DISCLOSING WAR CRIMES IN NORTH KURDISTAN

"The truth is plain to see. Banning the truth does not eradicate it."
~ Nadire Mater, in a statement at her trial for writing Mehmedin Kitabı.

Last week Taraf published a report about a book written by a former TSK non-commissioned officer, in which he names names and lists dates and crimes committed by Turkish special operations personnel in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan during the 1990s.

These kinds of confessions are not new, not even the part about throwing Kurds out of helicopters. In 1998 Nadire Mater published her book Mehmedin Kitabı: Güneydoğu'da Savaşmış Askerler Anlatıyor, in which she collected interviews with former soldiers who had served in The Southeast. The book has been available in English for several years--and is highly recommended . . . trust me. Mater's book created quite a stir when it was first released in Turkey.

While I said that the information in the Taraf article is not new; what is new, and what was not included in Mater's book, are the names, dates, and places for the war crimes witnessed by the author and documented in Being a Soldier While a Sergeant, by Kasım Çakan.

One thing that Mater and Çakan have in common is prosecution by the Ankara regime for publishing the truth. Mater faced charges in an Istanbul court for a violation of Article 159 of the old Turkish penal code (insulting military forces of the state through publishing). Mater was eventually acquitted of the charge.

Now, however, Çakan and his publisher have been charged and are undergoing a trial in Istanbul. Charges were brought by the chief prosecutor of Istanbul when Çakan's publisher used the book to bring charges against the special operations commandos and police named as war criminals in the book.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? You bring information about crimes to the prosecutor and he turns around and charges you with a "crime"? So much for democracy.

From Taraf:

Terrifying confession of a sergeant


"They threw a PKK member from a helicopter . . . A police special operations member raped the dead body of a female PKK member . . ." Former sergeant Çakan wrote this, including the name, date, and place, in his book; however, he was the one prosecuted.

Former Sergeant Kasım Çakan assembled information in his book on murders he witnessed which were committed by unknown perpetrators while he was on duty in The Southeast. Demanding that Çakan's book be accepted as an informant's document, Çakan's publisher, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, made a criminal complaint against the soldiers and police named in the document.

Being a Soldier Wile a Sergeant

Kasım Çakan, who used to work in the East and Southeast as a sergeant, compiled information about incidents that happened to him just after he was discharged from the army, in a book called Being a Soldier While a Sergeant. While Cakan wanted the incidents mentioned in his book to be considered as an informant documentation, Istanbul's chief prosecutor charged Çakan and his publisher with the charge of "making terror propaganda" [Article 7/2 of the new and improved Anti-Terror Law]. The trial of Çakan and Tevn Publications owner, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, is still ongoing.

A criminal complaint

Publisher Mehdi Tanrıkulu made a complaint to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office based on the writing in the book. Tanrıkulu did so with the rationale that starting an investigation about such incidents would reveal several murders by unknown perpetrators. In his complaint, he mentioned the following claims from Çakan's book:

They threw from a helicopter

"I started my duty in July 1992, in Kars-Kağızman in the 7th Mechanized Brigade, 1st Mechanized Battalion, 1st Mechanized Company. On 4 April 1993, around noon, there was a clash between PKK militants and the soldiers in the battalion between the two Ağrı Mountains. A militant named Doğan, who was originally from Malatya and left İnönü University in his second year, was captured while he was wounded. He was taken by military officials to Erzurum by helicopter. However, I learned from both civilian and military sources that Doğan was thrown from the helicopter and died, since he didn't 'confess'."

Raping a corpse

"We were on duty in the 7th Mechanized Brigade, 1st Mechanized Battalion. On 27 May 1994, around 0920 hours, there was an ambush by PKK against military patrols. Eight troops and one sergeant died. One female and one male PKK members were dead and their corpses were left in the valley. The next day, special forces units went to the area where the clash occured; after them, there were our forces. When we arrived there, the special forces police were beside the two corpses. The male's body was torn apart from bullets that targeted his body; the female was shot in the head. While my team went beside those [special forces police], there was this police, Ramazan, from Adana. Our company commander, Captain Mehmet Özpolat asked him, 'What are you doing?' Police Ramazan yelled, 'Don't come, I'm dealing with the dead terrorist.' The captain said, 'How come? Don't be silly. Can it be done to someone who's dead?' And again, he [the captain] continued, 'It can't be. You guys are crazy. There can't be such craziness.' I lost myself. I cursed at Ramazan. Ramazan pulled his gun and attacked the captain. Right at that moment, I removed the safety on my rifle and shot at the sky twice."

The death of Private Huseyin

"I started my duty in Demirköy with the 3rd Border Battalion on 18 September 1989. Tuncay Baydur was the company commander in this unit. While playing soccer, Baydur beat one of the company's soldiers called Huseyin, from Doğubeyazıt. On the same night, Huseyin ran away and three days later his body was found. I arrived at my new duty station, Şırnak, in April 1993. On 7 July 1993, around 1000 hours, the Kayseri Commando Unit returned to its base. There were four handcuffed villagers with them. They had been kept in the shelters at their [the commando unit's] base until morning. On 8 July 1993, they took those four villagers along with them and went on duty. On 9 July, when they returned, one of those young villagers was absent. The other three villagers were being dragged and beaten by a commando sergeant, two soldiers, and a second lieutenant. I asked one of those youngsters where the other [fourth villager] was. He replied, 'They [referring to the soldiers] constantly asked him to tell where the terrorists were, and he said 'I don't know'. Commando Captain Mustafa said, [ordering the other soldiers] 'Remove his handcuffs to let him escape.' Since he didn't escape, they shot him with twenty bullets. They shot the son in front of his father.' The next morning, they took the remaining three villagers and they never brought them back."

Mehdi Tanrıkulu, in his criminal complaint, wanted the soldiers and the police named in the book to be judged for the following crimes: killing more than one qualified manslaughter, omittance of duty, torture, desecration of a corpse, and forming an illegal armed gang within the army. Tanrıkulu pointed out that with the investigation, several other incidents would be revealed.

For more on the crimes of Turkish security forces, particularly JITEM, in The Southeast, see Wednesday's post.

There have been other revelations in recent years from retired Turkish military about the terror they committed against the population of The Southeast. Retired TSK general Altay Tokat admitted in an interview that he had "a few bombs" thrown at civil servants in order to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation in The Southeast. In short, they weren't afraid enough and Tokat was not above committing terrorism himself.

Then retired TSK colonel Erdal Sarızeybek wrote a book in which he described the terrorism he inflicted on the population of Şemdinli.

Now, tell me, who are the real terrorists?

ÊDÎ BESE FOR FRIDAY NIGHT

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Êdî Bese for a Friday night:

And when you've had enough, dağlara gel dağlara:

TURKEY AND THE BOMB

"I'm not supporting Turkey's nuclear energy program anymore because I'm not clear about what the real intention is. Let's put it that way."
~ Mustafa Kibaroğlu, Bilkent University.

First of all, there's an interview with Luke Ryland by Scott Horton at this page or listen directly here. Run time 47 minutes. The interview covers the latest information relating the AQ Khan nuclear network with Sibel Edmonds' case, including Turkish, Israeli, and neocon roles in the network, and the bullshit American media's cover-up job.

Refer also to Luke's article from Tuesday.

To prepare you for a listen of the interview, here's Luke's latest:

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A front page article "In Nuclear Net’s Undoing, a Web of Shadowy Deals" in Monday's New York Times by William Sanger and David Broad details the destruction of evidence by the US government in a case involving the nuclear black market.

The article highlights again that the New York Times continues to engage in 'Judy Miller reporting' by warmongering and acting as a mouthpiece for the government.

This is the second article in a multi-part series. This article will focus on the countries involved, and how and why the NY Times continues to act as a government mouthpiece by focusing attention on, and warmongering toward, Iran, and minimizing the role of so-called allies such as Turkey and Dubai. (The first piece of the series focused on the players in the AQ Khan / BSA Tahir nuclear smuggling ring.)

The Sanger/Broad article is obviously designed to drum up support for a war against Iran. Without evidence or support, they write that Iran is "presumably racing for the capability to build a bomb." They say this despite the fact that the US Intelligence Community's 2007 National Intelligence Estimate states that "Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen."

The Sanger/Broad article quotes government-friendly sources stating that there were two 'successful' 'sting' operations against the Iranian nuclear program, without noting that at least one of the so-called stings in 2006 was against the nuclear power program, not a weapons program.

The entire premise of the destruction of evidence in the prosecution case against the Tinner family, key suppliers to the AQ Khan network, in Switzerland is that the Tinners were supplying "electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers."

These blueprints were destroyed, we were told, so that they wouldn't get into "the hands of a terrorist organization or an unauthorized state." It isn't until the final page of a four-page article that Broad and Sanger inform us that the IAEA has "no evidence that Iran had acquired the bomb plans." (please see Broad and Sanger's previous article on this and note how they were played for a fiddle by their government sources. No correction has been made to the article.)

Ignoring Other Countries

By focusing on Iran, and cherry-picked elements of the Tinner case, the New York Times journalists, acting as government mouthpieces, chose to ignore the other countries involved in the network, countries who are not members of the Axis of Evil.

The article notes that the list of customers "may extend further" than Iran, North Korea and Libya, but does not question why these other customers have not been made public. Could it be that these countries are allies of the United States?

We know that:

"The wider nuclear network has been monitored for many years by a joint Anglo-American intelligence effort. But rather than shut it down, investigations by law enforcement bodies such as the FBI and Britain’s Revenue & Customs have been aborted to preserve diplomatic relations."

In the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, we know that the same excuse - "sensitive diplomatic relations" - was used to gag her and all the details behind her case. Which diplomatic relations are we referring to here? In 2005, Sibel noted that these 'diplomatic relations' are "not named since obviously our officials are ashamed of admitting to these relations."

How is it possible that these relationships outweigh the very serious implications of the spread of nuclear weapons?

Turkey

Turkey's role in the nuclear black market has been well documented, though poorly reported in the US. Turkey acted (and may continue to act) as both a manufacturing base for nuclear hardware, as well as a trans-shipment point for goods on their way to the end-customers such as Libya and Pakistan.

In 2000, Bill Clinton signed an order to allow Turkey access to US nuclear technology, but this order was blocked because, according to President Bush, certain Turkish entities were actively engaged in "certain activities directly relating to nuclear proliferation."

Note the timing here. Turkey was known to have been involved in the nuclear black market at least three years prior to the 'official' outing of the AQ Khan ring when a ship containing nuclear hardware, from Turkey and elsewhere, was intercepted on its way to Libya.

President Bush recently re-signed Clinton's order allowing Turkey access to US nuclear technology, although there is no evidence that Turkey has rectified any of these problems.

Turkish Procurement

According to IAEA investigators, the nuclear hardware supplied by Turkey to the AQ Khan ring - including 7000 centrifuge motors - "could be used in manufacturing enough enriched uranium to produce 7 nuclear weapons a year."

In fact, the entire deal to supply Libya with a nuclear weapons program began in Turkey with a meeting in 1997 involving AQ Khan, his Chief Operating Officer BSA Tahir, and Libyan representatives.

The known Turkish suppliers to the network, Selim Alguadis and Gunes Cire, were not indicted for their criminal participation in the ring, and their companies, EKA and ETI Elektroteknik, continue to operate freely today.

Further, Turkish businessman Zeki Bilmen and his US based company Giza Technologies, was caught supplying nuclear hardware to Pakistan's military program in 2003 via South African-based Israeli Asher Karni.

Bilmen was also overheard on wiretaps translated by Sibel Edmonds prior to 2002 organizing nuclear shipments, apparently with members of the Turkish and Israeli military and diplomatic community in Washington DC. According to Sibel, Bilmen was shipping product to and from other hotspots in the Khan/Tahir network such as Turkey, Dubai, South Africa and Spain.

Zeki Bilmen was not indicted, and his company continues to operate freely.

Marco Tinner, a member of the Tinner family that was effectively pardoned by the Bush administration's destruction of evidence, was also recommended for indictment in Turkey in 2005. He faced 32 years in prison in Turkey but that case also appears to have disappeared in the same manner as the Swiss prosecution case.

A Turkish Bomb?

Although there has been no official proof that Turkey is actively building a nuclear weapons, some experts on Turkey's nuclear program have recounted their support, suspicious that the energy program is a cover for a weapons program. In 2006, Mustafa Kibaroglu, a nuclear proliferation expert in Turkey told the Washington Post:

"I'm not supporting Turkey's nuclear energy program anymore because I'm not clear about what the real intention is. Let's put it that way."

Of course, David Sanger and William Broad chose not to mention any of this in their article despite the direct link to the Tinner case, preferring to cherry-pick information in order to facilitate the agenda of their government masters. This pattern is consistent with the whitewashing of Turkey's involvement in nefarious activity. Turkey's role in terrorism is a "best kept secret," Turkey's role in narcotics smuggling is a 'best kept secret,' and with the able assistance of the New York Times, Turkey's involvement in the nuclear black market will remain another 'best kept secret.'

Dubai

According to the US State Department, Dubai is a major center for the trans-shipment of narcotics and the associated money-laundering. The same is true for nuclear hardware and the laundering of the profits of the nuclear black market. It is also considered a major US ally.

Chief Operating Officer of the nuclear procurement ring, BSA Tahir, was based in Dubai, as was one of his main suppliers, Briton Peter Griffin. Most of the hardware supplied to the network was sent to Dubai, and sometimes via Turkey, on its way to the end-customers. Nuclear hardware from the Tinners, and also Turkish operatives, Alguadis and Cire, was sent to Dubai from where it was dispatched to Libya on board the BBC China.

Interestingly, the official report regarding the exposure of the AQ Khan / Libya deal appeared to imply that the shipments from Turkey had some semi-official blessing, noting that "it is surprising" that the consingment from Turkish businessman Gunes Cire to Libya was "allowed without any action" and also that the consignment from Selim Alguadis "arrived in Libya without any obstruction and this is unusual."

Pardoned

As I documented in my previous article, virtually all of the participants in this procurement ring have been allowed to walk free, without paying any penalty for these very serious crimes. The same can be said for the different countries that actively supported the network, such as Turkey and Dubai - as well as the US, the UK, and Pakistan. Iran is the only country feeling the heat. Why is that?

Summary

By focusing on, and misrepresenting, the Iranian angle, Broad and Sanger again have shown themselves to be lapdogs for the US government. For one reason or other, none of them flattering, Broad and Sanger chose to selectively sanitize the role of other countries who are more culpable than Iran in matters of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Whatever the reason for the Times to provide the government's preferred spin on the case, David Sanger and William Broad will remain in the Judy Miller Hall of Fame.

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See the original article at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak or at DailyKos.

JITEM'S BLACK FACE

"Beginning on 14 January 1994, almost a hundred people were individually picked up by commandos wearing uniforms and travelling in police vehicles. They were then killed somewhere along the road from Ankara to Istanbul, in the "satanic triangle" of Kocaeli, a fiefdom of the far-right mafia and a focal point for the trafficking of heroin into Europe."
~ Kendal Nezan.

What follows is not exactly news because it's typical behavior of JITEM with which Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan have long been familiar. But this news did come out in a Turkish daily and, according to the article, the information is contained in one of the Ergenekon files. This is the tip of the iceburg and shows that DTP politicians, such as Ahmet Türk and Emine Ayna are correct in their calls for the Ergenekon investigation to be expanded to the east of the Fırat (Euphrates).

This news is also at odds with the Bush regime's recent attempt to blacken PKK with charges of drug-trafficking, especially since it's widely known that the Ankara regime has long held a regional monopoly on the processing of heroin, a fact which has been a recurring theme in the Sibel Edmonds case.

From Bugün:

Here is JITEM's black face


An important document was found in the house of [Adnan] Akfırat, who has been arrested in the Ergenekon case. In the document, activities of troops on duty on the border [in The Southeast] between 1981 to 1990, were outlined in detail.

In Ergenekon's documents, which are noted as "The Writings of a Non-Commissioned Officer Who Wrote Additional Information for JITEM Files to Be Given to the Jandarma Headquarters Command", the duties that were carried out by the troops which were on duty between 1981 to 1990 in Şırnak, Diyarbakır, Van, and other border regions, including some soldiers ranked as field grade officers, were listed in detail.

This informant document about JITEM was found in Adnan Akfırat's house, who was the news manager of [Doğu] Perinçek's magazine, published in the 1990s, called Toward 2000. According to the NCO who wrote the document, high-ranking soldiers conducted illegal drug-trafficking and arms sales with Village Guards in conflict areas like Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak.

