Виктором Ющенко. Ради нее в Кремле отправили в запас старого своего фаворита - Виктора Януковича. "Газпром" переуступил долг RosUkrEnergo "Нафтогазу", чтобы помочь украинскому премьеру заполучить остро необходимые ей 11,5 миллиардов кубометров газа. Тому же "Нафтогазу" "простили" (правда, только на словах) штрафы за недобор газа в первом квартале. А самой Юлии Владимировне дали понять, что она может получить кредит в пять миллиардов долларов для спасения трещащего по швам бюджета страны. И тут - такое! Она, пером Ющенко, которого, кстати, в Кремле даже видеть не хотят, подписывает документ, угрожающий не абы чему, а "энергетической сверхдержавности" России. В Москве, по-видимому, до последнего момента не верили, что от Тимошенко можно ожидать такого подвоха. Конференции, на которой была подписана декларация, сначала не придали особого значения, потом долго решали ехать на нее или нет. В конце концов приехали. Как выяснилось - только для того, чтобы стать свидетелями подписания "смертного приговора" стратегическим планам "Газпрома", а затем обидеться, развернуться и демонстративно уйти. Первым реакцию России озвучил премьер-министр Владимир Путин. Он пригрозил "изменением отношения" к европейским инвесторам. "Это касается угля, атомной энергетики, электроэнергетики, куда европейские компании сделали огромные капиталовложения, измеряемые миллиардами долларов. Это касается, разумеется, добычи нефти и газа, это касается транспорта",– сказал Путин. При этом он напомнил, что Россия закупает в Европе только газотранспортного оборудования на 26 миллиардов долларов. Евросоюзу дали понять, что, вступившись за Украину, он рискует потерять для себя Россию, чего в Брюсселе и других столицах конечно, не хотели бы. Причем, судя по последующим выступлениям российских руководителей, в случае упорства ЕС могут предложить жесткий вариант: "Либо они, либо мы". В ситуации, когда дело касается будущего "Газпрома", нельзя исключать, что Кремль "пойдет на принцип" - слишком высоки ставки. Станет ли Европа в этом случае цепляться за украинскую трубу - неочевидно. О том, какие неприятности могут возникнуть у людей, перешедших дорогу нынешнему российскому руководству, много интересного могут рассказать самые разные люди - от Михаила Ходорковского внутри страны до его тезки Саакашвили - вне ее. Кремль обиды не прощает. Тем более - обиды личной. И Юлия Тимошенко уже смогла это прочувствовать. Во-первых, впервые за долгое время ей отказали в приглашении в Москву, что само по себе неприятно. Во-вторых, ей дали понять, что пятимиллиардного кредита на рефинансирование газовых долгов перед Россией никто выделять не будет. Между тем, день оплаты счетов - 8 апреля - неминуемо приближается, а за ним маячит дефолт. О том, что такую возможность исключать нельзя, уже заявил бывший спикер Верховной Рады Арсений Яценюк - человек, пользующийся славой неплохого экономиста. Ну и в-третьих, 11,5 миллиардов кубометров газа RosUkrEnergo, которые неимоверными ее трудами стали собственностью "Нафтогаза", могут вновь сменить владельца. остальное тут

Не все так безоблачно, май френд. В Армении уже начали ощущать границы того где заканчивается свобода слова и начинаются еврейские трайбл интересы. И следят за этим не только бесподобная Варжапетян Рима, но и посольство США в Армении. А когда у бесподобной Римы бывает дискомфорт по тому или иному поводу, то она назначает tet-a-tet не где-нибудь, а с главой МИДа страны. А министр её принимает, выслушивает и обещает принять посильные меры. Интересно много граждан Армении имеют подобный доступ ? Особенно на фоне того что евреев в Армении чуть больше чем действующих синагог в Мекке. Педерасты в последнее время тоже зашуршали. Напомню про их не совсем удачную попытку открыть в Ереване бар педерастической направленности. Что касается хлама из 3-го мира, то Армения the last time I checked was a signatory to the Refugee Convention. Возвращаясь к либералам напомню что их modus operandi традиционно состоял из двух компонентов: incrementalism and judicial fiat. Например форма культурного марксизма или как её ещё называют "политкорректность" на Западе никогда бы не прошла через избирательную урну. В этой связи либералам понадобился диктат судов.

Как сказал поэт: Либералы презирают индивидума, но при этом обожают человечество в целом ©

А Акопыча то совсем разбавили. И новый Прожэкт Артурик властям не понадобился. У электората и без того нет апетита на революции, а тут ещё и экономика ушла глубоко в жопу.

А какой, собственно, point of reference имеют армянские либералы ? В начале они ходили в советской шинели, потом пришел Акопыч с его интеллигентными ребятами™ из АОД - которые прошлись по Армении как Чингисхан - после чего их сменила Команда Парни из Степанакерта. Армянским либералам есть с чем сравнивать ? Они даже не ночевали на либеральном западе где за задавание "неуместных" вопросов про еврейский Holocash можно приземлится в тюрьме, где индоктринация о "нормальности" педерастии скоро будет начинаться уже в детсадах, где flotsam and jetsam из 3-го мира который замусорил собой европейские столицы содержится за счет местных налогоплатильщиков. С теми же из них кто "имеет наглость" возмутиться, неизбежно разбирается через суд какой-нибудь "анти-расистский" или "анти-дискриминационный" комитет который естественно финансируют евреи. Вы что подобный парадиз хотите устроить в Армении ?