FESTIVALS, FASTS AND FALLING APART

Back in Alimlikoy, I asked the shepherd why he hadn't just agreed to become a guard. "Why would we?" he asked. "We have our fields and our animals. We have an income. Besides," he said with some emphasis, "why should we try to do a job that not even the state can accomplish?"
~ Kevin McKiernan, "Turkey's War."

A friend has pointed out that there are photos available to view at the Beytussebap website of this year's sheep-shearing festival. In the top left margin, click on "Foto Galeri" and then look for "Berxbir 2006." Then enjoy the photos from the zozans, but beware if you are the slightest bit homesick, these photos may exacerbate your condition. There are other great photos of the beautiful Beytussebap area, too. Gelek sipas, heval.

Our brothers and sisters in Limassol, Free Cyprus, held a hunger strike this weekend to protest the isolation conditions of Serok Apo and to protest the Turkish state's act of terrorism against the Kurdish people last week, in what is now being called the Amed Massacre.

Turkish-occupied Cyprus is an embarrassing contradiction for the TC, because here is the one place where the Ankara regime demands "separatism," "federalism," and "recognition of Turkish identity" for ethnic Turks, yet at the same time it denies these very things to ethnic Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. Cyprus is a member of the EU, but EU-wannabe, Turkey, refuses to recognize it and continues to occupy it. Of course, that might be as much a spineless EU problem as it is a hypocritical Turkish problem. Actually, it's amazing that the spineless EU bothers to consider an aggressor against an EU country as a potential EU membership candidate.

I guess consistency is not a strong point for either Turkey or the EU.

There's another piece of news that I've held for a week because other news took priority, but since this last week has been something of a deja vu as regards NATO's Gladio operations, now may be the right time to point out this one, from the Guardian:

UK agents 'did have role in IRA bomb atrocities'

The controversy over claims that Britain allowed two IRA informers to organise 'human bomb' attacks intensified this weekend.

A human rights watchdog has handed a report to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which concludes that two British agents were central to the bombings of three army border installations in 1990.

[ . . . ]

The 'human bomb' tactic involved forcing civilians to drive vehicles laden with explosives into army checkpoints and included deadly sorties near Newry and Coshquin outside Derry. Six British soldiers and a civilian worker at an army base died in the simultaneous blasts on either side of Northern Ireland.

British Irish Rights Watch said: 'This month BIRW sent a confidential report to the Historical Enquiries Team on the three incidents that occurred on 24th October 1990... at least two security force agents were involved in these bombings, and allegations have been made that the "human bomb" strategy was the brainchild of British intelligence.

[ . . . ]

The group has issued several detailed reports previously outlining cases of collusion between loyalist terrorists and the security forces. These include the Pat Finucane murder and the killing of Raymond McCord Jr by the Ulster Volunteer Force. In both cases, British Irish Rights Watch claim many of the loyalists involved in these murders were agents for the security forces - allegations that were later substantiated.

Wow! How familiar does that sound? I guess the British government decided to take some of that Gladio know-how and apply it to their Irish "problem." Not surprising, I suppose, considering that the "Stay Behind" idea originated in Britain. No wonder Britain has worked hand-in-glove with Turkey against Kurds; it's the result of a good-old-boy network. I wonder how many other bombings the British government committed and then pinned on the IRA?

The last item today is on the growing discontent with the Turkish military by the Turkish public, from Eurasianet:

"I will not say ’long live this country, ’"said Neriman Okay, the mother of an army lieutenant killed in action on September 1, as she stood over her son’s coffin, news outlets reported. "I didn’t bring my son up to be a soldier, and I do not accept his death. He died for nothing."

In many places, what Okay called her "rebellion" would barely raise an eyebrow. In Turkey, it has been front page news for over a week.

[ . . . ]

Much of the media coverage has tended to see Okay’s words as a protest against the government. That tendency has grown since Prime Minister Erdogan responded to criticisms of soldiers’ deaths by announcing that "military service is not a place where you just take it easy."

In a country with an 800,000-strong conscript army, some observers think the comment could spell the beginning of the end for Prime Minister Erdogan’s government. Yet, while Neriman Okay did target the premier, her criticisms went much further.

"Sending boys who have never shot a gun to fight terrorists who’ve been in the mountains for 20 years is pure stupidity," she told one newspaper after the funeral, describing her son’s inadequate training. "This should be a job for professionals."

Not surprising, that part about "inadequate training." That's what the TSK is known for, and that's why it prefers to lord it over unarmed Kurdish civilians and volunteer for "peacekeeping operations" in places where hostilities have virtually ended. Mehmetcik is basically cannon fodder that ensures the Deep State's interests. On the other hand, every Turk is born a soldier, as the Turkish educational system loves to point out:

Authorities have traditionally treated critics of military policies swiftly and harshly. A textbook read by all Turkish students suggests that a man who has not done his military service "cannot be useful to himself, his family, or his homeland." It’s a point of view backed by Turkish law, as novelist Perihan Magden discovered this July. Her article defending conscientious objection earned charges of "turning Turks against the military." She faced three years in jail, but was acquitted.

The article goes on to remark that it would be impossible to bring Neriman Okay to court for her public slight against the TSK, but that's not true. It would not be impossible to bring her to court, but it would extend the humiliation of the Ankara regime. Besides, they have other ways of dealing with problems like this.

Whoever reads the article in its entirety, should be aware of the almost impercetible racism of these lines: "Two hundred and fifty soldiers have died -- 27 in the last month alone -- since the PKK broke its unilateral ceasefire two years ago. Every death hardens the attitudes of the Turkish public."

What does the author think the Ankara regime's murders of 40,000 Kurds has done to the attitudes of the Kurdish public? But they never ask that question, do they?