Narcotic and human trafficking

In the informant document, it is mentioned that the soldiers and Village Guards who smuggled weapons and tons of narcotics to Iraq earned huge sums of money. Human trafficking, the weapons and narcotics trade, and the rape of refugee women are some of the crimes committed by JITEM personnel. Despite being caught, they [JITEM personnel, soldiers, and Village Guards involved in this business] were protected by MİT.

They sold weapons to PKK

The informant document, which is in the Ergenekon indictment's 208th evidence file, mentions that Major Kamber O, Lieutenant Colonel Reşit D, Major İsmail A, First Lieutenant Cihan B, First Lieutenant Kemal Ş, Sergeant İbrahim K, Diyarbakır JITEM Group Commander Major Nurettin, established a group which included also Village Guards, and conducted human and narcotics trafficking, and weapons smuggling.

150,000 weapons collected

The claims in the informant document are terrifying:

First Lieutenant Cihan B was the commander of the 4th Border Company in Ortabağ, which was under the command of the Şenoba Border Battalion. Some Village Guards were among his men. From time to time, he sent these men to Iraq to buy TVs, videos, tapes, electronic games, and electronic devices. He sold these in Diyarbakır's Japan Bazaar. During the Gulf War, he assisted Iraqi refugees in crossing the border into Turkey, for a price. There were approximately 300,000 refugees. He collected around 150,000 weapons.

Sergeant İbrahim K shared money and gems that he collected from the refugees, with the battalion commander. He forced refugee women to have sexual relations.

First Lieutenant Kemal Ş smuggled flocks of sheep and tons of flour to Iraq during the war.

Now I know you noticed the sub-headline mentioning the sales of weapons to PKK, but there was no other mention of PKK in the entire article. If there were sales of weapons to PKK outlined in the informant document of the Ergenekon file, there would have been more information about that included in the Bugün article. Instead, what we have in the sub-headline is nothing more than gratuitous crap.

Most of the information here is pretty mild compared to the horrors that were visited upon the Kurdish population from 1990 onward. Those years must also be investigated and the information published in every Turkish daily.

AMERICAN MEDIA CONTINUES THE COVER-UP

"We have made the Reich by propaganda."
~ Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda.

Luke Ryland has another article out about Sibel Edmonds' case and nuclear blackmarketing, including the role of Turkish businessmen in supplying materials for A.Q. Khan's nuclear smuggling ring, as he picks apart a recent NYTimes pro-Washington regime propaganda piece on the subject.

Luke mentions Judy Miller-style reporting, and the fact that the two media lapdogs, William Sanger and David Broad, co-authored a book with Miller. Judy Miller was one of the major propagandists who helped spread Bush regime lies that led to the current Iraq War. She also helped the Bush regime out former CIA operative Valerie Plame, who was investigating the Pakistani nuclear blackmarketing ring through fine, upstanding institutions such as the American Turkish Council.

It's sufficient to say that if Judy Miller is mentioned, you'd better believe a big load of shit is coming your way.

You may also want to reference yesterday's post and how the bullshit American media constantly works to cover up or under-report Turkish involvement in a lot of very dirty business.

Now why is that?

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A front page article "In Nuclear Net’s Undoing, a Web of Shadowy Deals" in Monday's New York Times by William Sanger and David Broad details the destruction of evidence by the US government in a case involving the nuclear black market.

The article highlights again that the New York Times continues to engage in 'Judy Miller reporting' by warmongering and acting as a mouthpiece for the government.

In the article, Sanger and Broad (who co-wrote a book, Germs, with Judy Miller):

1. Provide an incomplete and misleading story by conveniently withholding pertinent, established facts.

2. Spin the story towards Iran, and away from other governments, fulfilling the government's propaganda needs again.

3. Carry out no investigation, relying on government spokespeople without checking facts, relying on documents, or agenda-free sources.

In this article, I will focus on the way that the New York Times cherrypicked details, excluding key, relevant information resulting in a misleading story which coincidentally fits the government's agenda like a glove. In the coming days, I'll return to some of the other problems with the article.

The NY Times article focuses on selected, cherrypicked elements of the Tinner family who were key suppliers in one ring of AQ Khan's nuclear proliferation network, while mostly ignoring the other key players who worked with the Tinners in the ring. The New York Times again does the government's bidding, selectively sanitizing the article, in order to hide the fact that US allies are key proliferators.

Der Spiegel, which has done great work covering this story, described the hierarchy of the network, noting that the Tinners were just one of four division managers:

"At the top of the hierarchy was a confidant of Khan's, Sri Lankan businessman Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, who acted as a business manager of sorts, responsible for payments and contracts. He also appointed several division managers, who may not even have known of each other's existence. They were comprised of the Swiss Tinner family of engineers, including Friedrich Tinner and his sons Urs and Marco, who were apparently responsible for centrifuge parts; Briton Peter Griffin, a specialist in the procurement of tool-making machines; and (Gotthard) Lerch, whose job, as the prosecution claims, was to obtain the pipes that connect the centrifuges. Lerch's source for the pipes was Gerhard Wisser, a German national living in South Africa, with whom he had been doing business for decades."

Here is a more complete list of known actors in the nuclear proliferation ring that the Tinners were involved with:

BSA Tahir

Tahir, based in Dubai, was AQ Khan's Chief Operating Officer and right hand man. Tahir began working with Khan in 1995. In 2002, Tahir recruited Urs Tinner to help produce centrifuge parts, supplied in part by his brother and father. Tahir's involvement in the network was documented in a Malaysian Police Report in 2004, soon after a ship called the BBC China was intercepted on the way to Libya, filled with products from AQ Khan.

Interestingly, Tahir was released from prison two months ago in Malaysia because he is no longer considered a 'national security threat.'

Selim Alguadis, Gunes Cire & Hank Slebos

Turkish businessmen Alguadis and Cire were also key suppliers to the Tahir-Tinner ring. Alguadis' company, EKA, and Cire's company ETI Elektroteknik were both caught supplying hardware for Libya's nuclear program when the BBC China was intercepted.

Hank Slebos, a supplier to Khan's network for decades, was also a part owner of Gunes Cire's ETI Elektroteknik.

Despite their role supplying BSA Tahir, neither Alguadis nor Cire were ever convicted, and their companies continue to operate freely in Turkey. Slebos was sentenced to 12 months prison (8 months suspended, 4 months served) in 2005 for his role.

Turkey has a key role in the nuclear black market. In fact, IAEA investigators noted that the nuclear hardware supplied by Turkey to the AQ Khan ring - including 7000 centrifuge motors - "could be used in manufacturing enough enriched uranium to produce 7 nuclear weapons a year."

Asher Karni and Zeki Bilmen

Karni is an Israeli businessman based in South Africa. Zeki Bilmen is a Turkish businessman and CEO of Giza Technologies, headquarted in New Jersey. Karni purchased 200 spark-gaps in the United States from Giza Technologies n 2003 and then re-exported it to Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI.

Prior to 2002 Bilmen was also overheard on wiretaps translated by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds.

Zeki Bilmen was never charged. Karni was released on $100,000 bail and is now a free man.

Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin is a Dubai-based British man who was said to have a "central role" in Libya's nuclear bomb program.

Griffin also supervised Tahir's project to build a manufacturing facility in Libya. A four-year British investigation into Griffin which spanned a dozen countries and cost millions of dollars was "quietly dropped" earlier this year. Griffin is currently living "scot-free.".

Gerhard Wisser

Wisser was a German national, based in South Africa, who supplied the pipes required for centrifuges. According to prosecutors, he was the South African "conduit" to the Tahir-Tinner ring. He was "given 18 years -- not in prison, but of nighttime house arrest in his mansion in a luxury neighborhood in Johannesburg."

Could it be...?

Why did the New York Times cherrypick facts, while obscuring and ignoring important, pertinent facts? Could it be that they are simply lazy? Could it be that they see their role as supporting the government's objectives, whether to protect allies such as Turkey and Dubai, or still chasing the dream of an invasion of Iran? Could it be that they want to sanitize Turkey and Turkish actors from the Tinners case in order to bolster President Bush's recently signed Executive Order giving Turkey access to nuclear technology?

Any of these possibilities might be accurate, but all of them are far from innocent, and none of them exonerate the New York Times propaganda machine.

Summary

By only reporting selectively on the Tinner case, quoting only more-than-eager government agency press officers, and by spinning the story toward Iran, the NY Times once again cements its reputation as a mouthpiece for the US government, even when it relates to important matters of true national security, that involves not only the US, but the entire world.

Whatever the reason for the Times to provide the government's portrait of the Tinner case, David Sanger and William Broad will remain in the Judy Miller Hall of Fame.

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You can find the original at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak or at DailyKos.

SIBEL'S CASE ON THE RADIO

"I'd say what she has is far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers."
~ Daniel Ellsberg.

Wow! Here's something I almost forgot--an interview with Luke Ryland and Joe Lauria about the Sibel Edmonds case on the Peter B. Collins Show. You can find it on this page, dated Friday, 22 August 2008, or go here to listen (Give it a few seconds to start). I don't know the exact run time, but it's not over an hour. You should listen anyway, so it doesn't really matter how long it is.

Joe Lauria has been working on Sibel's case for the London Sunday Times, which started running his pieces in January. A second article ran in the times later in January, which discussed the FBI's cover-up of the joint Turkish-Israeli nuclear weapons blackmarketing network in the US. A third Sunday Times article focused on the links between the Plame Affair and Brewster Jennings--also involved with the investigation of illicit sales of American nuclear weapons secrets.

Lauria discusses the FBI's complaint to the Sunday Times, something that Luke mentioned in an article last week.

Both Luke and Lauria discuss the American media's reluctance to report on Turkish crimes, such as its heavy involvement in narcotics trafficking and nuclear black-marketing. Is the US media being strong-armed by the FBI, as it attempted to do with the Sunday Times, or is someone else behind the enforcement of a code of silence over Turkey's involvement in these kinds of shady businesses?

Luke brings up Lauria's contention that the American media never looks at the American system as rotten, and points out that Americans easily believe that politicians in other countries are corrupt.

Later in the interview, there's a discussion of the lack of effort on the part of congressmen like Grassley and Waxman--as well as Leahy--to fulfill their promises to hold hearings into Sibel's case. In this case, we might ask who is strong-arming these congressmen? The FBI or someone else? Who might that someone else be?

Peter B. Collins notes that there has been no US objection to Turkish military operations in South Kurdistan but, of course, the US, along with Israel, has been providing Turkey with intelligence in those operations and permitted Turkish aircraft to enter Iraqi airspace to conduct bombing operations.

Apparently, former US Senator Mike Gravel suggested that Turkish involvement with the passing of American nuclear secrets to Pakistan was a way for Turkey to get The Bomb for itself.

Another subject touched on in the interview is that of the neocons' active involvement in military sales to Turkey and Israel, like Richard Perle, is because the neocons "have their hand in the till."

Go listen; it's easier than reading.

WHO ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS?

"May the prisoners' families not worry. If the prisoners are in the hands of HPG, which they are, they are in good hands."
~ Murat Karayılan, KCK Executive Council Chairman.

In case you missed it, here's the HBO documentary titled "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib". But it's not really torture, right? It's just torture lite; No need to lose any sleep over any of this. Forget what Anthony Taguba found as a result of his investigation.

Compare the treatment meted out by the Washington regime at Abu Ghraib to PKK's treatment of its prisoners of war. Check the video on that, too. Compare it to the one below and then you tell me who are civilized and who are the terrorists.

Run time 78 minutes. Full screen version here.

GÜLEN, KÜÇÜK, AND THE EDUCATION OF SOUTH KURDISTAN

"Gulen gave a new decree and a new kind of mobilization to assimilate Kurds and to steal their minds by injecting religious ideology and by causing them to sell their birthright."
~ Aland Mizell.

At the beginning of the month, I posted some news about the Ergenekon gang that had been published in Taraf. At the time, I mentioned that the nexus of the Ergenekon indictment could be found in a weirdo named Tuncay Güney:

It would appear, however, that the lies surrounding the issue of "The Antidote" stem from Tuncay Güney, a one-time, small-time journalist in whose possession the original Ergenekon documents were found in 2001. Güney has been linked to Fethullah Gülen and Gülen's Samanyolu TV. Güney claims to have brought the photos of Öcalan and Perinçek to MİT. He claims to have taken a bribe of $15,000 to PKK in order not to shut down Gülen's schools in Hewler, although how PKK would have had any control over anything in Hewler is a huge question. Perhaps the KDP took the bribe by introducing themselves as PKK members? Güney also claıms to have delivered money from Fethullah Gülen to ultra-fascist Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu so that he could establish the BBP.

Zaman has some additional weird tidbits about Güney:


"Meanwhile, in an interview with the Yeni Şafak daily, Tuncay Güney, a former journalist whose ties with various secret services, both domestic and international, have been documented, stated that Kurdish separatist terrorism would come to an end if the Ergenekon gang wanted that to happen. Güney, who now lives in Canada and works as a rabbi, has suspected ties to the group. Güney came to prominence when the first documents related to the Ergenekon gang were seized on his computer in a 2001 police raid.

"Güney, currently a rabbi at the Jacobs House Jewish Community Center in Toronto, praised Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz for having “done a great job” so far in the investigation, although he expressed doubts that the operation would be very successful in the end. “However, they are very close to the end and I think it is very difficult moving on further from this point. There is no power in Turkey that can stop Ergenekon,” he said, expressing doubts that the investigation will bring about the collapse of the crime group."


A check of YouTube reveals that Güney does, in fact, appear to be a member of an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto, although he now denies any connection with Fethullah Gülen, as his appearance on Mehmet Ali Birand's 32. Gün indicates. If the first Ergenekon documents were found in Güney's possession, why has he not been indicted? Did he cut a deal and, if so, what kind of deal was it? Is his life now, in an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto some kind of strange "witness protection" program?

Now, there's more from Güney on the connectıon between the Ergenekon gang, Fethullah Gülen, and Gülen's schools in South Kurdistan, from Milliyet:

Küçük knows Gülen for a long time


Güney, in his statement in 2001, claims that he and Mehmet Demircan, an important name in Fethullah Gülen's movement, spent intense efforts to gain Küçük into the movement and that the two [Gülen and Küçük] knew each other for a long time.

Tuncay Güney's statement in 2001, which he gave to Istanbul police, is one of the most fundamental pieces of evidence that Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, is working on. In this statement, Tuncay Güney gave a detailed explanation of Fethullah Gülen's movement. In the Ergenekon indictment's 442nd file, there are interesting claims that Güney made. Here, Güney claims that, since the 1970s, Fethullah Gülen knew retired Brigadier General Veli Küçük, who is under arrest in the Ergenekon case, from the right-wing National Struggle Movement (MMH). Güney explained that he learned that Küçük and Fethullah Gülen knew each other for a long time, while he and one of Gülen's prominent members, Mehmet Demircan, made efforts to gain Küçük to the movement.

"All of them are strugglers for nationalism"

When Tuncay Güney was detained in 2001 for by Istanbul police for fraud, he was working for Samanyolu TV, which is linked to the Fethullah Gülen movement. In the statement he gave to police while under interrogation, he pointed out that taking advantage of his position, he had the possibility to meet with important names in Fethullah Gülen's movement.

Within this framework, Güney mentions that he and Demircan tried to gain, the then active duty Veli Küçük, for the movement. "When we gain him, we will be more powerful in the eyes of Fethullah Gülen," Güney says.

Again, referring to Demircan, Tuncay Güney ascribed the information that Gülen knew Veli Küçük from the National Strugglers' Movement. "Look at all of Fethullah Gülen's members; they are all National Strugglers," he said.

Support for Gülen's schools

In his statement, Güney said that Veli Küçük helped Fethullah Gülen to open a school in Northern Iraq [South Kurdistan]. According to Güney's statement, they had stopped in Diyarbakır, where they were on the way to Erbil, in order to open private Irbil Light College. There (in Diyarbakır), they called Veli Küçük to let him know they were there, thus Jandarma Regional Commander Eşref Hatipoğlu met them. Hatipoğlu sent Güney and Gülen's members to Silopi in a military helicopter. From there, the group passed to Nehciban (there he means Neçirvan) and talked to Barzani and Talabani.

"Veli Küçük's teacher collared Erdoğan"

Güney also made a statement about field officer Necabettin Ergenekon's involvement with Gülen's movement. According to Güney, Necabettin Ergenekon was Küçük's teacher. According to Güney's claims, Necabettin Ergenekon had talks with R. Tayyip Erdoğan, then the Refah Partisi (RP) Istanbul chairman. In one of these talks, Ergenekon caught Erdoğan by the collar and shook him. According to Guney's statement, Erdoğan, in RP's Tepebaşı office, was having a discussion with Necabettin Ergenekon about pan-Islamism. Then Ergenekon became nervous and grabbed Erdoğan by the collar saying, "This is bullshit, Tayyip; there won't be pan-Islamism if there isn't Turkism."

