TURKEY BROADCASTING "UNKNOWN LANGUAGE", PUBLISHING FORBIDDEN LETTERS

"I was slapped because I spoke Kurdish – I couldn’t even speak Turkish!"
~ Mehmed Uzun, speaking about his first day at school.

Hevallo is ending the year with a bit of absurdity and so will I. Somehow, it seems a fitting ending.

The bit of absurdity we're both referring to is TRT 6 or, as they call it in North Kurdistan, Korucu TV.

First of all, let's remember that Korucu TV (TRT 6) is illegal according to Turkish broadcasting law as laid out by the RTÜK (High Commission for Radio and Television). From Bianet:

“If the ruling party wants to make a contribution that promotes the freedoms then it should revise the article in the Constitution that regulates broadcasting in local languages.”

Ahmet Birsin, broadcasting coordinator for the “Gün Radio-TV”, thinks that forming a Kurdish TV channel in the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), TRT 6, is an investment by the government for the coming elections.

According to the regulations of the Supreme Council of the Radio and Television (RTÜK), the TV channels can broadcast in local languages only four hours a day and they need to have subtitles in Turkish. Birsin told bianet that the TRT 6 is planning to broadcast in Kurdish 24 hours a day and there were no subtitles in the test broadcasting. He thinks that if they are not going to revise the law and thus the regulations, then this will mean no positive contribution for the private channels that broadcast in Kurdish.

Not only is there a restriction on the amount of hours per week that local-language programming may be aired, but educational programming that teaches Kurdish language is forbidden (here, p. 22). These rules date back, at least, to 2003. In addition to the absurdity of Kurdish language being used illegally by the state on Korucu TV (TRT 6), we also have the absurdity of the same Kurdish language being referred to as an "unknown language" by the TBMM:

The Democratic Society Party, or DTP, submitted a motion to Parliament on Friday in relation to the incident that Kurdish was defined in parliamentary records as an "unknown language."

[ . . . ]

"Are there categories as known and unknown languages in our legislation? If there are, what is the legal base for this? What is meant by unknown language? " DTP Şırnak deputy Hasip Kaplan asked Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan. "You know that Azerbaijan President İlham Aliyev’s speech, which he delivered in the Parliament’s General Assembly, was recorded in Azerbeijani dialect. Taking into consideration two different approaches toward Kurdish and Azerbaijani languages, do you not think that rather than constitutional Turkish identity, ethnic Turkish identity is given priority?" he asked.

Özgür Gündem has taken notice of the absurdity, too:

Kurdish is banned for Kurds but free for the state

In Turkey, according to law, the letters W, Q and X are on the banned letter list. While on bayram celebration days primarily DTP mayors and thousands of people were punished for using these letters in greeting cards and signs on the streets, PM Erdoğan violated this law by giving a statement to TRT's Kurdish channel.

There is no ban on Mehmetçik-media

PM Erdoğan's video message to TRT 6, which will broadcast in Kurdish, said "TRT 6 bi xer be", came out on most of the Turkish dailies' front pages. While most of the newspapers picked the Kurdish phrase for their headlines, this recalls the Kurdish boy called Welat, who was not allowed to enter Turkey at Atatürk Airport because of the first letter of his name. However, according to officials and laws, the letters W, Q, and X are still banned. In several places because these letters are considered as "organization propaganda" [i.e. the big bad PKK], thousands of people faced penalties. For putting greeting message signs on the streets, primarily the DTP mayors and several people's cases are still ongoing in the courts.

Newspapers' "unknown language" mistakes

Another important point in today's dailies is the usage of the letters. To the extent the two big newspapers of the Doğan Group put the same headline with an extra X. While the Star newspaper came out with the headline of "TRT şeş bi xêr be". Radikal came out with the headline, "TRT Şeş bi xwêr be" Both, however, were written incorrectly. Primarily Sabah, Milliyet, Hürriyet, Taraf, Akşam, Zaman, and all the other dailies had such mistakes in addition to violating the law by using the banned letters. Despite the prime minister and newspapers violating the law, in the birth registration departments, the names which include such letters are still not being registered and the parents cannot give the names they want to their children.

I also found Hürriyet's English translation of "bi xêr be" amusing:

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan recorded his message to be broadcast on TRT 6 in Turkish and then in Kurdish said, "TRT Şeş bi xw?r be" (Let TRT 6 be beneficial).

It looks like they're translating literally.

And, while Ahmet Birsin, quoted in the Bianet article above, believes, with reason, that Korucu TV is a campaign tactic for the AKP, I have no doubt that it is also an attempt to steal viewership away from Roj TV:

Analysts say the state-run news channel is aimed at taking viewers from the Kurdish Roj TV, a satellite station based in Belgium that is popular with many of the country's estimated 14 million Kurds but has angered Turkey for broadcasting statements by rebel commanders.

[ . . . ]

Turkey is seeking to weaken the rebels who have criticized the government for a lack of broadcasts in the Kurdish language, said Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst based at the Economic Policy Research Institute in Ankara and an expert on the rebel group.

"Turkey is changing its policy on Kurdish language broadcasts to cut support to the rebels and create an alternative to the Roj TV," said Ozcan.

Turkey is not changing its policy; it's just running Korucu TV illegally. And good luck with stealing viewers from Roj TV; it's going to be very hard to pull viewers away from news about the activities of their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, nephews, nieces, and cousins in the mountains. With all the atrocities committed against the Kurdish people by the AKP government in the last six years, and the reception Katil Erdoğan received recently in The Southeast, let's hope Korucu TV is a huge campaign fail for AKP.

By the way, Happy New Year to Rastî readers and the other Kurdish bloggers out there.

Ser Sala Hewe Pîroz Bît û Yeni Yılınız Kutlu Olsun!

TURKEY: HITLER JUSTIFIED

"Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves."
~ Author Unknown.

Mmm hmmm . . . AKP parliamentary deputies are "outraged" and "horrified" about Israel's ongoing bombing of Gaza. Speaker of the TBMM, Köksal Toptan said:

"I should also state that we have been horrified to hear statements that these kinds of attacks will continue. That's why attacks should be immediately halted, and the entire world, particularly the UN Security Council, should find a clear and quick path toward making this happen."

