ENLIGHTENMENT

“The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.”
~ Nikos Kazantzakis.

I found something very enlightening from the Associated Press today, and carried on the Houston Chronicle. It's a piece of news that goes in tandem with the TDN article in yesterday's post about the helicopter tender that Turkey has been wrangling over with US contractors, and it's no wonder Turkey's wrangling. Take a look, from the Houston Chronicle:

"The collapse of one deal is not itself a major crisis, but if Turkey persists in seeking carte blanche from American suppliers to substitute its own technology for theirs and asks for impossible terms, U.S. arms suppliers will not, indeed cannot, bid for Turkey's business, and they will likely cease their lobbying efforts on Turkey's behalf with both the White House and Congress," said Ian M. Cuthbertson, an arms sales expert at World Policy Institute. "U.S. industry will lose business and Turkey would lose powerful allies in Washington."

U.S. arms companies have been lobbying for Turkey against Armenians--who are pressing for recognition of killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as a genocide--and Kurds--who complain about Turkey's alleged human rights violations.

Right, they're alleged human rights violations. Go check with the ECHR on that.

What appears to be happening is that Turkey has put out some very controlling conditions for the bid. Turkey wants full access to the helicopter's software codes and it wants a written guarantee from the bidder's government that there will be no political problems over the deal. In other words, they don't want to be harassed for purchasing the hardware, which they plan to use against Kurds:

Today, Turkey is keen on having a sovereign helicopter to freely use, mainly against Kurdish guerrillas in the rugged southeast, without taking on the risk of outside interference in the aircraft's mission computer or of political obstacles from Washington to its use.

"[T]o freely use," has such an ominous ring to it, kind of like Final Solution does.

Since the TSK has been conducted more cross-border operations into South Kurdistan (See DozaMe for that), it's not hard to predict that the new helicopters will be used not only against civilians in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, but also against civilians in South Kurdistan, because this is the obsession: If even one Kurd remains alive, that Kurd proves the lie of the ideological foundation of the TC, which does not permit the existence of Kurds.

The TDN article I posted yesterday made it sound as if Turkey were doing a big favor for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (owned by Boeing, hence the Boeing spokesman in the Chronicle article) by extending the deadline for bids. But, as it turns out from today's AP report, it looks more like Turkey is hoping to schmooze the Americans into accepting their strict terms, something they desperately want to happen in order to protect their powerful and influential Washington lobby, a lobby which has, for many years, managed to avoid the superficial legalese involved with the question of Turkey's atrocious human rights record. Boeing and many others have never had a problem cajoling congressmen into approving major weapons sales to Turkey.

The scramble to save its influence in Washington, and this alone, is the sole reason Turkey extended the bid deadline to 15 September. They're trying to do themselves a favor and no one else.

Meanwhile, back in Wan, two sacrificial lambs were slaughtered to protect the integrity of Deep State gangs. Ali Kaya (Buyukanit's boy) and Ozcan Ildeniz got 39 years for blowing up the bookstore in Şemzînan (Semdinli), back in November. The defendants' lawyer isn't happy because he just found out his clients were expendable. More info is available from TDN.

It was pretty slick of TDN to try to blame all of last year's bombings in "The Southeast" on the PKK, even though they all had marks of government work. But if that fact were admitted, then everyone would have to admit that the November 9th bombing leads much farther up the chain of command than some simple non-commissioned officers. We wouldn't want to go there, would we?

I am struck by the speed of this trial. Let's think back to February, 2001, when the sacrificial lambs for Susurluk were slaughtered. The Susurluk Scandal broke open in November, 1996, but no convictions came until 2001, between four and five years later. Why the rush with the Semdinli bombers? Could it be they had to be finished and out of the way by August, and we all know what's coming in August. . . that's when Buyukanit becomes the Grand Poo-Bah. It wouldn't look good to have all this distressing business, in which Buyukanit's name has been closely associated, dragging on all summer long. After all, it might threaten to put a damper on August's festivities.

The Guardian's report on the Susurluk convictions has some enlightening comments, still applicable today:

The end of the trial comes amid fears of a renewed effort to destabilise the south-east, which is now enjoying its most peaceful period for years.

Two leading members of the pro-Kurdish political party, Hadep, disappeared late last month in Silopi after being asked to visit the local gendarmerie headquarters.

Even though the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK, has largely withdrawn from the south-east, many believe that powerful forces in Turkey still have an interest in maintaining a tight security blanket across the region.

The south-east is the hub of a massive smuggling business involving drugs and human migrants. The hugely profitable trade is run by powerful criminal gangs, with the backing of renegade elements within the state - exactly the same combination which sparked the Susurluk scandal in the first place.

From 1996 to 2006, ten years, there are still obstacles in the path that leads to the real state criminals behind the madness and, if you read the interview with Sezgin Tanrikulu, prosecuting lawyer in the case and chair of the Amed Bar Association, at Bianet you will see that there is still determination to go down the dark path. Tanrikulu is satisfied with the convictions of Kaya and Ildeniz, but he plans to appeal the results because the convictions are based on a mere criminal offense (Article 220, "froming an organization to commit acts that are described as offenses by law"), whereas he was seeking a conviction under Article 302, which has to do with separatism. A conviction on any separatism charge is going to carry a much heavier sentence.

Tanrikulu echoes those who, during the Susurluk trial, insisted that the path of guilt led to the Deep State. Compare Tanrikulu's words in the Bianet interview with those of one of the investigating deputies of Susurluk, Sema Piskinsut (DSP), in the Guardian article:

Tanrikulu: "We believe the criminal organization is not limited to these three defendants. The organisation should be uncovered with the whole of its structure, abolished and its acts revealed and punished."

Piskinsut: "This verdict only says there was a gang. But what did it do, who did it work for? Parliament should find out who was politically responsible."

It also looks like Tanrikulu intends to pursue the matter, all the way up to, and including, Buyukanit.

There's more enlightening news at Bianet today, in connection with this case. It appears that the Umut Bookstore owner, Seferi Yilmaz, the prime witness in the case has been arrested and taken to a local prison. Seferi Yilmaz spent 15 years in prison for PKK activity. In fact, he was one of the gerîlas involved with the first PKK attack ever, against Turkish security forces at Şemzînan, back on 15 August, 1984. Coincidence? IHD doesn't think so:

It [The IHD statement] added "we would like to express that we find it suspicious that Sefer Yilmaz, the victim and witness of the incident, was arrested due to a statement made by a repentant [so-called former PKKer--Mizgîn] immediately after the verdict of the 'Semdinli Case' which was previously accepted as positive by democratic public opinion". The statement added that with the arrest taking place immediately after the court case, suspicions had escalated and vouched that the IHD would monitor developments closely.

Is anyone naive enough to believe in coincidences anymore?