I. TRADINGMARKETS - ECHR Rules Turkey to Pay nearly 15 Million Euros in Compensation
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey would pay nearly 15 million euro in compensation to 19 Greek Cypriot applicants. The court, on September 22 and October 27, 2009, convicted Turkey of violating Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (protection of property) in all 19 cases and of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) in 11 of them. ECHR ruled that Turkey would pay compensations to 19 Greek Cypriot applicants ranging from 30 thousand to 5 million euro in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, amounting nearly 15 million euro. Turkey will also pay 160 thousand euro for costs and expenses. Most of the applicants were made in 1990s. The applicants claimed that complaints that the [Turkish invasion] in 1974 deprived them of their home and properties. Earlier, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers decided that the Immovable Property Commission (TMK) in the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" was the legitimate address for property claims of Greek Cypriots.
Recently discovered oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean may bring immense profits, but have so far become the latest point of tension in the Middle East. There is a joke in Israel, which claims that when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt, he took a wrong turn on his way to the Promised Land, bringing them to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil. Now it seems the prophet may not have been wrong after all. Reports from the giant Leviathan natural gas site, off the coast of the Israeli city of Haifa, point to a potential four billion barrels of black gold. Back in 2009, Israel announced the first discovery of a major natural gas field off its coast in the Tamar area, containing some eight trillion cubic feet of resources. However, it is not only Israel that is laying claim to the reserves. Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon also say the oil is theirs. And while international law allows a country to drill in the continental shelf off its coast, the fact that Israel and Lebanon have never agreed on maritime boundaries makes it unclear where the demarcation line lies. As the two countries are enemy states, there is unlikely to be an agreement anytime soon. Both have threatened to go to war over the issue. Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations after Israel placed buoys extending two miles into the sea. Also weighing in on the conflict is Hezbollah. For now, Israel has the upper hand. It has already struck a deal with Cyprus and is preparing to start extraction. In the meantime, Lebanon is still waiting to sort out the boundaries of its economic zone with Cyprus and Syria. And it may take years to prove that Israel’s fields extend into Lebanese territory.
NATO has not set a date for withdrawal from Kosovo, NATO officials stated. Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General Jamie Shea has stated that NATO has not set a date for complete withdrawal from Kosovo and that “it all depends on the situation”. He addressed participants of an international conference in Belgrade titled “Serbia, Western Balkans and NATO towards 2020: Lessons learned and lessons to be learned” via video link. Shea, who was NATO spokesman in 1999, said that NATO would continue training Kosovo security forces “so they would protect all peoples in Kosovo” and added that those forces should be multiethnic. When asked about Macedonia’s invitation to join NATO, the NATO official said that “it was said two years ago at a summit in Bucharest that Macedonia was ready for NATO as soon as it solved the name dispute with Greece”. “When the dispute, that mediator Matthew Nimitz is working on, is solved the Alliance ambassador will keep it in mind and pass the invitation,” he said and added that no special meeting regarding Macedonia’s issue would be held. According to him, NATO is sending a message to the Western Balkans that its door is open and that it is in nobody’s interest to block Macedonia. Speaking about NATO’s new strategic concept, Shea stressed the need for even better relations with the EU. “Relations between NATO and the EU are good and they can be even better. We are on the same operational scene, such as Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and we have the same challenges such as fight against terrorism,” he explained and advocated even better coordination between NATO and civilian organizations. The two-day international conference is organized by Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) and NGO Fractal.
IV. FOXNEWS - Russia, NATO Plan Joint Afghan War Initiative
Russia could play a new role in Afghanistan under plans being drawn up between NATO and Moscow. Among a range of proposals under consideration Wednesday was the possibility of Russia lending military helicopters to the Afghan Army, training Afghan pilots in Russia and enabling more NATO convoys -- including those with lethal cargo -- to pass across its territory. The plan could also extend to Russia training Afghan security forces outside the country in counternarcotics techniques. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, said he hoped that details of the deal would be agreed at a landmark summit between NATO and Russia in Lisbon on Nov. 20. As well as aircraft, Russia could agree to let convoys of NATO weapons and ammunition cross its territory. This would offer an alternative route from Pakistan, where the alliance’s convoys come under regular attack from the Taliban. The NATO-Russia summit could also lead to Moscow being invited to cooperate with the alliance on the controversial issue of missile defense.
V. RIANOVOSTI - Armenia, Azerbaijan exchange accusations over killed soldier
A Nagorny Karabakh soldier was killed in an apparent exchange of fire with Azerbaijani servicemen on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry of the unrecognized republic of Nagorny Karabakh said. The incident occurred just hours after a group of officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) carried out a scheduled monitoring of the situation at the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the disputed area. "A 20-year-old private from the Nagorny Karabakh defense forces Arut Grigoryan was killed on October 26 by automatic gunfire from the Azerbaijani side," the ministry said in statement on Wednesday. Armenia denounced the incident, but Azerbaijan said its servicemen simply returned fire coming from the Armenian side. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia. Over 30,000 people are estimated to have died on both sides between 1988 and 1994, when a ceasefire was agreed. Nagorny Karabakh has remained in Armenian control and tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted. In May, the region elected a 33-seat parliament with a voter turnout of almost 68%. Azerbaijani officials called the elections "illegal," saying they could seriously harm peace efforts. The OSCE Minsk Group, comprising the United States, Russia and France, was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorny Karabakh.
