TWO MURDERS, A GANG BUST, AND THE BIG, BAD PKK

"As you can imagine, there's a fair amount of infighting and clawing behind the scenes in the PUK politburo. Yes, they still call it a politburo." ~ www.comebackalive.com

Ah, well, it seems that we have more information published about the murders of Kani Yilmaz and Sabri Tori, but it seems that the information raises more questions than it answers, although, once again, the flimsy implication is that the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present PKK is behind these murders. Yes, flimsy, as in unsubstantial, fragile, rickety, diaphanous, and weak.

But what's a little substance among friends, eh?

We don't have to look far into the statement, published on KurdishMedia to begin with our questions, the third line down will do, for starters. Who is this "European Investigation Team" that apparently authored the statement? Is this an official agency, commission, organization, committee or tea party of the European Union? If so, with what investigative or judicial body is it affiliated and who are its members? In short, who is this team and what are the credentials of its members? Or is this team a function of the EU at all?

If this is a function of the EU, it is interesting to me, very interesting, because for three solid years, since the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the EU has taken a completely hands-off approach to "Iraq," and that includes South Kurdistan. This is so, first of all, because certain leading countries of the EU had all their little business ties to Saddam suddenly and irrevocably severed by OIF. Secondly, these same leading countries have their own issues with the US, so they have been conspicuous by their absence in "Iraq," especially as regards any assistance toward rebuilding the country--a thin hypocrisy given all the histrionic hand-wringing and crocodile tears shed by the European Lunatic Fringe for the poor, suffering, Iraqi people.

Another point to consider--if this team is somehow affiliated with the EU--is that of the EU's relationship with the Kurdish people, a people that may be divided by borders drawn up by the West, Europe in particular, defended now by the US, and clung to with a death grip by the imperialist Turkish, Persian and Arab states, but a people that is otherwise one people. Why would the EU spend its time and energy to investigate the murder of two Kurds in Silêmanî, while it does nothing to insist that the Ankara regime immediately address the Kurdish situation in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, a situation in which some 40,000 Kurds were murdered, some 5,000 villages destroyed, and an estimated 3 to 4 million Kurds forcibly resettled from their homes? Why does the EU not investigate the reasons why Turkish-occupied Kurdistan lags miserably behind development of Turkey proper? Why does the EU stand by while Kurds are murdered by Turkish security forces in the cities of Amed, Qoser and Êlih, Kurdish children are tortured in Amed, or the Deep State blows up bookstores in Şemzînan? Where is the EU when Erdogan delivers the pashas' message that Kurdish women and children are legitimate targets of the TSK?

Where is the EU and the US when it comes to Rojava and Rojhelat, and the oppression of the Kurdish people under the two evil regimes of the Syrian Arabs and the Persian mullahs? Why no outcry against arabization or the murder of Kurds in "Iraq?"

But no, all of these millions of Kurds are meaningless.

What we really have in the third line down of the statement is a flimsy implication, a bit of false advertising, given that there is no information about the "European Investigation Team." What is mentioned in the statement is that a UK forensic lab conducted tests to identify the explosives. Fair enough. Let them conduct forensic tests, by all means, however, lets not magnify a forensics lab until there reaches a critical mass of suggesting a "European Investigation Team" a la EU.

What does the forensics lab tell us? It confirms that there was an explosion in the car, something that we already knew. That is all that the forensics test tells us, because the mention of RDX is not news to anyone who is familiar with explosives. The use of RDX as a trigger is not news, because the majority of blasting caps produced in the world, contain RDX. RDX is a crucial component of a number of explosives beside C4, including landmines, artillery rounds and bombs. It also has civilian uses, such as in fireworks and rat poison.

Given its ubiquitous use in explosive products, it should come as no surprise that the Ba'ath had supplies of RDX or that it has been known to be used by TSK. It is used by the US, as well, and is manufactured by the US military.

None of this is, therefore, news. What then, is the point of the statement?

It is another attempt by unnamed sources to put the blame for these murders on PKK without evidence. 40,000 Kurds have been murdered under Turkish occupation, but those 40,000 rather work against the Ankara regime, don't they? On the other hand, here we have two murders that can work for the Ankara regime. Therefore, we are again reminded, by this piece of propaganda from a UK forensics lab, that Kani Yilmaz was on a so-called PKK "death list," that circumstantial evidence is the basis for believing in fairy tales of the global power of the all-powerful PKK--something hugely reminiscent of all the nonsense of a World Zionist Conspiracy, a fantasy generally held by the same kinds of people who believe in a worldwide cover up of UFO visitations and alien abductions.

And what of Veli Çat? Unsurprisingly, he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth--or he was buried on the back page, of the last section, of an obscure paper, with a little news item saying he turned up dead in PUK territory. No details, naturally! This is all circumstantial evidence! I wonder, did Veli Çat overstay his welcome with his PUK hosts?

