STATEMENTS FROM DURAN KALKAN AND LEYLA ZANA

"No one is supposed to think that the votes that the Kurds gave to AKP is because of sympathy or trust or belief in AKP"
~ Leyla Zana.

From Yeni Özgür Politika:

The US and Iran clandestinely met regarding Qendil


It has been revealed that the Iran regime, which implements attacks against PJAK and PKK guerrillas, met with American officials secretly.

KCK Executive Council member, Duran Kalkan, said the US and Iran met at least three times regarding the Qendil attacks. Kalkan said: "The US and Iranian regimes met three or four times until now. In all these meetings, the attacks against the Medya Defense Zones by Iranian artillery was negotiated and has been decided."

Pointing out the cooperation between the US and Iran regarding PKK and PJAK, he said "On this basis, they attack PJAK. I mean, it is obvious that the US approved and supported this attack. For that reason, a dirtier alliance is revealed." Mentioning that cooperation against PJAK by the most opposite forces has been decided in these meetings, "The US can have an alliance with Iran, categorized by the US as one member of the Axis of Evil, to strike Kurds. The artillery shelling of Qendil-Xinere regions is completely under American permission and support" Kalkan said.

Remembering that the 1975 Algeria Accords were signed by the US, Iran, and Iraq regimes, Kalkan stressed the cooperation against Kurds, thus, is not a new event.

In Amed (Diyarbakır), high school students have been taken by the police, with the permission of high school administrations, to wedding salons where anti-PKK seminars were held. The students were asked to become spies for the police. Since these are illegal incidents, students and their guardians applied to the IHD.

Troops who gave anti-PKK speeches at the seminars, gave their business cards to the students and wanted them to call to talk, either in a park or a cafe.

Students were transported from school to the seminars in police buses. At least three schools were involved in these police activities: Rekabet Kurumu Anadolu Lisesi, Yunus Emre Lisesi, and Namık Kemal Lisesi.

In London, Leyla Zana speaks out, saying that for PKK to lay down its arms, "firstly [Turkish] planes must stop bombing operations". Zana continues: "The Kurdish people see the PKK's struggle as their insurance and I am one member of these people. A democratic solution of the Kurdish question is feasible with a new, liberal constitution which includes the rights of the Kurds and other peoples who are living in Turkey."

On the AKP government, Zana says: "Kurds will send AKP to the garbage." Zana criticized AKP severely in the meeting she attended at the Kurdish Community Center. "No one is supposed to think that the votes that the Kurds gave to AKP is because of sympathy or trust or belief in AKP. Our people just wanted to give AKP a chance. They supported AKP with the consideration that 'whether it can find a solution for our children in the mountains, whether the Imrali system could be changed or he [Ocalan] could be freed.'"

Leyla Zana also called the Kurdish political parties for a national conference. Such a conference is necessary to clarify Kurdish national interests and to have a common policy. She stressed the vital importance of an intra-Kurdish dialog.

Zana will continue with diplomatic contacts and series of meetings in London through 25 May.

Meanwhile, back in Elkî (Beytuşşebap) . . . On 21 May, in retaliation for HPG military council member Adil Amed, Kurtay Faraşin, and the Besta shehids, HPG attacked Tepê Şabanikê in Meydan Zengelê region. HPG siezed Tepe Sabanike hill, where TSK soldiers were positioned, within 10 minutes. Five TSK soldiers were killed and four committed suicide by running off the edge of a cliff. In this operation, HPG also siezed one BKC machine gun and one BKC sight, two M-16s, three military bags, one walkie-talkie, several lanterns and smoke grenades. Nine soldiers were killed, one of whom was a lieutenant, and five were wounded.

On the same day, fascist Turkish army units began a military operation in Güçlükonak's rural areas. HPG attacked one of the units. As a result, two TSK soldiers were killed and two wounded. After the operation, the region was bombed by Cobra helicopters and tanks.

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.

THURSDAY NIGHT NEWS

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
~ Albert Einstein.

First of all, Gordon Taylor's book, Fever and Thirst: An American Doctor in Iraq, 1835-1844, is coming out in paperback and is available for pre-order from Amazon.com. The introduction to the paperback edition is currently available online at History News Network. Here's a taste:

Everything seems so different now. From my room here in Sulaimani, in Kurdish Iraq, I can look down the street to the dilapidated green domed Shiite mosque and, from there, to the more prosperous Sunni mosque not too far behind it. Up the street is Kurdish Cultural Center next to the Chaldean Catholic church, next to the headquarters of the Communist Party. Overlooking it all is a heavily treed compound that everyone says is the CIA headquarters. No one seems to think twice about any of this; religion, tribe, sect, nationality, politics...in this part of Kurdistan they all seem to coexist peacefully, even happily, together.

Compared to the world described in this extraordinary book, things seem different, things are different. The Kurds of Iraq, once surely one of the most ferocious people anywhere, have calmed down a good bit. Getting a job, owning a Nissan dealership, visiting Europe, flirting and being flirted with...all these are more important these days than cutting off your neighbor's ear. Commerce, trade, and money-making have worked their wonders on this part of the world, and turned peoples' attention to less sanguinary pursuits. Islam - never as fanatical here as in other parts of the Middle East - remains a mildly cohesive rather than a divisive element. And nationalism, Kurdish nationalism, exercises an attractive force that erodes, dissolves , many of the petty differences that only recently separated tribe and village and family.

So maybe everything is different now, and maybe Gordon Taylor's book is simply a beautifully written, impeccably researched, compellingly told historical curiosity. But... why do I have this odd feeling this book is more than that?

Does anyone remember the Kurdistan Referendum Movement or the fact that not too long ago, 98% of the population of South Kurdistan voted for independence? If you do, you may want to take a look at a well-deserved rant over at KurdishMedia:

As Kurds we missed a unique opportunity to declare our independence in South Kurdistan. Establishment and independence of the Kurdish state should have been the sole Kurdish goal in any negotiations with the US before the war, and we had all the legal and moral rights for that. Nothing less should have been accepted by the Kurdish leaders and by the fighting Peshmerga. Could anything less be reasonable or even possible after all the sufferings and losses under Saddam’s satanic dictatorship; can anything else guarantee the security of our people today? The Kurdish people answered this question in the referendum unequivocally: 98% want independence, want free and sovereign Kurdistan!

[ . . . ]

We now see how South Kurdistan is turned into another of Washington’s puppet regimes in the region. But unlike other client states, the KRG has no sovereignty or authority at all. It is not even in the second class of the American slave system. The Kurdish territory is referred to as “North Iraq”, the Kurds are “Iraqis” in the political and diplomatic language of the “international community”. They are there just to implement Washington’s instructions, and must do it without protest.

The status of Kerkuk and other Kurdish territories should have been clarified at the end of last year according to the constitution, but it is still unresolved. Everything is done to keep the Kurds under constant threat that their achievement can be taken away from them any time. See the instructions of Arab and Oil lobbyists in “The Way Forward” for Iraq, and the reports from institutes established and run by oil companies that shape Washington’s Middle East policies. The 6-month postponement of the Kerkuk-referendum is one example. It is coming to an end soon, but where is the evidence that it will be actually carried out? Americans, Turks, and Arabs are doing everything in front and behind the scenes that the Kurdish city will stay excluded from Kurdish jurisdiction because of the oil.

