GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Turkish government has reacted angrily to a vote by the French Senate Monday in favour of a proposal to punish those who don’t recognize genocide, including the killing of Armenians in Turkey in 1915. Turkey has long opposed international and internal efforts to label the deaths genocide, although it admits half a million Armenians were killed, while Armenians, who use the term genocide for the events, claim there were 1.5 million deaths. France in 2001 recognized the Armenian claims but the new measure would put offenders at risk for a one-year prison sentence or fine of euros 45,000.
Both the government and its opposition in Ankara condemned the French move as an attack on Turkish honour. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested last week that if the Senate vote passed he might never visit France again.
Links to other sites: Hurriyet, Le Monde (Fr), TSR Swiss pubic television
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Americans who live overseas tend to remember Thanksgiving with enormous nostalgia, and part of that is the cost of putting a turkey with all the trimmings on the table. To duplicate the American feast at the end of November in another country is not easy and it’s not cheap. But Americans abroad, beware: according to Business News Network‘s Linda Nazareth, the real cost isn’t quite what you remember, or at least the impact of it on the average American wallet isn’t what it once was.
The American Farm Bureau does an annual tally of the cost of that famous dinner. Most of us will recognize the main elements, the turkey, the stuffing, right down to the green peas. One blast from the past could be the carrot and celery relish tray, but if enough people have been watching Mad Men, this could be having a comeback.
This year it cost $49.20 to put the dinner for 10 on the table. If you’re sitting in Switzerland, you might think that’s about the cost of the bird alone. It gets better: this is a 16 pound turkey. Try to find that in Switzerland.
That cost is rising. Business Week blames the corn. “The average cost of corn, the primary feed ingredient, jumped 58 percent this year from 2010 and is headed for an all- time high, erasing the benefit of retail turkeys that the government says averaged $1.59 a pound this year, up 6.4 percent from last year. About 70 percent of the cost of raising each bird is feed, farmers say.”
The CS Monitor points out that a turkey costs $3.91 more than a year ago. But it’s still a better deal in every way than a fast food dinner, it says, quoting an American Farm Bureau senior economist. “Although we’ll pay a bit more this year, on a per-person basis, our traditional Thanksgiving feast remains a better value than most fast-food value meals, plus it’s a wholesome, home-cooked meal,” [John] Anderson said.
But get this, from Business News Network: “Thing is, though, it is $5.73 cents more than it was last year (a rise of 13 percent) and that money has to come from somewhere.”
The answer, dear reader, is savings. Americans are dipping into the piggy bank to slaughter the turkey.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Reports vary from four to seven dead in the earthquake that hit eastern Turkey Thursday morning 10 November, in the area badly damaged by an earthquake 23 October. The earlier quake was 7.3 on the Richter scale; this was one 5.7. Scores of people are missing, with officials estimating 100, after two dozen buildings fell. International news agency reports indicate that at least 15 people have been pulled out alive.
AP reports that some of those missing are journalists who were staying at the Bayram Hotel, “Van’s best-known hotel. It was at least 40 years old, and had been renovated last year.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The UN refugee organization, UNHCR, says supplies from several organizations, including its own, are now flowing into the region in Turkey hit by an earthquake 10 days ago. The UNHCR says that government officials now say 600 people died and 4,000 are injured as a result of the earthquake. “The city of Van alone, near the epi-centre, has a population of some 400,000 people and many homes have been reduced to rubble or rendered unusable,” says the Geneva-based group.
The city’s population includes some 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers were living in the area when the quake struck, most of them citizens of Iran or Afghanistan.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Work continues to find survivors and clear rubble five days after the area around the town of Ercis was struck 23 October by a 7.5 earthquake, but snow and freezing rain are hampering the effort and causing major problems for victims, many of whom are still reportedly without shelter. Survivors have been cheered, nevertheless, by extraordinary rescues: a 13-year-old boy was pulled out alive early Friday morning and an 18-year-old youth Thursday evening, reports Reuters. The government now officially reports 535 people have died. Aljazeera says that about 185 have been brought out of the rubble alive since Sunday. And a mother was reunited with her 18-day-old baby Thursday, reports the Telegraph, although the child’s father is yet to be found.
