In the bombing next to University of Aleppo, according to preliminary information, no Armenian was injured. Armenia Radio Liberty was informed about this by the press secretary of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan.
Recall, as a result of 2 bombings in Aleppo more than 80 people died.
The Armenian weekly reports that on January 27, the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) will host a concert in ALMA’s Contemporary Arts Gallery. The concert is organized by the students of renowned Walnut Hill School for the Arts.
As reported, this collaboration between ALMA and the Walnut Hill School will bring a performance of a very special piece of Armenian chamber music, Arno Babajanian’s “Piano Trio,” written in 1952, which combines traditional Armenian melodies with richly Romantic textures, and serves as a musical testament to the feelings of nationalist identity of the Armenian people under Soviet domination. The chamber groups will also present Erwin Schulhoff’s “Concertino for flute, viola, and double bass,” and Alexander Zemlinsky’s “Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano.”
Asbarez reports that Mexico’s Federal Administrative Court dismissed a complaint filed by Azerbaijan’s Embassy to prevent city authorities to dismantle and remove a statue of Azeri dictator Haydar Aliyev from a park at the center of the city, reported the Cronica newspaper.
According to the court’s decision. The removal of the statue is underway.
Should be recalled, the statue was erected over the summer, after the Azeri government invested a reported $10 million in renovation of the park and the statue. The giant statue had raised concerns with citizens and protests from activists who decried the city’s decision to house a statue of a known dictator along such figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi.
In late November, a three-person panel appointed to investigate the erection of the statue in the city’s Reforma Boulevard recommended that the statue be removed, prompting Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov to threaten retaliation against the Mexican government, including the closure of Baku’s representation in Mexico.
As Asbarez’ report continues, the Azerbaijani Embassy appealed the commission decision to the district court requesting an injunction to stay the decision to remove the statue.
In November, Muktarov also said Azerbaijan would cancel $4 billion in investment projects for Mexico, saying if the then Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard “decides to remove the monument, we will cancel the projects, close the embassy, it would hurt the relationship between the two countries, and it would not be good for his image to be the person who prevented a $4-billion investment.”
Two days ago an Armenian was injured from a sniper’s shot in Aleppo’s Nor Gyugh neighborhood. The spokesman for Aleppo ‘s Berio Diocese of the Armenian Church Zhirayr Reyisian informed about this to the First News and Analyses. He noted that the injured is a middle-aged man who was injured by a bullet which explodes in the body. According to Reyisyan, the man was operated on in hospital yesterday.
According to the spokesman, the injury is pretty serious and the patient is under doctors’ supervision.
Talking about the clashes in Aleppo, the Batman noted that the situation hasn’t changed so far. There are still regions where the clashes continue, but in the neighborhoods inhabited by Armenians clashes don’t happen, but there is military supervision because of the possible risk and danger.
Turkish “Haberturk” reports, Armenian teacher was brutally murdered in Kadıköy district of Istanbul.
As the paper reports, the 40-years-old Ilker Shahin who had been teaching in Aramyan school for 9 years did not appear for days. Shahin’s colleagues decided to go to see her but found the door closed. They decided to call the police. The police came and saw a dreadful scene. The teacher was on the floor with a slashed throat. And as the police states Shahin must have resisted for a long time before the murderer. The police refuted the possibility of murder for the reason of robbery.
Should be recalled that two weeks ago an Armenian woman was killed in Istanbul.
Last week the president of Syria Bashar al-Assad proposed a peace agreement between the opposition and the government. He was broadcast on TV urging the two sides to come up with amendments in the Constitution”. The executive head of Syrian “al Khabar” station Sargis Kasardjian told the First Armenian News and Analyses that the new plan of the president does not leave hope for the better because there can hardly be peace after the implementation of the plan.
He stated this policy is aimed at the two international parties: the opposition and the government sides and that Syrian Armenians will not have their say in this.
Kasardjian stated it is every Syrian’s hope to have a peace after 22 months of struggles, but Syrian Armenians should keep neutrality expecting of the plan both on changing and not changing anything.
The LA federal court former employee and her husband have confessed their link to the “Armeian Power” criminal band through sharing information for the latters. Associated Press reports the information was used to let the criminal band members be aware of the pursuits.
Judge Bruce Riordan stated Nune Gevorgyan and Oganes Koshkaryan confessed. N. Gevorgyan used to work in the court and was mainly dealing with the documentation of the criminal cases. Koshkyan was a mediator in this case.
Both have confessed hoping for a milder verdict.
Asbarez writes that the funeral of 84-year-old Marissa Kuchuk (Küçük), who was brutally murdered in her apartment in Istanbul, was held on Jan. 5, amid fears that violent acts against the country’s Christian minorities will continue to be swept under the rug.
Armenian Weekly Columnist Ayse Gunaysu pointed to possible attempts to silence the family of the victims. “Before the service, while waiting in the church yard, there was a heavy silence—the silence of those who know but are unable to speak about what they know. The family was asked not to talk to the ‘outsiders.’”