Oh, yeah, well naturally he'd say that since Turkey is a temporary member of the UN National Security Council.

AKP and MHP parliamentarians are also withdrawing from the TBMM's Turkish-Israeli friendship group because they are suddenly concerned about shaking "bloody hands". That's a good one. Even richer is Erdoğan's concern that Israeli actions constitute a "crime against humanity"--this from the same son of a bitch who gave the green light for TSK to shoot Kurdish women and children indiscriminately during the Amed Serhildan, claimed that assimilation was a "crime against humanity" during a visit to Germany, and did absolutely nothing while his security forces beat Kurdish women and children during Newroz earlier this year.

In an opinion piece titled, "The aircraft that bomb Gaza train in Konya" Nuh Gönültaş at Bugün, reports that the Turkish public is saying Hitler was justified . At the end of the piece, Gönültaş asks:

"What does it mean for Turkey to make [military] deals with Israel and then oppose Israel for the things it's doing to Palestinians?"

Oooohh . . . Gönültaş hits the bullseye. The Israeli air force has been training at Konya since 2001, but the Turkish-Israeli military alliance goes back to the mid-1990s when the Clean Break Strategy was first proposed to the Netanyahu government by the American neocons. By 1996, the first cooperative military moves were made between Israel and Turkey:

The first agreement on military cooperation was signed, amid the utmost secrecy, on 23 February, 1996, in Tel Aviv by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Çevik Bir and the leadership of the Israeli Defense Ministry. For the first time in the history of relations between the two countries, it provided for interaction of their armed forces in implementing military training programs; joint land, naval, and air maneuvers; creation of a joint group on military-strategic studies; training flights by Turkish aircraft in the Israeli air space and Israeli aircraft in the Turkish air space; briefing of Turkish pilots; and intelligence sharing, especially in combating terrorism (in particular, joint monitoring on the borders with Syria, Iran, and Iraq). Furthermore, Israel pledged to help Turkey in modernizing and beefing up its borders with these three countries to protect it against Kurdish insurgents.

Robert Fisk has more:

Professor Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, first revealed the extent of Turkish-Israeli co-operation in a remarkable - but largely unpublicised - lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington five months ago. He spoke only vaguely of the joint listening posts on the Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian borders but described them as "an important facet of our intelligence gathering capability". There was also, Professor Inbar added, "co-operation on terror".

The alliance was a Turkish idea, initiated in 1997 when the Turkish air force commander arrived without warning to see the Israeli ambassador in Ankara with the words - according to Professor Inbar - "we want to invite the Israeli chief of the air force to come to Turkey to visit". It wasn't all plain sailing. When the Turkish navy paid its first official visit to the Israeli port of Haifa last year, the Israelis had not bothered to send a naval representative to meet it; and Turkish officers were astounded when the Israeli harbourmaster refused to let their ships into port unless they agreed to pay harbour dues.

But Israeli planes are now training in Turkey, using Turkish bombing ranges, just as Turkish pilots are now flying in the skies over Israel. The Americans chair a regular meeting of Turkish and Israeli intelligence officers in Tel Aviv and on at least one occasion last year a Jordanian officer was also present. If Jordan's new King Abdullah was to upgrade this relationship, it would further isolate Syria. Mr Netanyahu's government has long believed - wrongly - that President Assad can be blackmailed into making peace without handing back the occupied Golan Heights if Syria was sufficiently intimidated.

And he goes on to explain more about the realities of the Israeli-Turkish relationship:

Back in 1982, Turkey condemned Israel's invasion of Lebanon as aggression until Israel furnished Turkey with intelligence files on the Armenian ASALA extremist group. Much to Turkey's delight, Mr Ocalan's PKK are always referred to by the Israelis as "terrorists"; Israel has expressed sympathy for Iraqi Kurds - but never for the millions of Kurds who live under Turkish military oppression. Israel supports only a limited form of autonomy for the Kurds of Iraq; which is not surprising since that is precisely the limited freedoms it wishes to give the Palestinians.

Now it's ironic that Erdoğan's government, which plays the Eternal Victim so well in order to drum up international support for it's severe repression of Kurds via the Big Lie which labels the Kurds of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan and their only defenders, the PKK, as "terrorists" because Erdoğan's government paid host to HAMAS' leadership in Ankara in early 2006. It's ironic because HAMAS is clearly a member of that exclusive club known as The List. Yes, it's ironic because it's the same List that Turkey always refers to in its 30-year-long losing war against Kurdish freedom fighters.

Well, it's either irony or hypocrisy and I guess it doesn't matter too much that HAMAS was elected by the Palestinians because we all know that democracy itself is merely a media event. A fantasy. Another Big Lie.

Of course, Turkish concern for Gaza is, like most things in Turkey: a show. Money is going to continue to pass under the table. Turkey and Israel will continue their joint military training and cooperation because they are integral components of the US military-industrial-congressional complex. So there's nothing to see here, folks. Move along, move along.

Meanwhile, the Turkish air force continues to bomb civilian areas of South Kurdistan, thus creating the de facto buffer zone for which both the paşas and the AKP so desperately lust--and screw Iraqi territorial sovereignty.

INTERVIEW WITH PKK AT TARAF

"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, 1999.

Taraf has an interview with a committee member from PKK's Foreign Relations Committee, Ahmet Deniz. From Taraf:

"Without PKK there will be no permanent solution"


PKK Foreign Relations Committee member Ahmet Deniz, who evaluated the recent issues related to the Kurdish question for Taraf, stated that there will be no possibility for a permanent peace without PKK and he said the unilateral ceasefire is still de facto in effect.

PKK Foreign Relations Committee member Ahmet Deniz evaluated the issues about disarming PKK and a solution for the Kurdish question for Taraf. Deniz said that for a permanent solution to the Kurdish question, PKK must be recognized as the party to engage in talks. Mentioning that the unilateral ceasefire is still in effect, Deniz said, "We want a happy, honorable peace."

A ceasefire contribution to a solution without PKK

Ahmet Deniz noted that they [PKK] are watching very carefully improvements that are without PKK's involvement, and that neither the KRG nor Turkey had contacted them officially yet; however, they keep in touch with some close friends in the KRG on various subjects for an exchange of ideas.