Has no one bothered to consider the possiblitiy that Çat was abducted by aliens or that the World Zionist Conspiracy has spirited him away to a villa on the beach near Tel Aviv? Or is the possibility greater, and much more probable, that JITEM executed him after using him? Or that JITEM has him protected in an undisclosed location? Given the resurgence of the Dirty War against the Kurdish people, the massing of TSK at the border, the bombing of Southern Kurdish villages by the TSK, and the renewed activity of the Deep State within Turkey itself, is not all of this enough to suggest the possibility that Veli Çat is an agent of the same old enemy of Kurdistan?

This scenario, in which we consider the possibility that the Turkish regime is behind yet another assassination of Kurds, is far more probable than suggesting that the big, bad PKK had its hand in this dirty business. Still, for some, it is far more convenient for the purposes and agenda of certain quarters to believe fantasies. These would be the same quarters that propagate stories concocted by PKK "informers" like Şemdin Sakik, or former PKK cadres like Selim Çurukkaya, who have sold themselves to the Turkish propaganda machine and now write memoirs of their time in the mountains, memoirs that are published by the TSK and distributed for free in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. Naturally, too, it is another example of the reach of the all-powerful PKK, that sales of these publications are down in "The Region."

Geez, what a shock.

What of the PUK's role in all this? Is it surprising that the PUK has been less than transparent in getting to the bottom of this, especially when we consider that the PUK has engaged in severe repression of legitimate protests on its own turf? What of the role of that great ally of the TC, the US, and in particular the role of the CIA? The original PWD statements on the murders of Kani Yilmaz and Sabrî Torî, in February, mentioned that a CIA bomb expert was on hand to have a look at the car:

A CIA expert stated that the car was detonated by a remote control.

We know that from 2003, the CIA made visits to Qandîl, while most of the old guard was still there, and these CIA officials spent time talking to Osman Ocalan. We know that there was an agreement made between the US and Osman by October, 2003. We know that Talabanî had been involved with urging the failed amnesty of 2003, and that by June, 2004, Osman Ocalan had left Qandîl, although other possibilities suggest that he left earlier, in February, that year.

Is it mere coincidence, then, that this CIA "expert" was on hand? Is it mere coincidence that after visits by the CIA to Qandîl that the PWD was formed? Can anyone explain how PWD's goals and the goals of the KONGRA-GEL differed? It didn't sound like PWD had put a whole lot of original thought into their platform. Can anyone point out to me where and when PWD founders ever faced the opposition that DTP does right now, a Kurdish-dominated party that everyone loves to link to PKK, and that is heading down the same legal road to state-enforced dissolution that HADEP and DEHAP did? Or has PWD faced opposition similar to the opposition that IHD has faced--and we all know who has tried to link IHD with PKK, don't we?

If anyone wants to find who murdered Kani Yilmaz and Sabrî Torî, they are going to have to look elsewhere, not to Qandîl.

Would Dohuk be a good place to look? It's a reasonable question, since waiting for transparency and results from PUK investigations is like waiting for Godot, no matter how much PWD protests that incontrovertible evidence will be immediately forthcoming. Instead, perhaps we can find some transparency with the KDP, from DozaMe:

KDP police in the city of Dohuk in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) has busted a gang consisting of high-ranking KDP officials, officers from the newly formed Iraqi army and several high-ranking PWD members, KDP official sources in southern Kurdistan reports. The members of the gang are accused for over 100 economically and politically motivated murders in southern Kurdistan in the last couple of years.

The official, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that the gang was exposed after an investigation to the murders of the PWD member Zerdest Navyani and the Turkish businessman Mehmet Simsek. Navyani and Simsek were killed on March 14 this year in the Berderes area outside the town of Aqre close to Dohuk by a high-ranking officer of the Iraqi army and former creator of the KDP special forces named Ekrem Ciziri and Ciziri’s bodyguards.

[ . . . ]

Ekrem Ciziri was named as the gang leader and arrest warrants have been issued for several of his networks operational in Hewler and Suleymani. Ciziri, a former PKK guerrilla commander, was arrested in 1997 after a PKK crackdown on internal gangs. Ciziri was disgraced and stood trial for mishandling captured KDP peshmergas. Knowing that he would be sentenced for his crimes, Ciziri managed to flee and ironically, sought refuge with the KDP. The KDP assigned the war-savvy Ciziri to set up special forces units for the KDP and gave him a commander rank.

I suppose it's too late now for PWD to blame all these murders on the big, bad, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present PKK--and I have no doubt that this will break more than a few hearts--but, in the meantime, a few questions come to mind. First, will Silêmanî, i.e. the PUK, cooperate with the arrest warrants issued by the KDP? Is it a coincidence that the "European Investigation Team" issued its statement at the same time that the news of the KDP's big bust started to break? Will PWD begin attempts against the lives of KDP officials, like they have against former HADEP officials? Where will all this lead, to Veli Çat or to others?

Maybe KDP should take up the investigation of the Yilmaz murder.

Stay tuned.