History is important to understand how states behave today. History teaches that a benevolent Uncle Sam has never existed. The USA is a predatory global empire, as were Great Britain, France, Germany and others previously. The historical record of Americans, Turks, and Arabs is the same: They are all conquerors and occupiers of lands belonging to others; they are destroyers of indigenous cultures and societies; for territory and resources they have murdered and carried out genocides. No wonder to see them act so similar, to see them cooperate so eagerly when the issues are of strategic and material interest.

However as the predatory core state of the white race, the USA seeks benefits for itself and its European kin only. Washington’s interest in the Middle East has nothing to do with democracy, freedom, or justice. These values are valid, valued, and protected only within Western “civilisation” for the benefit of Western societies. Outside the Western sphere, in places where there is oil and other essential raw materials to exploit, democracy and freedom are treated as enemies of the West. In free and sovereign societies, the beneficiaries of the countries’ natural resources are the indigenous people, and not foreign corporations thousands of miles away.

[ . . . ]

The Kurdish leaders need to see the bigger picture and take actions accordingly. Becoming slaves and servants of a different master cannot be the option. They must implement the people’s will, which is the will for self-determination and independence from all foreign rule, all efforts must be directed towards that goal. Make no mistake, there are no friends around. We are surrounded by aggressive wolves waiting for the opportunity to attack. What measures have been taken to protect the people? What will we do when the Turks decide to invade? Are there any weapons to stop them? Constructing more shopping centres, hotels, villas will not stop the invasion. These buildings can be destroyed by air in one day. Military aggression is not a threat anymore, it is real and bloody.

We trusted in the benevolence of Uncle Sam, we simply believed his promises of freedom and security. What is the result? Turkish military aggression permitted and supported by the USA! The borders to South Kurdistan are now, as before, open to the Turkish fascists called TSK to murder and destroy. And they are making use of it. The Turkish air force is launching raids as a routine now. The criminal and racist rulers in Ankara are unpredictable and could, under the pretext of combating “terrorists” or “protecting” their Turkmen brethrens, invade any time. They do not recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government; they cannot accept Kurds as Kurds with a political position and will. They refer to the Kurdish representatives as “tribe chiefs”, to the Kurds as mountain tribes without identity. The Kemalist and Islamist Turks have not changed their racist attitudes as if Saddam was still in power and the political reality the same as before. Consequently they only regard Baghdad and the Arab leaders, the representatives of Arab Iraq, as political equals. The Kurdish territory, “northern Iraq” according to Ankara, is seen and described only as “security risk” for the Turkish state, and continuously warned and threatened. The only success story of post-invasion Iraq is looked at with envious and evil eyes. For a master race as Turks believe themselves to be, there simply cannot be an independent and successful Kurdish society. There can only be Kurdish slaves in service of the Turkish people and state. That had been the theological and imperial understanding of Ottoman Turks, and today it is the view of the Kemalists and the ruling Islamists. And let us not deceive ourselves – that is not just the view of the rulers, but of most Turks!

OUCH!

Don't miss Dr. Kristiina Koivunen's first post on her recent trip to Hewlêr. In this post, she visits the textile museum and describes her impressions:

I have very many things to tell about my journey to South Kurdistan. Instead of writing long reports I will put here pictures. I start with Hawler Textil Museum which is located in the Citadel and is open every day.

Iraqi Kurds love everything what is new - and made in factories (which are of course in other countries and do not produce things according the Kurdish style).

I do not want to be unpolite towards Iraqi Kurds but they seem to lack such knowledge and respect of their own culture than people in North Kurdistan have. There Kurdish kelims and handicrafts can be seen every where - in South Kurdistan I saw traditional Kurdish carpets during three weeks only in the museum. The long years of isolation and economical hardship have taken its toll also in this sense: 25 000 old Kurdish rugs were exported to Iran during early 90s (also other second hand things are usually sold to Iran).

Now this hundreds years knowledge of carpet weaving is not passed to next generation in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan. I really hope that people there understand what they will lose if this thing does not change quikly. Kilims are the traditional art of Kurdish women.

But why bother to preserve the art of the beautiful Kurdish kilim when you can import new, cheap shit from Turkey, Iran, or even China? Stay tuned; Dr. Kristiina is sure to have more reports in the coming days, and don't miss her photos.

Hevallo has a recent column written by Mehmet Ali Birand. Take a look at it and then compare it with the attitude of the TSK towards its own soldiers.

CONTROLLING IRAQ'S OIL

"To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle."
~ George Orwell.

From the No-Shit Department:

Iraq dramatically increased the official size of its oil reserves yesterday after new data suggested that they could exceed Saudi Arabia’s and be the largest in the world.

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister told The Times that new exploration showed that his country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, with as much as 350 billion barrels. The figure is triple the country’s present proven reserves and exceeds that of Saudi Arabia’s estimated 264 billion barrels of oil. Barham Salih said that the new estimate had been based on recent geological surveys and seismic data compiled by “reputable, international oil companies . . . This is a serious figure from credible sources.”

[ . . . ]

BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and Total have been queuing for rights to exploit Iraqi reserves. Mr Salih confirmed that Iraq was negotiating the outlines of two-year deals with some of the companies. He was optimistic that a draft law could be approved in the near future.

That, and more, was hinted at two years ago:

The following was written three decades ago:

Although its original concession of March 14, 1925, cove- red all of Iraq, the Iraq Petroleum Co., under the owner- ship of BP (23.75%), Shell (23.75%), CFP [of France] (23.75%), Exxon (11.85%), Mobil (11.85%), and [Calouste] Gulbenkian (5.0%), limited its production to fields constituting only one-half of 1 percent of the country's total area. During the Great Depression, the world was awash with oil and greater output from Iraq would simply have driven the price down to even lower levels.

[ . . . ]

In 1974, a U.S. politician broke the omerta over the suppression of Iraq's oil production. It was during the Arab oil embargo that Senator Edmund Muskie revealed a secret intelligence report of "fantastic" reserves of oil in Iraq undeveloped because U.S. oil companies refused to add pipeline capacity. Muskie, who'd just lost a bid for the Presidency, was dubbed a "loser" and ignored. The Iranian bombing of the Basra fields (1980-88) put a new kink in Iraq's oil production. Iraq's frustration under production limits explodes periodically.

In August 1990, Kuwait's craven siphoning of borderland oil fields jointly owned with Iraq gave Saddam the excuse to take Kuwait's share. Here was Saddam's opportunity to increase Iraq's OPEC quota by taking Kuwait's (most assuredly not approved by the U.S.). Saddam's plan backfired. The Basra oil fields not crippled by Iran were demolished in 1991 by American B-52s. Saddam's petro-military overreach into Kuwait gave the West the authority for a more direct oil suppression method called the "Sanctions" program, later changed to "Oil for Food." Now we get to the real reason for the U.N. embargo on Iraqi oil exports. According to the official U.S. position:

Sanctions were critical to preventing Iraq from acquiring equipment that could be used to reconstitute banned weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

How odd. If cutting Saddam's allowance was the purpose, then sanctions, limiting oil exports, was a very suspect method indeed. The nature of the oil market (a cartel) is such that the elimination of two million barrels a day increased Saddam's revenue. One might conclude that sanctions were less about WMD and more about EPS (earnings per share) of oil sellers.

