TURKISH INVASION, TERROR, AND OCCUPATION OF SOUTH KURDISTAN

"Indeed, it is more than a bit ironic that the major recurring threat to society and political stability in Turkey over the past 60 years, the "Deep State," was actually enabled by the country's Western allies, and first of all, America."
~ Chris Deliso.

Check out Gordon Taylor's recent post at Progressive Historians:

For a lot of very young kids in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, today really is Spain 1937. On Friday, 22 February, the Turkish Army began yet another ground operation into lands which its enemy, the PKK, refers to as the Medya Defense Zones; i.e., those steep and remote regions which adjoin the extreme southeast border between Turkey and Iraq. Fighting is reportedly intense, and the conditions, in freezing snow-covered mountains, as bad as anything that can be imagined. So far the Turks claim 79 "terrorists" killed, while the PKK says they have lost 2. The PKK claims some 22 Turkish soldiers have died, and they report the downing of a Cobra helicopter near the River Zab. (If true, the latter would definitely be a coup. And it is not, it should be noted, the first time that the PKK has taken out a helicopter.) First touted as a "major" incursion, it now appears that only a limited number of elite mountain troops, equipped with snow camouflage and winter uniforms, are taking part. These are undoubtedly picked men, all volunteers and probably all career soldiers--not draftees like the eight unfortunate young men who were captured by the PKK in October and ended up being imprisoned by their own army after they were repatriated.

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Meanwhile the Bush administration, going on in its dazed, robotic way,continues to incorporate the PKK, a tiny group which has never attacked Americans, into its Global War On Terror. Both the EU and the United States, it should be noted, officially regard the PKK as a "terrorist" organization. Since the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited Washington in November 2007, the U.S. also officially regards the PKK as a "common enemy".

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Satellite maps tonight (1:20 AM, 2/24) show a large weather system that has come off the Mediterranean, now covers northern Syria, and soon will be in Iraq. Forecasts for Mosul call for rain, and rain in Mosul means snow in Kurdistan. Meanwhile, the Kurds of southeast Turkey, having held mass demonstrations repeatedly in the past three months, are planning another for Diyarbakir on Monday, February 25. It should be a big one.

Let's hope so.

Make sure you also check out Hevallo's recent posts on HPG's call for serhildan and his photos and video of today's protest in Amed (Diyarbakır).

Yeni Özgür Politika has a roundup of war news, all in Turkish. However, scroll down for Rastî weekend posts for most of that information.

Included is a body count which shows 22 Turkish soldiers killed on the first day of the war and 42 more killed in the last two days for a total of 64 Turkish soldiers killed total. Among the dead are included one major, a first lieutenant, a master sergeant, and a "skilled" sergeant. Names of the dead have also been released and are included in the YÖP article.

In another YÖP article, HPG Headquarters Commander Bahoz Erdal says the body count for the five days of the war is at least 81.

HPG reports three guerrilla şehîds.

Land Forces Commander İlker Başbuğ met with American military officials and peşmêrge commanders in Silopi on Sunday. As noted in the YÖP article (and in weekend comments), a convoy of some 70 American military vehicles, including M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and armored Humvees left Musel for Duhok.

The WaPo has an article on the situation for civilians in the area of South Kurdistan near the border. In spite of quoting ridiculous Turkish general staff numbers--and you do know who to believe now, don't you?--it's clear in the article that the deployment of tanks in the area is meant simply to terrorize the civilian population:

"Whenever the children hear the military operations, they feel frightened," said school headmaster Aoni Mashaghti. "Most of the women came to school to take their kids out. Whenever they hear any sound of bombardment, the school becomes empty."

Hawzan Hussein, who lives in a community of about 160 families, said people are worried because some of the Turkish targets are so close to their homes.

The explosions "have become a daily scene that frightened me with the possibility of hitting our house any time," the 25-year-old said.

