by Ganesh Sahathevan
More questions about Gulen in the international media: Meanwhile
In 2013 The Australian reported:
A NSW parliamentary delegation, including a senior government minister, travelled to a disputed region in the Caucasus in defiance of a strong travel warning from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation, which included the NSW Minister for Transport, Gladys Berejiklian, went to the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh last month, addressed its parliament and had meetings with its president.
Nagorno Karabakh, which has a population of 143,000, is not internationally recognised as a country and is considered a breakaway region of Azerbaijan. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, it fought a war, backed by Armenia, with Azerbaijan which ended in an armed truce in 1994.
The delegation's trip followed an extraordinary motion passed through the NSW upper house which, in effect, recognised Nagorno Karabakh as a separate country by recognising it had "the right to self-determination", and calling on Australia to recognise its independence.
The motion, which received no publicity, was passed without dissent last October without even the Foreign Minister being aware of it.
It was another foray into international affairs by the NSW upper house, which offended Turkey in May by passing a motion condemning the massacre of Armenians and others during and after World War I.
In July this year Leyla Abdullayeva, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan publicly registered Azerbaijan's strong protest against Berejiklian's continued support for Nagorno Karabakh,now as Premier of NSW.
Azaerbaijan, like Malaysia and Indonesia in this region, has acted to extradite members of the Fetullah Gulen movement to Turkey.
Meanwhile, in what appears to be a case of my enemies enemy is my friend, Berejiklian,her government, members of the state's judiciary,her Attorney General and her state's governor, appear to have maintained their support for local Gulenists. That support became evident in 2014, after the NSW Upper House's recognition of Nagorno Karabakh.
As reported earlier on this blog,
Berejiklian's government can now be seen as providing support for a group considered terrorists if not haram by Muslims in this region.
Berejiklian seems to think that playing NSW politics has prepared her to play games of international geopolitics. While she plays her childish games it is her state's administration that is being undermined at every level. Also compromised is the ability of local businesses to participate in the opportunities created by Azerbaijan's strong oil and gas economy ( notwithstanding
any slowdown).
END
See also
Baku Condemns Australian Politician For Supporting Illegal Separatist Regime
By Mushvig Mehdiyev July 24, 2019
Leyla Abdullayeva, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan / Report.Az
Azerbaijan’s government was not happy when the head of the state government of New South Wales in Australia voiced support for the illegal separatist regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, putting her at odds with Canberra’s recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
Gladis Berejiklian, the state’s premier of Armenian descent, said in an interview with Armen Press during her visit to Yerevan on July 19 that it has been 20 years that New South Wales has recognized Nagorno-Karabakh – a region that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been occupied by Armenia – as an independent state.
Berejiklian said she has visited the Nagorno-Karabakh region on two separate occasions and urges friends to visit the region.
Leyla Abdullayeva, a spokesperson in Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, said in an official statement issued on the same day that the recognition of the illegal separatist regime in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan as a legal authority cannot be a subject of a conversation at all.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh region that is under the military occupation of the Armenian armed forces and the so-called separatist regime established here are not even recognized by any sovereign state of the world, even by occupying Armenia,” Abdullayeva said in a statement.
She went on to explain that the Australian government does not recognize the illegal separatist regime, as no other country does.
“Australia unambiguously recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and officials of the country have repeatedly stated this in their statements and official letters and notes verbales addressed to Azerbaijan.”
Australia’s governor general, Peter Cosgrove, said in a letter addressed to Azerbaijan’s President llham Aliyev and dated May 20 that Canberra remains a strong supporter of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Former Foreign Minister of Australia Julie Bishop and the former Minister for International Development and Pacific Concetta Fierravanti-Wells have also voiced Canberra’s support to ending the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan respectively in 2015 and 2017, according to the Foreign Ministry of Baku.
“Statements made by the premier of the New South Wales in Armenia clearly contradict the official position of the federal government [of Australia], and in our opinion, it should be warned that the state official should act in accordance with the foreign policy course of her country,” Abdullayeva said in the statement on July 19.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region, that is the internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan, has turned into a hotbed of conflict since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenia used that event as an opportunity to invade Azerbaijan and claim lands where partial ethnic Armenian population was living side-by-side with indigenous Azerbaijanis. What were initially verbal claims gradually morphed into violence against Azerbaijanis, and ultimately led to a full-fledged war launched by Armenia in 1991.