As reported, Kuchuk’s funeral was held at the Armenian Church in Samatya (current name Mustafapasha), where hundreds gathered to pay their respects. “Both inside the church and the churchyard were full of people of all ages,” said Gunaysu, who attended the funeral. “While the coffin was being carried on the shoulders [of mourners], I saw Marissa’s daughter, hardly able to walk, held by the arms by two other middle aged women.”
Note, in recent years, there have been several attacks against Armenians in Turkey. Earlier in December, another Armenian woman was brutally attacked and robbed. Months earlier, an Armenian woman was called an infidel and attacked in a cab by the driver himself. On April 24, 2011, Sevag Balikci, an Armenian serving in the Turkish Army, was killed by a fellow soldier in what was clearly a hate crime on Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day. In January 2007, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in broad daylight in Istanbul.
While political leaders often exaggerate their achievements and brag about the superiority of their nation, such claims become absurd if they are far removed from reality and border on chauvinism and narcissism.
When leaders harbor an exaggerated sense of self-importance, they could be easily manipulated by others who exploit their insatiable appetite for flattery. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of several high-ranking Turkish officials who may be suffering from such a character flaw.
The Turkish media provided extensive coverage to a Los Angeles Times article reporting that “Pres. Obama has logged more phone calls to Erdogan than to any world leader except British Prime Minister David Cameron.” When the two met at the United Nations in New York, Pres. Obama gave Erdogan “more face time than any other world leader,” lasting almost two hours. The US President reportedly praised the Turkish Prime Minister for showing “great leadership.” The L.A. Times specifically noted that Obama even “resorted to flattery” by subsequently phoning Erdogan “to rave about a Turkish basketball tournament.”
The Turkish newspaper, Today’s Zaman, published a follow up article further highlighting the close relationship between the two leaders: “Erdogan and Obama’s phone chats reveal Turkey’s ascent.” The article included a photo where the American and Turkish leaders are shaking hands while brimming with wide smiles.
Although Prime Minister Erdogan does not look kindly upon anyone who writes unflattering words about him and frequently sues journalists daring to criticize his policies, prominent Turkish commentator Semih Idiz risked imprisonment by writing an article last week in Al-Monitor, titled: “Is Erdogan Aiming to Be a Latter-Day Sultan?” Idiz underlines the Prime Minister’s “authoritarian tendencies and lack of tolerance to any criticism, especially from a free press.”
The Turkish journalist writes in great detail about Erdogan’s plans to run for President in August 2014, but not before drafting a new constitution that would transform the current head of state’s ceremonial post into “an executive presidency” that would not be “encumbered by a system of checks and balances.” If elected President, Erdogan would have “the power to dissolve the Parliament, rule by decree and appoint government ministers, senior bureaucrats and jurists without parliamentary approval.”
It is not a mere accident that Erdogan recently told Turkish journalists that the American presidential system, with checks and balances that limit the power of the president, is not suitable for Turkey: “The US president cannot appoint an ambassador, he cannot even solely decide on the sale of a helicopter…. That’s why we should create a Turkish-style presidential system.”
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who used be a serious scholar, appears to be emulating his conceited Prime Minister. Last week, in his opening remarks at the annual conference of Turkish Ambassadors held in Ankara, Davutoglu made a highly arrogant statement claiming that Turkey plays a critical role in world affairs: “Because the global powers know that now history flows through Ankara, parties that ignore Ankara cannot understand history. The one that risks relations with Ankara will take risks in all regional policies…. Those who want to understand history must be present in Ankara, Istanbul and every other place in Turkey, because from now on we will be more actively present in shaping the flow of history.”
These preposterous words are uttered by a Foreign Minister who had assumed his current post by pompously declaring that his country pursued a policy of “zero problems with neighbors.” The harsh reality is that Turkey now has almost no neighbors without problems! Indeed, Ankara has serious conflicts with neighboring Armenia, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, and Syria!
Not to be outdone by his senior colleagues, Turkey’s controversial European Union Affairs Minister, Egemen Bagis, greeted the New Year with a fresh list of outlandish statements: “Today there is no government in Europe which is more reformist than our government. While EU countries are struggling in crisis, our country is experiencing the most democratic, prosperous, modern and transparent period in its history. The ‘sick man’ of yesterday has gotten up and summoned the strength to prescribe medication for today’s Europe…and to share the EU’s burden rather than being a burden to it.”
Pres. Obama has discovered that he can get more out of Turkish leaders by honey than vinegar, capitalizing on their overwhelming desire for praise and flattery. The problem is that such lavish praise has turned Turkey into ‘a spoiled brat’ who has become a serious menace to the entire neighborhood!
By Harut Sassounian
Amga.tv reports that today, at 1:30, Glendale Police got a phone call informing that shootings were heard in Glenoaks and Brand boulevard.
When the police arrived, a person was wounded but fortunately he was still conscious and was able to talk about the person shooting him.
The criminal had a car accident while escaping from the place.
The victim was caught and an investigation is underway.