Deniz said they are watching closely the conference that may be held by various Kurdish groups; however he believes the conference will not contribute to a solution if PKK does not attend.

Deniz mentioned that in order to contribute to a peace process, PKK continues its unilateral ceasefire that was declared on the last kurban (Kurban Bayramı) and that it did not change its defense position.

Laying down arms is easy

Remarking on the meaninglessness of a demand for PKK to lay down arms without taking any step, Deniz said, "If it gets to that point, laying down arms is a pretty easy job." Underscoring the necessity of an honorable peace for themselves, Deniz said, "In this perspective, Mr. Talabanî's words are very important. We want to see the sincerity of steps taken and want to believe that there is no trick in them. As a goodwill gesture, we continue to maintain the unilateral ceasefire that we have declared to the public. Despite this, the process is moving very slowly."

We are not imposing

For the solution of the problem Deniz said they are avoiding an imposition, however the state must not be indifferent. "At this point, Abdullah Öcalan's attitude is clear. We are followers of this attitude. Let the state take one step toward us and we are ready to take two. The state must not ignore us, its citizens. While there is such a straight and easy way it is not good for the state to go to others for a solution. We say that we are going to evaluate any demand anyway.. Why don't they listen to us?"

An honorable peace

Noting that the Kurdish people want an honorable peace, Ahmet Deniz said, "We want a happy and honorable peace. It is very important for us not to damage our honor. Everyone must learn a lesson from previous mistakes. While getting so close to a solution, while catching such a good chance, Deniz mentions the necessity of taking advantage of this. "We only want the coming suggestions to be just, realistic and genuine," said Deniz. Stressing that they are realize the problem cannot be solved with methods involving violence, Deniz said weapons must be mutually silenced.

Ahmet Deniz stated that in the coming days, one of the PKK leaders, Murat Karayilan, will have a comprehensive explanation regarding recent improvements.

TESEV report is positive

PKK Foreign Relations Committee member Ahmet Deniz said they believe the report that was prepared by TESEV, titled, "A Roadmap for the Solution of the Kurdish Question: Suggestions from the Region to the Government," will contribute to the solution of the Kurdish question. He said, "We support such studies; we consider the report that voiced the people's demands as a goodwill gesture and want the state to hear this study." Emphasizing that, on this issue, NGO's and elites have very important roles, Deniz said, "Reports like TESEV's last report may affect seriously the way leading to a solution to the problem."

Barzanî: Kurds will not shed Kurds' blood

Mentioning Turkey's attitude change toward KRG, Mesûd Barzanî said, "With the exception of war, we are ready to support all kinds of peaceful solutions." Barzanî said they will not allow the shedding of the blood of Kurds by Kurdish hands. Barzanî, after a meeting with his advisors, said, "Turkey changed its attitude toward the Kurdish government and Kurdish region. Turkey and Kurds moving close is on the agenda. I hope the relationship improves in a way that favors mutual benefit for the two parties." Referring to a conference that will be held by the Kurdish parties in Northern Iraq, Barzanî said they will endeavor to have a common policy after this conference. Citing the necessity of defending constitutional gains, Barzanî said, "We want a democratic, federal Iraq."

Well . . . I wonder how long it will be before the paşas and lapdog Turkish parties are on Taraf's case for this? I mean, it's not every Turkish daily that will publish something like this and there's no Turkish daily that will get away with it for long.

By the way, I had mentioned in an earlier post that Taraf was having problems generating the revenue needed to conduct their daily operations because of a lack of businesses willing to advertise in the paper. At the time, someone had commented if there were a way to help Taraf "stay open and running", although I did not see the comment until much later.

As a reply, I would say that if anyone wants to help Taraf, send one of their writers an email and ask them what they need. If you can only communicate in English, I suggest an email to Yasemin Çongar.

KURDISTAN LOSES A FRIEND

It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals.
~ Norbert Capek.

The Kurdish people lost a friend on Wednesday. Harold Pinter, nobel laureate, passed away at the age of 78. Hevallo memorializes Pinter with a reminder of Pinter's reaction to the capture of Öcalan.

I would like to point out a story I found about Pinter and his confrontation with a US ambassador to Turkey:

In March 1985, Pinter and American playwright Arthur Miller went to Turkey to express solidarity with dissident writers, many of whom were imprisoned.

[ . . . ]

Then they went to the capital, Ankara. They asked for meetings with several government ministers, including Prime Minister Özal, but were refused.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Strausz-Hupé, an arch conservative Ronald Reagan political appointee, hosted a dinner for them. The 30 guests at a long table in the ambassador’s residence ran the gamut of Turkish society: journalists, members of parliament, a doctor who was a leading human rights activist, some dissidents, the French ambassador, someone from the Turkish foreign ministry.

Erdal Inönu was there as the leader of the social democratic opposition. As a graduate student at Caltech, in Pasadena, California, Inonu had gone to Los Angeles to see “Death of a Salesman,” and was very pleased to sit near Miller. Nazli Ilicak, a conservative journalist who had been briefly jailed by the junta that ruled from 1980 to 83, was opposite Pinter.

Miller was a calm man; Pinter was somewhat emotional. Near the end of dinner, the rising sound of an argument between Pinter and Ilicak attracted everyone’s attention.

When Ilicak was in prison, common prisoners there told her of being tortured with electricity. She hadn’t believed such things went on before, but then she understood that there was torture in Turkey, not only for political prisoners. However, she was also viscerally anti-leftist.

“Mr. Pinter, this is none of your business,” she told the British playwright. “This is a Turkish problem and it is going to be solved by Turks. Turks have to remain and face the realities of their country. You come here and listen to what the leftists tell you and you can go home and put it all into a profitable play.”

Pinter shouted his reply: “That is an insult and was meant as an insult and I throw it back in your face.”

When the dinner was over, Strausz-Hupé stood up, tapped his water glass, and made a short speech welcoming the distinguished playwrights and thanking his guests. He talked about the developing democracy in Turkey. He looked at Pinter, “This demonstrates that all viewpoints are welcome here. Here is democracy, right here, and we are proud of it. Imagine this happening in a communist country.”

