Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said a new bill would be put before the Turkish parliament in the coming days. The law, known as Article 301, bans perceived insults to Turkish identity or the country's institutions.No, the Turks haven't decided to be decent: they just want to be a part of the EU really, really badly.
It has often been invoked by nationalists against those who argue the Ottoman empire committed genocide against Armenians. Earlier on Tuesday the European Commission said restrictions on freedom of expression were blocking Turkey's progress towards EU membership.
Viktor Soghomonyan, the press-secretary of the Armenian President, qualified Turkish lawyer Kamal Kerincsiz's initiative as nonsense. The Turkish lawyer tries to accuse the Armenian President of the "Khojaly genocide".Oh, my.
K.Kerincsiz, the leader of the Turkish Lawyers' Union, has already appealed to some unknown judicial structure "Roman International Criminal Court". According to the source, the lawyer states that he has all the necessary proof for accusing the Armenian President and 78 terrorists of the massacre.
The family of nine persons were forced out of their eight-room property after refusing to accept a $23,000 compensation offered by municipal authorities. Citing "public needs," the authorities have decided to give it to the owner of an adjacent building housing a night club and a department store.This is what is keeping out foreign investment - or at least my foreign investment. Would I ever buy a small apartment or other real estate there knowing that it could be taken away from me illegally? Never.
The evicted residents say the proposed compensation is worth a fraction of the market value of their home and insufficient even for buying a tiny apartment on the city outskirts. The authorities counter that the sum is modest partly because some parts of the house were constructed illegally.
State prosecutors reported on Friday an almost 10 percent increase in the number of various crimes committed crime in Armenia last year.Spin it however you want: chances are the sharp rise is due to greater opportunities in the criminal world and lack of proper response by the police and related agencies.
According to them, 75 people were murdered last year, sharply up from 55 such cases officially registered in 2005. Law-enforcement authorities also registered a more than 30 percent surge in instances of drug abuse and trafficking that totaled 1,510, or nearly 16 percent of the overall crime statistics.
"...the increased crime rate partly resulted from a new computerized crime registry introduced in Yerevan’s police department last year."
Pro-Armenian lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution on Tuesday calling for the recognition of World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.I am optimistic about this resolution. However, there is a chance that it may not make it. What will we do? Keep fighting until it is adopted, whether today, tomorrow, or in five years. There is a reason why Armenians have survived through the ages, regardless of conquest after conquest upon our people and culture: we never give up.
"Time has come for the United States to recognize the Armenian genocide," Democrat Frank Pallone told a joint news conference of sponsors on Capitol Hill shortly after the resolution was introduced formally. "We feel very strongly that this year is the year we're going to get this passed."
"Make no mistake, the speaker will get a call from the president asking for a no vote on the grounds of national security," said Radanovich.