The all-out military conflict lasted until the signing of a ceasefire in 1994. By the time the ceasefire went into effect in 1994, Armenia forcibly occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, which includes the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The war claimed the lives of over 30,000 Azerbaijanis and expelled one million more from their homeland. In 1993, the United Nations Security Council passed four legally binding resolutions demanding Armenia to pull its armed forces back from the occupied territories, but all four go unfulfilled to this day.
A report published on the official website of the European Council on Foreign Relations has called the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region one of seven “gray zones” that “litter the map of Eastern Europe.” Others include Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine; Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia; and Transnistria in Moldova.
EXCLUSIVEBy MARK COULTAN and NSW POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
THEAUSTRALIAN
12:00AM AUGUST 30, 2013
A NSW parliamentary delegation, including a senior government minister, travelled to a disputed region in the Caucasus in defiance of a strong travel warning from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation, which included the NSW Minister for Transport, Gladys Berejiklian, went to the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh last month, addressed its parliament and had meetings with its president.
Nagorno Karabakh, which has a population of 143,000, is not internationally recognised as a country and is considered a breakaway region of Azerbaijan. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, it fought a war, backed by Armenia, with Azerbaijan which ended in an armed truce in 1994.
The delegation's trip followed an extraordinary motion passed through the NSW upper house which, in effect, recognised Nagorno Karabakh as a separate country by recognising it had "the right to self-determination", and calling on Australia to recognise its independence.
The motion, which received no publicity, was passed without dissent last October without even the Foreign Minister being aware of it.
It was another foray into international affairs by the NSW upper house, which offended Turkey in May by passing a motion condemning the massacre of Armenians and others during and after World War I.
That caused Turkey to threaten to prevent NSW parliamentarians, including the Premier Barry O'Farrell, from travelling to Gallipoli for the centenary of Anzac landings in 2015.
Following this, the Armenian National Committee of Australia issued an invitation to NSW parliamentarians to visit Nagorno Karabakh. Christian Democrat Fred Nile said MPs had to pay for the trip themselves, which had reduced the numbers.
The parliamentary delegation was made up of seven MPs led by Liberal MP Jonathon O'Dea and including Mr Nile, Liberals David Clarke and Marie Ficarra, and Labor MLCs Shaoquett Moselmane and Amanda Fazio. Ms Berejiklian, who is of Armenian background, was the only minister on the trip.
Australia has one of the largest populations of the Armenian diaspora in the English-speaking world. Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey is of Armenian descent.
The DFAT travel warning says: "We strongly advise you not to travel to the Armenian-occupied enclave of Azerbaijan known as Nagorno-Karabakh and the military occupied area surrounding it because of the risk of armed conflict along the border and ceasefire line with Azerbaijan."
Mr Nile said they had not consulted DFAT because "they would have told us not to go". He acknowledged the delegation could have been misconstrued as an official Australian delegation.
A spokesman for Bob Carr said Australia did not recognise Nagorno Karabakh.
By armenia.com.au | Sunday, 04 August 2019
SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has criticised the attempted silencing of elected Australian representatives by the petro-dictatorship of Azerbaijan and its representatives, who have used diplomatic channels to formally protest the recent achievements in the area of Artsakh advocacy announced during the visit of a delegation from Stepanakert for meetings in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.
Baku has not taken kindly to the federal, state and local government welcomes received by the delegation led by Artsakh's Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan, as well as the Ryde City-Stepanakert Friendship City relationship announcement, and the launch of the Australian Friends of Artsakh with 40 inaugural signatories – all prominent Australians in politics, academia and civil society – pledging to support the fundamental human right to self-determination for the Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh.
Leyla Abdullayeva, who is the spokesperson for Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, released a statement to reassure supporters that "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been seriously in charge of and has taken a number of measures recently with regard to the activities of the Armenian diaspora organisations of Australia in promoting the illegal separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the statements by the Australian official of Armenian origin".
She added that the Australia's Ambassador to Azerbaijan – who is based in Turkey – had been called in to a meeting in Baku to discuss the developments, revealing "the Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Commonwealth of Australia presented the note verbal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Australia. Also our protest was brought to the attention of the Ambassador of Australia in the meeting held at the MFA of Azerbaijan".