Miller answered him: “I’m a playwright, so I observe people, and I must say what I see. That’s the only way to be successful in my field, and I must be truthful to what I see. What I see here is something reminiscent of an era I represented in one of my plays, “‘The Witches of Salem.’ In that play, I represented the state of affairs in a place in the states where the people in that city were taken in a sort of hysteria. They thought they had the right to punish people for their ideas, just to prevent them from doing bad things, to save them from devils. But essentially it was simply their ideas they were criticizing and this took the form of torture and crimes against other people, and it was a mass hysteria which lasted for some time.”

“And what I see now in Turkey is something similar to that event. The ruling regime in Turkey is suppressing people, is oppressing people for their ideas. This is clearly and certainly against democratic principles. If there is such a practice in a country, this country cannot be called democratic.”

Miller went on: “The ambassador gave the impression that democratic practices may change from country to country according to historical, cultural differences, but there are some principles without which a democracy cannot be called a democracy no matter in which country you are, and if you oppress people for their ideas, by putting them in prison, by torturing them, you can’t convince anyone there is democracy in that place. In Turkey I have seen that situation. I am sorry I must say this.”

Strausz-Hupé was quite taken aback by this speech. He replied, “Well, if I were occupying my university post as I was before I became ambassador, if I had that freedom, I would also engage in the analysis of the situation and I could prove to you that democratic practices may change from place to place.”

“In any case, I can tell you that there is democracy in Turkey still, because we are discussing these questions freely. You are criticizing Turkish practice freely, and you are not afraid you will be suddenly attacked and taken to the Politburo or the KGB, so at least you can make your criticism freely. But in any case, it’s better if I leave the floor to the Turkish politicians who can tell you better than I can of the situation in Turkey.”

He looked at Organ Soyzal, an MP from the ruling party, but Soyzal didn’t want to say anything.

Then Inonu interjected, “I would like to say some things. I am so happy to see Mr. Miller, a distinguished playwright I have always admired. Thank you for the frankness with which you expressed your observations. All the things you said were true.” He raised his glass and called on everyone to toast the visitors.

Then, they went to the sitting room for coffee.

“There can be lot of opinions about anything,” remarked Strausz-Hupé.

“Not if you’ve got an electric wire hooked to your testicles,” riposted Pinter.

Strausz-Hupé was furious: “Mr. Pinter, you are a guest in my house.”

Pinter concluded he was being thrown out. “I have insulted your ambassador and have been asked to go,” he told Miller. “We’d better get going.” They went off for a brandy with the French ambassador, Eric Rouleau, who had been a journalist for “Le Monde.”

[ . . . ]

Three years later, Pinter wrote “Mountain Language.” Based on the repression of Turkey’s Kurds – called “Mountain Turks” by the Turkish government which refused to recognize their ethnicity, the play describes a brutal society that forbids a minority of its population to speak its own language.

For the playwright, it was another act against political repression.

I have lived amidst eternity --
Be grateful, my soul --
My life was worth living.

Rest in peace, old friend.

PHOTOS FROM KURDISTAN

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

Our friends in the mountains have some new photos posted online from early December. Here's a sampling:










Heavy snowfall has blanketed North Kurdistan. Here are some photos from the region, from Radikal:

Bingöl

Erzurum

Erzurum

Erzurum

Muş

Van

Van

PUSHING THE LIMIT

"The policy of denial, assimilation and eradication has affected people. Only the Kurds resisted. They still resist."
~ Ahmet Türk.

Mmmm . . . It looks like there was yet another altercation in the TBMM between Turkey's only opposition party, the DTP, and everyone else, from the Armenian paper, Asbarez (Thanks to the heval who sent the link!):

A Turkish parliament member's request Sunday that the legislature apologize to Armenians for the “events of 1915” has caused an uproar in parliament, with members hurling personal insults at one another.

Democratic Society Party (DTP) member Osman Euzcelik (Osman Özcelik) brought the matter up during parliament's discussion of the education ministry budget and went on to recall the Armenian massacres by using the Kurdish word that describes Genocide.

He also said that he had heard stories about the Armenian killings as child growing up in Turkey and added that the killings were planned by the sultan of the Ottoman Empire and were carried out by groups called Hamiddiye, which also had Kurdish members.

Euzcelik likened the campaign to kill Armenians to the current campaign waged against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

“These groups killed a large number of Armenians. A lot of times they would line up the Armenians and shoot them in the chest. All Armenians of Martin were killed and some fled to Syria,” said Euzcelik, who added that his grandfather's family provided refuge for Genocide survivors.

Nevzad Pakdil, who was presiding over the parliament session, interrupted Euzcelik, blasting him for “insulting the society in which you live.”

Euzcelik said that he was apologizing to Armenians on his own behalf.

Pakdil intervened again attempting to stifle the parliament member. Members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) applauded the Pakdil while another DTP member, Surru Saken (Sırrı Sakık) directed his anger to Paktdil by saying, “Mr. Chairman, you represent the Marash district and you know full well the extent of the tragedy that unfolded there.”

This comment prompted a member of the AKP to walk toward DTP members and begin screaming at his fellow parliamentarians. Another parliament member intervened to stop what could have become a physical altercation.

“Should we not talk about the facts? There is not one Assyrian left,” screamed another DTP member during the commotion, which was followed by several DTP members leaving the parliament.

The unprecedented demonstration in Parliament came less one a week after 200 Turkish intellectuals launched an internet petition apologizing to the Armenians for what they called the "injustice" of the "Great Catastrophe" of 1915. The petition, which sparked controversy in Turkey, had garnered over 20,000 signatures by Monday, stirring a media storm on the topic and challenging long-held taboos on the Armenian Genocide. It has drawn the ire of Turkey's ultra nationalists, provoking also Turkey's powerful generals, former diplomats, the Foreign Minister, and the Prime Minister to denounce the campaign.

Asbarez also provides a link to a recent ANCA statement on the attempts to confront the Armenian Genocide in the TBMM.