In other words, there is nothing new under the desert sun. Today's fight over how much of Iraq's oil to produce (or suppress) simply extends into this century the last century's pump-or-control battles. In sum, Big Oil, whether in European or Arab-OPEC dress, has done its damned best to keep Iraq's oil buried deep in the ground to keep prices high in the air. Iraq has 74 known fields and only 15 in production; 526 known "structures" (oil-speak for "pools of oil"), only 125 drilled.

Now, from March 2008:

Reports of slackening demand sent oil down another 2.5% on Thursday to $101.84 per barrel. Crude prices have declined 7.6% since the beginning of the week. Not long ago, that would have been an astonishing plunge that shook the trading establishment. These days? Nah, that's just the ho-hum volatility in the oil market. But how is it that crude can still trade above $100 a barrel, three times what it sold for at the start of the decade, despite a very wobbly economy?

If you want to understand that, it helps to listen in to ExxonMobil's (XOM, news, msgs) presentation to analysts in New York City in early March. Halfway through the three-hour meeting, Exxon management flashed a chart that showed the company's worldwide oil production staying flat through 2012.

Ponder that for a minute. Exxon is the largest publicly traded company in the energy business. In fact, it's the most profitable company in the history of capitalism, earning a record $40.6 billion last year on sales of $404 billion. Yet even with crude oil prices near all-time highs, Exxon isn't planning on producing any more oil four years from now than it did last year.

That means the company's oil output won't even keep pace with its own projections of worldwide oil demand growth of 1.3% a year.

[ . . . ]

Last year, ExxonMobil led the industry with a return on capital of 32%.

The wider picture here may have more to do with China's need for energy resources. Remember, Celal Talabanî visited China a year ago, and suggested that ". . . Iraq and China promote cooperation in areas like politics, trade, science and technology, energy and culture and explore new cooperative fields, so as to push for greater development of friendly cooperative relations. At the same time that Talabanî was in China, the Iraqi government indicated it would honor the Chinese oil contracts that had been signed by the Saddam regime.

The US invaded Iraq in order to control its oil, especially as concerns Chinese and Russian energy needs. In 2006:

. . . China signed oil and gas contracts worth over $100 billion with Iran. China is heavily involved in developing the huge Yadavaran oil field. "If completed, the deal will allow China to buy 150,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day at market rates for 25 years as well as 250 million tons of liquefied natural gas. Under an initial agreement signed by the Sinopec Group in October 2004, China could pay Iran as much as $100 billion for the stake and the purchases of oil and gas over 25 years." Interestingly Royal Dutch Shell Plc works as technical consultant for Sinopec on Yadavaran field.

On 25 December 2006, National Offshore Oil Corp of China announced the signing of a $16 billion memorandum of understanding to develop Iran’s North Pars gas field and build liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Iran. The project is expected to take 8 years to complete.

Russia is also interested to enter the lucrative Iranian oil and gas market. According to Moscow Times, the Russian oil company LUKoil is about to sign a contract for producing oil from Iran’s Azadegan field. There are also Russian companies vying for entry into the Iranian market. “Mashna Uqua Company has offered National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) to apply the new technology to improve ROR at one of Iranian oil reserves, the source who wanted not to be identified told the Mehr News Agency. The technology includes the injection of a gel into oil reserve, which prevents rush of water into the reserve and thereby improving the ROR, the source elaborated.”

Russia is also very interested to create a gas cartel, similar to OPEC. Recently a senior Russian parliamentarian called for creation of a producers’ cartel to “stand-up” to the consumers’ cartel.

Welcome to the Cold War v.2.

LEYLA ZANA SPEAKS IN UK PARLIAMENT

“Kurds are fire, if approached correctly they get warm but if approached wrongly they burn.”
~ Leyla Zana.

The only thing that's really worth your time today is to stop over at Hevallo's place and check out his post on his trip to London to hear Leyla Zana speak in the British Parliament.

Zana defended the Kurdish people, the Kurdish freedom movement, and Abdullah Öcalan's proposals for a political solution to the Kurdish situation. I have no doubt that Zana would also defend PKK's offer of a democratic solution from August 2006, and PKK's ceasefire, which was offered in October 2006.

Zana also calls out the members of the Kurdish Diaspora to remind them of their duties.

Anyway, go check out Hevallo's excellent piece and see for yourself.

A CHAT WITH THE DAĞLICA COMMANDING OFFICER

"May the prisoners' families not worry. If the prisoners are in the hands of HPG, which they are, they are in good hands. They will not receive any mistreatment. Our people know how the Turkish government treats captive guerrillas. The situation of a guerrilla captured alive is never known."
~ Murat Karayılan.

Here's an example from the commander of the Dağlıca (Oremar) garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Onur Dirik, of how sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and let everyone suspect that you're a fool rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Transcription follows.

Do you want to know our most terrible mistake in this incident? It would be inevitable for me to be dismissed due to this error. Do you know what that is? It is the appointment of Ramazan Yüce to that radio. For this incident, I, the company commander, and the branch commander--all three of us--must be fucked because of this error. I am telling you the truth.

If they held a sufficient investigation on this matter, regarding finding the main person who made the error and fucked him, I might have gotten out of it, but someone would definitely be found guilty.

We don't have such an enhanced system right now. That's right, they [the guerrillas] are coming and, if you could not realize that they are coming, then I could understand it to some extent. And you don't actually have to find out because he [Ramazan Yüce] is saying that. He is saying that he is a PKK guy and he is saying that he has been in prison for praising "terrorist" activities, and he has been in prison in Diyarbakir for eight-and-a half months.

What we did was appoint him to the radio, where the "terrorists" have communication. Like I said before, from the troop to the commander of the army, we all made mistakes in this issue. If you did not have any error, he could not exploit this anyway. If there is an operation somewhere, that means definitely there is a mistake somewhere. Everyone must derive their error in the system.

Today I realized that this "terror" incident will not ever end. There were ten mules with ten people, who were "terrorists", in front of us and we asked for helicopters, we asked for reinforcements . . . none of them responded to us. We were going crazy while they were passing in front of us, where we could not do anything because we could not get any permission to attack them. And we waited like idiots there and we don't even know who we are serving. Right now we know that if we are here, we are here for nothing. Our commanders did not order us to attack them. They told us to let them go.

We must have policies that we can implement toward the villagers. These policies must be "fuck-off" policies; these policies must be "I-fuck-your-mothers" policies; these must be "you-are-a-traitor" policies. I fuck the villagers, but I have to use them.

There was an asshole general there, Ali Duvar Ince was his name. He is a bastard; he's not even worth a cent. No one loves him; he's a dog. Son of a bitch. And there is a major who is a very good man; he is trying to do his best in the system. But the commander was not working in harmony with the others. Sometimes he received orders that he had to send some troops somewhere, and he was complaining about such orders, which . . . you are a soldier there and you can't complain; you have to obey the rules. This is a kind of medieval lieutenant.

Then we tried to normalize our relationship with the colonel of Çukurca but there wasn't any way to normalize it. They had a kind of illegal drug-trafficking between the lieutenants there, and I revealed the organization. And I brought that report and put it in front of the colonel, and the colonel just fucked all of those lieutenants because of their activities. And he's referring to the headquarters general staff as bastards. Such a critical issue just perished in the controversies among themselves.