TURKEY – The death toll of the strong earthquake that hit Turkey has now reached 366; 1,300 more have been hurt says a source at the Turkey’s disaster management authority.
Some 2,262 buildings are demolished.
It was difficult to tally the number of injured, Health Minister Recep Akdag said, because many were being treated and released.
Meanwhile, a rescue crew in earthquake-ravaged Turkey pulled a 14-day-old baby girl from the shattered ruins of a building in the city of Ercis – miraculously still alive after 47 hours trapped.
Turkey’s Red Crescent said one of its teams was helping to rescue people from a student residence in Ercis. It had sent 1,200 tents, more than 4,000 blankets, stoves and food supplies, along with two mobile bakeries.
Links to: CNN, Yahoo News, Daily Mail
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – For the third day, Friday 21 October, Turkish jets kept up bombing raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq overnight, as the rebels confirmed that some Turkish troops crossed into Iraq.
Also on Friday, Turkey and Iran vowed to collaborate in their fight against Kurdish rebels.
About 10,000 elite Turkish soldiers took part in a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels, making it the nation’s largest attack on the insurgents in more than three years, the Turkisk military said.
Links to: Newsday, Associated Press.
Participants of the 18th session of Human Rights Council in Geneva - Photo Jean-Marc Ferré UNIS
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A panel of five independent UN rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council unanimously rejected the conclusion of the Palmer Report that says Israel’s blockade of Gaza is legal.
On a statement produced by the UN in Geneva on 13 September, the panel says it rejected the Palmer Report findings because the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
“The Palmer report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law,” said Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on human rights, on the statement.
According to the panel, the blockade should immediately cease as “the people of Gaza must be afforded protection in line with international law.”
For the United Nations experts, “decisive steps must be taken to defend the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, more than half of whom are children.”
Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food said at least two-thirds of Gazan households are food insecure, and “evidence has shown that the so-called ‘easing’ of the blockade has not led this to improve.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria significantly stepped up its fight against protesters over the weekend, drawing sharp rebukes from Saudi Arabia and more criticism from neighbouring countries. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called the lastest round “unacceptable” to his country and recalled his ambassador to Syria, “breaking Arab silence”, as Reuters puts it. The king insisted that Syria’s leaders “enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms”.
Tanks were striking the city of Deir al-Zor in an oil-producing region near the border with Iraq early Monday for the second day in a row, with western news agencies reporting up to 65 people killed (unconfirmed figures). A week earlier government forces hit the city of Hamas with gunfire, killing an unknown number.
The African Alliance in Capetown is calling on South Africa to support a UN Resolution condemning Syrian government violence. Sunday, Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby, also condemned the violence publicly and a Turkish minister says his country’s patience is thinning.
An ailing 85-year-old surrounded by her family in a camp for people displaced by floods in Balochistan, Pakistan. The elderly are especially vulnerable to water-borne diseases associated with flooding (photo, ©2011 UNHCR / D Khan, September 2010)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The numbers alone are daunting: 43.7 million displaced persons worldwide, of which 15.4m are refugees, 27.5m are internally displaced refugees and nearly 850,000 are asylum seekers, with one-fifth of asylum seekers in South Africa alone.
The world’s 49 least developed countries hosted some 2 million refugees last year.
Just under 100,000 refugees were admitted for resettlement in 2010, by 22 countries. The United States accounted for 71,000 of these.
The figures are part of the “UNHCR Global Trends 2010″ (2.7 MB pdf) published 20 June to mark World Refugees Day.
The numbers don’t yet include refugees from 2011 conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire, Syria and Libya, among others.
The imbalance in how the world supports refugees, or people who are forcibly displaced, is equally stark and marks this year’s report, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees agency, based in Geneva: “Pakistan, Iran, and Syria have the largest refugee populations at 1.9 million, 1.1 million, and 1 million respectively. Pakistan also has the biggest economic impact with 710 refugees for each dollar of its per capita GDP (PPP) followed by Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya with 475 and 247 refugees respectively. By comparison Germany, the industrialized country with the largest refugee population (594,000 people), has 17 refugees for each dollar of per capita GDP.”