Associated Press Television News footage from the border area showed Turkish tanks dug into barren hillsides, with armored vehicles taking positions in towns.

Yeah, barren hillsides and occupation of towns. You're sure to find oodles of guerrillas in those places. The firing of tanks and artillery in this area, as well as Turkish military occupation of Southern Kurdish towns, has no other purpose but terror, which is exactly what we should expect since the world's greatest terrorist states are coordinating and conducting this war.

For more on civilians caught in the areas of Turkish aggression, check Goran's new article at MideastYouth:

Turning eyes to Turkey, one will be disturbed to say the least at the various issues at hand with regards to Turkey’s long history of human rights abuses and oppressive policies. The Kurds in Turkey have been the primary victims of these policies who have suffered everything from harsh assimilation campaigns, displacements and various forms of ethnic cleansing. During the 1990s alone, nearly 4000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were completely destroyed leaving the people homeless and forced to move to large cities where they rarely were able to adapt to the new life. Results of these internal displacements can be seen with a simple visit to the impoverished Kurdish southeast where unemployment rates reach unbelievable highs of 60 - 70%. In addition to economical as well as other problems (cited by human rights organizations) such as torture, unexplained disappearances, black operations in which innocents are killed and even the banning of the Kurdish language in Turkey and lack of cultural rights, the Kurds have also been limited a political voice. Many Kurdish politicians have been imprisoned sometimes for decades for simply speaking out for Kurdish rights. Resulting factor in all this: Many have turned to an arms struggle, which has haunted the country for over two decades.

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First and foremost, although the Turkish military claims to have inflicted damage on rebel camps, no claims could be confirmed. Instead, footage and reports of the area are showing that the only damage being done is to the civilian villages in the region. (See a video reporting on the region at Real News.) Contrary to the Turkish claims, the Iraqi Kurdish leadership has said it believes Turkey’s expansion of the war into northern Iraq is not against the PKK Kurdish rebels, but instead against all Kurds as demonstrated by the attacks on the villages, and in particular, the Iraqi Kurds’ own political gains and autonomy in the region.

Of course, those conducting state terror against the Kurdish people, and their lapdogs in official media, have never made reference to the PKK's ceasefire and offer of a peaceful, democratic solution--and one that is in accord with Europe's EU requirements for Turkey's accession--both of which were offered in 2006.

If you possibly can, take some time to listen to a recent interview with Chris Deliso and Daniel Ellsberg by Scott Horton from the Stress blog.

In Part 1, Scott interviews Chris on the situation in the Balkans and promotes Chris' recent book, The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West. Rastî readers may remember that Chris wrote an excellent article about the Ralston conflict of interest. What you may not know is that Chris took a bit of a break to write the Ralston article while rushing to get his Balkan Caliphate manuscript to the publisher.

Let me also take a moment to point out that the whole Yugoslav war was overseen by none other that The Cohen Group: William Cohen was the Secretary of Defense at the time; Marc Grossman was the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs; and Joseph Ralston was the Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

As the only English-language journalist living in Macedonia, Chris has first-hand knowledge of everything that's going on there. In the interview, among other things, Chris talks about the nature of the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, saying that the missions are a very lucrative business and that in the 10 years that the UN has had a mission in Kosovo, the roads are still unpaved or filled with potholes. According to Chris, "Kosovo is a corporation; it's not a country and it's a very corrupt one."

Well, what do you expect when The Cohen Group's involved?

In the second part of the interview, Daniel Ellsberg--who's been speaking out on behalf of Sibel Edmonds--joins the interview and the discussion of Kosovo and the Balkans delves into its connections with the Turkish Deep State and the Deep State's heroin industry. Ellsberg argues the case for Turkey having a nuclear weapons program. He talks more about Sibel's case, too.

Interesting stuff and highly recommended. The Part 1 mp3 can be downloaded here (runtime: 28.20). Part 2 of the interview can be found here (runtime: 49:08).

There is also a webpage for Part 1 and Part 2.