When my commander came, I mentioned this to him and he said,"I wish you had told me before," and since he said "I wish," I realized he didn't know anything about this and I didn't go further because later on if we had gone through that he would say, "Why didn't you tell me in time?" and everyone would blame each other for not telling the truth on time. This was an issue which was directly related to the general staff; therefore, when his commander came, I didn't say anything to him.

These were the two issues that I was highly concerned with. And another issue, about Ramazan Yüce, those weapons that did not fire . . . I swear I do not get sad about those eight prisoners. I fuck their mothers; I don't care about them. And on the second day of the operation, those weapons did not fire again. If they could shoot at least ten rounds, I'm sure one or two of them would have hit those guys [guerrillas]. Then I told myself, and at that time I didn't think about it, but right now I am thinking that if I had known that, I would have told the guy on artillery to bomb those "kidnapped" soldiers--our soldiers.

I find it very difficult to believe that a lieutenant colonel in the TSK has to ask, and then wait, for permission to fire on HPG guerrillas. The only thing that Lieutenant Colonel Dirik is doing here is whining and covering his ass. What a total loser.

Akşam already has something on this scandal, but naturally it's a whitewash.

Since old Onur is worried about having assigned Ramazan Yüce as a radio operator, let's review some facts about Yüce:

While seven of them are being tried for sentences ranging from 3-5 years, Private Ramazan Yüce might end up spending the rest of his life in jail. Why the huge discrepancy? The short answer: because of his Kurdish origins.

[ . . . ]

Yüce's impeccable record during his military service, however, is making it difficult for the prosecutor to make the case against him. Yüce's been awarded by his superiors numerous letters of merit for distinguished performance, which is why he was entrusted with as crucial a duty as thermal-camera operation and radio interception in the first place. Moreover, ironically, it was his ability to speak Kurdish that made it possible for him to operate as a radio interceptor. And yet, this asset became a major liability since his capture by the PKK. In order to frame Yüce as a "mole" in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, the military prosecutor has gone to extraordinary lengths and peppered his indictment with preposterous allegations. For instance, it is alleged in the indictment that a couple days before the incident, Yüce was overheard saying that "Our [Kurdish] girls are better looking. As soon as I am discharged I'll go join them on the mountains. I'm a terrorist." As one Turkish columnist duly noted, if Yüce had indeed uttered these kinds of statements within earshot of other soldiers in the virulently nationalist military environment of the barracks, he should be sent to a mental institution to check for his mental competence to stand trial.

In comparison, here's a video showing the prisoners of war from the Dağlıca operation, playing chess and chatting about football with HPG guerrillas:

Yeah, I bet those former POWs wish they were back in the mountains with the guerrillas.

FOOD PRICES, DROUGHT, AND GAP

"The evidence suggests that the GAP project has not delivered the growth and the benefits promised by the State to everyone in the region, because it has not adequately tackled the effects on women, children and men of an unequal land distribution in a landlord system (doubling as a political/religious system), the effects of armed conflict (including forced displacement), lack of provision of literacy in Kurdish and the export of much of the electricity and other goods generated out of the region."
~ The Cultural and Environmental Impact of Large Dams in Southeast Turkey.

Hevallo mocks the Queen and the Turkish first lady in a dialog that positively drips black humor. He's also got a post on Ahmet Türk's recent statement that has been twisted out of all recognition by the Turkish media. There's also been an objection to the hype at Kurdish Aspect. Taraf has carried a bit of clarification of Türk's statements, which appeared in an interview with Soranî-speakers who may have been with PUK Media. Türk is a Kurmancî speaker. Basically, Türk says that PKK is not the cause of the Kurdish question in Turkey, but is a result of the Ankara regime's longstanding policies. In the Taraf article, Hasip Kaplan, DTP Şirnak parliamentarian and Kamuran Yüksek, DTP's vice chairman, were present with Ahmet Türk during the interview in South Kurdistan, and both back up Türk's clarification.

On another subject, the dramatic increase in global food prices is no longer news to anyone who has to shop for food. In North Kurdistan, the price of rise increased from about 1.2 YTL/kilo last year to 5 YTL/kilo during the first part of this year. The AKP government blamed this increase on commodities speculators and encouraged the population to substitute bulghar for rice. As a result, the price of rice in North Kurdistan seems to have stabilized for the time being at around 2 YTL/kilo.

However, it's not only commodities speculators who are affecting the prices of food staples, as described in Britain's Independent at the beginning of the month:

Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.

The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world's poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution.

The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.

Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to $517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.

Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser. The prices of some kinds of fertiliser have more than tripled over the past year as demand has outstripped supply. As a result, plans to increase harvests in developing countries have been hit hard.

Prior to its article on agribusiness criminality, the Independent ran an article on the myth (or PR campaign?) of the high yields of genetically-modified crops.


Then there's the myth of the IMF and the devastating results of its food policies--designed specifically to enhance the profit margin of agribusiness:

The food crisis is essentially a structural problem. It goes much deeper than this kind of perfect storm scenario that a lot of people have been painting. It has to do with three decades or more of structural adjustment programs, trade liberalization policies that have forced many countries to dramatically alter their food production and to shift to becoming, in many cases, import-dependent. So there's been this move to push production into places that they say is more efficient, and the advice given by agencies like the World Bank and the IMF has been to say, "Let others look after your food production. They can do it more efficiently. You focus on other things."

[ . . . ]

And in the midst of all this, in the global food system that's been created over the last few decades, we have some corporations that sit in the middle of it all and who really have taken a stronger and stronger position in managing the food system. They're the ones who are profiting immensely now from this food crisis. So even though we're in a situation where millions of people can no longer afford to fulfill their basic food needs, you have corporations making record profits, a company like Cargill, which is one of the world's biggest grain traders.

Of course, the temporary relief provided by a boycott of rice and subsitution of bulghar in North Kurdistan may be short-lived, as North Kurdistan (as well as South Kurdistan) is currently suffering through a severe drought. Things are so bad that farmers from Mardin have petitioned DTP to request that the TBMM declare the regions around Mardin as disaster regions. The Mardin area produces 22% of Turkey's barley, wheat, chickpea, and lentil crop and the drought is killing these crops.

It's ironic that Mardin's farmers should be calling for a declaration of a disaster region when GAP has been operating since the late 1980s with the promise of irrigating The Southeast. Yet it's only the area around Urfa that benefits from GAP irrigation while the rest of The Southeast thirsts for water not only for crops, but for the peoples' livestock as well.

So much bullshit, so little time. But, then, what this really is is the continuation of Ankara regime policies to destroy the livelihood and culture of the Kurds of Turkey.

VIDEO OF THE BEZELE OPERATION

"I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger."
~ Mencius.

Here are photos carried on Yeni Özgür Politika from the video HPG guerrillas took of their operation against the Bezele military station near Semdinli. The video these photos were taken from was aired on Roj TV and the operation is considered by HPG to be one of their biggest in recent years. 150 guerrillas of the HPG and YJA-STAR took part in the operation:







Two HPG guerrillas were martyred during the Bezele operation:

Name: Mecit Timur
Code name: Masiro Faraşin
Birth year and place: 1990/Hakkari

Name: Deniz Çeker

Code name: Zagros Çavreş
Birth year and place: 1981/Palu

And here's the video itself from Roj TV. You will see the attack on the Bezele station and notice that to the right of the post is a smaller military post on a higher mountain which has the purpose of covering fields of fire for the main Bezele station. You will also see footage of the guerrillas moving into position on the day before the operation. During the fire fight, you will see that the arsenal is hit and burns rapidly.