Güney said that the person who introduced him to Veli Küçük, was Veli Küçük's teacher, Ergenekon. "The field officer in Izmit (Veli Küçük), is my student. I'll take you and introduce you to him" said Ergenekon according to Güney.

It was claimed that Küçük had named the Ergenekon organization after his teacher's last name.

He spied for Eymür about Gülen

In his statement, Güney said that when he was in Fethullah Gülen's movement, he was regularly informing MİT chairman Mehmet Eymür's staff. Güney said, "When I was working there, Mehmet Eymür's men would come and get information periodically . . . Besides this information, they were asking about the hot issues in the movement anyway."

In February, as war preparations against South Kurdistan were underway, Nêçîrvan Barzanî and the KRG gave the go-ahead for the foundation of a new Gülen university in Hewlêr.

There was no mention of anyone having given PKK a $15,000 bribe in connection with this Gülen enterprise, but that may be because any bribes would actually be given to the cehş of the KRG who are only too happy to contribute to the destruction of the Kurdish people for a price.

THE F WORD

"You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad."
~ Morpheus, The Matrix.

Uh-oh! They used the "F" word and they mean it!

Scott Horton interviews Greg Palast about oil, Iraq, Georgia, and the "F" word. MP3 here. Run time just over 24 minutes.

I love the cynicism there. It's so refreshing.

Much more on corruption, fascism, and cynicism, and why there's no point voting--especially for McCain here. Run time, again, just over 24 minutes.

SIBEL EDMONDS AND THE VARIETIES OF TREASON

"Sometimes the things we have to do are objectionable in the eyes of others."
~ Richard Perle.

Luke Ryland adds to the discussion begun here in July, on the varieties of treason, looking at Richard Perle's involvement in a consortium of Kazakhistani and South Kurdistani oil. One interesting item to note is that the Prince of Darkness denied involvement in Doug Feith's lobbying company, International Advisors, Inc.(IAI). At the time, Feith was a registered foreign agent representing Turkey in matters having to do with "U.S.-Turkey defense industrial cooperation."

The time frame for IAI's existence coincided with the period leading up to the "Clean Break" strategy:

In 1996, a group of American neoconservatives participated in a study group organized by the Israel-based Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. The group produced a paper entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," which advocated an ambitious set of policies aimed at ensuring Israel's security. Although originally directed at Israel's then-incoming Likud government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, the ideas discussed in the paper parallel to a remarkable degree U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, which has resulted in disastrous consequences for American interests in and out of the region. It's time for the Bush administration to make a clean break with this flawed strategy and to implement a new policy that promotes peace and security in the Middle East.

Members of the "Clean Break" study group included Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, David Wurmser, Meyrav Wurmser, and several other like-minded ideologues, many of whom would later be given posts in the administration of President George W. Bush. Among the paper's more salient points was the argument that "Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq-an important objective in its own right-as a means of foiling Syria's regional ambitions." The authors also encouraged Israel to seize the initiative on its northern borders, "engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon." If striking military targets in Lebanon proved insufficient, Israel should feel free to strike at "select targets in Syria proper." To justify the new policy, Israel was counseled to remind the world that "Syria repeatedly breaks its word" (emphasis in the original). Finally, the paper considered it "both natural and moral" for Israel to abandon the idea of a "comprehensive peace," move to contain Syria, draw attention to Syria's weapons programs, and reject "land for peace" deals on the Golan Heights.

Feith went on to become the number three civilian in the Department of Defense under Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Perle served as an assistant secretary of defense from 1981 to 1987, during which time he made himself conspicuous by his willingness to accept bribes and involve himself in conflicts of interest. From 2001 to 2003, Perle served as the chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee is supposed to:

. . . serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. It will focus upon long-term, enduring issues central to strategic planning for the Department of Defense and will be responsible for research and analysis of topics, long or short range, addressed to it by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy.

Conflict of interest appears to be Perle's middle name. No wonder that Perle distances himself from his business deals which, coincidentally--or not--benefit from the foreign policies that he's involved with pushing on the rest of the world. That is known as a conflict of interest.

Perle is consistent because, as with IAI, so now with Perle's business dealings in the Kazakhstani/South Kurdistani oil consortium. Perle denies any involvement with a business deal that sets him up to benefit from the very foreign policies he has been instrumental in implementing.

Now, I'll let Luke Ryland tell the rest of the story:

************

In 1989, the Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Perle and Douglas Feith had set up a lobbying company called International Advisors Inc [IAI] to lobby for "appropriation of U.S. military and economic assistance’ to Turkey."" When news of the $600,000 per annum contract got too hot to handle, Perle and Feith folded IAI and helped establish the American Turkish Council (ATC) to accomplish the same goals, but with a more respectable veneer.

Now, nineteen years later, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Richard Perle is "exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan" with a "consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International... Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan."

Richard Perle issued a strange-sounding denial to the Wall Street Journal that he is involved with these latest oil projects, although he also issued a similarly "bizarre" denial to the 1989 WSJ article which reported on his consulting company IAI.

The WSJ continues:


"AK's chief executive is Aydan Kodaloglu, who, like Mr. Perle, has been involved with the American Turkish Council, an advocacy group in Washington."


In fact, according to her bio on the AK Group website, Kodaloglu "serves as a Board Member of the American Turkish Council." The ATC, established by Perle et al as a "sister organization" to AIPAC, was often caught on wiretaps heard by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. She described the ATC as a "front for criminal activity."

The ATC has been under surveillance by both the FBI and the CIA since at least 1996, in part because of suspected involvement in drug trafficking, public corruption and involvement in a nuclear black market procurement ring, but more importantly because of involvement in the 'great game' of the vast energy fields in Central Asia including Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Investigative journalist John Stanton has written extensively about the connections between Central Asia and many of the 'associations' in the US, including the ATC, and others such as the American Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the US Kazakhstan Business Association (UKBA). Stanton argues that:


"While the ATC is an Association in name and in charter, the reality is that it and other affiliated Associations are the US government." (emphasis in original)


Perle's partner in this enterprise, the AK Group is an "international consulting" group whose two other directors are Murat Akay who works "Turkish companies interested in establishing joint ventures with U.S. and Israeli enterprises" and Fehmi Sait Hurol who is "involved in various cultural activities and exchange programs between Turkey and the U.S."

Interestingly, Sibel Edmonds has previously referred to "organization(s) supposed to be promoting the cultural affairs of a certain country within another country" as front groups for organized crime networks. Given the connections here, it would not be surprising if Mr Hurol and the AK Group are one such front group.

In my recent article "The Central Asia Islamization Cocktail: Mosques, Madrassas, Heroin & Terrorism" I quoted former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds describing the use of Turkish operatives and front groups to gain "control of Central Asia, particularly the oil and gas wealth, as well as the strategic value of the region." Sibel said:


"This started more than a decade-long illegal, covert operation in Central Asia by a small group in the US intent on furthering the oil industry and the Military Industrial Complex, using Turkish operatives, Saudi partners and Pakistani allies, furthering this objective in the name of Islam.

"This is why I have been saying repeatedly that these illegal covert operations by the Turks and certain US persons dates back to 1996, and involves terrorist activities, narcotics, weapons smuggling and money laundering, converging around the same operations and involving the same actors.

"And I want to emphasize that this is "illegal" because most, if not all, of the funding for these operations is not congressionally approved funding, but it comes from illegal activities.

"And one last thing, take a look at the people in the State Secrets Privilege Gallery on my website and you will see how these individuals can be traced to the following; Turkey, Central Asia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - and the activities involving these countries."


Richard Perle is listed in Sibel's State Secrets Privilege Gallery, and now we see him attempting to profit from his ATC connections by entering into an oil deal in Kazakhstan and Iraq, two decades after the WSJ first reported on the early phases of this criminal enterprise.

Meanwhile, the US media is mostly silent on the key issues again. Despite even the most mainstream WSJ reporting on Perle's recent dealings, including the importance of Turkey and the American Turkish Council, the rest of the media is asleep at the wheel, completely ignoring, or whitewashing, these important elements of the story.

Perhaps investigative reporter Joe Lauria said it best last week.


"Centrism is the philosophy of the American media - and that essentially backs the status quo, when you're a centrist, and this game of objectivity that they play is really limited by parameters that you're allowed to ask questions and to investigate and in a sense then you're transmitting these assumptions, and reinforcing every day that the US is really a functioning democracy, not even a representative democracy. And as we know of course there are oligarchic interests that buy off Congress, that puts the person in the Whitehouse that they need..."

************

The original can be read at Luke's place, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak, and at DailyKos

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

"History tells me that when the Russians come to a country they don't go back."
~ Mohammed Daoud Khan.

When things were still hot on the ground in Georgia, some Turkish journalists ran into some Russian troops outside of Gori, while on their way to South Ossetia:

A Turkish television crew that ventured down the same road from Gori to Tskhinvali filmed the attack on themselves. It makes chilling viewing: bullets shatter the windscreen of the four-wheel drive vehicle. Blood splatters on the broken glass. One of the journalists is wounded in the head, another in the arm. The cameraman films his comrades getting out with their hands up, walking towards the gunmen. The Turks miraculously survived, and were sent back to Turkey four days later.

The Turkish TV crew was from NTV and KanalTürk and they figured early on that they were going to die. Here's the video, from NTV via YouTube, with English subtitles:

The NTV news broadcast can be viewed here.

It's no wonder that Abdullah Gül got the sudden urge to talk about a "New World Order" over the weekend, or that Katil Erdoğan ran off to Moscow, not with Russian special operations troops talking like this:

"Take whatever you want! It's all free!" said a Russian special services soldier in wraparound sunglasses, driving a looted BMW.

"Next time we should invade Turkey. It's nice down there," said the second soldier, who wore a ski mask and drank bottles of beer with Georgian lettering on them. He threw them out half-finished, smashing them on the road.

Comments like that ought to really increase the collective pucker factor of the Ankara regime.

In the meantime, the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) arrived in Gori over the weekend, bringing "humanitarian" aid. But Kızılay has a very loose definition of what constitutes "humanitarian aid", as we saw in April 2003:

Ankara has been implicated in a series of events fomenting conflict between Iraqi Turkmens and Kurds. Last April, a Turkish Red Crescent convoy was stopped at a checkpoint, and weapons and explosives were found in bags identified as humanitarian supplies; Turkish Special Forces were accused by US military authorities of posing as aid workers and smuggling munitions to Iraqi Turkmen militias. In an even more serious incident on July 4, US troops detained 11 Turkish Special Forces for plotting to assassinate Kirkuk's Kurdish mayor.

There were also reports of Kızılay smuggling weapons into Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war. If the Russians are smart, they'll check the Kızılay vehicles to make sure they're not bringing anything listed under that broader definition of "humanitarian aid".

Imagine this: NATO's second largest army going toe-to-toe with the SCO's second largest army. That would keep the paşas busy for a while.

THE AKP GIRLS

"Every nation has a characteristic and the characteristic of Islam is modesty."
~ attributed to The Prophet.

A friend reminded me of an observation that I had while in Turkey recently, and he sent me a link to photos to illustrate my point.

AKP girls are conspicuous by their uniforms. They wear large, garish scarves which appear to be tightly wrapped at the neck . . . thus cutting off blood flow to the brain, resulting in a lack of oxygen that renders one more compliant in matters of religion. The scarf is accessorized with an outer garment that resembles a raincoat; and that is the ensemble, the uniform, of the AKP girls.

Walking through Gülhane Park in Istanbul, and along the waterside in Kadıköy, I noticed that the AKP girls tended to favor the more hidden places in parks and along the docks, where they sat closely with males. Maybe these were husbands; maybe these were boyfriends. Maybe they were something else. Whatever the relationship with these males, the AKP girls were looking for privacy with them.

Hürriyet noticed the same thing and took some photos in a park in Ankara which illustrate my point:









If "modesty and faith are interlinked" so that "if either of them is lacking, the other is lacking too," I wonder where that leaves the AKP girls?

THE BULLSHIT AMERICAN MEDIA AND SIBEL EDMONDS

"And when I say the entire system being rotten, I mean Congress that is enthralled to corporate backers, and approving their aggressive foreign policy that enriches themselves, and does nothing to secure the American people or the interests of most American people."
~ Joe Lauria.

Here's the latest from Luke Ryland on the Sibel Edmonds case. The main theme of this work is the utter worthlessness of the American media, particularly with regard to Sibel's case, but the theme can be applied to many other cases as well, including that of the Kurds:

************

Last week, Scott Horton interviewed (audio) investigative journalist Joe Lauria. Lauria was one of the co-authors of the three-part (1, 2, 3) series on the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds for the UK's Sunday Times.

In the interview Lauria discusses the Sibel Edmonds case, the state of the US media, and the Military Industrial Complex in the context of his new book with presidential candidate Mike Gravel: "A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Mans Fight to Stop It".

In the interview, Lauria says that he spoke at length to the three FBI agents who were Sibel's immediate bosses at the FBI and that they "corroborated in general terms, that this story is true."

Lauria describes how he recently interviewed one of the FBI agents at his home for 90 minutes, and met another of Sibel's former bosses several times outside his house. The agents are unwilling to provide detailed corroboration on a lot of the details in the case because they fear being sent to prison, but their willingness to speak to Lauria about the case, and their supportive statements that "She's not crazy," provide generalized corroboration on the case.

The FBI itself is not happy that Lauria and the Sunday Times are still looking into the Edmonds case and they made a "formal complaint" with the Sunday Times (a British media outlet!) that Lauria stay away from the agents.

David Rose, author of the Vanity Fair article on Sibel's case, and the only other journalist who has been able to speak to some of the first-hand sources - from the FBI, Dept of Justice, and Congress - in Sibel's case, also reported how fearful his sources are:


"The people that I talked to about these tapes are extremely nervous. There is a climate in America now which is punitive towards people who are suspected of disclosing information without authorization to journalists. The approach of the Bush administration is to punish people who come forward."


The good news is that Joe Lauria and the Times have a lot more information about the case that they haven't yet published, and are still actively investigating - 8 months after their first article was published, and 6 years since Sibel first went to Congress. It is no wonder that the FBI is nervous and issuing formal complaints.

Case Background

Lauria gave a good summary of the nuclear black market element of Sibel's case:


"What Sibel revealed to us, and has been revealing little by little since January, is that she has heard that there was a nuclear procurement ring operating inside the US to procure nuclear designs and parts for the AQ Khan network, and it was done not through Pakistani intelligence directly, but through the Turkish embassy.

"Turkish businessmen who got the information and gave it to Turkish military attaches, who then turned it over to the ISI, and from there went on to the nuclear black market. To procure these parts and designs, high government US officials helped facilitate Turkish-Israeli PhD students to get into nuclear facilities in the US, they worked with the RAND corporation as well, some moles with RAND to help get this information. There was at least one American company, Giza Technologies, that was helping with parts, probably there were others, and this thing went on from 1995 at least until 2002, and it could still be going on - when this operation was shut down by the Dept of Defense and the State Dept.

"Now, Sibel tells us that high government officials inside those two departments - Defense and State - were involved in this ring. She has named them on her website - at least, she has not named them, she has photographs of people - other bloggers have named them."


US Media

Lauria excoriates the US media in the interview:

"Centrism is the philosophy of the American media - and that essentially backs the status quo, when you're a centrist, and this game of objectivity that they play is really limited by parameters that you're allowed to ask questions and to investigate and in a sense then you're transmitting these assumptions, and reinforcing every day that the US is really a functioning democracy

[...]

"The mindset of the American mainstream press does not allow certain ideas to easily filter through: the idea that high-ranking US officials might actually be facilitating this... It's entertainment all the time, the presidential campaign is entertainment, and do you actually think that these guys would actually go in there and make changes, whoever wins, when behind this wall of entertainment put forward by news media and the entertainment industry is a murky world of terrorism, nuclear procurement ring, of CIA, of the FBI working - and this rarely breaks through to the mainstream press...

"They rarely look at the entire system being rotten, not just one official here or there being rotten, and they pat themselves on the back. And when I say the entire system being rotten, I mean Congress that is enthralled to corporate backers, and approving their aggressive foreign policy that enriches themselves, and does nothing to secure the American people or the interests of most American people. That is not even in the discussion in the mainstream press, so this Boston Globe reporter was unable to conceive easily that a government official could have been nvolved."