Comedy Central funnyman Jon Stewart has been voted the most influential man of 2010, in a poll of more than half a million readers of online magazine AskMen.com. The "Daily Show" host topped the list, coming in ahead of Microsoft mogul Bill Gates, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Steve Jobs and musician Kanye West, who rounded out the top five. His Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert nabbed the No. 11 spot. When describing his influence, the magazine goes on to say, "Despite his innumerable enemies, Stewart's acerbic take on the madness around him continues to draw audiences who look to the funnyman as a voice of reason. Stewart's show was once dubbed the 'fake news,' but these days it's become our youths' most trusted source of information, and its host the most trusted man in America." The distinction comes days before Stewart's 'Rally to Restore Sanity' with cohort Colbert, which is expected to draw 150,000 supporters to the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Dracul awaits sinners at the bottom of a fiery river. Saint George spears a dragon. The beast of the apocalypse blows fire onto dignitaries. At the painted monasteries in northeastern Romania, frescoes tell dramatic stories of salvation and damnation that once were meant to educate Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the countryside. Surrounded by stone-wall fortifications, the monasteries are scattered through the valleys within the Carpathian Mountains. King Stephen the Great of Moldavia began construction of the Orthodox churches in the 15th century. During his reign, he fought to strengthen his kingdom by pitting it against Hungary, Poland and the Ottoman empire — winning 46 out of 48 battles, many against the pagan Turks. To commemorate his victories, he purportedly built 44 churches, and after his death his successors built more, copying King Stephen’s architectural style. Our first stop on a tour to see some of these churches was at Gura Humorului, a logging town with one main street lined with restaurants, a supermarket and five newly constructed Orthodox churches. Between 1945 and 1989, the communist government declared Romania an atheist state and turned many churches into community centers or storerooms. But since the 1990s, a resurgence of piety has led to massive church construction throughout the country, often funded by the government. The painted monasteries, too, have revived their religious communities with nuns and monks dedicated to restoring the monasteries and their frescoes. We hired a local driver, Daniil, who knows the country roads well and can manage through forests, shepherd villages and unpaved roads. Daniil lived in Italy for a year but returned because he missed the beauty of this region. He first took us to Gura Humorului’s Voronets Monastery, one of the best known of the painted monasteries. Inside, beautiful frescoes and nuns singing Gregorian chants set the atmosphere for Sunday Mass. The monasteries are constructed in the shape of arcs or ships. Angels often line the top row directly beneath the wooden eaves, symbolizing their proximity to God. We wandered over to the exterior western wall where a Last Judgment scene depicts Dracul (the devil) sitting at the bottom of a crimson river, while a few angels along the banks poke sinners with long sticks. The background color of these frescoes shines with Voronets blue. Daniil says that researchers have tried to find out where the artists obtained the mineral, lapis lazuli, for the paint, but the mystery remains unsolved. It can be found in faraway places, such as the Badakhshan mines of northeastern Afghanistan, but nowhere near Romania. Daniil next drove us about 15 miles to the Moldovitsa Monastery, which was built in 1532 by King Stephen’s illegitimate son, Petru Rares. As at Voronets, the Last Judgment scene shows Dracul sitting in his fiery river, but this time a demon pulls a dignitary into the water by his beard. Builders of these monasteries placed the Last Judgment scenes on the western walls. They often inserted the entrance door, and a nun told me the reason. “A church,” she said, “is a heaven on earth. To get inside, one must first pass through judgment day.” Daniil drove us through a windy mountain of pine trees and after five miles or so we spilled into a valley where the Suchevitsa Monastery is tucked inside a mammoth citadel. Along the front wall of the church, the Ladder of Virtue spreads against an emerald-green background. Here, men step up with their good deeds, while angels behind them pray for their success. But many men fall off the rungs and into an abyss. The Movila family constructed this citadel, the last of the monasteries, at the end of the 1600s. Locals like to recount the story of the Movila Princess Elizabeth, who poisoned her husband, Simeon, in order to get her son on the throne. The Tomb Room of the church holds the remains of many Movila family members — except for Elizabeth, who died in the harem of a Turkish sultan after the Ottomans conquered the region. In the Suchevitsa museum, a silver orb still holds strands of Elizabeth’s brown hair. Daniil took us to visit several more monasteries and a salt mine in the town of Cacica. The Habsburgs annexed this region in the late 1700s, shutting down the monasteries. They then hired fellow Catholic Poles, Czechs and Germans to build and work in the salt mine. Today, the Romanians have turned the underground space into a gymnasium replete with tennis courts and a dance hall. Before he left us, Daniil suggested that we eat at the Select restaurant along the main street, a “milk bar” that still exists from communist times. It seemed a good time to ask him whether he resents the Habsburgs and communist rulers who suppressed the wonders of these painted churches. Daniil said that those leaders were like the people in the frescoes — “Some days evil. Some days good” — a mix of the fires of hell and the wings of angels. And the people of Romania know how to handle that.