Bear in mind as you watch that it was during this operation that the Turkish general staff pulled their casualty numbers out of their asses. Unfortunately, their number fell far short of the number of TSK casualties that HPG counted as the attack was ongoing. HPG witnessed 29 kills and 11 wounded.

The surprise is on you, Büyükanıt.

LEYLA ZANA: 60 YEARS FOR CRIMETHINK

"It is a shame in the name of Turkish democracy that I have appeared before the judge for my thoughts."
~ Leyla Zana.

There may be a change in Leyla Zana's term of imprisonment, from Yeni Özgür Politika:

60 years demanded for Zana

Former DEP parliamentarian Leyla Zana has been sued for nine separate speeches and 60 years have been demanded for her conviction.

The Diyarbakır chief prosecutor sued Leyla Zana for nine separate speeches she gave in Amed, Batman, Bingöl, the European Parliament, and for several other speeches she delivered within the past year. Her speeches violate the Struggle Against Terrorism Act (Anti-Terror Law) 3713, Article 7/2, "praising illegal organizations," and TCK Articles 314/2 and 314/3, "being a member of an illegal organization" and "committing a crime on behalf of an illegal organization". Sixty years of imprisonment is being demanded of Zana.

According to the indictment against her, Zana has been convicted of "praising the PKK and the Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan," "inciting hatred in the youth for serving in the military," "referring to Southeastern Turkish provinces as 'North Kurdistan'", "referring to Northern Iraq as 'Southern Kurdistan'", "referring to Öcalan's capture as 'an earthquake in the hearts of the Kurdish people'", "referring to TSK operations as 'raining bullets on the Kurdish people'", and for participating in the Êdî Bes e movement.

I've only seen this in English in one other place, so I've been wondering: where are all those humanitarians, progressives, European politicians, and others who took up the cause of the imprisonment of the DEP parliamentarians? Where are those who awarded Leyla Zana the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought? Or is this prize not given so much to honor those who've sacrificed for human rights as to assuage the guilt and stroke the egos of the European Parliament?

I mean, Zana said that this current conviction was for crimethink: "It is a shame in the name of Turkish democracy that I have appeared before the judge for my thoughts."

Now that we have the bullshit Global War on Terror, Inc., crimethink is the order of the day.

NATO AND THE HEROIN INDUSTRY

"Heroin trafficking is also the main source of funding for the al-Qaeda terrorists."
~ Sibel Edmonds

Bülent Ersoy, whom you may remember objecting to TSK's land invasion back in February will be prosecuted for her remarks. From Bianet:

According to daily Taraf, the authorities decided to open a case against Ersoy for “alienating people from military service” after investigating her words regarding how she would not sent her son to someone else’s war, which were said during a TV show.

Her words which brought the case were: “If I had given birth to a child and someone sitting at a desk had said ‘You will do this, he will do that’, and I would have buried my child, would I accept that?”

According to the report mentioned above, Bakırköy Public Prosecutor Ali Çakır asked for three year prison sentence for Bülen Ersoy, claiming that she committed the crime of “alienating people from military service.” Not only that the public prosecutor did not see Ersoy’s explanations within the context of freedom of expression and critique, he also included her speech in the scope of article 318, which regulates the deed of “alienating people from military service”, found under the category of crimes committed against the national defense, and thus first asked for two year prison sentence.

It also looks like the US is doing more than turning a blind eye to the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan. There are a collection of news links on the subject at Cryptogon. One of those links describes Russian chagrin at the NATO-led spread of drug-trafficking, mostly because Russia has a huge drug problem. Check this:

Could it be that the American military in Afghanistan is involved in drug trafficking? Yes, it is quite possible, according to Russia’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.

Commenting on reports that the United States military transport aviation is used for shipping narcotics out of Afghanistan, the Russian envoy said there was no smoke without fire.

“If such actions do take place they cannot be undertaken without contact with Afghans, and if one Afghan man knows this, at least a half of Afghanistan will know about this sooner or later,” Kabulov told Vesti, Russia’s 24-hour news channel. “That is why I think this is possible, but cannot prove it.”

[ . . . ]

When Russia backed the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to crush the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the post-9/11 scenario, the last thing it expected to happen was that drug trafficking from Afghanistan would assume gargantuan proportions under the U.S. military. Since 2001, poppy fields, once banned by the Taliban, have mushroomed again. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan produced 8,200 tonnes of opium last year, enough to make 93 per cent of the world’s heroin supply.

The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO] forces in the country have not only failed to eliminate the terrorist threat from the Taliban, but also presided over a spectacular rise in opium production. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Afghanistan was on the brink of becoming a “narco state”.

[ . . . ]

When Russia backed the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to crush the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the post-9/11 scenario, the last thing it expected to happen was that drug trafficking from Afghanistan would assume gargantuan proportions under the U.S. military. Since 2001, poppy fields, once banned by the Taliban, have mushroomed again. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan produced 8,200 tonnes of opium last year, enough to make 93 per cent of the world’s heroin supply.

The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO] forces in the country have not only failed to eliminate the terrorist threat from the Taliban, but also presided over a spectacular rise in opium production. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Afghanistan was on the brink of becoming a “narco state”.

Narco business has emerged as virtually the only economy of Afghanistan and is valued at some $10 billion a year. Opium trade is estimated by the U.N. to be equivalent to 53 per cent of the country’s official economy and is helping to finance the Taliban.

“Unfortunately, they [NATO] are doing nothing to reduce the narcotic threat from Afghanistan even a tiny bit,” Putin angrily remarked three years ago. He accused the coalition forces of “sitting back and watching caravans haul drugs across Afghanistan to the former Soviet Union and Europe.” As time went by, Russian suspicions regarding the U.S. role in the rise of a narco state in Afghanistan grew deeper, especially after reports from Iraq said that the cultivation of opium poppies was spreading rapidly there too.

“The Americans are working hard to keep narco business flourishing in both countries,” says Mikhail Khazin, president of the consultancy firm Niakon. “They consistently destroy the local infrastructure, pushing the local population to look for illegal means of subsistence. And the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] provides protection to drug trafficking.”

U.S. freelance writer Dave Gibson recalled in an article published in American Chronicle in December what a U.S. foreign intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told NewsMax.com in March 2002 of the CIA’s record of involvement with the international drug trade. The official said: “The CIA did almost the identical thing during the Vietnam War, which had catastrophic consequences – the increase in the heroin trade in the USA beginning in the 1970s is directly attributable to the CIA. The CIA has been complicit in the global drug trade for years, so I guess they just want to carry on their favourite business.”

Now Russia has joined the fray accusing the U.S. military of involvement in the heroin trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe. The Vesti channel’s report from Afghanistan said that drugs from Afghanistan were hauled by American transport aircraft to the U.S. airbases Ganci in Kyrgyzstan and Incirlik in Turkey.

And if NATO is helping to get raw materials to processors, then we know Turkey has to be involved. It's widely known that Turkey consolidated its drug trade under the government in the 1990s. It's also widely known that Turkey's narcotics industry was tightly connected with the Deep State and NATO's Gladio program, which the Susurluk Affair exposed.

