Re: All things related to Hryastan
The Israeli intent must have been to limit Israeli traffic to Azerbaijan where the threat is located, but since Azerbaijan is Israel's only friend in the region, they issued warnings for all three Caucasus countries...
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
Well they include the entire South Caucasus in that threat list, probably because of the volatility of the region given the numerous conflicts. US has also issued travel warnings for Azerbaijan, and recently lifted one on Georgia.Originally posted by Haykakan View PostLeave a comment:
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
I was thinking of posting this in the jokes thread-
ISRAEL COUNTER TERRORISM BUREAU WARNS AGAINST TRAVELLING TO ARMENIA NEXT WEEK
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 11, 2011 - 16:02 AMT 12:02 GMT
The Israel Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a warning to Israeli
travelers in anticipation of threats resulting from the anniversary
of the assassination of Hezbollah officials Imad Mughniyah and Abbas
al-Masawi, both of which were allegedly perpetrated by Israel.
The bureau cautioned the Israeli public that because of the increased
threat of terror attacks against Israelis abroad, travels to certain
destinations should be avoided, including Egypt, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Armenia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania and Venezuela.
Israelis were also being discouraged from traveling in the near future
to hotspots in which there is a high concentration of Israelis,
and strongly advised adhering to security guidelines from local
authorities, Haaretz reported.
As a well-informed source in Israel told PanARMENIAN.Net a visit
to Armenia can actually "pose danger to Israeli citizens." "All
the countries mentioned are in good relations with Iran, which
automatically makes them dangerous to Israel. The bureau has two
lists: a permanent and temporary, which is situation-based. Armenia
is sometimes included in the temporary list, like it was the case
this time," the source said.Leave a comment:
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
Al-Qaeda tirade against Turkey
By Times.am at 16 August, 2010, 2:24 am
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, has slammed Turkey’s government for co-operating with Israel and “killing Muslims in Afghanistan”.
According to Aljazeera, in a 20-minute Arabic audio message posted on an Islamist website on Sunday, al-Zawahiri also offered condolences to the families of Turkish activists killed by Israel during a raid on a Gaza bound aid flotilla.
“The Turkish government shows sympathy with the Palestinians through statements or sending some relief aid, but actually recognises Israel, engages in trade, carries out military training and shares information with it,” the Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri said.
He called on Turks to pressure their government to end relations with the xxxish state.
‘Co-operating with Israel’
“The change will come when the Turkish people urge their government to stop co-operating with Israel … or taking part in killing Muslims in Afghanistan,” he said, referring to Turkey’s participation in the NATO mission in the country.
Turkey, Israel’s strongest Muslim ally prior to the flotilla raid in May which killed eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American, has demanded an apology from Israel for the deaths.
So far, Israel has refused to do so, severely damaging relations between the two former-friends and US allies.
“The Turkish government issues statements against Israel, but at the same time commits the same xxxish crimes against the Muslim mujahideen in Afghanistan, burning their houses, demolishing their villages and even assuming the leadership of Nato there,” al-Zawahiri said.
He said the siege on Gaza demonstrates what he called the Zionist Crusader campaign, aided by “Arab traitors” and the United States.
Al-Zawahiri, who has a US bounty of $25m on his head, made is last known public statement in July, when he criticised Barack Obama, the US president, for launching “a new stage in the Crusader and Zionist campaign”.
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
This is pretty awsome!
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
U.S. Secretary of State laid a wreath to Armenian Genocide Memorial
July 5, 2010 - 12:52 AMT 07:52 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton laid a wreath to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in commemoration of 1.5 million of Armenians slaughtered in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923.
Mrs. Clinton was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch and Armenian Genocide Museum Institute Director Hayk Demoyan.
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
Turkey threatens to cut ties with Israel over Gaza flotilla
Turkey has hardened its stance towards Israel over the "freedom flotilla" taking aid to the Gaza Strip, warning today that it will sever diplomatic relations unless the Israelis issue a formal apology or accept an international investigation into the incident.
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, revived tensions when his strongly worded comments were reported by the Hurriyet newspaper and picked up in Israel and across the Arab world.
"Israelis have three options," he said. "They will either apologise or acknowledge an international, impartial inquiry and its conclusion. Otherwise, our diplomatic ties will be cut off."
Ankara withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv after the flotilla raid on 31 May, when nine Turks were killed by Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara. But this is the first time Turkey has explicitly threatened to cut off ties completely.
Turkey also cancelled joint military exercises with Israel and banned some Israeli military flights from using Turkish airspace – though Davutoglu called this "a blanket ban". Israel has refused to participate in an international inquiry into the raid, instead launching its own investigation.
It has also refused to apologise. "Israel cannot apologise because its soldiers had to defend themselves to avoid being lynched by a crowd," its prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said on Friday.
"We showed them an exit road," said the Turkish foreign minister today. "If they apologise as a result of their own investigation's conclusion, that would be fine for us. But of course we first have to see it."
Davutoglu's warning came as something of a surprise since it followed an apparent thaw between the two countries when he held a meeting in Brussels last week with Israel's trade minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. The meeting was itself the subject of a political row in Israel after news of the so-called secret session leaked out.
Ben-Eliezer subsequently threatened to "kebab" an aide to Ehud Barak, the Israeli Labour party leader and defence minister, for briefing journalists against him.