Click on charts to view larger
Drawn-out wars taking their toll
Roughly one-quarter of the 15.4m refugees are registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The UNHCR says that of those under its care, 7.2m or about one-third, have been stuck in a refugee situation for more than five years, mainly due to drawn-out wars.
Within view of the Itombwe Massif, a convoy of UNHCR trucks carries Burundian refugees home after years of exile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (photo, ©2011 UNHCR / M Hofer, December 2010)
The figure is the highest since 2001 and at the same time the lowest number since 1990 have been able to return home, fewer than 200,000.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, comments bluntly that “Fears about supposed floods of refugees in industrialized countries are being vastly overblown or mistakenly conflated with issues of migration. Meanwhile it’s poorer countries that are left having to pick up the burden.”
Some people have been refugees for up to 30 years, with Afghanistan a notable case in point. Afghans were one-third of the world’s refugees in 2001, as they were a decade later, at the start of 2011.
60th anniversary for UNHCR shows dramatic changes
A woman returns to the ruins of her home after violence strikes southern Kyrgyzstan (photo, ©2011 UNHCR / S Schulman, June 2010)
The UNHCR will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding in July 2011 and the report notes that the picture today is “of a dratically changed protection environment”. The organization’s early “caseload was 2.1 million Europeans, uprooted by World War Two. Today, UNHCR’s work extends to more than 120 countries and encompasses people forced to flee across borders as well as those in flight within their own countries.”
Two relatively recent developments have been the huge growth in numbers of internally displaced persons and the growing number of stateless persons, or “people lacking the basic safety-net of a nationality”, says the Geneva group, which plans to highlight this group during 2011.
“The number of countries reporting stateless populations has increased steadily since 2004, but differences in definitions and methodologies still prevent reliable measurement of the problem. In 2010, the reported number of stateless people (3.5 million) was nearly half of that in 2009, but mainly due to methodological changes in some countries that supply data. Unofficial estimates put the global number closer to 12 million.”
Actress Angelina Jolie to help tell individual stories for 60th anniversary
The UNHCR’s Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie is helping draw attention to refugees’ stories in a series of videos, including one released 18 June of her visit to Syrian refugees in Turkey. The videos are part of the organization’s efforts to draw attention to refugees by recounting individuals’ stories.
Turkish authorities have handed out to local media the photo of the dead man suspected in the suicide bombing 31 October in Taksim Square, but they have not provided a name. The bomb injured 32 people, two critically. The authorities are not speculating about what group may have been responsible, and the Kurdish separatist group PKK denied responsibility. The PKK has waged the fiercest and longest campaign against the Turkish government. A PKK spokesman said it was extending a unilateral cease-fire that would have expired the day of the bombing till mid-2011.
Links to other sites: Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Hurriyet, Washington Post
Terrorism raised its head across the globe over the weekend, and governments were pooling their expertise to connect the dots, with al-Qaeda figuring prominently among suspected organizations for at least some of the bombings and close calls. Here’s a roundup of incidents from Friday to early Monday 1 November:
- Two bombs called “viable” by governments, who say they were programmed to detonate on their own, were found Friday, one at Midlands Airport in the UK and the other in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Both are suspected of being the handiwork of a 28-year-old Saudi man believed to be living in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. He has been on Saudi Arabia’s most wanted list for nearly two years. Saudi Arabia tipped off US and UK authorities, and the bombs, containing the plastics explosive PETN, which is difficult to detect, were found Friday. They were hidden in HP printers, part of cargo plane goods, sent via UPS from Yemen for delivery to synagogues in Chicago, Illinois in the US. The UAE package had earlier been flown on two passenger planes, airline officials have confirmed. A woman and her mother arrested in Yemen in connection with the bombs were released after the younger woman claimed she was a victim of identity theft. BBC, CNN
- A suicide bomber in Istanbul, Turkey blew himself up in the city’s main plaza, Taksim Square, Sunday, and 32 people were injured, 10 of them reportedly police officers and the rest passers-by. Kurdish separatists are under suspicion due to previous attacks on Turkish police, but the attack was not immediately claimed by any group. Jerusalem Post, Reuters
- Thirty-seven people died, most of them hostages, and nearly 60 were injured, when police in Baghdad stormed a Catholic church where scores of hostages were being held Sunday; al Qaeda links are suspected, according to US and Iraq authorities. The gunmen who stormed the church had attacked the Baghdad Stock Market, where a gun battle ensued, before fleeing to the church. The deaths, according to Iraq’s defense minister, were mainly from explosives set off by the kidnappers. Al Jazeera, CNN, Xinhua
- Two bombs were found by the public and defused by specialist police in Northern Ireland over the weekend: one was in a Toyota in a long-term car park and the other was hidden in a beer keg in Lurgan, Co Armagh. Dissident republican groups are suspected. Belfast Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald (AFP)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Supreme Court has upheld a ruling by a court in Zurich that sentenced Turkish nationalist Ali Mercan to a fine of CHF4,500 for genocide denial.
