REUTERS LIES ABOUT PKK STATEMENT

"I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either."
~ Edward Zehr.

Bahoz Erdal, HPG Headquarters Commander (photo stolen from Özgür Gündem)

Reuters has a couple of reports out today that seem to be making all the rounds of the blogosphere. The problem is that Reuters falsified their report by not translating accurately. Here's what they wrote:

Rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fighting for an independent homeland in southeastern Turkey, said on Friday they are moving back into Turkey from northern Iraq.

Reuters quotes a Firat News article. In the paragraph titled, "GERİLLA GÜNEY'E DEĞİL KUZEYE GİDİYOR," Bahoz Erdal, HPG Headquarters Commander, says:

"Herkesi kandırmaya çalışıyorlar. Bu savaşın kaynağı Kuzey Kürdistan'dır. Gabar'daki güçlerin Güney Kürdistan'a gitmesini engellemek için sınırda top atışları yaptıklarını söylediler. Bu doğru değil, gerillalar Güney'e doğru değil aksine Dersim'e, Amanos'a ve kuzeydeki diğer yerlere doğru gidiyor. Türk devletinin saldırılarına karşı gerilla kendini bu şekilde konumlandırıyor" . . .

Translation:

"They [AKP] are trying to cheat everyone. The source of this war is North Kurdistan. They said they carried out a bombardment at Gabar in order to prevent [our] forces from going to South Kurdistan, but this is not true. The gerîlas are not going to the South; on the contrary, they are going to Dersim, Amanos, and other nothern locations. The gerîlas are positioning themselves against Turkish attacks in this way.

Erdal goes on to say to the Turkish people that this is the war of the poor, meaning that the poor must fight it and that the children of Kurdistan are pushed to it, while the children of Turkish officials receive their education in the US and pour money into their weddings.


I should take a moment to note here that Erdoğan obtained a waiver for his son's otherwise compulsory military service.

Reuters also states that PKK is "fighting for an independent homeland in southeastern Turkey," in complete contradiction to KCK's stated objectives for a democratic solution:

We would like as a movement to emphasize once again that the right solution is a democratic autonomy within the borders of Turkey. We believe that a solution in the unity of Turkey will be for the benefit of firstly the Kurdish people and all the people of the region.

Therefore, we cannot excuse Reuters' execrable reporting as a simple mistranslation or misunderstanding; instead, it is, in fact, an outright lie.

Another Reuters propaganda piece from later in the day quoted Bahoz Erdal correctly:

"The guerrillas are not moving to the south (northern Iraq); on the contrary they are moving to ... places in the north," the PKK said in a statement published on Firat news agency.

But, of course, the damage had already been done and Reuters has made no retraction to correct its earlier lie.

On the other hand, Reuters again misquoted Erdal:

Kurdish separatist rebels said on Friday they were crossing back into Turkey to target politicians and police after Ankara said it was preparing to attack them in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Referencing the Firat statement (also carried on Özgür Gündem), in the paragraph titled, "AKP VE CHP KURUMLARI HEDEFTE," Bahoz Erdal says that the Turkish state went crazy because of its failure toward HPG and is implementing state terrorism as it did in the 1990s. For all of this, AKP bears the responsibility. Erdal stresses that "if Kurds and their institutions are targeted, AKP must know that there are AKP and CHP, and state insitutions in Kurdistan, and their attacks will not be without a response."

Bahoz Erdal's comments are a far cry from "crossing back into Turkey to target politicians and police." HPG is already inside Turkey. It is not "crossing back into Turkey," as claimed by the propagandists at Reuters.

Reuters also presents Erdoğan as the ass he is:

"We don't need anyone's advice on northern Iraq and the operation to be carried out there," Erdogan told a cheering crowd in Istanbul, after saying that the United States "came tens of thousands of kilometers and attacked Iraq without asking anyone's permission".

This would be an extreme case of monkey see, monkey do. Since the Ankara regime used Israel's invasion of Lebanon last year as an excuse for it's own "hot pursuit" BS vis-a-vis Kurds, everyone should see clearly that there is no original or creative thinking on the part of anyone within the Ankara regime's political elite. It should also be clear that only a criminal regime, like the one in Ankara, would use criminal examples to justify its own potential criminal behavior.

A cross-border operation into South Kurdistan presents several outcomes, all of which benefit Kurdistan. The overall outcome would be utter failure for the Ankara regime in general and the AKP in particular. The regime has invaded South Kurdistan in the past in vain attempts to annihilate the Kurdish freedom movement, all of which spiked the body count for the TSK and did very little damage to PKK.

The regime has created heightened tensions and expectations among the Turkish people. Another invasion of South Kurdistan, with its accompanying rise in body counts, withdrawal due to military failure, and the resiliency of the Kurdish freedom movement will ensure that the wrath of the Turkish people turns on the AKP.

As the people call for AKP leaders' heads on pikes, so the opposition parties will turn on AKP like a pack of dogs moving in on wounded prey. DTP will be able to say, "We told you so!" thus proving that no military or "security" solution will solve the Kurdish situation. Only a political answer can solve a political question.

Turkey's EU accession will come to an abrupt halt but--even better for Kurds--the Kurdish situation will appear on the international stage once again. Such an appearance will be the opportunity to do that which Öcalan tried to do when he went to Europe--present both sides of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey and demand a political solution from the international community which has aided and abetted the Ankara regime in its genocidal policies.

Invasion will cause repercussions in both Syria and Iran. Turkey and Iran have enjoyed warm relations since 2003, but Iran will not stand for the shift in power that a Turkish invasion of South Kurdistan will bring to the region,

Lastly, a cross-border invasion into South Kurdistan will work wonders for pan-Kurdish unity. We'll all have Erdoğan, Gül, and Büyükanıt to thank for a unified Kurdistan.

Let them come.


Hevallo has a scientific test to determine who is the terrorist: Turkey or the PKK?