CONFESSIONS AND VIDEO CLIPS

"[U]p to now we have been drawing attention to the illegality, violations, killings and kidnappings in the region. We said, 'the perpetrators are known.' Now it is being admitted."
~ Sezgin Tanrıkulu, President, Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association.

There's more on retired colonel Erdal Sarızeybek's confession from Bianet:

"I thought a lot about how I could prevent the terrorists from entering the district town [of Semdinli]. Finally I decided; it was quite a mad plan, but we had no other choice. I finally made my decision and met with Kaymakam Ahmet Bey and Prosecutor Bülent Bey. I told them:

'Honourable Kaymakam and Prosecutor. The situation is very grave. We are surrounded by PKK militants on three sides. It would only take one night for the terrorists to come here [to Semdinli] from Hakurk in the south, from Jerma in the east and from Basyan in the west. If they enter the town, we are face to face with the people and they will suffer. We do not want this. That is why will take this precaution.'

They both answered, 'Alright, Major. We are behind you to the last.'"

Then a major, Saribeyzek had started his duty as a Gendarmerie Border Batallion Commander in 1992.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, president of the Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association, puts his finger on the possible reason why these old TSK officers are now coming out with the stories of their terrorism:

According to Tanrikulu, "Most probably the events he wrote about would have been investigated within the framework of "abuse of position". It is interesting and important that former soldiers wait for enough time to pass before they make such statements, so that the statute of limitations applies and they can be sure to evade punishment."

It is interesting, because "it is an indication of the future. It shows that those doing duty in that area [in the East and South-East] have got a lot to say."

It is important, because "up to now we have been drawing attention to the illegality, violations, killings and kidnappings in the region. We said, 'the perpetrators are known.' Now it is being admitted."

In the meantime, DTP parliamentarian and former IHD head Akın Birdal will bring the case to the TBMM:

Diyarbakir MP Akin Birdal of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) has announced that the case would be taken to the Human Rights Commission of the Parliament. The commission meets on 1 October, the same day that parliament opens. Birdal, who is a former president of the Human Rights Association (IHD), pointed out that human rights activists had long reported on soldiers pretending to be PKK members:

"There were many claims and indicators. It has been said that PKK uniforms were put on, that soldiers introduced themselves as PKK members and raided houses, that they asked people for support in the disguise. If they received help, people were accused of aiding and abetting. If they did not receive help, people were tortured, maltreated or killed."

And Akın Birdal is the one to know since these same types tried to murder him.

In case you've missed the brouhaha, Bianet also has a report about a Turkish nationalist singer from the Black Sea region, Ismail Türüt, who's taking the heat for a Youtube clip of one of his songs. Not that I could possibly squeeze out a tear for him, since he and his sidekick lyricist are glorified thugs who go around praising other glorified thugs.

Supposedly the person who made the clip of Türüt's song is a university student who had "no political aim." Oh, sure. I know I believe him:

University student Hakan Öztekin said that he had prepared the clip without any political aim: "I saw another clip with this song from Ismail Türüt, whose fan I am, on YouTube. I took random pictures related to Samsun from the Internet and randomly put them together with the song. I did not know that this would make such waves."

This defense seems rather unconvincing, as the "random pictures related to Samsun" were pictures of Hrant Dink's body and the murder suspects.

The Bianet report goes on to say that Öztekin's clip had been yanked from Youtube, but you can still find plenty of others that are similar. If interested in seeing what it's all about, go to Youtube and do a search for "Ismail Türüt".

Uh, but you can't do that from Turkey because Youtube's been banned again.

It's ironic. You can post oodles of video clips with Ismail Türüt's nationalist song accompanied with photos of Hrant Dink's body, and his murderers shown as national heroes. But you can't post videos of Mustafa Kemal, R. Tayyip Erdoğan, or Abdullah Gül wearing pink tutus and lip-synching to "Material Girl."