The ruling 29 September comes under Switzerland’s law against racial discrimination. Mercan and two others gave a speech in Winterthur in 2007 in which they claimed that the Ottoman empire’s genocidal campaign against the Armenians from 1915 was a historical and international lie.
Links to other sites: Asbarez.com, NZZ (Ger)
Voters in Turkey have overwhelmingly approved a set of constitutional changes in a referendum. In voting 12 September, 58-42 percent of voters backed the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) government’s proposed changes. Turnout was 78 percent.
The changes include a greater say by the government in nominating judges and prosecutors, trials of military personnel in civilian courts and the abolition of an article in the present constitution that grants immunity to military officers who led the country’s last coup in 1980. The present constitution was written by the military in 1982. The vote paves the way for its complete overhaul if, as expected, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan runs for a third term next year.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Washington Post
Date for compliance with special US treaty covering UBS draws near
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Swiss Federal Council has approved four double taxation treaties, with Poland, The Netherlands, Japan and Turkey, all of which now conform to OECD requirements. The governing council of seven has forwarded these to the Swiss Parliament, which can consider an optional vote to approve the treaties. Switzerland earlier this year gave final approval to 10 0ther double taxation agreements.
The government also approved two completely new agreements, with Georgia and Tajikistan, but noting that “because a speedy entry into force of the DTAs was sought, Switzerland, Georgia and the Republic of Tajikistan agreed to waive the extended administrative assistance clause in accordance with the OECD standard for the time being.”
Update 3 17:00 An Airblue plane with 152 people on board has crashed in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and authorities now say all those aboard were killed (ed. note: earlier reports that indicated there were some survivors were wrong). The plane was en route from Karachi to Islamabad, and it crashed in the Margalla Hills due to bad weather, shortly before landing. Rescue workers have reached the area, using helicopters, but heavy fog is hampering rescuers. Ninety bodies have been recovered.
Airblue is a low-cost airline that flies mainly within Pakistan, offering several daily flights between Karachi and Islamabad. It also flies to five cities in the Middle East and Europe but does not fly to Turkey.
Times of India carries a list of the passengers on the plane.
Links to other sites: CNN, Geo-TV Pakistan (CNN affiliate), NDTV, Reuters
Greece: A wet grave waits many of the migrants and refugees who try to join the European Eldorado by crossing the Evros river. Left to their destiny by those who smuggle them across this 200-plus km long waterway that separates Greece and Turkey, panic and darkness are often fatal to those who cannot swim. On a day in May 2010, the bodies of three young Africans were pulled out of the current by Greek policemen. (photo: UNHCR / J Bjoergvinsson)
Update 11:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Sixteen people, who appear to have been mainly Somalis, drowned 29 June while crossing the Evros River between Turkey and Greece, according to UNHCR. It is the second accident in the same area in a month: in late May three young people died while attempting to cross in the same area.
There has been a three-fold increase in “irregular” arrivals in the European Union via Greece, through the Evros River, in 2010 compared to the same period in 2009, according to the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees).
Arrivals through the Eastern Aegean islands have considerably decreased says the Geneva-based UN group: available statistics show that at least 287 people lost their lives trying to reach the EU in 2009.