Sibel's Comments

I asked Sibel for a comment about the interview, she replied:


"Again and again you see journalists in this country who think that their job consists of nothing more than phoning the FBI press office to ask for a comment. Only two journalists have spoken to actual first-hand sources about my case; David Rose who is British, and Joe Lauria working for a British newspaper. Why is it that only these two reporters were able to speak to sources at the Dept of Justice, at the FBI, and in Congress who are familiar with the details of my case?

"The agents that Joe Lauria spoke with are very familiar with all the details of the case because I worked directly with them. Yes, it is true that these sources are very nervous about speaking out because they fear the legal repercussions, however they shouldn't have anything to fear, because they know that it is illegal for the government to classify anything for the purpose of hiding criminality. As I've been saying from the beginning, Congress needs to hold hearings and put us all under oath where we are protected so long as we tell the truth."


It is time for hearings. All it takes is one congressman to hold hearings, or to read the classified information into the public record. Who will stand up?

************

A full transcript of Scott Horton's interview of Joe Lauria is at Luke's blog, Against All Enemies. Luke's recent work can be viewed at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak and, with comments, at DailyKos. In the interview transcript, there is much more on Sibel's case, The Times investigation into her case from the nuclear blackmarketing and proliferation angle, and how truly pathetic the bullshit American media really is.

In other news, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that a regime which already has two genocides under its belt is now hosting Sudan's war criminal, Omar al-Beshir during an Africa conference in Istanbul. The conference is being held because Turkey's campaigning for its first chance at one of the non-permanent UN Security Council seats in 2009/2010.

In another vain attempt to knock a sense of morality into the Ankara regime, Human Rights Watch issued a call for Turkey to do the right thing.

Some people never learn.

APPLYING THE MILITARY SOLUTION

"It was not the PKK that did this. The soldiers did it. And the next day they burnt down our shops".
~ Survivor of the Lice Massacre, 1993.

At the end of the month, there will be major changes of command within TSK, as is customary for August. The Higher Military Council (YAŞ) met earlier this month and the changes have been made public. It's no surprise that Land Forces Commander İlker Başbuğ will succeed Büyükanıt as the Chief of General Staff. On the other hand, what is surprising is that YAŞ expelled no Islamist officers, as it had done in previous years. For more on that, see what pro-terrorism think tank Jamestown Foundation had to say about the matter one year ago:

In recent years the expulsion of officers suspected of Islamic activities has become a regular occurrence at YAS meetings. In addition to its regular meeting in August, YAS can also be convened at a time chosen by the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), which has usually been in November or December. A total of 17 officers were expelled in August 2006 and another 35 in November 2006. In 2005 the totals for the two YAS meetings were 11 and four respectively.

Since the early 1990s, identifying Islamist sympathizers in the armed forces has become one of the primary objectives of Turkish military intelligence. Although the expelled officers are usually accused of Islamist “activities,” suspected intent rather than action is usually sufficient to ensure their expulsion. The expelled officers are rarely allowed access to the evidence gathered against them and, under Article 125 of the Turkish Constitution; there is no right of appeal against YAS decisions. Expelled officers automatically lose all their pension rights and frequently have difficulty finding alternative employment.

[ . . . ]

Until relatively recently, the TGS’s primary fear was infiltration by supporters of the Islamic preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is currently in exile in the United States. Gulen’s supporters in Turkey currently control a vast network of businesses, schools, charitable foundations, and media outlets. The movement was an outspoken supporter of the AK Party in the run up to the July 22 general election (Today’s Zaman, July 21).

Alas, no more, according to Akşam, which recently noted that this year's YAŞ appointments included no expulsions:

After a long period of time, TSK, in its Higher Military Council (YAŞ), did not expel any military member. Prior to the YAŞ assembly, there were speculations that TSK would expel military members who were involved with Ergenekon. However, there were no files of any military members regarding expulsion.

This is more evidence that the TSK is involved with a deal with AKP in order to cover up the identities of the true Deep Staters, while blaming Deep State crimes on those currently detained in the Ergenekon case, all of whom are retired and well-known embarassments to the Islamist regime in Ankara, and their lapdogs among the Turkish General Staff.

The Akşam article lists all of the new command appointees, confirming Başbuğ's rise as the new Turkish Chief of Staff at Büyükanıt's retirement at the end of the month. Isık Koşaner will replace Başbuğ as Land Forces Commander. Katil Erdoğan also met with Koşaner the day before his meeting with Başbuğ, according to Islamist Zaman:

Erdoğan, more than a month before the YAŞ meeting and a day before his contact with Gen. Başbuğ on June 24 -- when Başbuğ was the Turkish Land Forces commander -- also met with Gen. Işık Koşaner, when Koşaner was the chief of the Gendarmerie General Command, said informed sources.

The Islamist coup took place on 31 July, the day before YAŞ met to begin confirmations of the new TSK chain of command, when the Constitutional Court ruled on the AKP closure case:

Ten of the 11 judges found the AKP guilty of the charge of being “a centre of anti-secular activity”, Mr Kilic said. But only six voted to close it, one short of the number required to ban the party. Instead, the AKP faces a big cut in its state funding, a penalty that will be compensated for easily by its wealthy backers.

As for Başbuğ, no one should forget that he was one of the butchers of Lice in 1993. Hevallo has more on the Lice Massacre, including pictures, for those who are memory-challenged.

Münir Erten, who confirmed PKK's casualties from the December 2007 aerial bombing campaign, has also been retired.

In the meantime, as part of his preparation for retirement, Yaşar Paşa is getting ready to receive his brand new 1 million Euro armored car, courtesy of the AKP regime:

Yaşar Büyükanıt, who was rescued from the Şemdinli incident by the AKP, has been awarded with a brand new car for his retirement. However, this disturbs CHP. In addition to the YAŞ decision without expulsion of religious officers, the purchase of an Audi A8, worth 1 million Euros, by AKP for Büyükanıt, raised several questions. CHP group parliamentary deputy Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, referring to the Council decision without expulsion, and the purchase of a new car for Büyükanıt, mentioned that this incident raises suspicions of a deal between AKP and TSK. Right after CHP's suspicions [were made public], the General Staff released a severe statement. In the statement, it was mentioned that Büyükanıt survived four assassination attempts, thus it [the armored car] is a necessity.

Turkish president Gül, who, according to the constitution, is supposed to be neutral, also supported this purchase and criticized CHP for its suspicions.

[ . . . ]

In Necati Doğru's column in Vatan, he revealed the vehicle's picture, bill, the document for its export from Germany, the vehicle's price with and without armor, the document for entrance into Turkey, technical specifications, a document sent from the National Defense Ministry to the Customs Ministry to order the Customs Ministry not to charge duty on the import, and a document that shows the vehicle entered Turkey duty-free.

According to Doğru's source in the National Defense Ministry (MSB), the car was imported from Germany for 1 billion YTL. It's an ice-silver metallic color, 4-door, gasoline-burning, 12 cylinder, 6,000 motor engine, 2008 Audi A8 W12 luxury automobile. The vehicle will be for retired Büyükanıt's personal use and TSK claims that any deal between AKP and TSK is mere fantasy.

But the fantasy is unlikely. For example, the previous Chief of General Staff, Hilmi Özkök--widely believed to be Islamist--was so worried about assassination at the end of his tenure as TSK chief that he started bringing his own lunch from home in a lunch box. But there were no indications at the time of his retirement that he was going to get so much as an armored lunch box, much less an armored car for personal use.

When he does retire, Büyükanıt will be able to drive his new armored Audi A8 W12 to his new villa, which is almost complete, in a village near Kuşadası.

Since we're on the subject of armored cars, Turkey is also providing armor for five Toyota Landcruiser V8, four-wheel drive SUV's for the not-so-bright Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. Turkey is also armoring Saakashvili's official Mercedes.

Abdullah Gül, who along with Saakashvili, can clearly read the Russian writing on the wall in the Caucasus, has suddenly become an avid supporter of a New World Order. No doubt this also has to do with the Islamist Turkish regime's warm relationship with the Islamist Iranian regime, but Gül extends it to a so-called AKP "solution" for the Kurdish situation:

Gül repeatedly returned to the importance of Turkey's democratisation process. He said it would ultimately resolve all of the country's domestic problems, including the long-festering conflict with Kurdish nationalists in south-eastern provinces. "Some call it terror, some call it the south-east problem, some call it the Kurdish problem - whatever you call it, we will find a solution," he said.

But we all saw very clearly what the AKP's "solution" for the Kurdish situation was, in September last year, when Gül made his first visit as president to TSK installations in The Southeast. We also saw clearly what AKP's "solution" was last December, February, and in March, during Newroz.

As with Başbuğ's solution in Lice in 1993, so now AKP's solution is also the military solution.

15 TEBAX 2008 PÎROZ BE!

"Realistically speaking, Turkey's only alternative is to resolve the issue through political dialogue. There has never been any political dialogue in order to bring about a solution to the Kurdish issue, and this is the sole reason why the problems Turkey faces today are weightier than ever."
~ Abdullah Öcalan.

In honor of 15 August, be sure to check out the new Gerila TV at http://www.gerila.tv/ . Now also included in the right margin under the CENSORED SITES label.


Note: If you see a blank space above, this is a video from a site censored by Blogger.com. This is the same kind of view seen from Turkey when something censored, like YouTube videos, are blocked by the regime. The video may be viewed at http://www.gerila.tv/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=26&task=videodirectlink&id=39

24 years and stronger than ever!


BIJÎ RÊBER APO

BIJIN GERÎLA

BIJÎ KURDISTAN

Hevaller, 15 Ağustos vesilesi ile sizlere en içten duygularımla selamlarımı gönderiyorum. Gerillalarımız düşüncelerimizden hiçbir zaman uzak değildir. Kayıplarınız kayıplarımız, zaferleriniz zaferlerimizdir.

EVE OF 15 AUGUST

"In effect, the PKK is a armed political organization, outlawed by a government whose constitution, laws and ruthless policies are questioned throughout the world and tolerated for greater economic interests, professing itself through military activity in the lack of all other peaceful alternatives to which Ankara has closed its doors."
~ Ismet Imset.

The unforgettable voice of Şehîd Şefqan for the eve of 15 August:

THE HUDSON INSTITUTE, ERGENEKON, AND THE ISLAMIST COUP IN TURKEY

"Our boys did it!"
~ Paul Henze, former CIA station chief, Ankara, referring to the 12 September coup.

Info-Turk posted a very interesting article about Ergenekon roots in DC. The original article is in French, but with a little help from Google, we have access to a fairly good translation, which is provided below.

One of the main characters in the article is Zeyno Baran of the Hudson Institute. Regular readers of Rastî will remember that back in June 2007, just before the last Turkish elections, there was a scandal from the Hudson Institute about various "war games" about Turkey that were under discussion there. If you need some background on that scandal, Hevallo also wrote some items on it, so do a search at his place for more info.

That should set you up nicely to understand all that's going on in the article from Info-Turk. I tried to straighten up a bit of the English below, but refer to the original French, at the link in the first paragraph, if something seems wildly off the mark.

Some rear bases network Ergenekon are in Washington

The investigation into the puppeteers behind the destabilization of Turkey revealed the involvement of a number of "temples" of the neo-conservative thought the USA, including the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Center for Security Policy of Frank Gaffney.

These think tanks have played a key role in the campaign to denigrate the party in power in Turkey since 2002, the Party of Justice and Development (AKP or Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi).

They served as a rear base for the network Ergenekon, a network of the extreme right involving the "Grey Wolves" currently being dismantled by Turkish authorities as suspected of plotting a military coup, according to a new "strategy of tension "in the wake of well-known stay-behind network, Gladio.

At the centre of this operation is a certain Zeyno Baran, American citizen of Turkish origin at the Hudson Institute, where there is also David Wurmser and neo-con "frenchy" Laurent Murawiec.

On 2 August, Ms. Baran has almost openly defended Ergenekon in an article published by the Wall Street Journal under the title "Turkish Islamists inspire a new climate of fear".

Disappointed that the USA and the EU have welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court not to declare the AKP anti-constitutional, it describes the investigation by the Justice Turkish campaign of harassment against opposition.

It is not surprising that she was outraged that the name of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has been mentioned in this context.

"The most important newspaper of the opposition Turkish Cumhuyiyet seems to be a key target. The telephone lines of those editors were placed under listening, and some conversations supposedly against the AKP party were revealed by the press" (this is a lie, because the press discovered them in a report on the investigation made public.) -- Including a transcript of a private conversation between the American newspaper correspondent of a Turkish journal and members of Dick Cheney's staff."

Ms. Baran then complains that Ilhan Selcuk, a major newspaper columnist, has been indicted as a suspect in the Ergenekon case.

Ms. Baran is the wife of Matthew J. Bryza, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs since June 2005. A career diplomat, Bryza spent his life between Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and dealing with hot spots like South Ossetia, Abkhazia and gas pipelines that have caused so much tension since the collapse of the USSR. It will not be surprised that Mr. Bryza is frequently invited as a speaker at the Hudson Institute.

It should be noted here that General Suka Tanyeri, director general of the Strategic Research and Study Center [SAREM, the Turkish General Staff's Strategic Research and Study Center] of the American major state, has been retired.

The American press suggests that one reason for this decision may come from his presence at special sessions, held behind closed doors by the Hudson Institute in June 2007, where delirious scenarios on a possible destabilization of Turkey were discussed.

At the time, this conference, which Baran had attended, had created some noise because it took place during the elections. One of the scenarios studied considering the explosion of two bombs, including one in the greatest city in the country Istanbul, killing some fifty people who would be assigned to the actions of extremist Kurdish PKK and serve to justify an invasion of Iraq.

Is it not surprising that today, [when there is] a full judicial inquiry into Ergenekon, and just when the Constitutional Court examined the legality of the AKP, two bombs have exploded? A bomb exploded in Istanbul and the other the next day in Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq. Experts see it as a manipulation designed to poison relations which had recently improved.

(LPAC - http://www.solidariteetprogres.org/article4398.html, 7 August 2008)

Well, here's a newsflash for Zeyno Baran and everyone else: there has been another coup in Turkey, and it took place when the Constitutional Court, with a vote that was short only by one to close AKP, decided merely to fine AKP for its anti-secularism. The authors of the French article didn't bother to note how the votes in the court fell. Seven votes were needed for closure but there were only six votes out of eleven in that direction. There were ten votes out of eleven to charge AKP as a source of anti-secularism. Doesn't seem there was too much debate about that fact.

The reality is that now the regime in Ankara is truly Islamist and secularism was sold out by George W. Bush when he put R. Tayyip Erdoğan into power. The paşas, thus abandoned, had no choice but to cut a deal in Dolmabahçe in May 2007.

BUY SHOES; SAVE LIVES

"Existence without an aim, without a worthy purpose, is worse than wasted"
~ Orison Swett Marden.

Here's worthy cause from the Kurdish American Youth Organization:

The Kurdish American Youth Organization (KAYO) and Preemptive Love Coalition is teaming up to help promote Buy Shoes Save Lives.

PLC is a Non-profit organization working in Southern Kurdistan. One of their current projects is through their business Buy Shoes (Kaleşên Kurdi, Kilaşi Kurdi). Save Lives, in which they sell Kurdish Kaleş online to people in America. All the proceeds of their sales go toward funding heart surgeries for Children, specifically Kurdistan.

The Preemptive Love Coalition began with a couple of Americans, Jeremy Courtney and Cody Fisher, who had a growing fascination with klashi kurdi: hand-stitched shoes worn and made by the Kurds. The Preemptive Love Coalition simply connects these two discoveries, opening up an international market to buy fashionable shoes in a way that saves lives by funding travel and exam costs for pediatric heart surgeries with Shevet Achim.

In its first year, PLC helped finance life saving surgeries for 20 children with others preparing for surgeries in the near future. Through negotiated discounts and the work of partnering organizations, the cost for surgery, transportation, lodging and food for an extended period away from home averages approximately $7,000 per child.

The first child that PLC was able to fund for heart surgery was a 12-year old Kurdish boy named Aras, who is from Halabja. Halabja is still recovering from the effects of the chemical warfare brought upon them. Though it remains a topic of great speculation, experts have hypothesized that Saddam Hussein's 281 chemical attacks on the Kurds are a contributing factor to congenital heart disease in many today.










Aras should have had heart surgery as an infant, and when we first met him and his family, his mother shared with us the tragic plight of trying to find a way to heal their son these past 12 years, with every effort failed. His father had become so discouraged that he gave up entirely, realizing that his son couldn't be helped and could never live a healthy, normal life. Aras' mother wouldn't accept that, so she chose to never give up.