More recently, Sibel Edmonds has pointed the finger at Turkey's pre-eminent role in the heroin industry. As she noted, "In Turkey everything is run by the military. These activities cannot take place without the permission of the military and the permission of Turkish intelligence," and she doubted that Turkey could extricate itself from it's heroin-based cash cow because, "The sums of money are huge. If it stopped it would cause an economic crash."

The FBI's initial interest in the American Turkish Council (ATC) came about as a result of suspicion that it was bringing drug money to the US in order to bribe congressmen.

Is Russia correct in its accusations against NATO's involvement in the heroin industry? Without a doubt, and it goes hand-in-hand with the bullshit Global War on Terror, Inc.

TURKISH GENERAL STAFF: PANICKING, DESPERATE

"We did not know they were this desperate."
~ Zübeyir Aydar on recent TSK statements.

Not surprisingly, the KONGRA-GEL chairman says the Turkish general staff's surprise is rubbish:

KONGRA-GEL chairman Zübeyir Aydar refuted the Turkish general staff statement about Cemil Bayık, that he had run away to a neighboring country and that his status was unknown.

In his statement, Aydar said, "Since the disinformation about KCK's executive council chief Murat Karayılan, that was released for several days, did not convince people, this time they are giving disinformation about Cemil Bayık. By doing so, they are implementing a psychological war. All these statements are entirely aimed at affecting the public's mind and demoralizing the Kurdish people. No one must give any credit to such statements."

Kongra Gel preseident Aydar said: "To be honest, we were also curious about the Turkish general staff's surprise; however now it is more obvious that this "surprise" is rubbish. Our friend Cemil Bayık neither went to another country nor has been "made dysfunctional". He is on duty, doing his work. No one has run away anywhere. There isn't any panic atmosphere. These are statements to affect the public's mind in their psychological war. No one must give any credit to these statements. Every week they state some news like one of PKK's administrators is killed or has run away. By doing so they want to demoralize our people.

"Actually, they are forcing our organization to make statements. This [news] mustn't be taken seriously. These generals have several stars but their lies are too much! These lies are disrespctful of the Turkish people. Indeed, these false statements show how these generals are lacking in seriousness. We did not know they were this desperate.

Regarding PKK's casualties, Aydar said, "This movement has a characteristic: we feel that we are responsible toward our people. This movement has always been open, never hiding its casualties; it mentions when it has casualties," and wanted Kurdish people not to give credit to such false news which aims at disinformation.

Meanwhile, Bahoz Erdal chimed in with statements of his own regarding the psychological war and public lies of the Turkish general staff in reference to a major operation last week in Şemdinli's Bezele military post:

Dr. Bahoz Erdal said, "The Turkish general staff chief [Büyükanıt] released a statement at midnight [9 May] that 19 guerrillas had been killed and TSK had two casualties, unlike the previous statements; the clash between the guerrillas and Turkish troops was still ongoing however. Not finding this lie sufficient, he added another lie to it by saying that, after the attacks on Qendil, PKK was in panic, some PKK administrators had run away, something happened to some of them, etc. This was their second lie. The general staff's midnight statement intended to diminish the effect of the Oramar, Gabar, and Zap resistance and, too, to block its rise. Again, Büyükanıt meant to diminish the effects of the Bezele operation in order to hide the realities."

I wonder how the Turkish general staff explains Murat Karayılan's miraculous resurrection and appearance on ROJ TV last week?

Instead of the official lies of the Turkish general staff, it appears that 29 Turkish soldiers have been killed during the Bezele operation and 11 wounded (contrary to the six that Turkish media admits to). The Bezele post was manned with 100 commandos and 250 regular soldiers. In this operation most of the station has been destroyed; four buildings, the arsenal, and seven military tents have been destroyed. The explosions in the arsenal continued from midnight until morning hours. Six military vehicles and one bulldozer have been destroyed as well. HPG sees this operation as one of its biggest in recent years.

These are the realities that Yaşar Paşa is trying to cover up.

PJAK has taken retaliation which resulted in the deaths of 18 pasdarans. PJAK executed operations as a retaliation against aerial attacks, in which Turkey and Iran cooperated, and which resulted in the deaths of six guerrillas. In these operations, PJAK killed 18 Iranian soldiers and suffered no casualties of their own.

Bijî PJAK! Bijî HPG!

WHY PJAK FIGHTS

"It is time to put stop to the atrocities and human rights violations of the Turkish and Iranian Islamic oppressive regimes."
~ PJAK Press Release, 7 May 2008.

Why PJAK fights:

Notice that around 1 minute, 20 seconds into the clip, you can see that this Kurdish youth is still alive--or that may be the moment at which he dies.

There is some commentary on content of the video at its YouTube page. Any Rojhelatî who can decipher the conversation, I'd appreciate it if you post in comments.

May there be a suicide bomber for each one of these filthy pasdarans and each member of their extended families, from infants to elderly--without exception!

Still doubtful about the close relationship between the US and Iran? Check these facts:

1) Who is the largest donor to America's Afghanistan rebuilding effort? Iran of course! $570 Million (committed right after the US invasion) and then another $100 Million recently when money ran short. This is by far the largest sum from any nation.

2) Who provided Military assistance to the US during the Invasion of Afghanistan? Iran's puppet Afghan army: the Northern Alliance. Without doubt, Iran is the principal backer of the Northern Alliance. Iran not only rendered huge amounts of material and military assistance to the Northern Alliance groups. But Iranian special envoys such as Alae'ddin Broujerdi (chairman of Iran Majlis' - Parliament's - foreign affairs and security commission) was a frequent visitor to the Amu Darya region and Panjshir Valley, cajoling and motivating the anti-Taliban resistance. Without Broujerdi's persuasive skill, Northern Alliance groups, ridden with petty jealousies and personality conflicts and turf problems, would have unraveled. And without the Northern Alliance, US forces would not have had the 'ground' support, logistics support, linguistic support to invade and then hold down Afghanistan...in a matter of a few days.

3) Who is the number one exporter to Iraq? Iran of course! Iran exported $1.7 billion dollars worth of non-oil goods to Iraq last year. Not Saudi Arabia, Not Jordan, Not Turkey, No...No major US ally...its Iran. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Tamarchin border crossing point, Mohammad-Hossein Bagh-Enayat said that the commodities that had been exported to Iraq through 13 border points including Tamarchin in West Azarbaijan included basic supplies needed to maintain stability in Iran. Bagh-Enayat said that Kermanshah province in western Iran, ranks first in terms of exporting goods to Iraq. He added that Iran's non-oil exports increased by 15.14 percent last year compared to the preceding year. Currently, 300 tons of kerosene is exported to Iraq every day through the Mehran crossing and this amount is scheduled to be increased to 2000 tons a day. Iran supplies 470 MW of power (electricity) to Basra, 120 MW of power (electricity) to the Kurds in the north, the Iraqi markets are filled with Iranian air conditioners, refrigerators, cars, trucks, tires, ....you name it ...Iran supplies it. This is during a period of supposedly 'increased economic sanctions against Iran' with restrictions on trade with Iran and increased US military surveillance on the border between Iran and Iraq.

4) Who established the first functioning embassy in Iraq (and for that matter Afghanistan)? Iran of course. Iran recognized the new 'American Installed' provisional governments immediately. NO ARAB country has an operating embassy in Baghdad yet!! Many have promised, none have delivered.

