HAPPINESS AND STUPIDITY

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
~ Albert Einstein.

Gordon Taylor at the Progressive Historians blog has a couple more posts on the gerîlas, onehere and another on the release of the Turkish POWs.

Dr. Kristiina Koivunen has an important post at her blog on the need for Kurds to forge alliances with other countries through diplomacy and the forging of alliances. Dr. Kristiina has been involved with the Kurdish situation in Turkey for a long time so her thoughts on the matter should not be taken lightly. Give her post serious consideration and if you have comments, post them at her place. I'm sure she'd love some feedback.

The president of Turkey's IHD is not happy about the remarks of Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek and Injustice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin on the POW release. In fact, Şahin truly shows that he's the bigger of the two asses by his remark:

"No member of the Turkish Armed Forces should have found themselves in such a situation. I could not accept the fact that they went with the terrorists that night. I could not be very happy about their release."

Okay, Mr. Injustice Minister, what in the hell were the POWs supposed to do? Commit harikiri? The person who keeps up with Turkish news is a person who reads a lot of stupid shit but Şahin old boy, you really have outdone most of your peers with such a piggish remark.

On the saner side of things, IHD President Hüsnü Öndül had the followıng reply:

"The right to life is holy and it is vital to protect it. It is unacceptable that Sahin cannot be happy about the release of the soldiers, that he makes reproaches and that the media approaches the issue as if the fact that the soldiers are alive means they have committed a crime. The style that is used is the product of the warmongering language and mentality which leads to more of a lynch culture."

[ . . . ]

"12 soldiers were killed in front of these soldiers' eyes, and they survived. Then they were tied up and taken to an unknown environment. Now that they have survived such a trauma, it is merciless to push them into another kind of trauma."

And:

"According to the law of war, the PKK could not kill the eight soldiers it had taken hostage. Releasing them was a legally appropriate act of the PKK. But if we look outside the law and at the human dimenstions, it is lucky that the soldiers are alive. The fact that these people were released should be a reason for us as society and for the soldiers' families to rejoice."

Öndül is now concerned with the treatment the freed POWs are receiving from the TSK and he fears they may be deprived of the right to defend themselves. Read the rest at Bianet.

The thing that sticks in the throats of people like Şahin and Çiçek is the fact that Turkish soldiers were treated well by an armed group that the Ankara regime falsely labels as "terrorists." The regime would prefer to see their own troops dead than to admit they are agents of The Big Lie.