“Sixteen people lost their lives because they felt they had no other option than to enter the EU through the clandestine services of smugglers,” notes Giorgos Tsarbopoulos, head of the UNHCR office in Greece.
“We have every reason to believe that the majority had a legitimate need to seek international protection in the EU. This tragic incident highlights the need for states to protect people at sea and crossing rivers, regardless of their motivation for doing so.”
The UN Security Council voted 12-2 for new and tougher sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to stop its nuclear programme. Turkey and Brazil voted against sanctions and Lebanon abstained. The new, fourth round of sanctions since 2006 brings tighter financial controls and an arms embargo that bans exports of such items as attack helicopters and tanks. Iran has reacted by saying nothing will change as a result. It continues to insist its nuclear activity is peaceful, while other countries fear it is trying to build nuclear weapons.
Links to other sites: BBC, CNN, Ria Novosti, Xinhua
Hundreds of activists who were part of the six-boat flotilla raided and captured by Israel at the end of May are now being deported. They include 124 people from 12 Muslim nations who were bused to Jordan, which will help repatriate them, and 315 from Turkey, flown home Wednesday 2 June on Turkish planes. Israel ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave the country, while the Turkish government reinforced security around Israeli buildings. Meanwhile, Israel’s defense department continues to release film footage as part of its efforts to show that its soldiers were provoked, including captured footage its says shows activists throwing stun grenades and boxes of plates.
Links to other sites: Huerriyet Daily News, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Video from the Israel defense ministry
The United Nations reacted quickly to condemn Israel for its attack on a humanitarian aid boat carrying activists, although few countries went as far as Turkey in their statements. The six ships attacked were carrying Turkish flags. Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that “the distance between terrorists and state has been blurred.” The US representative, Alejandro Wolff, said the US was “deeply disturbed” by the attack, but the US and its ally Israel were unable to come up with a joint statement in the hours following the attack. The incident strains relations that have suffered in recent months following Israel’s poorly timed announcement that new housing would go up in the West Bank, during a peace mission by US Vice-president Joe Biden.
“At the very least, Israel has become more isolated than at any time in recent history, an isolation that may undermine global efforts to bring its arch-foe, Iran, to heel over its nuclear ambitions,” writes The Globe and Mail, Canada.
More than 10,000 protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday night.
Links to other sites: Globe & Mail, Huriyet Daily News, Turkey, New York Times, Times of India,
International condemnation but Israel says, a bit late, it was ambushed
Update 15:40, video International condemnation has been swift, following an attack by Israeli commandoes on a convoy of six humanitarian aid boat taking supplies to Gaza, despite an Israeli sea blockade. Reports vary that anywhere from 10-19 activists were killed, with four Israeli soldiers injured.
In the wake of foreign outrage, Israel has scrambled to show what happened, saying the ship carried “peace activists” who had terrorist ties and that the attack took place after warnings were issued – and that the peace activists attacked its forces with weapons. So far, the Israeli version of events has done little to soften the criticism of other governments, although there is widespread recognition that Israel did not expect a confrontation, given its handling of previous, similar ships.
The attack has increased tensions with Turkey, whose flag the ships were carrying.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, CBS, Jerusalem Post, Reuters
Video, Reuters
The five countries with veto power within the UN Security Council have agreed to tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans, and what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling a “strong” draft resolution is being circulated among the 15 members. Iran agreed just a day earlier, Monday 17 May, to a deal with Turkey that Brazil helped broker, which has it sending most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for enriched fuel for a research reactor, a deal similar to one suggested by other Western countries in 2009.
The US accused Iran Tuesday of trying to deflect criticism of its nuclear programme. The new, fourth sanctions package is a carrot-and-stick solution to dealing with Iran: it offers tough measures against shipping and banking, and would stop any shipments to Iran of conventional arms, but it also encourages Iran to cooperate with nuclear inspections.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, Financial Times, Reuters/New York Times
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Larnaca, on Sunday in a bid to accelerate peace talks for the reunification of Cyprus.
This current visit comes a week after negotiations organised by The United Nations were held between Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talet. Despite progress in some sectors, the UN-led talks failed to establish how to resolve national boundaries and property claims from many individuals displaced within the island.