5) Who has given up almost all of its legitimate territorial claims in the Caspian Sea to allow US and British Oil companies to steal (Iranian) oil and Gas through Azarbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmanestan? Iran, of course. Iran is on the verge of signing a treaty to reduce its territorial claims in the Caspian to 11% of the Sea; down from 50% established in previous treaties. And who benefits? BP in Azarbaijan, Conoco in Kazakhstan, Unocal in Uzbekistan... The Mullahs have given away access to probably the largest reserves of Hydrocarbons on the face of the planet. Literally trillions of dollars...all for US and British benefit!

6) Who is in charge now in Afghanistan and Iraq? Iran's Shiite allies of course. They completely dominate both governments. Most of them have spent years living in exile in Iran...under Iranian protection. Iran's enemies (Sadam Hussein and the Taliban) have been defeated at minimal cost to Iran ...all at US expense, and now both Afghanistan and Iraq have essentially been handed to Iran's puppets. Now that my friend is what friends are for!

In addition, let's not forget the Iran-Contra Affair and the role played in it by the current Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.

For something on how the US military is supporting the Taliban's heroin industry, check out this post (and all the links) from Cryptogon.

Meanwhile, Hevallo has a bad feeling about tourism in Turkey this summer.

PJAK PRESS RELEASE AND PROPAGANDA FROM THE LA TIMES

"While Turkey shouldered the role of the actual attacker, the assaults were the result of an agreement between Iran, Turkey and Iraq and of American intelligence sharing."
~ PJAK press statement, 7 May 2008.

PJAK has issued a press release on the bombing at Qendil and a recent AP report:

Press release

7 May, 2008

To the Press and Public Opinion

On Thursday, 1 May 2008, Turkish military warplanes heavily bombed the Qendil region in Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq. The attacks carried out by 30 to 40 Turkish warplanes for three hours, from 11:00 pm on the first of May, to 2:00 am on the second of May.

They bombed the Press Central Unit of PJAK as well the villages of Rezge, Marado, Shnawe, Zergelêsh and Qelatukan. These attacks caused major physical and economic damage to the Kurdish civilian and their properties. In the bomb attacks six members of PJAK, four of them journalists from the Press Central Unit have become martyrs. They are: Diyako Bakhtiyari known as Herish Amed From Mahabad, Kardo Eliyali known as Argesh Bawer From Piranshahr, Behjat Takin Alp known as Firat Chele, Jamal Rasuli known as Armanj Mariwan From Mariwan, Memed Guren known as Wedad Amed From Amed, Rahim Borna known as Raman Cawid From Mahabad

Hundreds of families who live under difficult circumstances have been intimidated by the air raids. A school has been destroyed and the teachers have left the villages, thus the children are now without school and teachers. Hundreds of livestock have been killed, causing serious economical damage to the villages. On top of this, the regional government and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have imposed an embargo on the region and closed it off to journalists.

The attacks occurred shortly after a high level Iranian delegation visited Turkey in April and signed a security and economic agreement between the two countries to cooperate against PJAK and the Kurdish people in both countries.

While Turkey shouldered the role of the actual attacker, the assaults were the result of an agreement between Iran, Turkey and Iraq and of American intelligence sharing. It is important to mention that on the day of the attacks a Turkish delegation, led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Chief Adviser Ahmet Davutoglu was in Iraq and at the same time the deputy president of Iraq, Tariq Al-Hashimi, was in Turkey for diplomatic talks. This means that a new phase of attacks against the Kurdish people has started, which will lead to more turmoil in the region. The role of the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government is submissive to the Turkish policies against the Kurds.

It is necessary to find out why the headquarter of PJAK has been bombed. Why the intelligence provided by the United States used in favour of the Iranian state? And why does the Turkish regime militarily targets Kurdish organisations of another part of Kurdistan? We ask the United States and the Kurdistan Regional Government to give an explanation for this, or they shall lose all credibility in our eyes. The USA tells the world that it has a strategic conflict with the theocratic regime in Iran. But when the Kurdish people in Iran wages a sacrificing, modern struggle for the democratisation of the country, they provide the means for an attack on them!

Meanwhile 25 bombs that did not explode have been found. The writings on the bombs suggest that they contain chemical weapons. They are being examined; the results from independent scientific laboratories will be published soon.

In addition to these Turkish barbaric attacks the Associated Press, hired journalists and other press agencies are publishing misinformation about PJAK. These media news articles which claim that PJAK will carry out suicide attacks against Iraq and the USA interests in the region are untrue and fabricated, they are against PJAK principles, policies and democratic values. We ask the AP and other press agencies to clarify and correct their wrong information about PJAK and the Kurdish people.

Clarification:

1. PJAK is based mainly inside Eastern Kurdistan and Iran, not in Iraq. It depends on the support of the Kurdish and Iranian people. It is a democratic national movement for the Kurds in Iran. Its aim's are to unite the Kurdish and Iranian opposition, to change the oppressive Islamic regime in Iran and to establish a free democratic con-federal system for the Kurds and the Iranian peoples. "Changing of the regime to a democratic system in which all citizens; Iranians, Kurds, Azaries, Baluchs, Turkomans and Arabs and all other ethnic groups within the framework of the democratic system, can govern themselves."

2. PJAK is against any suicide or terrorists attacks. It adheres to the roles of the United Nations human rights declaration. It is in self defense and does not launch any military cross border attacks from Iraq. All of the operations inside Iran are in self defense and to protect our people from the Iranian security and revolutionary Guards forces continues atrocities and forced assimilation.

3. PJAK is not a rebels organization. PJAK is a political massive national democratic movement of the Kurds in Iran. PJAK strategy is to use all form of struggle; political, social, economic, nonviolence civil disobedience, human rights, NGOS and to carry arms in self defense etc,. "PJAK is always continuing the work and struggle needed to achieve an increase in the level of intelligence, a democratic organization of people as well as practice of the democratic values, to achieve a radical type of democracy and to be able to launch a system of democratic confederacy in eastern Kurdistan."

4. PJAK is a self sufficient and independent organization. It depends on the Kurds and Iranian people support, contrary to the Iranian dictatorial regime misinformation campaign that PJAK getting help from the USA and the west. We again declare to the public opinion that PJAK did not receive any help from any country including the USA. We depend on the support of our people and on our organization.

The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) calls upon the United States of America, Iraq, the European Union and the European states to realize that the path to security and democracy in the Middle East leads through a change of the Iranian theocratic regime. Therefore a positive approach to the Kurdish question and the demands and views of Iran's peoples and the peoples of the Middle East is necessary. Oligarchic, theocratic and reactionary states cannot be force of stability and cannot meet the demands of the peoples. At the same time these states undermine global security by setting up and funding fundamentalist groups.

It is time to put stop to the atrocities and human rights violations of the Turkish and Iranian Islamic oppressive regimes.

We call upon the international community to help the Kurds and the peoples of Iran in their struggle for democracy, freedom and peace.

Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)
Coordination Committee

Much of this information was presented in Özgür Gündem in the last few days. As for the AP article, in it, PJAK spokesperson Peritan Dersim clearly stated, "some rebels want to join suicide squads to avenge the deaths of their comrades but that 'combatants are under the control of the organization,' which [ ] is against such attacks." Of course, individual combatants have gone outside of both PJAK and PKK and have carried out suicide attacks in the past, but these incidents have not had the approval of the organizations.