When Cody Fisher, co-founder of PLC, visited their home to share the good news that PLC was able to send Aras to heart surgery, her eyes were filled with tears. He is now back in his hometown, able to run, play football, and live a healthy life that his previous heart condition never allowed.

Some of these children have been funded by the proceeds from shoe sales – even more have been funded through partnerships that only exist because of PLC's advocacy, your interest, and the storytelling that happens because of this noble cause.

Please take a look at BuyShoesSaveLives.com and pass the information far and wide. For more info on the program, email kay@kurdyouth.org

At BuyShoesSaveLives.com, you'll get an idea of how the traditional Kurdish shoes, the klaş are made:

Your shoes, called klash, start with this stack of fabric, strung together by strips of leather to make the sole. The sole is the most difficult part of the shoe to master. A quality sole can be tested by bending the shoe and searching the sole for gaps and holes. If a sole passes the bend test with relatively few breaks in the pattern, we can be assured that it is going to last you for the long haul. Owing to the physical strength required to make this part of the shoe, this work is done 100% of the time by Kurdish men.

After the sole is completed, between two and four different Kurdish women invest no less than an additional 20 hours to carefully create the beautiful upper part of the shoe, with the topmost weave being reserved for the most skilled. Stitch-by-stitch each shoe is born, with every one carrying the unique mark of its maker. No shoe is perfect, as Muslim craftsman often regard that quality as belonging to God alone. But your shoe is made with great care, comprised of thousands and thousands of hand-sewn knots. The weave is so fine, you’ll be amazed when you inspect your klash close up that these are not made by machine.

And while you're at it, pick up a nice pair of klaş for the rest of your summer, for the new school year, or just to show your support for the program and the Kurdish people.

Besides, think how cool a pair will look with a black-and-white dersok.

Reşe Kurdanî!

"COLOSSAL DAMAGE TO THE ENTIRE REGION"

"I think there is a good reason why the propaganda system works that way. It recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them."
~ Noam Chomsky.

Sibel Edmonds' ears must be burning. She was being talked about last Friday by Scott Horton and Joe Lauria. You can listen in on the conversation, which runs about 51 minutes.

In an amazing interview, an Azerbaijani so-called "terrorist" expert praises the effectiveness of HPG's recent BTC operation:

The threat of [so-called] terror acts against BTC was taken into account while planning the construction of the pipeline. The participating countries took into account the real threats at all sections of the pipeline. The threats of [so-called] terror acts from the Armenian side were taken into account at the Azerbaijani section of the pipeline, Abkhaz and South Ossetian at Georgian section and Kurdish at Turkish.

[ . . . ]

The Kurdish [so-called] terror organization PKK assumed responsibility for explosion at the BTC pipeline...

The philosophy of the [so-called] terrorist act lies in causing damage to the most critical points of the country, including civilians, strategic objects and so on, which may create serious concerns of the country and the world society. The most painful point for the whole region is the BTC pipeline. The due infrastructure including terminals, oil tankers and others, has been created for the purpose. The explosion suspended operation of the whole infrastructure.

Which country suffered greatest losses from the explosion at BTC pipeline?

Undoubtedly, the [so-called] terrorist act against BTC caused a colossal damage to the entire region. As I have already said, it is necessary to search an alternative way of transportation. It is unclear how much time will be needed for pipeline restoration. We had to transport oil by the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline, which are many millions of expenses. [So-called] Terrorists have reached their goals. Colossal economic damage was caused to the region, not speaking of the ecological damage.

[ . . . ]

Which measures should be taken to strengthen BTC security?

It is impossible to ensure the security of the pipeline by a whole army, even if there were guards at each meter. The [so-called] terrorist act of September 11 of 2001 demonstrated vulnerability of the defense systems of state objects, regulated by the man factor. The United States, having great opportunities of espionage and counterespionage, fell victims. I consider it necessary to adopt the 14th convention of the international security of interstate pipelines. The document should be approved by European structures. I think it will be approved by Europe, as BTC is important for it. And later the document could be presented to UN.

Here's Bush's take on the ass-kicking that Russia's applying to Georgia:

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

Let's change one word and see what we get:

"Turkey has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

Isn't that what Bush should have said in February, when Turkey invaded Iraq? But, during that invasion, it was HPG that was doing the ass-kicking.

In another fine example of hypocrisy, we have former Unocal "advisor" and Afghan neocon toady Zalmay Khalilzad making the same kind of stupid statements as his boss:

"Is your government's objective regime change in Georgia, the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Georgia?" Khalilzad asked Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador.

He said the days of overthrowing leaders by military means in Europe were gone and that Russia's nostalgia about the past was being reflected in the present conflict.

Churkin's replied that "regime change is an American expression. We do not use such an expression".

But he added: "But sometimes there are occasions, and we know from history, that there are different leaders who come to power, either democratically or semi-democratically, and they become an obstacle."

Western media lies about the Russia/Georgia conflict is certainly another case for the application of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman's Propaganda Model, as outlined in Manufacturing Consent. Within 24 hours from initial news reports, in which Georgia invaded South Ossetia, the capitalist corporate media immediately ran headlines saying "Russia invades Georgia".

The reality is that the headlines should have read "US invades Russia".

Perhaps the best place to keep up with the situation, without Western propaganda, is over at Vineyard Saker's place.

MORE ON THE BTC OPERATION

"Such operations against economic resources, we think, have a deterrence characteristic in the war that aims to annihilate a people in Turkey. Naturally our operations will continue if the Turkish state persists in this war."
~ Dr. Bahoz Erdal, HPG Headquarters Commander.

More on the BTC pipeline operation from Yeni Özgür Politika and Dr. Bahoz Erdal:

"Guerrillas will continue to strike the economy"

HPG Headquarters Commander Erdal said, "We think that attacks against economic resources have a deterrence effect in a war that aims to annihilate a people. If the Turkish state insists on waging the war, similar operations [by us] will continue."

Commenting on the sabotage against the BTC oil pipeline, HPG Headquarters Commander Dr. Bahoz Erdal said, "Naturally, such operations will continue if the Turkish state insists on war." While the fire at the BTC oil pipeline, by sabotage, continues, more sabotage news came from Tatvan. In its statement, HPG announced that the guerrillas conducted a sabotage against a loaded train, heading from Tatvan to Muş, that was carrying military materiel. HPG Headquarters Commander, Dr. Bahoz Erdal warned as follows: "We think that attacks against economic resources have a deterrence effect in a war that aims to annihilate a people. If the Turkish state insists on waging the war, similar operations [by us] will continue."

The 29th and 31st valves of the pipeline are still not opened; they were shut down after a sabotage operation was conducted by HPG forces against the BTC crude oil pipeline, between Erzincan and Refahiye on 5 August. Officials mentioned the fire was ongoing but under control; however, they did not reveal any particular date when [the fire] would end. Because of the fire, caused by the sabotage operation, oil cannot be delivered to customers. Since the stored 7 million barrels of oil were loaded onto ships in Ceyhan, the process of loading oil has been stopped. BOTAŞ officials announced that they would need one to two weeks after extinguishing the fire, in order to solve the problem. After this statement, oil prices increased.

One more sabotage

In a statement yesterday from HPG, BİM announced that a sabotage operation was conducted against a train carrying military materiel on 6 August. Regarding the sabotage operation between Tatvan and Muş, HPG gave the following details: "Our HPG forces conducted a sabotage operation against a cargo train that was carrying military materiel, heading from Tatvan to Muş. After the sabotage operation, one wagon was destroyed completely and four were derailed and turned over. After the operation, two Cobra-type helicopters, which came to the scene [of the derailment], randomly bombed the area."

Convoy ambushed

HPG BİM announced that a mobile military convoy was ambushed on the road between Şemdinli and Gerdiya on 7 August. The vehicle carrying 13 troops was targeted and destroyed completely. BİM said: "While enemy casualties in this vehicle are still not clarified, three enemy troops were killed and three were wounded in the operation, which began after the ambush."

Dr. Bahoz Erdal: Attacks against economic resources will continue

According to an interview with ANF, HPG Headquarters Commander Bahoz Erdal pointed out KCK leader Abdullah Ocalan's calls for the peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish question; Erdal said, "The period since 1993 is full of calls for democratic dialog, ceasefire announcements, peace packages and projects. However, despite all these efforts, the Turkish state continues its denial and annihilation policies." Dr. Erdal continued, "Despite our persistent approach and declarations of unilateral ceasefires, denial policies and annihilation operations create an unresolved and chaotic environment."

"There is a comprehensive attack against us"

Dr. Erdal continued as follows: "As the Kurdistan people's freedom struggle defense force, HPG, we endeavored not to intensify the clashes and were very concerned about this. However, especially in recent years, isolationist policies and psychological warfare, [directed] particularly against our leadership that went beyond limits, forced us, as an army, into a defense war with great intensity. The attempts to lynch our people in the 2008 spring Newroz celebration, overdosed annihilation attacks within Turkey's boundaries, and also the aerial and land attacks against our guerrilla forces in South Kurdistan, naturally and rightfully necesitated our raising the bar of our legal self-defense struggle."

"We think it will be a deterrent"

"Targeting the economic resources which nourish the war that the Turkish state implements against the Kurdish people and democratic-advanced humanity, came about in these bases," said Dr. Bahoz Erdal. "Such operations against economic resources, we think, have a deterrence characteristic in the war that aims to annihilate a people in Turkey. Naturally our operations will continue if the Turkish state persists in this war."

In the meantime, the Western-backed Georgian government invaded South Ossetia Friday, which prompted a Russian response. Part of that response consisted in aerial bombing of the area through which the BTC pipeline runs:

Early Saturday, Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by warplanes during the night and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. He also said two other Georgian military bases were hit and that warplanes bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.

Georgian aggression has been encouraged not only by the US, which has equipped and trained the Georgian military, but also by Israel and for the same reasons, according to DebkaFile:

Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean.

I guess DebkaFile missed the news at the end of July, that Gazprom is now the ruler of Turkmenistan's energy supplies:

Gazprom, Russia's energy leviathan, signed two major agreements in Ashgabat on Friday outlining a new scheme for purchase of Turkmen gas. The first one elaborates the price formation principles that will be guiding the Russian gas purchase from Turkmenistan during the next 20-year period. The second agreement is a unique one, making Gazprom the donor for local Turkmen energy projects. In essence, the two agreements ensure that Russia will keep control over Turkmen gas exports.

In addition to having an interest in the transport of energy supplies through Georgia, Turkey is also a supplier of its military materiel.

The regional pipelines are the real reason for NATO and the West to provoke Russia through proxy Georgia, and if Russian aerial bombardment does not damage the BTC pipeline, South Ossetian "separatists" will:

The first major attack on the pipeline took place only last week - not in Georgia but in Turkey where part of it was destroyed by PKK separatist rebels.

Output from the pipeline, which is 30 per cent owned by BP and carries more than 1 per cent of the world's supply, is likely to be on hold for several weeks while the fire is extinguished and the damage repaired.

But the threat of another attack by separatists in Georgia itself is very real.

Only a few days before the Turkish explosion, Georgian separatists threatened to sabotage the pipeline if hostilities continued.

Good! It's definitely time to target the oppressors where they live, and that's their energy resources.

THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH

"The successor to politics will be propaganda. Propaganda, not in the sense of a message or ideology, but as the impact of the whole technology of the times."
~ Marshall McLuhan.

If you ever wondered how the media became the lapdog of capitalist corporate interests instead of the watchdog of the powerful that it's supposed to be, watch Orwell Rolls In His Grave. Run time 1 hour 43 minutes.

HPG: BTC PIPELINE TARGETED

"The oil pipeline that crosses through Kurdistan is an economic source for the Turkish Military for this reason it is possible for the guerrilla to go for it."
~ Murat Karayılan.

HPG has claimed responsibility for a blast on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, from Yeni Özgür Politika:

HPG stated that it conducted a sabotage operation against the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The aftermath of this operation has resulted in a great economic cost.

HPG BİM stated that the guerrillas conducted an operation against the BTC pipeline in Refahiye district of Erzincan. BİM said, "Later on, more information will be shared with the public about this high-cost economic incident."

Within 50 kilometers of the Refahiye garrison, near Yurtbaşı village, where the pipeline passed, an explosion occured the day before yesterday [5 August] around 2300 hours and this explosion was very powerful. After the explosion, flames reached a height of 50 meters and smoke blackened the sky. Officials in Ankara had to shut down the pipeline's valve near that region. Officials did not say anything about this incident.

The pipeline was always referred to as a "secured" pipeline by Turkey. Previously HPG conducted some sabotage operations against this "secured" pipeline, which were very effective. Also, last year in October, the guerrillas conducted an operation against a Turkey-Iran gas pipeline. On 8 May, between Mersin and Sivas, they targeted the pipeline. In addition, on 25 May in Ağrı's Doğubayazıt district, HPG again conducted a sabotage operation against a Turkey-Iran pipeline, which mainly destroyed the pipeline in the region between Hallaç and Süphan.

HPG also conducted an operation against a Turkey-Iran gas pipeline in August 2006.

Turkey appears to be in denial over the actual source of the attack against the pipeline, as reported by Hürriyet (English):

"No trace suggesting sabotage has been found so far, but the cause will become clear after the fire is over," the [BOTAŞ] official said.

Now that's amazing! Here, in a region where HPG regularly operates, against a target that HPG has, not only spoken about publicly, previously attacked, the Ankara regime refuses to suggest even a hint that HPG might be involved, even when "PKK" claims the operation. But a bombing in a place, like Güngören, where HPG does not operate, against targets that HPG attempts to avoid, the Ankara regime declares a "PKK" operation. . . even after "PKK" publicly denied involvement.

Moreover, with the exception of one source quoted below, the entire international "free" press has fallen in line with the regime's story, just as the same "free" press did with the regime's Güngören story. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out why all that is so.

Hürriyet gives an indication of the economic effects of HPG's operation:

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (BTC), which is still ablaze, will remain shut for about 15 days after an explosion sparked a fire in a section in eastern Turkey, news agencies reported on Thursday. The supply concerns pushed oil prices back to over $119.

[ . . . ]

The supply concerns helped to push oil prices higher and jump back above $120 a barrel on Thursday. Light, sweet crude for September delivery advanced $1.64 to $120.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier rising as high as $121.78.

In London, September Brent crude added $1.45 to $118.51 a barrel.

HPG's operation also managed to get some action out of BP:

BP said the BTC partners had declared force majeure on exports, freeing themselves from contractual obligations, Reuters reported.

BP said on Thursday the group which it leads producing oil in Azerbaijan had started diverting crude slated for the Turkish port of Ceyhan to other routes, including the Georgian port of Supsa, after the explosion.

"We are actively considering alternative routes," BP's spokeswoman in Azerbaijan told Reuters.

I wonder how much it costs the Ankara regime when other countries begin to "actively consider alternate routes" away from Ceyhan?

Energy Daily, in contrast to the rest of international media, has considered other possibilities:

Initial Turkish media reports stated an explosion occurred in the Refahiye BTC section, which resulted in a conflagration sending flames 160 feet into the air and halting oil flow. According to the reports, investigators are attempting to determine whether the explosion was an industrial accident or, more ominously, the result of PKK sabotage.

As Turkey, stung by PKK attacks across the border into its territory, last autumn deployed troops along the frontier, the PKK, well aware of the vulnerabilities of Turkey's energy imports, upped the ante last October, threatening, in the event of a Turkish military action, not only to strike Iraq's Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil export pipeline, but even to attack tankers heading for Turkey's Mediterranean port.

The same month the PKK's Abd-al-Rahman Chadarchi stated that if PKK forces in northern Iraq were attacked, his group would assault Turkish oil targets, "since they bring huge amounts of money to Turkey," adding, "The military regime in the country will use this (energy revenues) to develop its war machine to utilize it against the Kurdish people in Turkish Kurdistan," while Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said, "Northern Iraq cannot be pressured. Iraq is a rich country, and if there are economic pressures, we will cut off the (Kirkuk-) Ceyhan pipeline." Turkey subsequently launched a limited incursion against PKK forces ensconced in northern Iraq in February.

According to Wikipedia, BP leads the pack in share ownership of the BTC pipeline at 30%. Other companies involved in the consortium include the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Chevron, StatoilHydro, Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO), Eni/Agip, Total, Itochu, Inpex, ConocoPhillips, and Hess Corporation.

"More ominously", indeed. Bijî Serok Apo!

