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world news Diaranson 18 november 2020

Turkish parliament approves peacekeepers for Azerbaijan

(AP) — Turkey’s parlia- six weeks of intense fight- still being worked out.
ment on Tuesday granted ing between Azerbaijan and
President Recep Tayyip Armenia over the Nagorno- Azerbaijan has been press-
Erdogan’s government Karabakh region. ing for its ally Turkey, which
permission to deploy has backed in in the conflict,
peacekeepers to Azerbai- Erdogan’s government to take an active role in the
jan to monitor a cease-fire would determine the num- peace talks and was the first
deal between Azerbaijan ber of troops to be sent and it to announce its involvement
and Armenia that aims to wasn't immediately clear how in the monitoring of the
end the conflict in the re- many the country planned to cease-fire agreement.
gion. deploy. The motion states
that civilian personnel could Russian officials have said
In a show of hands, legisla- also be deployed as part of the that Ankara’s involvement
tors voted in favor of a one- peacekeeping mission. will be limited to the work
year mandate allowing the Last week, the defense min- of the monitoring center on drones and other technical under a five-year mandate.
government to send troops isters of Russia and Turkey Azerbaijani soil, and Turkish means to monitor possible Nagorno-Karabakh lies with-
to Azerbaijan, where they signed a memorandum of peacekeepers wouldn't go to violations. in Azerbaijan but has been
would observe possible viola- understanding to create a Nagorno-Karabakh. Rus- under control of ethnic Ar-
tions of the truce from a joint joint monitoring center in sian Foreign Minister Sergey Russia, which negotiated the menian forces backed by Ar-
Turkish-Russian monitoring Azerbaijan, although techni- Lavrov has said the center cease-fire, is sending about menia since a separatist war
center. The cease-fire ended cal details of the mission are will operate remotely, using 2,000 peacekeeping troops there ended in 1994.

France mulls ban on police images, alarming rights defenders

dom of expression.” to broadcast? The answer is yes. Will
The proposed law is championed by a citizen be able to film police in ac-
lawmakers of President Emmanuel tion? The answer is yes,” he told law-
Macron’s party, which has a majority makers.
at the National Assembly.
But France’s human rights ombuds-
Its most controversial measure would man, Claire Hedon, said the bill in-
make it a new criminal offense “to volves “significant risks of undermin-
disseminate, by whatever means and ing fundamental rights,” including
on whatever media, with the intent press freedom.
of causing physical or psychologi- “The publication of images relating
cal harm, an image of the face or any to police interventions are legitimate
other element that could identify a and necessary for democratic func-
police officer.” tioning," she said.
Offenders would face up to one year
in prison and a 45,000-euro ($53,000) Critics are warning that the bill will
(AP) — French lawmakers start people from journalists' unions and fine. result in “massive” self-censorship
debating a security bill Tuesday human rights groups protested Tues- and argue that images posted online
that would ban the publication of day afternoon in front of the National Speaking Tuesday at the National help expose police blunders and bru-
images of police officers with in- Assembly, Interior Minister Gerald tality. They say the measure would
tent to cause them harm, a mea- Assembly in Paris, ahead of the de- Darmanin, who is backing the mea- endanger journalists and other peo-
sure that has provoked outrage bate that was scheduled to begin in sure, said the bill aims at preventing ple filming police in action, especially
from journalist organizations the evening. “calls for rape” and “murders” of po- during violent demonstrations. They
and rights campaigners. The Office of the High Commis- lice officers who may be identified on also worry how courts will determine
sioner for Human Rights at the Unit- videos. whether images were posted with in-
Critics, including the United Na- ed Nations expressed fears in a report tent to harm.
tions, France’s human rights om- that the bill “could lead to significant He downplayed any impact for jour- The National Assembly is scheduled
budsman and Reporters Without violations of human rights and fun- nalists. to vote next week on the bill, which
Borders, say the proposed law would damental freedoms, in particular the “Will journalists still be able to film? will then go to the Senate.
hurt press freedoms. Over a hundred right to privacy and the right to free- The answer is yes. Will they be able

Palestinians restore Israel ties as annexation threat fades

(AP) — A senior Palestin- favored Israel. Israel and suspend all coor- yahu said the pause was only temporary.
ian official said Tuesday dination with it, including
the Palestinian Author- Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior cooperation on security mat-
ity would restore ties with Palestinian official and close ters.
Israel after it cut all con- aide to President Mahmoud
tacts in May over Israel's Abbas, tweeted that “the re- The move came as Israel was
planned annexation of up lationship with Israel will re- preparing to annex up to a
to a third of the occupied turn to how it was” following third of the West Bank, in-
West Bank. “official written and oral let- cluding all of its far-flung set-
ters we received” confirming tlements, as part of Trump's
The move to restore ties like- Israel's commitment to past plan to resolve the decades-
ly reflects the Palestinians' agreements. old conflict. Annexation was
hopes that the election of for- put on hold in August when
mer Vice President Joe Biden Abbas announced in May the United Arab Emirates
spells the end of the Trump that the Palestinians would agreed to normalize relations
administration's Mideast pol- no longer be bound by any with Israel, but Israeli Prime
icies, which overwhelmingly past agreements signed with Minister Benjamin Netan-