Abdullayeva also stated that Azerbaijan's "Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has sent an official letter to his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne. In his letter, Minister Mammadyarov referring to the position of international community on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".
ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian called out this attempted interference into Australian affairs.
"We're talking about the interference into Australian affairs by a country which is a notorious jailer – and kidnapper outside of Azerbaijan – of journalists and opposition figures, a country which is embroiled in an international bribery scandal with the Azerbaijani Laundromat, and which regularly violates the internationally brokered Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire, killing innocent Armenians who are indigenous to the Republic of Artsakh," said Kayserian.
"It would seem they have enough issues to deal with before trying to apply pressure on elected Australian officials to discourage them from doing what they know is right – backing the human right of self-determination of the indigenous Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh."
Mammadyarov's correspondence to Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne apparently expressed that the successes in Artsakh advocacy announced over the past week "contradict the expressed official position of the Federal Government of Australia and reminded that such steps in relation to the illegal separatist regime were not in line with the well-known international practice and constitute a flagrant violation of the norms of international law".
"While it is stated that Canberra has reassured Baku that their official, contradictory position of 'supporting the OSCE Minsk Process while backing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity' has not changed, it is clearly not lost on Azerbaijan that the formation of a group of 40 prominent Australians, including a bipartisan collective of Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Parliamentarians, is a significant blow to the smokescreen they have been selling countries like Australia in recent years," added Kayserian.
"The Armenian-Australian community is made up largely of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and the Armenia that our ancestors were forced to flee included an Armenian Artsakh, which is why officials we elect have extended their ears and support to our concerns about Azerbaijani aggression and war-mongering. The truth is coming out, and it seems this has brought out the worst in Baku."
"We encourage Australia's foreign ministry and the government to outright reject calls from a foreign dictatorship to silence our democratic nation's freedom of expression, which begins with our elected officials," he said.
The New South Wales Parliament recognised the Republic of Artsakh in 2012 and Ryde City Council followed suit in 2018. Last week, Ryde City unanimously passed a resolution forming a Friendship City relationship with Artsakh's capital Stepanakert.
This week saw the announcement of the Australian Friends of Artsakh – a newly-formed group of 40 prominent Australians, including Federal Ministers and Parliamentarians, a State Premier and fellow State Parliamentarians, a Mayor and Councillors, academics, thought leaders, and heads of several religious and community institutions.
The Federal contingent of signatories is led by Australia's Communications Minister the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, Assistant Treasurer the Hon. Michael Sukkar MP, Shadow Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Senator Kristina Keneally and Shadow Agriculture & Resources Minister the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP.
Fitzgibbon is the co-convenor of the Armenia-Australia Inter-Parliamentary Union along with the Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Health, Aged Care & Sport Trent Zimmerman MP, who also joined the Australian Friends of Artsakh, along with fellow Chairs of Federal Parliamentary Committees including John Alexander MP, Julian Leeser MP, Jason Falinski MP and Tim Wilson MP – who is the only Member of Australia's Federal Parliament with Armenian heritage. Newly elected Josh Burns MP is also a friend of Artsakh.
The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP, who is most prominent among Armenian-Australians as the Premier of Australia's largest state of New South Wales, leads the list of State Parliamentarians among the inaugural Australian Friends of Artsakh, which also includes Speaker of NSW Parliament's House of Representatives the Hon. Jonathan O'Dea MP and his fellow convenor of the NSW Armenia-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Shadow Treasurer the Hon. Walt Secord MLC.
Dr. Hugh McDermott MP and Rev. Fred Nile MLC are also among the current NSW parliamentarians to join the group, along with former state political representatives including Marie Ficarra and Amanda Fazio.
Among other inaugural signatories to the Australian Friends of Artsakh include Ryde City's Mayor Jerome Laxale and Councillor Sarkis Yedelian, along with several Councillors from Ryde City and Willoughby City.
A number of academics and civil society leaders have also signed on to support Artsakh, including Professor Peter Stanley, Dr. Sev Ozdowski, Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis, Dr. Brian Owler and Chris Crewther.
Leaders of communities and churches have joined the Australian Friends of Artsakh as inaugural signatories, led by the President of the NSW Ecumenical Council and the President of the Australasian Middle East Christian Apostolic Churches.