UNDER WHOSE CONTROL?

"While I am aware that the Turkish Prime Minister, Justice Minister and Interior Minister have expressed strong determination to uncover all dimensions of this incident and to expend every effort in bringing the perpetrators to justice, I would like to appeal to your Excellency’s Government to ensure that all deaths that occurred in connection with the Semdinli bookshop bombing are promptly, independently and thoroughly investigated in accordance with the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions."
~ Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, UN General Assembly, Human Rights Council

There was something interesting from Monday's Milliyet, titled, "A strange speech in the file". In the file is a report by a chairman of the National Forces Association, Fikri Karadağ, one of the accused in the Ergenekon case. The report is a three-page document with the title: "Now Turkey is under our control". This document is the transcription of a conversation between the Turkish Prime Minister, R. Tayyip Erdoğan and the current Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Yaşar Büyükanıt. At the time, Büyükanıt was the TSK Land Forces Commander. The report is a documentation of a secret meeting between the two, and can be found in the annexes of the Ergenekon indictment.

Note that, given the information the document references about the Şemdinli bombing, the meeting probably took place sometime in 2006, before Büyükanıt became the Chief of the Turkish General Staff.

The dialog, as published in Milliyet, is as follows:

Büyükanıt: Mr. Prime Minister the evidence and intelligence that we received shows that TSK and your government is part of a cabal, and you cannot expect us the attitude that you have toward TSK and toward the set-up by foreign supporters against YAŞ (Higher Military Assemblage). If we, as the TSK, did not give any reaction to this, within the constitutional platforms and to your department, it's because we do not want to give support to anyone who wants to lead our country into chaos. Because then they would say, "TSK talked, and the economy collapsed." That is why we did not speak openly to the public. However, we cannot stand anymore for the moves of your party, with the support of foreigners, against TSK.

Erdoğan: My dear Pasha, please don't fear. There won't be any economic crisis in Turkey just because "TSK spoke". We have agreed with the world's most prominent financial institutions, and whatever is supposed to be investigated about you and TSK regarding the Şemdinli incident, this investigation will be done. Turkey is no longer under TSK's control. Turkey will be a country under the control of the people. And there won't be anything wrong with the economy if a paşa from the TSK talks. We are cooperating together with the world's richest groups, like Rockefeller.

Büyükanıt: Mr. Prime Minister, this tone of speech is not the kind of speech of Turkey's prime minister. Did you agree with the world's most prominent financial institutions in order to block TSK from fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities? Mr. Prime Minister, you are in a cabal against Turkey. Behind the Semdinli incident, there is the intelligence service of this foreign forces, who brought your party into power. Mr. Prime Minister, if TSK is investigated, TSK will be cleared. I will be cleared. But you will be the one who is blamed. The Chief of General Staff (Hilmi Özkök), by not seeing the necessity of investigating me, saved TSK's honor. However, if Şemdinli is investigated thoroughly, everyone will see you and your undersecretariat, and those foreign forces that supported you. You are forgetting that your government is representing the state of the Turkish Republic. Mr. Prime Minister, you are not the Turkish Republic's prime minister, but you are Rockefeller's prime minister.

Erdoğan: My dear Paşa, your intelligence is wrong. Behind the Şemdinli incident are the "TSK Warlords".

Büyükanıt: Those "Warlords" are among those who carried AKP to power. Behind you and your party are these "Warlords". Some of our allies are using you and your party as a Trojan horse. You are not the prime minister of the Turkish Republic, but you are the prime minister of the "Warlords". You set up the "bagging incident" against TSK in order to punish it, with the cooperation with those forces who carried you to power, among whom is the US. The English and Zionists set up the Şemdinli incident in order to keep you in power. You are a coward who does not trust the Turkish people, but who trusts Zionists. TSK, sooner or later, will reveal this fact.

Erdoğan: Turkey is under our control. TSK is also under my control. Whoever I want as a paşa, I can appoint him to the General Staff. We have agreed with the US. We are going to have a joint operation with Iraq, Iran, and Syria. We are a partner of the US in the Greater Middle East Project; the US also sees us as their partner. Dear Paşa, Turkey is no longer in TSK's hands.

Büyükanıt: I will have to report this conversation to the Chief of General Staff. You are not a genuine Muslim. You cannot be a citizen of the Turkish Republic. Your attitude is clearly treachery and your treachery will not go without punishment. The people suffered a lot from fake religionists, fake Atatürkists, fake nationalists, and fake democrats, but, at the end, all of them were punished.

Erdoğan: You are not capable of anything. Turkey has been passed to other hands, and is still passing. Everything is under our control, and my advice to you is to also join us.

Büyükanıt: Mr. Prime Minister, I cannot join in treachery with you.

Erdoğan: You misunderstood me (Meanwhile Paşa--Büyükanıt--is trying to leave the room; Erdoğan blocks him and says). . . We are going to punish the Şemdinli prosecutor in the Şemdinli incident. There are some groups that might be against TSK [and] the extension of those groups investigated the incident.

Büyükanıt: These attitudes and flattery are not good [qualities] in a prime minister and I am leaving this disgusting environment. This meeting is over.

At this, Büyükanıt goes and following incidents are written in the report in parenthesis, by saying that Erdoğan called a couple of places by phone. He is described as "very nervous, and, quoting Erdoğan, "Find someone to calm Paşa. We made a big mistake. Whoever said that Yaşar Büyükanıt is open to every kind of offer, mislead us. Find that name." Erdoğan's orders and condemnation followed in the phone conversation.

First of all, the appearance here is one of two gangsters bargaining over some trinket in the Kapalı Çarşı. Bear in mind that this bargaining eventually led to the Dolmabahçe Deal. Part of that deal was the recognition by TSK of Gül as president. In return, in September 2007, AKP permitted the Paşas to intensify their Dirty War in The Southeast. That, in turn, led to further cooperation in the Ergenekon investigation, which has only managed to arrest and indict the old, well-known members of Ergenekon.

Then we have the appearance of the documentation of a 2006 secret meeting between the soon-to-be Chief of Turkish General Staff, Büyükanıt, and Erdoğan, who was, indeed, brought to power by the Bush administration. This document forms part of the supporting documentation of the Ergenekon indictment. If it's a bogus file, why is it in the indictment? If it's bogus, and it's in the indictment anyway, then what about the credibility of the rest of the indictment and supporting documentation?

What then, does that say about AKP's alleged crusade against the Deep State? Remember that AKP has been claiming that the end of the Ergenekon investigation is the end of the Deep State. Yet the Prime Ministry is less than thrilled that this file is annexed to their own indictment and calls it bogus. If it's a bogus file, why is it in the indictment, especially since AKP has been trying to appear as pure as the driven snow throughout this investigation? If it's bogus, and it's in the indictment anyway, then what about the credibility of the rest of the indictment and supporting documentation? What does that say about AKP's public show against Ergenekon?

Above all, the show must go on. As for justice in the Şemdinli bombing . . . fuhgeddaboudit!

JULY WAR BALANCES

"The struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination and racist régimes for the implementation of their right to self-determination and independence is legitimate and in full accordance with the principles of international law."
~ UN Resolution 3103.

HRK's July war balance (HRK is the armed wing of PJAK):

13 special forces troops killed
31 pasdars (Revolutionary Guards) killed
7 village guards killed
51 security forces killed
6 security forces wounded

Two military garrisons were destroyed. The Iranian army initiated five operations. The guerrillas initiated eight operations in which ten military vehicles were destroyed, including one armored vehicle. The guerrillas confiscated the following items:

1 BKC machine gun with strap
1 Karnas rifle and three ammunition clips
5 Kalishnikovs
5 Kalishnikov ammunition clips and 700 rounds
30 training rounds

HRK reports that there were seven occasions of katyusha rocket attacks, and aerial bombardment. There were seven occasions of reconnaisance aircraft overflights of PJAK's area. On two occasions, Turkish army warplanes carried out aerial bombing, in which forest fires were started. HRK also captured an engineer involved in the construction of a military garrison, and then released him after questioning.

HRK had one şehîd in the month of July, Şaho Cıwanro (Celil Kerimi).

HPG also announced it's July war balance. The guerrillas and Turkish army had 81 contacts and the guerrillas initiated 74 operations resulting in 158 soldiers, five officers, and ten police killed, for a total body count of 168. Two officers, twenty police, and 156 soldiers were wounded in these clashes, for a total of 178.

July's clashes also resulted in the deaths of 23 guerrillas, with two guerrillas taken prisoner.

In addition, four armored vehicles, eight troop vehicles, two helicopters were destroyed, and four helicopters were downed.

In an operation on 1 August, HPG took revenge for the Besta operation of 24-25 July, which resulted in the deaths of HPG Military Council members Ferhat Dersim (Abdurrahman Nalioğlu), Nuda Karker (Nazan Bayram), and three other guerrilla şehîds. In the retaliation operation, HPG killed 17 members of a Turkish special operations unit, one of whom held the rank of major. In the operation, one guerrilla, Dılşad Sümbül (Yakup Çiftçi) died after suffering heavy wounds.

Two YJA-STAR guerrillas, Eylem Amed (Aynur Erdem) and Zilan Amed (Kader Çiftçi) also became şehîds on 31 July in the Ovacık region.

Nuda Karker (Nazan Bayram)

Ferhat Dersim (Abdurrahman Nalioğlu)

Dılşad Sümbül (Yakup Çiftçi)

Eylem Amed (Aynur Erdem)

Zilan Amed (Kader Çiftçi)

Şehîd Namirin!

UPDATE: There's more on the 1 August operation from the hevals at KurdishInfo:

Kurdish Info 05.08.2008-The special forces involved in the killings of HPG leaders Ferhat Dersim and Nuda Karker and three other guerrillas have been eliminated by guerrillas. The attack in Besta resulted in the death of the 17 man squad. HPG have cleared the news that the Turkish media announced as the deaths of 5 village guards.
According to the statement the supposed village guards were in fact all part of a special forces squad. The guerrillas had followed the special forces group which consisted of counter guerrila agents and surrounded them in the Melixan area of Farasin. the 17 man squad is completely eliminated by the guerrillas. According to HPG a lot of equipment belonging to the squad was seized.

THE MARTYRED GUERRILLA GULLU KALMAZ'S BELONGINGS WERE FOUND ON THE DEAD SOLDIERS

11 automatic weapons and equipment, a thermal camera, day and night vision binoculars, two sattelite phones, many hand grenades and other equipment was seized by the guerillas. The martyred guerrilla Gullu Kalmaz's personal belongings were found with the dead soldiers. The guerrillas also take back the personal belongings of Gullu Kalmaz. In this attack Hakkari born Dilsad Sumbul lost his life. The HPG main headquarters released a statement warning village guards to not take part in the dirty games of the Turkish state.

URL here: http://www.kurdish-info.net/News-sid-The-specia-forces-that-were-involved-the-killings-of-the-HPG-leaders--11400.html

KurdishInfo, as well as certain other sites, are censored by Blogger, so you'll have to copy-and-paste to see the original.

THE PROSECUTION

"Be prepared for hysterics and even a fainting spell. Better have smelling salts handy and a nip of brandy. "
~ Sir Wilfrid, Witness for the Prosecution.

Here's something else the filthy Imperial Congress will surely flush:

More on the same theme from Scott Horton at this mp3.

THE STATE OF THE PRESS IN TURKEY

"Without an unfettered press, without liberty of speech, all of the outward forms and structures of free institutions are a sham, a pretense -- the sheerest mockery. If the press is not free; if speech is not independent and untrammeled; if the mind is shackled or made impotent through fear, it makes no difference under what form of government you live, you are a subject and not a citizen."
~ William E. Borah.

For all of those worthless pacifists out there who condemn legitimate armed self-defense (only when the ones engaging in legitimate armed self-defense are Kurds, naturally) and constantly whine that the only way for Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan to have full equality in Turkey is through the widespread use of media to broadcast the Kurdish cause, or for those who condemn legitimate armed self-defense and take up the worthless pacifist argument because they are terrified of the label "terrorist", here's something for you to think about, from Info-Turk:

The deadlock which derived from Kurdish problem has brought many human rights violations in recent times. While the Turkish Military and the Government preparing for military action towards the Northern Iraq, on the other hand they have increased the pressure on any civilians and organisations which believe the question should be solved peacefully and through dialogue rather than violent or military actions. Its almost came to an attention that anyone declaring against the Government and Turkish Military Forces has became target or criminalised.

The censorship upon opposition media groups should also be handled within this context. Censorship has taken practice without overlapping with any practices of law. Newspapers and their publications are closing down one after another, people left out of freedom of receiving news.

Freedom of press and freedom of expression are main priorities of democracy. The practices and violent against press and broadcasting organisations highlights heavy wound that democracy has received.

Between the dates of 4th August 2006 and 25th May 2008, 14 newspaper has been stopped 33 times. The peak times were March 2007, October 2007 and November 2007. In March 2007 4 newspapers was closed, 3 newspapers in October 2007, 4 newspapers in November 2007. In addition the Alternatif newspaper which started its publication in 19th May 2005 has stopped for 1 month on 25th May 2005 and the Gelecek newspaper which started publication 28 May has stopped for 1 month in 30th June. This situation shows clearly the current state of censorship and anti-democratic practices level.

Balance sheet in this subject as follows:

GUNDEM NEWSPAPER HAS BEEN CLOSED 6 TIMES

• The Gundem newspaper which started publishing in 17 January 2007 has been closed 6 times:

• The 13. High Criminal Court ruled out on 6 March 2007 with two different sentences on same day stopped for 30 days. The reason was “propaganda of the organisation”.

• Gundem newspaper which stopped for 1 month has stopped for another 15 days after 2 days of press by 11. High Criminal Court. The court has ordered all the articles, adverts and columns of the 7th and 8th April about the Kurdish question for the reason of stopping.

• Gundem newspaper was closed for 3rd time in 12 July 2007 for 15 days. The reason was again “propaganda of the organisation”. It is significant that these practices taken place immediately before 22 July 2007 elections.

• On 8 September 2007 Gundem newspaper was closed 4th time. The articles of “lets become nation and win” and “self-critism in practice not in words” was the reason for closing for another 30 days.

• The Gundem Newspaper which was closed on 8 September 2007 for 4th time was again closed on for another 30 days on grounds of “propaganda of the organisation” one day after started publishing on 9 October 2007.

• On 14 November 2007 Gundem newspaper was closed for 6th time. Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court has ordered the closure of the Gundem newspaper for 30 days on grounds of “propaganda of the organisation”.

• Gundem newspaper which was closed for 6 times in one year has also been blocked from internet. The www.ozgurgundem.net website was blocked by court order on 23 October 2007, which had daily view over a 60 thousand people.

GUNCEL NEWSPAPER WAS CLOSED 3 TIMES

• Guncel newspaper which started publication on 19th March 2007 has closed for 3 times:

• The Guncel newspaper which started publishing on 19 March 2007 was closed on 30 March 2007 just after 12 days. The reason for closure was “propaganda of the organisation”.

• Guncel newspaper was closed for second time on 17 July 2007 for 12 days. The reason for closure was “it was a follow-up of Gundem newspaper”. Similar to Gundem, Guncel was closed just before 22 July elections.

• The Guncel newspaper was started publishing on 17 October after closing twice. The newspaper was closed on same day by Istanbul 10. High Criminal Court which viewed as justice scandal. The justification grounds of “all news headings was a propaganda of the organisation and it was follow-up of other newspapers” which was not concrete and complete inexplicable.

JET CENSORSHIP TO YASAMDA GUNDEM NEWSPAPER

• Istanbul Public Prosecutor Zekeriya Ay has ordered withdrawal circulation of Yasamda Gundem newspaper on 9 March 2007 the day of starting publishing in Istanbul Police Headquarters Security Branch. The Prosecutor Ay has also ordered a seizure of unpublished editions of newspaper making another justice scandal. Prosecutor claimed the Yasamda Gundem newspaper was follow-up of Gundem newspaper which was closed for 1 month on 6 March 2007.

GERCEK DEMOKRASI NEWSPAPER CLOSED

• Gercek Demokrasi newspaper was also closed when other closures took place one after another in October 20007. Istanbul 10. High Criminal Court has ordered to close paper on grounds of “propaganda of organisation” on 17th October 2007.

• When Gercek Demokrasi newspaper started publishing again on 17 November it was closed for one month in same grounds on 21st November 2007.