And while we're on the subject, another non-event that has been going around Turkish media is the alleged scandal against AKP's Abdullah Gül by İzmir's CHP parliamentarian, Canan Arıtman. Apparently, she implied that Gül's mother was Armenian and the press has taken the news and run with it. This has cause considerable mental anguish for Gül, who is now suing Arıtman for 1YTL. From Bianet:

President Abdullah Gül filed a mental anguish lawsuit against Canan Arıtman, Izmir deputy for the People’s Republican Party (CHP), in the amount of 1 YTL (about 0.5 euro).

CHP deputy Arıtman had implied that President Gül’s mother was Armenian, when the President had made the comment about the campaign to apologize to the Armenians that ability to discuss every opinion is the policy of the state.

Arıtman had continued her comments after the reactions to her initial comments: “When some people agree with or support the claim that we committed the crime of genocide against the Armenians, the others would ask them if they were Armenians. They would ask this question even if that person is a president.”

President Gül claims that his identity as a statesman, which he has been trying to maintain with utmost responsibility and meticulousness, was defamed.

Oh, right. As if the worst thing that could be said about anyone is, "Your momma's an Armenian"? Well, this is the AKP, the party of "Love it or leave it!", the party that has done more than any other to encourage the normalization of racism in Turkish society. Naturally, I could say something about Gül's mom that would cause him considerably more "mental anguish" and it wouldn't have anything to do with her being an Armenian.

The increase in racism within Turkey is just one of the subjects DTP parliamentarian Sebahat Tuncel recently discussed with Jake Hess at ZNet (again, thanks to the heval who sent the link):

Sebahat Tuncel is a prominent Turkish Kurdish human rights activist, member of parliament and foreign affairs representative for the Democratic Society Party (DTP), one of Turkey's largest and most important leftist and pro-Kurdish formations. On the streets of Diyarbakır - the center of the Kurdish movement in Turkey - she's known as an especially tenacious and courageous advocate for freedom and human rights.

Although she calls for a peaceful, negotiated solution to the Kurdish issue within Turkey's existing borders, the Turkish state is evidently intimidated by Tuncel. Young and articulate, she was elected to parliament from a prison cell in July 2007 - having been incarcerated for supporting the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a charge commonly used to suppress dissent in Turkey - and has been targeted for assassination by the Ergenekon organization, a shadowy paramilitary group with links to the Turkish military. Although she was released from prison upon being elected, the proceedings against her continue.

The Turkish constitutional court is currently considering shutting down the DTP on the basis of its alleged connections to ‘terrorism' and ‘separatism.' You can DTP's proposed solution to the Kurdish question here.

The following interview, which took place in November 2008, focuses on the DTP's struggle for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. In it, Tuncel critiques the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), discusses recent events in the region, the rise of what she calls ‘fascism' in Turkey, and the many challenges facing the DTP, including the closure case. It's presented here in the interest of increasing international public awareness of the DTP, which is usually marginalized in Western commentary on Turkish affairs.

The DTP has been in parliament working for a democratic solution for more than a year now. Reflect on the experience so far. What do you consider to be the party's greatest achievement? Are you more or less optimistic now than you were in July 2007 [when the last elections took place] that the Kurdish issue can be settled in a peaceful, negotiated way?

Before the elections of 2007, the atmosphere was more relaxed and optimistic in terms of a solution to the Kurdish problem than it is now. The AKP and Erdoğan were claiming that the Kurdish problem was their problem, that they would take some steps toward a peaceful solution to the issue. As you know, the AKP was challenging the military over the headscarf issue, and because of this challenge, people were thinking that it would be the first government to try to challenge the military's role in politics. Because of this, the AKP was powerful all around Turkey, including in the Kurdish region. But when the AKP announced its sixteenth government program, it became obvious that they wouldn't be confronting the military over the Kurdish issue.

Seventy-five Kurdish AKP deputies were elected in July 2007, and they created the impression that after the DTP came to the parliament the two parties could work together to solve the Kurdish problem. But then, afterwards, as I said before, they announced the government program, and in this program they supported the war against the PKK in northern Iraq. The first thing they said to the DTP was, ‘you should first call the PKK a terrorist organization, and then we can sit at the table and talk about this issue.' And then they authorized cross-border operations in northern Iraq. As a result, they showed that they're a party of war. The AKP has surrendered to the military more than any other Turkish government.

There was a bargain over the headscarf issue. Since AKP wasn't closed down, they decided to go along with the military politically, and during this period AKP became the first party to ask the general commander of the Turkish army to parliament and talk with a ministerial council. This means that the military is managing and administering the [government's approach to the Kurdish issue] and giving orders to the ministries.

While the AKP and Erdoğan are saying that the biggest problem in Turkey in terrorism and telling Europe and the US that he supports democracy and freedom, the AKP is actually the one that is terrorizing people in the Kurdish region of Turkey. They have given greater authority and leeway to the security forces, to ‘resolve' this issue through terrorizing people.

In light of recent developments we can say that the AKP government is really the government of war. In his recent [November 2008] visit to the US, Mr. Erdoğan stated that ‘I am proud of my people' - meaning nationalist demonstrators who go into the streets, meaning those people who were throwing stones at DTP buildings and harassing Kurdish artists or attempting to lynch Kurdish students at schools.

And this political chaos is still going on. For instance, in his recent speech in Hakkari, Mr. Erdoğan said ‘love Turkey or leave it. The concept of one state, one nation and one flag is essential for us, if you accept it accept it. If not, you must leave.' This simple statement shows how fascistic the AKP is in its core.

In his latest statement - saying that [normal people] can ‘defend' themselves and use weapons [against demonstrators] -- could bring Turks and Kurds against each other, and that would be the result of AKP policies.

All this unrest was caused by the mistreatment of Mr. Ocalan, who is held [in solitary confinement] in a high-security prison on Imralı island. He has been tortured, confined to progressively smaller cells, his head was shaved and there was an incident with poisoning.

Three and a half million Kurds who live in Turkey have said that Mr. Ocalan is their political representative. The maltreatment of the people's representative resulted in such an organized reaction by Kurds. The mistreatment of Ocalan was a provocation of the AKP government.

Now, violence is everywhere, organized by everybody. We now know that one-hundred children were arrested in the first few days after the November 1-2 sit-down protest in Diyarbakır. The police are treating Kurds violently not only in the streets, but in the prisons as well. Right now Kurdish political prisoners are being attacked by ordinary prisoners in the prison - the guards see this going on but they don't prevent it. Another face of the violence is the violence against the DTP, such as the closure trial and the attempts to marginalize us politically. All this shows that fascism is rising in Turkey.