The present objective of the UN is to unify the divided island as two federal zones under a central government. “I’m here to show my personal support, ” Ban Ki-moon told reporters. “My visit is a reflection of the importance I attach to the current effort.”
Elections to be held on April 18 could see Cyprus divided if a Turkish Cypriot leader is elected, regardless of how the reunification talks go.
Links to other sites: Al-jazeera, BBC
Basel, Switzerland(GenevaLunch) – Switzerland qualified for the finals of the 2010 World Cup by finishing top of their group after achieving a 0-0 draw against Israel. Their task was made easier when Yadin was sent off for two yellow cards, leaving the Swiss with an extra man for the final half hour. Overall the game was mediocre but the result was sufficient for automatic qualification. The other European teams to qualify are Denmark, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands. And Turkey beat Armenia 2-0 in a match that followed the signing of agreements designed to normalize diplomatic and business relations between the two countries.
Turkish football fans have been asked to be on their best behaviour and show traditional national hospitality during a football World Cup qualifiying match in Bursa, Turkey Wednesday 14 October against long-time rivals Armenia.The match comes less than a week after the two countries restored full diplomatic relations in a ceremony in Zurich, after a century of troubled relations.
Ticket sales are tightly controlled, and the rowdiest group of fans received a personal appeal from the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan will attend the match. His Turkish counterpart attended a match Yerewan Armenialast year, in Yerewan, Armenia, opening up what has been called “football diplomacy”. Reuters, Washington Post
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Turkey and Armenia have signed the two Protocols that were needed to normalize relations, at the University of Zurich late Saturday 10 October – but only after a last-minute delay when Armenia balked because of a speech the Turkish foreign minister had prepared. Switzerland’s mediators, who have spent over a year bringing the two countries to the table to sign, again jumped in and spent several hours working with the two parties to find a solution. In the end, no one gave a speech, and the foreign ministers from Turkey and Armenia had a long and warm handshake in the presence of Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, among other notable guests. Video, TSR (Fre) and background, GenevaLunch
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Foreign Affairs ministry late Friday 9 October confirmed officially that Turkey and Armenia will sign two Protocols, normalizing relations between the two countries, Saturday morning 10 October, in Zurich. Heads of foreign affairs from the US, Russia, France, Slovenia will be attending, as well as the EU’s secretary-general, underscoring the significance of the event.
Official statement confirming Zurich event
The official statement from Bern:
correction 11:45 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government is officially mum on whether or not the event will take place, but the US State Department and the Kremlin in Russia have both announced that they are sending top officials to a ceremony in Zurich Saturday 10 October where Armenia and Turkey will formally establish diplomatic and bilateral relations. The signing of two Protocols will end a standoff that has at times flared into serious tensions, which has existed since Turkey recognized Armenia’s independence in 1991 without then establishing diplomatic relations.
Switzerland has served as mediator in the long process of talks that has finally brought the two together.
A senior US State Department official at a press briefing Thursday 8 October said that while the Swiss have not officially announced the meeting, which is opposed by some groups in both Turkey and Armenia, “They have invited the parties, and the parties have agreed to come, including Secretary [Hillary] Clinton.” The foreign ministers of France and Russia are also expected, he says.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Turkey and Armenia will sign two Protocols to normalize their relations 11 October at a ceremony in Switzerland, but details have not yet been released by the Swiss government, which has acted as mediator in the lengthy process. The Swiss federal government announced 1 September that the two countries had initialed two Protocols and were starting six-week internal consultations on these: “Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations” and the “Protocol on the development of bilateral relations.” The Protocols must still be ratified by the parliaments of both countries.
The ceremony will be brief, with the parties shaking hands and signing the Protocols.
Update 11:15 Thirty-two people are known to have died in flash floods in Istanbul and northwestern Turkey Wednesday morning 9 September, and the death toll may climb as waters recede. Heavy rains that began Monday night caused flooding, and 24 of those who died were in the city of Istanbul. Seven of them were textile workers trapped in a shuttlebus that was taking them to a factory and 10 were truck drivers who were asleep in a parking lot. CNN, Huerriyet Daily News