RECORD NUMBER OF CASES AND CLOSURE ORDERS TO ULKEDE OZGUR GUNDEM NEWSPAPER

• In between the dates of 1 March 2004 – 16 November 2006 there was a record number of 600 cases opened against Ulkede Ozgur Gundem Newspaper owner, editor publishers, certain writers and reporters on different grounds. The seizure order was given 17 times and 106 cases resulted with conviction was given penalty of 464 thousands 694 YTL and editor publisher Hasan Bayar was given prison sentence for 15 year 11 months and 10 days. On 4 August and 16 November newspaper was closed for 15 days each time. It is also important to realize that second closure order was given after 6 days of Chief of General Staff statement of “publication should not be allowed”.

AZADIYA WELAT NEWSPAPER CLOSED

• The first daily Kurdish newspaper in Turkey Azadiya Welat which started publishing on 15 August 2006 was closed for 20 days by Diyarbakir 5. High Criminal Court on 23rd March 2007 on grounds of “propagating of the organisation”

• Azadiya Welat newspaper licensee Vedat Kursun was arrested for articles published on different dates on grounds of “propagating of the organisation” and “setting activity in behalf of organisation”.

WEEKLY PUBLISHED YEDINCI GUN NEWSPAPER

• Yedincigun newspaper which started publishing on 5 November was closed after its second edition on 12 November by Istanbul 13. High Criminal Court on grounds of “propagating for the organisation”

• On 27 November after starting its publishing the Yedincigun newspaper was closed within same day for another 1 month on same grounds by Istanbul 10. High Criminal Court.

• When its started printing on 12 January 2008 was closed again on same day by Istanbul 12. High Criminal Court for another 1 month.
• On 3 March 2008 was closed again for another 1 month, on same day of publishing by Istanbul Sentinel 9. High Criminal Court.

• The articles on pages 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of Yedincigun newspaper’s 7-13 April 2008 edition was justified for reason of closing for 1 month on 7 April 2008 by Istanbul 9. High Criminal Court.

• The articles on pages 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of Yedincigun newspaper’s 12- 18 May 2008 edition was justified as reason for closing for 1 month on 13 May 2008 by Istanbul 9. High Criminal Court.

WEEKLY PUBLISHING OF HAFTAYA BAKIS NEWSPAPER

• Haftaya Bakis newspaper which started publishing on 1st December 2007 has closed for one month after its second edition (8-14 December) on 8 December by Istanbul 11. High Criminal Court on grounds of “propagating for the organisation”.

• On 19th January 2008 Haftaya Bakis newspaper has closed for one month on 2nd February 2008 by Istanbul 12. High Criminal Court.

• The news headings of “I am calling to Erdogan” and “the Newroz of Gaining Freedom” in Haftaya Bakis newspaper’s 17-23 March 2008 edition was closed for 1 month on 18 March 2008 by Istanbul 11. High Criminal Court in accordance with code 3713 6/last article.

WEEKLY PUBLISHING YASAMDA DEMOKRASI NEWSPAPER

• Yasamda Demokrasi newspaper which started publishing on 15th December 2007 has closed for one month in its first edition (15-21 December) on 15 December by Istanbul 9. High Criminal Court on grounds of “propagating for the organisation”.

• On article headings of “Conspiracy critized heavily”, “Ocalan: America plays bad”, Selahattin Erdem’s article “Edi Bes e” (Enough is Enough), “Mustafa Karasu’s “We are criticising conspiracy” and “up until gaining success with Edi Bes e” articles were found as “propagating for the organisation” and therefore newspaper was closed for 1 month by 17-24 February 2008 edition by Istanbul 9. High Criminal Court on 17 February in accordance with 3713 code and 6/last article.

• The 24-30 March 2008 edition of Yasamda Gundem newspaper’s article “First Newroz fire was on page lit up in Serhat” on page 8 has become the ground for closure on 4 April 2008 for one month by Istanbul 13. High Criminal Court.

WEEKLY PUBLISHED TOPLUMSAL DEMOKRASI NEWSPAPER

• Toplumsal Demokrasi weekly newspaper which started publishing on 22nd December 2007 has closed for one month in its third edition (5-11 January 2008) on 5 January 2008 by Istanbul 11. High Criminal Court on grounds of “propagating for the organisation”.

• On 25 February 2008 after starting its publishing the Toplumsal Demokrasi newspaper was closed within same day for another 1 month on same grounds by Istanbul 11. High Criminal Court.

WEEKLY PUBLISHED OTEKI BAKIS NEWSPAPER

• The 31st March – 6th April 2008 edition of Oteki Bakis newspaper’s article “Clear Message From Newroz lands” on page 7 has become the ground for closure on 4 April 2008 for one month by Istanbul 13. High Criminal Court.

WEEKLY PUBLISHED YENI BAKIS NEWSPAPER

• Yeni Bakis weekly newspaper which started publishing on 14th April 2008 has closed for one month (5-11 May 2008 edition) on 8 May 2008 by Istanbul 13. High Criminal Court for article of “Buyukanit and Basbug has become unsuccessful” on pages 10 and 11.

ALTERNATIF NEWSPAPER

• Yeni Bakis newspaper which started publishing on 19th May 2008 has closed for one month on 25 May 2008 for various article headings and columns which was “propagating the organisation” in 24-25 May 2008 publications by Istanbul 10. High Criminal Court.

GELECEK NEWSPAPER

• Gelecek newspaper which started publishing on 28th May 2008 has closed for one month for various article headings and contents which was propagating the PKK-Kongra Gel on 30 June 2008 publication by Istanbul 11. High Criminal Court.

THE AUTHORITIES POINT OUT TARGET

• While from August 2006 till October 2007 7 newspaper was closing the newspaper for 15 times and in same time state authorities were openly targeting and threatening via illegal powers.

• The Chief General Staff Yasar Buyukanit was openly targeting Gundem Newspaper on 12 April 2007 by calling its name out directly. Buyukanit whom was openly targeting Gundem Newspaper by saying “ As you are all aware PKK has a newspaper, Gundem. Will it be acceptable for its reporter to join us here? They are supporters of PKK”.

• July 2005: General Staff Seconf Chief Ilker Basbug was targeting Ulkede Ozgur Gundem newspaper in its 3 hour briefing. In the meeting Basbug has announced newspaper as “supportive of separatist terror organisation” and “its circulation should be obstructed”.

• 11 June 2006: Justice Minister of a time Cemil Cicek has made Ulkede Ozgur Gundem a open target in Newspaper Association General Meeting. Cicek has pointed out “This newspaper should be stopped”.

• 10 November 2006: Chief General Staff Yasar Buyukanit was answering reporters questions in “Media Cocktail” given by General Staff Secretary Majorgeneral Zeki Colak in Gazi Army House. Buyukanit has remarked “ PKK’s magazines and daily newspapers are published. These should not be allowed.” (Kurdish Info, August 3, 2008)

Pressures on the DIHA News Agency

The Dicle News Agency DIHA was dstablished on the 4th April 2002 with the headquarters situated in Istanbul, and subsequent offices located in Van, Diyarbakır, Cizre, Tunceli and Hewlêr. DIHA has correspondents on duty and positioned in Adana, Ankara, İzmir, Mersin, Batman, Siirt, Muş, Kars, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kocaeli, Çanakkale, Malatya, Hakkari, Yüksekova, Şırnak, Elazığ and Bingöl.

Along with the executive director Mustafa PEKTAŞ, the editor Devrim Göktaş and two legal advisors Özcan KILIÇ and Servet Özen, there are 80 staff members that also work for the agency.

DIHA offers an internet based news service on www.diclehaber.com in Turkish, Kurdish and English. Having been set up under the principles of bestowing fast, reliable and objective journalism, the agency provides a news service in written, visual and audio form, on account of the fact that it has established a vast news network in the Middle East.

Possessing a universal value for human rights and freedom, irrespective of any race, religion, creed, language or sexuality, and with respect to the diversity of communities, we are committed to the belief in people’s right to be informed of the truth. The staff of young editors, reporters, photographers, cameramen and administrators, who reject any form of censorship, make no concessions with the ethics of the press, are completely funded by the subscribers.

PRESSURES ON THE AGENCY

Since the beginning, the agency has faced a number of obstructions whilst attempting to carry out duties. Many numbers of staff have been taken into custody, prevented from reporting news, been manhandled, news reports have been seized; cameras and recording equipment have also been destroyed. There are 9 colleagues currently being held in prison, and 8 trials in relation with meetings with news sources, news materials and subjects, that are ongoing.

The pressures and obstacles we have faced since beginning broadcasting and publication are as follows: the agency headquarters in Sisli, Istanbul was raided in September 2004 under the guise of the NATO summit. The 16 policemen that carried out the raid, used there own equipment to record the raid and the agency, and also seized the identification cards of the staff members. We were prevented from providing a news service to our subscribers. The agency’s technical department’s central server and hard drive was seized along with the hard discs of 9 separate computers. The journalists that got news of the raid and tried to get in were prevented from doing so. As a result of the raid the following staff members were taken into custody: Beyhan Sekman, Müjde Arslan, Mazlum Özdemir, Evin Katurman, Özlem Kasa, Berivan Tapan, Cevdet Deniz, Medine Yiğit, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Emine Çelebi, Mehmet Sami Aksoy, Davut Özalp, Kenan Kırıkkaya, Aysel Bakıray, Meryem Yılmaz and Timur Ubeydullah.

• On his way to the Yedisu district of Bingol to investigate reports that the Gendarme Commander in Chief, A.Y., had planted Jute with some villagers, our Diyarbakir correspondent, Birol Duru, was taken into custody on the 10th August 2005 in the Karliova district’s Dinarbey village, and arrested on the 12th August by the soldiers under the chief’s command, under the guise that he was “carrying a cassette that praised HPG militants”. Following his release on the 29th December 2005, Duru, under article 314/3 and 220/7 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), stating that it is a crime to, “to be aware of an organisation’s capacity and circumstance, hence knowingly and willingly aid and harbour”, was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison on the 28th September 2006. The case is now in Supreme Court.

• In February 2006, in the Akdeniz town of Mersin, our correspondents, Nesrin Yazar and Evrim Dengiz, whilst following up on a news report, were taken into custody at gunpoint. After being arrested under article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), Yazar and Dengiz were charged for alleged possession of Molotov cocktail in their cars. Our correspondents were held in Mersin and Adana for 9 months. The trial is ongoing.

• After reporting on the forest fires in Tunceli and Bingol, and the speech made by the head of the Bingol office of Turkeys largest human rights organisation (The IHD). Ridvan Kizgin, our correspondents, Serdar Altan and Birol Duru were charged under article 159/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. Ridvan Kizgin, who made the statement, and Sami Tan, the DIHA editor, were also charged under article 283/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. The trials are continuing in the Bingol Supreme Court.

• Our Correspondent, Hikmet Erden, has been put on trial following his report on the 22nd July general elections and the Gendarme commanders’ alleged pressure on the villagers of the Karacadag district of Diyarbakir not to vote for the DTP’s ‘a thousand hopes’ candidates. The prosecution are asking for 1 to four years imprisonment for the crime of ‘broadcasting fabricated news’.

• Our correspondent, Mehmet Cevizci, was taken into custody due to an order of arrest by default judgement, whilst on his way to a journalism workshop. The workshop was set up by the Independent Communications Network (BIA Net) and Press Now, to be held at the Mavi Gol hotel in the sivrice district of Elazig. Cevizci was taken to the gendarme police station where he was held for 1 day before being released.

• Our Gaziantep correspondent, Bahattin Toren, was attacked on his way to the agency office by an as yet unidentified group. The attack was unprovoked and came about when the group passed by the bus stop Toren was waiting at and said, “Don’t make me cut you so early in the morning”, and then proceeded to attack him and cut him on the face. Police where called to the incident, but did not turn up, at which point, the surrounding people aided Toren to a nearby Polyclinic.

• On the 7th July Belguzar Oruc joined the ROJ TV news bulletin broadcast of the day, and reported on the developments in Mardin leading up to the July 22nd elections, in Kurdish. Following her contribution to the broadcast, a case was opened against her in the Diyarbakir criminal court, under the pretext that she was creating “propaganda for support of the militant organisation”. A sentence of up to 5 years has been requested under article 7/2 of the Contestation against Terror Act.

• Our Correspondent Mehmet Ali Ertas was prevented by police from attending a meeting organized by the Prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sanliurfa, under the justification that it was a ‘private decision’. Not only was Ertas prevented from observing the meeting, but also from being in the vicinity of where the meeting was being held.

• Within the two years as our Siirt correspondent, Musa Aksara, has been; taken into custody 15 times, his house raided once, and beaten, assaulted and threatened in the street many times. Aksara has submitted complaints to the IHD approximately 10 times, and brought prosecution claims against the police and JITEM approximately 5 times.

• Our Correspondent Rustu Demirkaya was taken into custody and held for one day before being released, after observing a press release held by the Democratic Peoples Platform to protest the killing of 2 TIKKO members in the rural regions of Tunceli.
Demirkaya was arrested in June 2006 following the surrender and confession on Engin Korumcu in the rural regions of Geyiksuyu. He was held in an E-type prison in Malatya for almost 7 months before being discharged. He is currently on trial in the Malatya Criminal Court and awaiting a sentencing of 5-10 years in prison, for the alleged crime of ‘aiding and harbouring militants’.

Additionally, our correspondents, Rustu Demirkaya and Kadir Ozbek were taken into custody after following the committee that took Er Coskun Kirandi after his capture by the HPG in 2005. Demirkaya and Ozbek were released after 2 days, but were prosecuted for ‘militant propaganda’. The trial was acquitted.

The other case brought against Demirkaya was following his news report on an alleged defrauding of a bus company by the Tunceli Gendarme Regiment Colonel Namik Dursun. Demirkaya was held in custody for one day and fined 1,500YTL for ‘insulting through the presses. The decision has been adjourned due to an appeal.

Another case was opened against Demirkaya under the pretext that he had ‘insulted the authority of the military’, following his report of the seizing of the Tunceli Sutluce villgers’ housing by the military in 2005. Demirkaya was taken into custody following his contribution to a ROJ TV broadcast via telephone in 2007. He was released after one day, and a case opened up against him for the crimes of ‘militant propaganda’ and ‘activity in the name of militant groups’.

In February 2008, Demirkaya was threatened by police because he was taking pictures of the views of the city centre. He has previously received numerous threats whilst trying to carry out his duties as a journalist.

Demirkaya became the victim of an attack by the Il Gendarme Commander Chief of Staff, Colonel Namik Dursun, after an incident broke out following the raiding of the Tunceli Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Association in 2006. Nothing has been investigated or officially processed in regards to the matter despite the crime reports that has been issued. Demirkaya has been prevented from news investigations by Namik Dursun many times within that year, and other police officers and journalists have been threatened for merely talking to him.

• Police prevented the Izmir Kadifekale region’s Newroz celebrations. Our correspondent, Ayse Oyman, was assaulted during this prevention. She was also prevented from recording the incident.

• The Varto region’s gendarme commander, leitenant G.G and seargeant, A.S., visited the offices of the owner of GimGim newspaper and our correspondent Murat Aydin. They were told to “watch out at night” as a threat by the commanders.

• Our correspondent, Metin Inan was assaulted by police after watching news reports on a group who were protesting the health condition of the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Gulbahce the Seyhan region of Adana.

• A case has been filed against reporter, Rojda Kizgin, under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), following the publication of the headline; “the protectors are fishing with government bombs”.
• Another case was filed against Rojda Kizgin following her report about the rape victim, N.S, in Bingol.

• Our Izmir correspondent, Mustafa Aydin, was taken into custody on the 21st March 2008 after investigating a news report. He was released after 2 daysfollowing a decision by the Izmir Criminal Court.

• Ozlem Akin and Metin Inan were taken into custody following their observation of a number of mayors visiting a demonstation tent, set up to protest the arrest of the Adana Yakapinar region Mayor, Osman Keser.

• Our correspondents were removed from the vicinity of an AK party election meeting held in Diyarnakir.

• Our Batman and Siirt correspondents were not allowed to join the official governorship programs that included the prime minister or anyone of ministerial positions.

• Our Izmir correspondent, Ayse Oyman, was teken into custody in February 2007, following a news investigation. A case has been filed against her, which is still pending.

• An investigation has begun on our correspondent, Erdogan Altan, following his news reports.

• The Van Republic Attorney has begun an investigation on our Van correspondents, Oktay Candemir and Ercan Oksuz, following a report they published in the Azadiya Welat newspaper on the 22nd September 2007 titled; “the Zilan genocide lives on”.

• In 2005, our correspondent, Vedat Kursun, was taken into custody and arrested after watching the human shield created in the Kato mountain in Hakkari, in order to stop the TSK covert operations against the HPG.