A few years ago, it was only ultra-nationalist people who were saying that you should either ‘love or leave' your country. But now, if you look at Turkey in general, you can see that most people are saying that. So, in the public, there's a general tendency to isolate Kurdish people and rally people under the idea of a unitary Turkish state, without recognizing other cultural identities.

The DTP and PKK have both called for a peaceful, democratic solution to the Kurdish issue within Turkey's existing borders. Why has the state refused to negotiate with the DTP? Who benefits from the continuation of the conflict?

The PKK is not insisting on the continuation of this war. They've announced ceasefires five times. The last time they did so was when the DTP asked them to do so. However, these efforts were not welcomed by the state, and the reason they don't want to solve the issue is the state's interests in the Middle East. They have interests in Iraq and its petroleum resources, and they want to have a pretext for intervening there. The continuation of the war with the PKK provides the state with such a pretext. The problem of PKK ‘terrorism' wins Turkey sympathy in the international arena, as well. It helps Ankara resist pressure to expand freedoms, democratization and recognition of human rights.

The PKK is saying that it is prepared to accept a solution within Turkey's borders, that Kurds and Turks can live together. The war could end easily, according to the PKK, if its efforts at negotiation were recognized. But since there are still some interest groups who want the war to continue, the war is continuing. So, paradoxically, it could be easy to end the war, but at the same time it is not easy.

Do you think the DTP is going to be closed? What are you going to do if it is?

The outcome of the closure trial will be a political decision, not a legal one. In the current environment it seems likely that we will be shut down. But a significant group of people are against the closure, so we'll see what happens. We're prepared for the closure; we have a replacement party established already.

Procedurally, it's not important for DTP if we're closed down, but it will be important in that there will be a rupture if that happens. The anger of the Kurdish people is increasing intensely now, and this anger will be heightened. The slogans in demonstrations have changed incrementally over the last year, because of the policy of war by the AKP. Last year, Kurdish people were speaking out, saying ‘long live peace'. Now, they're shouting, ‘the rebels are shooting and Kurdistan is being established' and ‘Erdoğan is a murderer.'

After the last election, Mr. Erdoğan said that 55% of people in Diyarbakır supported him. But when he came here a few weeks ago, people shut down their shops. People are changing their minds.

During the 1990s, scores of politicians connected to pro-Kurdish parties were murdered, tortured, and harassed in every way. What kind of conditions do you work under now? Is the DTP able to go about its business in a normal way? Do you feel safe?

In terms of human rights violence and torture even normal people in the street do not feel safe from violence, it's common everywhere in Turkey. You can be shot and killed at any moment. As you can see on the news, Ahmet Ozcan, a youngster at the age of 20 was shot and killed by the police during a recent demonstration in Ağrı; also, in Antalya a boy named Çağdaş traveling on his motorcycle was shot by the police.

Violence and threats against Kurdish politicians and parties are still common. Because the DTP is equalized with terrorism and because of the rise of fascism, there is always a risk that we'll be assassinated. Even though there are risks, we are not giving up. We know that there are risks, and we're always threatened with e-mails and trials. The DTP is mission is a democratic and peaceful solution of the Kurdish question and it has always stood by the Kurdish people and struggled for the rights of the Kurds. Whatever the consequences may be - death, re -imprisonment - it is our mission to achieve these goals.

For every word we utter they open a new case against us. Although under law an MP cannot normally be tried, there are cases against us still going on. Although there are those risks we believe in peace, freedom and democracy and we will not give up on our struggle. We are stronger than these threats, and we will struggle for freedom, for democracy and for peace.

I don't feel safe. It has been revealed that the Ergenekon organization was targeting [DTP co-chairperson and MP] Ahmet Turk, [DTP member and Mayor of Diyarbakır] Osman Baydemir and myself for assassination. At any moment, someone from Ergenekon could come and kill.

Last time we spoke you told me the DTP was trying to open a political bureau in Washington. What's the status of that project?

We're planning on opening the bureau within a few months, but it will depend on the outcome of the closure trial, for sure.

Go, Sebahat, you go, girlfriend!

If you liked the interview with Heval Sebahat, go on over to ZNet and let Jake know.

ŞEVA ZISTANÊ

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."
~ Edith Sitwell.

Here's wishing a Happy Şeva Zistanê to all, especially to our Rojhelatî brothers and sisters, many of whom still celebrate Şeva Zistanê like they do Newroz. Here's a little something on this ancient holiday, from Wikipedia:

The Night of Winter (Kurdish: Şeva Zistanê) is an unofficial holiday celebrated by communities throughout the Kurdistan region in the Middle East. The night is considered one of the oldest holidays still observed by modern Kurds and was celebrated by ancient tribes in the region as a holy day. The holiday falls every year on the Winter Solstice. Since the night is the longest in the year, ancient tribes believed that it was the night before a victory of light over darkness and signified a rebirth of the Sun. The Sun plays an important role in several ancient religions still practiced by some Kurds in addition to Zoroastrianism.

Several small religious communities in Kurdistan share similar ideas in regards to Şeva Zistanê. In Zoroastrianism, the belief of light over darkness is well-documented by scholars of the religion. The Winter Solstice is assumed to be the night when Ahriman is at the peak of their strength. The following day is celebratory as it is assumed Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, has claimed victory. Since the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, this day marks the victory of light, or the Sun, over the darkness or evil.

In modern times, communities in the Kurdistan region still observe the night as a holiday. Many families prepare large feasts for their communities and the children play games and are given sweets in similar fashion to modern-day Halloween practices.

From this day on, the days will get longer. There's more on international winter solstice celebrations, also at Wikipedia.

Let me also draw your attention to a possible peace summit to be held by Kurds from Turkey and Iraq in Europe. From Reuters (thanks, heval!):

Kurdish leaders from Turkey and Iraq will hold a peace conference aimed at ending decades of violence by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group, the head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish party said.

Ahmet Turk, leader of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said the conference, which would take part in Europe or in Iraq, was agreed during a recent trip to northern Iraq, where he met Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and other Iraqi Kurdish leaders.

