Rory Peck
History has seen many tragic events that caused calamities. However, negative public opinion of the war that formed after the WW II raised hopes of peace loving people. These hopes received a boost when the countries, that once used to be enemies, united to create the European Union. Although violent conflicts happen today in different parts across the globe, humanity attaches a particular emphasis to protecting human rights and freedoms, and certain praiseworthy achievements have been made on this front. Azerbaijani residents of the town of
Khojaly in
Nagorno-Karabakh, a beautiful and integral part of Azerbaijan, too respect these humane ideas and welcome perfect principles of the modern world. But unfortunately…
German do-it-yourself chain Praktiker recently sold its 27-store chain in Romania and its brand locally to Turkish investor Omer Susli, who controls the distribution business Search Chemicals, according to Mediafax newswire, quoting market sources. This comes soon after Praktiker sold its Ukraine business, and after it went insolvent in Germany. In Romania, Praktiker has yearly sales of some EUR 140 million and about 1,700 employees. The buyer is a much smaller company, with a turnover of about EUR 10 million, and 12 employees in 2012, according to data from Ziarul Financiar. 
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations mourns the victims of the Khojaly massacres in Western Azerbaijan. As Human Rights Watch documented, between February 25 and 26, 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces and Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment massacred 613 Azerbaijani civilians, 106 of them women and 83 of them children. Armenian forces took hostage another 1275, torturing 56 to death; another 150 remain missing to date. Over 480 civilians were disabled through mutilation, 76 of them teenage boys and girls. Young girls were raped and sexually mutilated. Twenty-five children lost both their parents, while 130 children were left motherless or fatherless. 
Turkey’s Culture and Tourist Office in New York, and agency M. Silver/ A Division of Finn Partners, have won Gold in the prestigious Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Adrian Awards. Announced at the Adrian Awards Gala at the New York Marriott Marquis last night, the recognition for major feature stories in The New York Times brings Turkey a total of four gold awards awarded over the past four years, highlighting the effectiveness of M. Silver’s ongoing public relations program for the country.
Caught in a trade dispute with Russia, Chobani is donating the 5,000 cups of Greek yogurt originally intended for American Olympic athletes competing in Sochi, Russia, to food banks in New York and New Jersey. See our earlier story. "As a proud supporter of the Olympics and Team USA over the past four years, we're disappointed our athletes won't be able to enjoy Chobani while they compete in the games as we all hoped, and are deeply appreciative to everyone who tried to help get it there, especially Sens. [Charles] Schumer and [Kirsten] Gillibrand and various officials here at home," said Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani.
Soccer team owner Ersal Ozdemir made his pitch for an $87 million, state-financed stadium to a friendly audience of lawmakers Thursday. Several members of the House Ways and Means Committee thanked Ozdemir for investing in the North American Soccer League franchise Indy Eleven, which begins its inaugural season in April. While members had questions about the proposed financing of the 18,500-seat venue, they did not question its impact on other taxpayer-supported venues downtown.
Organizers of the Yacht & Brokerage Show have signed a contract to expand the 26-year-old show into an as-yet-unbuilt megayacht marina on Watson Island. Despite a decade of false starts, the Island Gardens project is slated to confirm financing this spring and begin dredging the marina by June, said Mehmet Bayraktar, the Turkish founder of the development company, Flagstone Property Group. If it can do that, next year’s show would have a 25-foot deep basin in which to erect floating docks for any number of yachts. The marina’s real docks would be built in time for the 2016 show, both sides said. 
Chobani CEO and Founder Hamdi Ulukaya discusses his rise to the top and manufacturing in the U.S. He speaks with Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.” Started with only 5 employees and now Chobani has reached 3000 employees. He built the biggest yogurty manufacturing plant in Idoha and ''For us to manufacture more yogurt bigger problem than Obamacare,'' Ulukaya says. 
To launch Chobani's new ad campaign focused on their all natural ingredients, they created a Super Bowl commercial featuring a discerning bear on the hunt for real, natural food. Then, their in-house agency went a step further by bringing that bear to life on the streets of NYC to see how people would react. 
Sierra Nevada Corp. announced recently it will launch its first unmanned orbital test fight in 2016, an effort meant to prove its Dream Chaser is capable of shuttling astronauts to and from space. The flight is currently scheduled to launch on Nov. 1, 2016 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and will sit piggyback on a United Atlas 5 rocket. While the Dream Chaser’s first flight will be unmanned, the plan is to eventually shuttle astronauts into low-Earth orbit by 2017 using the private space plane.
Turkey's state-owned Halkbank is expected to continue processing payments for Iranian oil imports to Turkey, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen said on Monday. "Halkbank has for some time been involved in handling oil payments for importing oil from Iran into Turkey and we expect that to continue," David Cohen, Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence told reporters. 
The boss of Coca-Cola has warned that if the world's youth unemployment problem is not solved, it could create severe social problems. Muhtar Kent, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, told Bloomberg TV that if the issue is not resolved, the "social peace and mosaic" of the world could crack and everyone could be made "much worse off". Kent, speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, also claimed there is a "huge mismatch" between what businesses need from employees and what universities are teaching students. 