Barak revealed today that he had rejected a proposal for a meeting with Davutoglu while both men were visiting Washington two weeks ago. The US has been urging Turkey and Israel to patch up their quarrel.
Barak said he believed that since the proposal was intended to "clarify the Turkish position and make claims against us, such as demanding an international investigation, compensation and so forth, I did not think it was right to hold the meeting".
He told the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee that he expected the Gaza blockade to be challenged by more aid ships, including one being organised from Lebanon. The naval blockade, he insisted, would remain in force, even as import restrictions were eased.
Turkey, a Nato member and a secular but Muslim state, was once Israel's closest ally in the Middle East but has reoriented its foreign policy towards closer ties with Iran, Syria and the Arab world, partly because it has been rebuffed over its old dream of joining the EU. Relations were badly damaged by Israel's wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 and Hamas in Gaza in late 2008 to early 2009.
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Re: All things related to Hryastan
Despite Raid, Mostly Business as Usual for Israel and Turkey
TEL AVIV — Since the deadly Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla, Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Jerusalem and banned Israeli military planes from the country’s airspace, while its prime minister has called the xxxish state “a lying machine.” Israel, for its part, has warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey.
But in most other respects, it is still business as usual between the longtime allies.Menashe Carmon, the chairman of the Israel Turkey Business Council, said some ventures between the countries had slowed.
A military and government delegation from Turkey is in Israel right now, its officers and soldiers rumbling through the sands of the Negev learning how to operate the same pilotless aircraft often used by Israel to hunt Palestinian militants in Gaza. They are there, said an Israeli official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal, because the Israeli instructors who were training them in Turkey were called home after the flotilla raid.
Still, the $190 million deal for the drones has not been canceled. Nor have most of the civilian business dealings, from textiles to irrigation systems, that accounted for almost $3 billion in trade last year, business analysts said. “Everything is according to schedule,” the Israeli official said. “There are no changes. It’s business as usual.”
“There are good business contacts,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Istanbul Biligi University. “The business community would like to see that continue.”
The investment and trade that continue beneath the surface are reminders of the deep and interconnected ties that Turkey and Israel have forged over the years as regional misfits — Israel as the xxxish state and Turkey as a Muslim country that straddles Europe and Asia. When the investments are years in the making, as most of the weapons deals are, and with Turkey relying on Israeli technical support, the ties are not so easily broken.
Hard figures are difficult to come by when it comes to defense contracts, but Lale Sariibrahimoglu, the Turkey correspondent for Jane’s Defense Weekly, says that Turkish military sources said that military trade between the countries totaled around $1.8 billion in 2007. Israel, she says, was second only to the United States as a source of military technology for Turkey.
Turkey maintains that full reconciliation with Israel is possible only if Israel apologizes for the raid on the Turkish ship, provides compensation for the wounded and the families of those killed and agrees to an independent international inquiry.
So far, Israel has resisted the idea of an independent investigation, but the Israeli government has tried its best to tone down the crisis and patch up relations. This week, for example, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a cabinet member who has cultivated close ties with the Turks, to a secret meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.
“It is not in the interest of Israel, or even Turkey, that this relationship continue to deteriorate,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 1, the state television station, on Friday. “Israel cannot apologize because its soldiers had to defend themselves to avoid being lynched by a crowd.” He added, “We regret the loss of life.”
Israel has a free trade agreement with Turkey that no one has spoken of rupturing, and shortly before the flotilla raid Turkey helped ensure Israel’s inclusion in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
But problems are starting to crop up. Turkish officials are concerned that the Israelis will cancel a $141 million contract to enhance the intelligence gathering abilities of Turkey’s warplanes for fear that the new systems might be used against Israel, Ms. Sariibrahimoglu said.
“I am sure we are much more sensitive about sharing sensitive material with them out of fear it will get to the Iranians,” said Efraim Inbar, an expert in Turkish-Israeli relations and director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
Israel’s ties with Turkey had begun to fray well before the flotilla raid, starting with the election in 2003 of an Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who began to tilt Turkey toward new relations with two of Israel’s most serious foes, Iran and Syria. Relations with Israel took an especially icy turn in early 2008, when Mr. Erdogan lashed out at Israel over its killing of civilians in its offensive on Gaza.
Israel’s growing wariness of Turkey goes back several years, as evidenced by its decision not to sell the Turks its Ofek spy satellite, Israeli officials said, again speaking on condition of anonymity. On the civilian side the main fallout from the damaged diplomatic ties is easily visible on Turkey’s beaches, once a favorite vacation destination of Israelis who this year canceled en masse.
Menashe Carmon, the chairman of the Israel Turkey Business Council, said that although long-time cooperation between Israeli and Turkish businesses had not stopped, partnerships and investment ventures that were in their initial stages had slowed. “They have decided to wait and see what will happen politically,” he said, referring mostly to Israeli companies.
His office in a building overlooking the harbor in Jaffa features the Turkish and Israeli flags — a rare sight in Israel. He says he remains hopeful that better times lie ahead. He is busy at work planning a trip for Turkish businesspeople in Israel.
“The Turkish are regular visitors to Israel. This will be nothing new,” he said.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: July 3, 2010
An earlier version of this article and an earlier version of a photo caption misstated part of the name of an organization. It is the Israel Turkey Business Council, not Israeli.Leave a comment:
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