From the LATimes, we have another piece of propaganda. Some of it is old news rehashed, however, such as this from Osman Öcalan:

"Since the beginning, we thought we would get the American help," said Ocalan, who left the group two years ago. "And it's a good relationship now. . . . They are in talks with each other, and there is some military assistance."

Ocalan and others say U.S. help has included foodstuffs, economic assistance, medical supplies and Russian military equipment, some of it funneled through nonprofit groups. Every two or three months, U.S. military vehicles can be seen entering PKK and PEJAK strongholds, Ocalan said.

"There's no systematic relationship, no number to call," he said. "Americans do not intend to have an official relationship. Whenever there's any kind of question by the Turks, they can say we don't have a relationship."

How does that square with the joint US-Turkish-Iranian bombing of Qendil? Or how is that reconciled with Cemil Bayık's very clear statement on the matter in November 2006?

Both PEJAK and the Mujahedin Khalq operate like cults, barring members from having sexual relations and discouraging personal lives. Each touts a strict Marxist ideology.

Why is PJAK in the mountains, to fight or have sex? But the Western--and particularly the American--willfull misunderstanding on PJAK's restrictions on sexual relations stems from a flaw that lies deep in the Western character. How else to explain the epidemic of rape within the US military or rampant rape among American contractors like KBR?

As for Marxism, how could PJAK "tout a strict Marxist ideology" when PKK dropped its "strict Marxist ideology" in 1995? PJAK was formed at the end of 2003, almost 10 years after PKK dropped the hammer and sickle from its flag.

Then there's the Ansar excuse:

The Ansar al Islam fighters have been used as a "pressure card" by the Iranians, said Jafar Barzinji, the minister of affairs for peshmerga, or Kurdish security forces, who oversees military issues in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Iraqi Kurds say they have asked Iranian authorities to rein in Ansar. "They never deny that they're supporting them," Barzinji said. "They always promise a solution in the near future." Sometimes, he said, they bring up PEJAK.

Fareed Asasard, head of the Kurdish Strategic Studies Center, a think tank in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya, recently visited Tehran to meet with analysts at a research institution close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The reason for their support of Ansar is PEJAK," he said. "They're 100% worried about PEJAK's actions."

Really? Then how do they explain that Iran supported Ansar within South Kurdistan long before PJAK ever materialized? Iran's support of Ansar has absolutely nothing to do with PJAK, except that PJAK stands in the way of Ansar re-taking the region:

“The Turkish plan to attack Qandil mountain [in northern-eastern Iraq] is an action to help Iran eliminate the PJAK forces and replace them with Ansar Al Islam-al-Qaida forces, trained and supported by Iran, to launch attacks against the Kurdistan regional government in Iraq in order to destabilize Kurdistan and Iraq . . . "

And this is exactly what the US is helping Iran to do.

US, TURKEY, IRAN, AND IRAQ JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS

"I thank God for blessing us with the good fortune to visit Iraq and to meet our dear brothers in oppressed Iraq."
~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

KCK: A new US bomb has been used in Qendil

The KCK Executive Council Chairmanship pointed out the US-Iran-Turkey-Iraq cooperation and the use of a US-made bomb that has been manufactured after 2001 and contains various gases in the attacks that targeted PJAK.


A US bomb manufactured after 2001 has been used

Stressing the bombardment in Qendil on the night of 1 May, at the same time that the AKP government and Turkish state engaged in state terror in Istanbul against the labor unions, KCK stated that PJAK's headquarters and PJAK'sforces have been targeted.

KCK stated as follows: "As a result of the attacks, the press bureau of PJAK's headquarters has been damaged; five press workers out of six of Kurdistan's brave sons have been martyred. Remarkable damage occured in neighboring villages during the Qendil bombardment. It was discovered that a US-made (manufactured after 2001) bomb, which contained various gases, was used in these attacks. It is obvious that the weapon that had been used was one of the weapons that is banned by international laws of warfare. In this respect, the investigation and revelation of its features is ongoing. We are calling all human rights associations to hold an investigation in the bombed areas."

The target was not PKK but PJAK's headquarters

In this respect, stressing the statements that have been released by the Turkish general staff are complete lies, KCK says: "The targeted place was not PKK, but it was PJAK's headquarters and its press bureau. With the exception of six casualties in this area, neither PJAK nor any other forces have casualties. The numbers that have been released by the Turkish general staff and the claim that some of our leaders have been struck is completely untrue. There is no such thing."

KCK thinks that a message is being delivered by these attacks, by saying, "The violence that was used against laborers in Turkey and the attacks against Qendil on the night of the same day means 'whoever opposes the system will be crushed.' It is remarkable that the attacks were against PJAK forces, which was recently and intensely discussed. Then the message becomes one of how they can massacre the Kurdish people and how cruelly they would treat Kurdistan's freedom movement, no matter in which part of Kurdistan it is."

The US and Iran ironically cooperated

KCK draws attention to the possible US-Iranian cooperation in these attacks and calls such cooperation ironic. KCK stated: "Iranian president Ahmadinejad called Turkey and Iraq to cooperate with Iran against the Kurdish freedom movement, during his visit to Iraq some time ago. Later on, as a result of the Turkish-Iranian alliance and their delegates' meetings, the intelligence and reconnaissance forces of both countries became active on the border and over Qendil. All these activities pointed to a new, joint attack. Three days before the attacks, information received as Turkey, Iran and Iraq had joined reconnaissance activities in PJAK's region. In addition to this, the attacks began after US surveillance aircraft collected intelligence by flying over the region the previous day. One can understand that the result of the intelligence collected through land reconnaissance (by Turkey, Iran, and Iraq),and the intelligence collected from US surveillance aircraft, were combined. In this respect, the cooperation of the countries that implemented the bombardment becomes obvious. Turkey implements its attack through US surveillance intelligence. The Turkish attack against PJAK's headquarters, which is fighting against Iran (an American "enemy"), raises several questions. When one puts Iran's cooperation with Turkey against the same target (PJAK), one can easily see an ironic cooperation between the US and Iran. This irony is very complex and needs a clear explanation.

Are Iran, Turkey, Iraq and the US cooperating?

KCK asks the following: "Now we are asking clearly: Is there any alliance between Iran, Turkey, Iraq and the US against the Kurdish freedom movement during the recent attacks against PJAK? Is this a new CENTO against the Kurdish people or is it just a case of misleading and deceiving each other? This situation must be understood and it requires explanation. Why do the US and Iran unite at the point where they fight against the Kurdish people's freedom struggle?

The Southern Government must not be bystanders

"Our movement claims that if we could reveal the dirty laundry of the forces behind these attacks, then the games played against the Kurdish people, and the dirty plans would be revealed." KCK continued: "For this reason, we call all Kurdish patriots in all parts of Kurdistan, primarily the KRG, to raise their voices, to unite for the (Kurdish) national good, to become conscious of these dirty games, and to urge Kurds not to act as bystanders in this dirty scenario.

Excerpted from Özgür Gündem.

It may be that during Ahmadinejad's visit to Iraq at the beginning of March, a deal was made between the US and Iran through the Iraqi government, in which Iran agreed to reduce its interference with the American occupation in exchange for US cooperation against Kurdish fighters.

After all, it would not be out of character for the Americans to figure that as long as their casualty rates go down, it's just fine and dandy to help the neighbors slaughter Kurds.