Turkey, the European Union and United States consider the PKK a terrorist organisation. The group has bases in northern Iraq from where it launches attacks on Turkey in pursuit of an independent Kurdish homeland.

"Kurds will hold a conference and discuss the conditions of a peace process," Turk told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. "Kurds have to focus on a peace process and put forward a common understanding on the issue."

Turk said the PKK had been invited, but a spokesman for the rebel group in Iraq said it welcomed the conference but it would not attend. Turk did not say when the conference would happen.

The DTP seeks more cultural and political rights for Turkey's Kurds and has insisted a democratic solution should be found. The conference could exert some pressure on the PKK to voice willingness to put down its arms.

Turkey has long complained that Iraq is failing to curb PKK fighters who cross the border to launch attacks against it, but Baghdad and Ankara have recently stepped up contacts to fight Kurdish separatist guerrillas.

I have seen no word of this news in Turkish media or in Turkish-language Kurdish media, so we'll have to wait to see what happens. If I do see something more, I'll do an update.

And for those of you who enjoy online games, don't miss Sock and Awe.

Cejin pîroz bê! Bayramınız kutlu olsun!

THE WEIGHT OF RACISM

"I look at an ant and I see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit."
~ Miriam Makeba.

It looks like there was a war of words in the TBMM recently:

Under the roof of this parliament some people, who do not want the prime minister to visit some cities in the country, have emerged, Erdogan said in his speech to parliament.

"While we were implementing our democratic right and I, as the prime minister of Turkey, was attending some ceremonies (in the southeastern provinces), it was very interesting to see some people, who couldn’t accept this, setting cars on fire and breaking the windows of my party's building. Is this democracy? Is this freedom? Is this human rights? You can't attain freedom or democracy like this, the path of democracy is the polls," Erdogan added. His words incited reaction from DTP deputies.

Of course it's not a democracy! Of course it's not freedom! Of course it's not human rights! That's the whole point, bonehead! One thing is for certain, Mr. Başbakan, the response you received to your little visit to the Southeast is a classic example of "what goes around, comes around."

Hasip Kaplan, DTP parliamentarian from Şırnak, hit the bullseye:

A deputy from the DTP, Hasip Kaplan, referred to Erdogan as "Le Pen", in reference to the far-right French politician. "You are the Le Pen. You raised Nazism in this country," Erdogan replied to Kaplan.

"You are the Nazi and you represent Nazism. We have democratic rights. You cannot address us like this," Kaplan said in response to Erdogan's criticism.

OUCH!!

DTP leader Turk slammed Erdogan in his speech, rejecting the claims that they want to divide the country and urged for official recognition of the Kurdish identity.

"We defend the brotherhood of nations. We believe this could only be ensured by showing respect to citizens' identities and cultures. The one who is disrespectful and raises the chauvinism is you (Erdogan)," Turk added.

We know that Ahmet Türk is correct; Erdoğan the Bonehead is the one who goes around telling everyone, "Love it or leave it!" and supporting those who would take shotguns after DTP . . . and this is the same guy who had the nerve to go to Germany and talk about how "assimilation is a crime against humanity".

But Kurds are not the only ethnicity Erdoğan has a problem with. Here's something on the Armenians and the "Apology Campaign":

Around 200 Turkish academics, writers and journalists launched a website issuing an apology to the Armenians regarding the 1915 incidents and calling for people to sign on in support.

The efforts of the intellectuals drew fierce reaction in Turkey.

"I neither accept nor support this campaign. We did not commit a crime, therefore we do not need to apologize," Erdogan said, adding the issue is still being discussed by historians.

More on the campaign here. The Armenian view is at PanARMENIAN. Make note of the irony at the end of the piece:

The only «oddity» in all this story is that the petition has not been signed by Orhan Pamuk, Taner Akcam, Elif Safak, Ragip Zarakolu – those who for publicly mentioning the Armenian Genocide were brought to trial under Article 301 and were forced to leave Turkey.

An item over at Info-Turk carries quotes from some of the intellectuals who have signed the campaign, as they respond to Kerdoğan's remarks. Here are a couple those replies:

Writer Adalet Ağaoğlu: “What is expressed here is our shame. Erdoğan should tell us why Hrant Dink was killed, instead of this.”

“Racism and Turkism still continue. Since Dink was killed for the same reason and while everyone was aware about the murder plan, these are not the sentences to be uttered. The campaign is the expression of the shame we feel about the mentality that has been alive since the Ottomans.”

Musician Aylin Aslım: “When it suits him he claims the 800 year old heritage, and when it does not suit him he says he did not do it. This is how an adolescent would act and his words about the campaign make as much sense as this kind of behavior does.”

Why is this important for Kurds?

Lawyer Tahir Elçi: “Neither the Kurdish problem nor the other existing problems can be solved before Turkey faces the Armenian problem. The state has so far not taken any steps in connection with this problem.”

Since PanARMENIAN brought up the subject of Article 301, let me point you to an article at Bianet that discusses the criminal charges filed against Osman Baydemir and Nejdet Atalay--both DTP--for using the expression "PKK guerrillas" to describe PKK guerrillas.

Stupidity!

Don't forget to check Hevallo, who's got his opinion posted about the EU's attempts to criminalize the Kurdish people and recent raids on Kurdish homes in London (emphasis Hevallo's):

The latest and most damaging example of this is a report released by the European Security and Defence Assembly swallowing wholesale the 'terrorist' label pinned on the PKK by the Turkish State.

There are parts of the report which are almost verbatim of the regular psychological warfare briefs of the Turkish Army's psychological warfare department that even many Turkish journalists and intellectuals are challenging and rejecting.

The report was put together by the now President elect of the European Security and Defence Assembly, UK's Robert Walter. Put aside the fact that this Robert Walter has been lobbying in the UK Parliament for an arms company with direct links to Turkish security forces that are responsible for the most horrendous crimes against humanity.

Although there are serious contradictions in this report, like the fact that at one point in the report the author states that the conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish people is a CIVIL WAR, the main thrust of the report is that the PKK are terrorists and that the European countries must start to help the Turkish Security Forces and crack down on Kurdish people who support the Kurdish resistance in European countries!