• After attending the funeral of the HPG member Mehmet Haymen, who died in the 3rd February clash that took place in the rural regions of Bingol, our correspondents; Veli Ay, Rüştü Demirkaya, Volkan Bora and Kerem Çelik were returning to the office when they were taken into custody on the 18th February. They were later released.

• Our correspondents, Asmin Deniz and Ubeydullah Hakan were taken into custody following “a complaint having been made” about them, upon their return from a news investigation in Bingol on the 28th November 2007. Copies of their recordings along with their statements, were taken, upon which they were released.

OUR IMPRISONED CORRESPONDENTS

Following the 19th of April 2007 raid on the Mersin office of the Gundem newspaper, our corrspondents, Ali Bulus and Mehmet Karaaslan were taken into custody and arrested. They were not brought before a judge for 8 months. They were held in an E-type prison after being accused of being ‘members of a militant group’, and ‘producing militant propaganda’. The prosecutor in the trial requested a sentence of ten years for each of them, and were charged for being members of a militant group.

Our correspondent, Faysal Tunc, was taken into custody following an ID control at a checkpoint on his way to Sirnak from the Eruh region of Siirt. Whereas our correspondent, Behdin Tunc, was taken into custody on his way to Sirnak following and ID control in Idil, after returning from amarch that had taken place in the village of Omerli (Amara). Our correspondents are currently being held in Diyarbakir, and are on trial at the Diyarbakir criminal court for ‘knowingly and willingly aiding an illegal organization’.

They could face up to ten years in prison.

• A warrant of arrest was issued against our correspondent, Murat Kolca, by default for not giving a statement for a case against him in the Izmir criminal court. Kolca was arrested in Sanliurfa by the Asliye Criminal Court on thw 20th January 2008, and is sill in prison in Izmir.

• *Our Malatya correspondent, Ersin Celik, was taken into custody and later arrested, after statements made by a confessor, in Diyarbakir on the 2nd April 2008. Celik is still in Malatya E-type prison.

• Our Corrsepondent, Mehmet Ali Ertas was taken into custody after watching the demonstrations against the Newroz incidents in Van, Hakkari and Yuksekova. Ertas was arrested in Mersin Criminal Court following the charges of ‘falsifying evidence’and danger of escape, being brought against him.

• Our Van correspondent, Siddik Guler was taken into custody on the 4th April 2008 because of an investigation against her, following her presence in Hakkari for a news investigation. An arrest decision was made under articles 250, 94 and 98 in the Hakkari Republic attorney generalship.

• Our Sirnak correspondent, Haydar Haykir, was taken into custody on the 8th January 2008 in the Cizre region of Sirnak. On the 12th January, he was arrested and sent to the Batman H-type prison.

EQUIPMENT THAT WAS SEIZED AND NOT RETURNED

MERSİN 4 computers, 2 cameras, 2 video cameras
DİYARBAKIR 1 video camera, 1 camera
ŞIRNAK 1 computer hard rive, camera and video camera
BATMAN 1 video camera
MALATYA 1 laptop, 1 camera
VAN 1 video camera,1 camera
(Kurdish Info-DIHA, August 3, 2008)

If the truth about Turkey is not permitted to be published within Turkey, how likely is the truth about Turkey going to be published without? When has any Western news agency reported on the total restriction of the press in Turkey, or on the total blackout of news from Turkish-occupied Kurdistan? How is any so-called "democratic" process or pacifist means going to work to end the repression?

Do we need to go into Turkey's history of "disappearing", shooting, or beating to death those journalists who write the truth, or the bombing by the Ankara regime of those newspaper offices that publish the truth?

Of course, if all of this had happened to Palestinians . . .

TUMBLING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

"I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?"
~ Morpheus, The Matrix.

Having reviewed a number of news links from last week on the Ergenekon case, I decided that the one to devote time to, was the one by Taraf's Yasemin Çongar, from 30 July, titled: "Deniz Baykal is also in Ergenekon's schema".

Taraf created a stir earlier this summer when it published the details of TSK's "Information Support Activity Plan". A few days after the news broke, Yasemin Çongar gave a summarized explanation of the plan in an interview with Spiegel Online. Taraf also broke the news about TSK's blundering of the Dağlıca raid, as discussed at Azadixwaz. Then there was the revelation in Taraf that Turkish constitutional court judge Osman Paksüt held several secret meetings with very-soon-to-be chief of the Turkish general staff, İlker Başbuğ. Paksüt was one of the judges hearing the for-show-only AKP closure case.

Taraf has been doing what journalists are supposed to be doing, exposing the ugly underbelly of political machinery. That's one big reason why I chose to work on Çongar's discussion of the CHP chairman's name in the Ergenekon lists.

Much has been made in the last few weeks in the Turkish media about alleged links between PKK and Öcalan and the Ergenekon gang; however, aside from an Ergenekon plan called "The Antidote", linked to Veli Küçük and, in the indictment (first part, pages 120-121), also linked to Ümit Oğuztan, there is no other mention of Abdullah Öcalan, in the first part of the indictment. "The Antidote" was a scheme by Ergenekon to take over control of the PKK through Öcalan, although the time frame involved here appears to be since Öcalan's incarceration at Imralı. There is no evidence presented in the indictment that "The Antidote" was carried out. Linked to the information on "The Antidote", is more information from a now deceased Ergenekon member, Kuddusi Okkır, that Ergenekon had other plans consistent with "The Antidote" in every way except for the mention of Öcalan or PKK. The consistency according to these plans was that Ergenekon envisioned "seeding" all kinds of state organizations--"from the Army to MİT, from the police to the Diyanet, from the judiciary to the state . . . "--and thereby takeover the TC.

Let me reiterate: There was only one of these plans, "The Antidote", that mentioned PKK as a target of Ergenekon "seeding," and there is no mention of evidence showing that any kind of "seeding" was actually carried out within PKK or with Öcalan. If there were a concrete cooperation between Ergenekon and PKK, as Turkish media asserts, then why would Veli Küçük need to covertly attempt to create a "linkage" with PKK by sending spies to take over the organization or gain Öcalan's consent for such a scheme? Cooperation is between two willing parties, but to have to create "linkage", as mentioned in the indictment, indicates that there is resistance to any cooperation on the part of the PKK.

The one hard piece of evidence cited is a very old, widely published photo of Serok Apo with Doğu Perinçek, the chairman of the Workers' Party, who has been indicted as an Ergenekon member. An old article of Perinçek's from 1995, in which he describes what should be the Workers' Party approach to the Kurdish situation is also available online. However, the fact that the photo of Öcalan and Perinçek was widely published proves nothing of a PKK link to Ergenekon. If anyone wants to go down that road, they will have to link Mehmet Ali Birand, Nazlı Ilıcak, Cengiz Çandar, Ahmet Altan, and Yasemin Çongar herself, among others, with the Ergenekon lists because all of them have interviewed either Öcalan or members of KCK's executive council at one time or another. But those people are not named in the lists. If they were, Yasemin Çongar would have found her name in the lists, along with the other famous Taraf journalist, Ahmet Altan, and she would have written her own defense instead of raising questions about Deniz Baykal's place on the list.

It would appear, however, that the lies surrounding the issue of "The Antidote" stem from Tuncay Güney, a one-time, small-time journalist in whose possession the original Ergenekon documents were found in 2001. Güney has been linked to Fethullah Gülen and Gülen's Samanyolu TV. Güney claims to have brought the photos of Öcalan and Perinçek to MİT. He claims to have taken a bribe of $15,000 to PKK in order not to shut down Gülen's schools in Hewler, although how PKK would have had any control over anything in Hewler is a huge question. Perhaps the KDP took the bribe by introducing themselves as PKK members? Güney also claıms to have delivered money from Fethullah Gülen to ultra-fascist Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu so that he could establish the BBP.

Zaman has some additional weird tidbits about Güney:

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Yeni Şafak daily, Tuncay Güney, a former journalist whose ties with various secret services, both domestic and international, have been documented, stated that Kurdish separatist terrorism would come to an end if the Ergenekon gang wanted that to happen. Güney, who now lives in Canada and works as a rabbi, has suspected ties to the group. Güney came to prominence when the first documents related to the Ergenekon gang were seized on his computer in a 2001 police raid.

Güney, currently a rabbi at the Jacobs House Jewish Community Center in Toronto, praised Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz for having “done a great job” so far in the investigation, although he expressed doubts that the operation would be very successful in the end. “However, they are very close to the end and I think it is very difficult moving on further from this point. There is no power in Turkey that can stop Ergenekon,” he said, expressing doubts that the investigation will bring about the collapse of the crime group.

A check of YouTube reveals that Güney does, in fact, appear to be a member of an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto, although he now denies any connection with Fethullah Gülen, as his appearance on Mehmet Ali Birand's 32. Gün indicates. If the first Ergenekon documents were found in Güney's possession, why has he not been indicted? Did he cut a deal and, if so, what kind of deal was it? Is his life now, in an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto some kind of strange "witness protection" program?

Furthermore, during the 1990s, many who were named in Ergenekon's indictment were holding meetings with PKK and presenting themselves as active representatives of the TC, and PKK tried to negotiate with them in good faith with that representation. These meetings were held in order to reach a solution to the Kurdish situation, as discussed earlier this week on Özgür Gündem. As ÖG points out throughout the article, such meetings were publicized by the media forerunners of ÖG. It is impossible to blame PKK for having a connection with those people as members of a covert "terrorist" organization, when PKK accepted them as authentic representatives of government holding the power to carry out sincere negotiations, and that's with an authenticity that those people themselves presented as legitimate.

Finally, the almost 2,500-page Ergenekon indictment has been released to the public, Word document here or at Hürriyet. If there were a concrete relationship between Öcalan or the PKK, and Ergenekon, there would be plenty of ammunition to fill pages and pages of daily publications and hours and hours of broadcast airtime. But there is nothing . . . except an old photo that, for years before anyone knew the name "Ergenekon", has been widely available to anyone who can search Google, and a plan, unimplemented, called "The Antidote".

Instead, here is a summary of the indictment contents by Nabi Yağcı at TDN:

Although I wrote repeatedly that I had no doubts about some coup preparations, frankly I was not expecting such a loaded Ergenkon indictment and that the prosecutors can dare a thorough investigation. I think that's why the indictment caused a “shock” in the press. We had already heard so many matters, relations or incidents long before the indictment was publicly announced. But still, this indictment is shocking not because of its being an in-depth examination or not because of the well-known personas involved in this suit.

[ . . . ]

In short, my first impression of the indictment was first of all that the likelihood of a coup was so high, and secondly I was struck by its content. There are clear signs about the Susurluk and Şemdinli incidents. Although the indictment does not directly include the murders by unknown perpetrators in the Southeast, they were pointed out too. We see that some of the Ergenekon leaders are trained for operations against Kurds in the Southeast. This will be extremely important in the public eye. The indictment reaches the murders of Hrant Dink, Necip Hablemitoğlu and Uğur Mumcu, the Council of State attack, and even Cyprus.

Again, no mention of cooperation between Öcalan or PKK and Ergenekon.

Now, on to Yasemin Çongar's editorial piece, from Taraf:

Deniz Baykal Is Also in Ergenekon's Schema


Previously, we had written an article headlined in Taraf.

One part of the article, written on 11 July 2008, was as follows:

************

"It was about five years ago.

"The Turkish National Intelligence agency (MİT) sent a top secret report to the Prime Ministry.

"The topic was Ergenekon.

"MİT's document included the Ergenekon gang's schema, and this organization's investigation was requested.

"In the organization's schema, dated 2003, there were politicians', businessmen's, and journalists' names [listed] as Ergenekon members.

"Among the politicians, a party's chairman's name grabs attention.

"In the gang's list of journalists, a general editor of a big news daily, its Ankara representative, and a very popular journalist are listed.

"Among Ergenekon's businessmen, there were [listed] both industrialists and media bosses, too.

"It cannot be proof that those people on the Ergenekon lists were doing anything for Ergenekon, either consciously or unconsciously.

"But, it shows this:

"A series of names who are active today in politics, business, and media, were reported by MİT to the Prime Ministry that they might have a relationship with Ergenekon and should be investigated.

"MİT collected intelligence about Ergenekon, which is thought of as a "legend" by some people, conveyed this suspicion and intelligence, to the Prime Ministry with the emphasis that it should be investigated.

"I'm not going to write the names, in order not to implicate anyone.

"I will just let it go at this: the Prime Ministry conveyed this document on 2 July 2008 to the people who are responsible for the investigation of Ergenekon."

************

It was reflected in the indictment like this

Two weeks after the publication of this article [referring to the schema article above], and the headline in Taraf as "MİT has Ergenekon's organizational schema", the Ergenekon indictment was released.

On pages 49 and 50 of the indictment, the information which Taraf published was evaluated under the title, "MİT Undersecretariat's Report Regarding the Ergenekon Terrorist Organization".

In short, the MİT Undersecretariat presented this document, the information for which was received by an unknown source in 2002, and is considered as a booklet that contained information characteristic of an indictment, first, in 2003, to the General Staff, then to the Prime Ministry, and a summary of the study was sent to the Prime Ministry and General Staff again in 2006, as stated by the Ergenekon indictment.

The indictment, in this same section, gives a large quotation from a writing that was sent in 2003 from MİT to the Prime Ministry.

In this quote, under "Conclusions", MİT's evaluation is quoted as follows:

"Based on current information, though we are not certain, we have the impression that the works that are being implemented using the name "Ergenekon" are the endavours for organizing a group which targets "state/regime" for their own benefits."

"However, the information came about in an indictment form from various sources that are parallel and consistent with each other, gives meaning that is more than gossip, and it indicates the signs of a directed and organized activity.

"For this reason, the current information about the [indicates that the] subject aims to gain control over civilian will covertly, and the creation of a new administration with a new formation under the directed control of cadres of people who have a military origin, using some non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and political parties as well as the media."

The related part in the indictment concludes as "Ergenekon is identified as an illegal organization by MİT Undersecretariat itself and this has been recorded with an official report".

The names that MİT conveyed

Yesterday, we discussed CHP chairman Deniz Baykal's group speech in Taraf's editorial section.

He seemed like a "deep" attorney; he had a shallow defense.

He was targetting the Ergenekon prosecutors directly; he was belittling the indictment.

In one part of his speech, he used this ironic phrase: "According to the indictment, Ergenekon has a long history; however, MİT is unaware of this."

Actually Baykal's words were no different than the other volunteer gang attorneys' writings, who try to blacken the Ergenekon case.

Again, we had a hard time understanding the intention of his words, [coming from someone] whom we know as a pro-state party leader, which seemed to support an organization that the state's MİT and several more state departments, including TSK, think it would be beneficial to investigate this organization.

We thought Baykal was defending not the state, but the "Deep State".

With this thought, today while preparing our first page of the newspaper, we learned that the MİT report that I wrote an article about on 11 July, would be among the annexes of the Ergenekon indictment, which would be released on 1 August.

We remembered that among the politicians linked to the organization, the political party leader Deniz Baykal existed in the schemas of the annexes of the mentioned document [the report from MİT] in 2003, named "Ergenekon".

We don't know whether Baykal or the people listed in the MİT document that will be released on Friday, have any link with Ergenekon.

However, as I mentioned on 11 July, all we can say is "it is reported from MİT to the Prime Ministry that today there are names that are active in the political arena, business, and media, that might be linked to Ergenekon".

Based on the details in the indictment, we learn that this claim might have been conveyed to MİT by an unknown source.

Maybe this claim is not true, but it is obvious that MİT felt compelled to report this schema to the Prime Ministry in 2003.

In addition, a summary of the study was resent to the Prime Ministry in 2006; the General Staff also received the same reports in 2003 and 2006.

Inevitably, one gets curious:

What did the Ergenekon prosecutors, who are aware of these reports, the schemas, the lists of names, think about Deniz Baykal's severe criticism against them?

And I wonder whether or not Baykal knew there were documents about his links with Ergenekon, when he first started acting like Ergenekon's attorney?

And I wonder why the first Ergenekon documents were found in 2001, another anonymous source gave information in 2002, MİT notified Erdoğan and the TSK in 2003 and again in 2006, and nothing was acted upon until 2008? I wonder why the Ergenekon investigation only began in earnest in July 2007, with the discovery of Ergenekon's weapons cache in Istanbul Ümraniye, during the same month as the last general elections and two months after the May 2007 Dolmabahçe Deal between Erdoğan and Büyükanıt? I wonder why only those well-known as Deep Staters have been indicted and not the entire, active organization?

And I wonder how deep the rabbit hole really goes?