ATTACK IN CANADA AND A CALL FOR MEDIATION

"Turkey must accept that the solution will be with the Kurds living in Turkey. Turkey must see that by urging the USA to join its alliance against our organization, establishing an anti-Kurdish alliance with Iran and Syria and attacking our forces, pressuring the KDP and PUK and by sending troops to Lebanon to show the international community a positive image, will not solve the problem."
~ Declaration for the Democratic Resolution of the Kurdish Question.

You may want to check Gordon Taylor's latest post on an attack against Kurds in Canada:

Note: I post this simply as an illustration of what happens in Turkey all the time, and quite often at universities, where gangs of toughs will attack Kurdish or liberal student groups. This kind of attack is a trademark of the Turkish right, the "ulkuculer", or "idealists" of the MHP, the Nationalist Action Party. I have a feeling, however, that they picked the wrong country to do it in. This is one case where I'm sure the Mounties will get their man.

Bloody attack at cafe

By Renato Gandia

Edmonton Sun, 23 May 2008

A mob rampaged through a west-end cafe in a bloody attack yesterday that sent three men to hospital.

After the bloodshed, angry Kurds pointed the finger at their Turkish neighbours.

"This attack is a well-organized hate crime against Kurds by racist people," said Metin Yesilcimer, who rushed to the scene as soon as he heard about the violence.

Two men in their 40s and one in his 50s were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries after a group of 20 to 25 armed men stoned Ankara Cafe at 15960 109 Ave., and assaulted eight people with metal batons, knives and stones, said eyewitnesses.

"They are like Nazis. They are Turkish Nazis," said Yesilcimer, who said he was speaking on behalf of the victims.

The Edmonton Sun had more today:

Bracing for violence

Turkish Canadian Association president fears Ankara Cafe attack could lead to more skirmishes

By GLENN KAUTH, SUN MEDIA


The head of the city's Turkish association is bracing for more violence after a bloody fight between rival groups at a west-end cafe.

"I'm very sad today," said Turkish Canadian Association president Kenan Tan, who worries Thursday's violence will give a "bad name to the Turkish people."

Police have now ruled that the fight that sent three customers of the Ankara Cafe to hospital wasn't ethnically motivated. Tan, however, believes otherwise.

"There is a political issue behind it, definitely," he said.

"It has a Turkish-Kurdish relation as well, definitely."


The attack happened around 4 p.m. Thursday when a group of up to 25 armed men stoned the cafe at 15960 109 Ave., breaking its window.

Angry Kurds blamed their fellow Turks for instigating the violence, but Ankara Cafe owner Tugay Doksuz said the fight actually began earlier as a heated discussion between a few people seated inside.

One of them then called his friends, who showed up with metal batons, knives and stones. The violence ended with three men cut and bruised. The assault also left the cafe with broken chairs and tables.

While Doksuz believes the incident was the first of its kind in Edmonton, Tan said growing Turkish and Kurdish immigration to the city, particularly from Toronto, has led to a number of skirmishes in recent months.

A few weeks ago, he noted, a minor fight broke out during a soccer game in which a Kurdish man insulted a player wearing the jersey of the Turkish national team.

Aggravating the situation is the large number of Turks and Kurds who come to Edmonton for construction work, leading to rivalries between firms bidding for jobs, Tan said.

[ . . . ]

"I don't care what your background is. As long as you're a Turkish citizen, you get the same treatment," he said.

Oh, bullshit.


UPI also carried a short item on the attack.

On Thursday, the IHT and Le Monde carried an advertisement from the Kurdish Institute in Paris calling for a political solution to the Kurdish situation in Turkey by means of an independent mediator. Hevallo carried the text of the ad and, if you missed it, you can take a look at it over at his place.

You know what's coming now, don't you?

An advertisement by the Kurdish Institute of Paris and deputies of Turkey's pro-Kurdish party, or DTP, that appeared in Le Monde calling for an international mediator to help in solving the Kurdish problem sparked angry reaction in Turkey yesterday.

"Listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union and which puts certain conditions for ending terrorist activities, this group's efforts to regain ground and support it has lost in Turkey in other countries will be futile," the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement yesterday.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales and former Finnish Prime Minister Marti Ahtisaari are cited as names to be possible mediators, the advertisement read. The ad, with the headline "A call for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey," was signed by 1,000 people, including deputies of the DTP.

The ministry said the ad contained wrong and one-sided information adding, "The biggest obstacle in front of Turkey's democratization and improvement of human rights is the terrorist organization."

According to Fethullacı sources (i.e. Zaman), the Ankara regime has its panties in knots because Zübeyir Aydar and Remzi Kartal were among the signatories of the call for an independent mediator.

The only "one-sided information" is that given out, is given out by the Ankara regime. It's also very clear that if the Ankara regime had taken advantage of PKK's offer of a democratic solution and it's ceasefire in 2006, it would already be on the road to democratization and the "improvement of human rights".

But, then, we all know who the real terrorist organizations are.