Could it be a coincidence then, that recently, only days ago, some members of the Kurdish community in London had their homes raided and their houses ransacked under some spurious warrant of 'anti terrorist' legislation. Kurdish mothers fainting at the shock of UK police supporting the Turkish Security Forces in criminalising the Kurdish people.

Go boyfriend. You go!

JITEM'S ACID WELLS IN CIZRE

"If the Ergenekon investigation doesn't pass east of the Euphrates, the Kurdish problem will never be solved."
~ Ahmet Türk.

A month ago Nuh Gönultaş at Bugün wrote about some interesting information from supreme Ergenekon weirdo, Tuncay Güney, in a piece titled, "Where are JITEM's acid death wells?":

The black box, Tuncay Güney's life story and his relations, is not known whether or not it is real. He, who first disclosed Ergenekon and has become a legend.

Güney's most important trait is his close nine-year relationship with Veli Küçük, who was the deep paşa of the 1990s.

The book written by journalist Faruk Arslan, who lives in Toronto, titled Black Box: Ergenekon's Unknown Name Tuncay Güney, in which the mysterious witness makes shocking statements.

Güney claims that thousands of Kurdish citizens, who were killed by JITEM as extrajudicial murders for harboring PKK, were thrown into acid-filled wells, in which their corpses dissolved. Thus their bodies were never found.

This is quite an original and new information.

Güney advises looking at the BOTAŞ complex which JITEM had used in the Southeast in the 1990s, to find acid-filled death wells.

For years no one knew where the graves were of more than 18,000 citizens, most of whom were Kurdish and were killed by "unknown perpetrators"; no one questions or dares to question.

Güney claims that although there are very few people who know where these acid-filled wells are located in the Southeast, and Veli Küçük is one of them, but Küçük does not tell.

However, Güney gives a specific address in the book: "The places where JITEM and Kucuk's group used were these places. For a clear address, when you go towards the Habur border, close by Mardin's old town Cizre, on the left there is a complex that is guarded by soldiers. If you dig there, there will be a lot of bodies. BOTAŞ has enterprises in Diyarbakır, Batman, Adıyaman and these places should also be checked."

As a response to the question where did they find the acid, Güney replied in a classic way: "There are several factories in İzmit. Even Küçük's greeting is an order for them. Besides, for drug-trafficking they needed acid. They had become experts in bringing acid."

For more on that, see 32. Gün from November 2008, in which Güney reiterates the claim about the acid-filled wells. Note that I've provided the link for the first in a series of fourteen videos of that particular edition of 32. Gün.

Now it looks like the Şırnak state prosecutor is going to investigate the claims of the acid-filled wells.

The complaint was initially made by the head of the Şırnak Bar Association, based on the book by Faruk Arslan, mentioned in the Nuh Gönultaş piece . Before the state prosecutor's decision to go ahead with the investigation of the acid-filled wells, the Şırnak Bar Association vowed to move to open the wells at the first opportunity as soon as their exact locations were identified. The bar association will now be able to do just that. From Zaman:

Şırnak Bar Association chief Nuşirevan Elçi says: "This situation gave us hope. Turkey must face its past in order to have a bright future. If there are illegal implementations, these must come before the judiciary. The relatives of those murdered by unknown perpetrators don't know whether or not they are dead these last 15-20 years. This situation puts those people in pain. If this event is disclosed, these people will cease hoping. For Turkey's bright future, these kinds of works must be done. Especially within this context I see the Ergenekon investigation as a new era."

In the past, DTP has said that unless Ergenekon was investigated east of the Euphrates, their would be little hope for a solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey. Now let's wait and see how much of this is truly investigated and the results revealed. Then we'll find out, too, if Ergenekon's mysterious "black box" has any credibility.

LAKOTA UPDATE

"In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children- we have no choice but to claim our own destiny."
~ Phyllis Young, Founder, Women of All Red Nations.

Last year the Lakota Sioux, a native American people, declared their intention to withdraw from all treaty obligations with the US because the US had never honored the agreements.

In December 2007, the Lakota declared their sovereign nation status and now there's an update on the situation of the Lakota, in an interview with Russell Means, the chief facilitator of the Republic of Lakota. Listen here for a discussion of how US treatment of the native peoples has inspired repressive and genocidal regimes around the world. The interview will also explain clearly why the native Americans remain the poorest people in the US. It's an amazingly simple equation.

In addition to treaty violations, the US has enacted a number of laws that directly target native peoples, in order to genocide them culturally or otherwise:

* Homestead Acts - for settlers only that gave them title to 160 acres of "underdeveloped" land outside the original 13 colonies; 1.6 million in all got around 270 million acres, or 10% of all US land between 1862 - 1886;

* Allotment Acts - various "act(s) to provide for the allotment of land in severalty to Indians on the various reservations and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States over the Indians, and for other purposes;" for example, the 1887 Dawes Act that distributed mostly unwanted and unviable land in Oklahoma; it was done by dividing reservations into privately-owned parcels to destroy Native cultures, impose western values, and achieve forced assimilation;

* the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 to force citizenship on all Native Americans; the words of one spoke for many: "United States citizenship was just another way of absorbing us and destroying our customs and government; how could these Europeans come over and tell us we were citizens in our country; we had our citizenship;" it's "in our nations;" forcing their citizenship on us "was a violation of our sovereignty;"

* the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (aka the Wheeler-Howard Act or the Indian New Deal); it reversed Dawes provisions and created what Native Americans call the first Apartheid Act that still applies; the 1964 Bantu Development Act copied this law and institutionalized black and white separation in South Africa; the same practice exists now in Occupied Palestine, in US inner cities, and wherever else white supremicists want unwanted people kept out of their restricted spaces;

* forced relocations continued during the 1950s and 1960s;

* Supreme Court rulings against Native American religious practices; in City of Boerne v. Flores (June 1997), the Court ruled against the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act that prohibited the government from "substantially burdening" a believer's religious practices; the Court held that this act attempted to overturn its own First Amendment interpretation; in Employment Division v. Smith (April 1990), the Court ruled that Oregon could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even for a religious ritual; in other words, this and similar practices aren't protected under the First Amendment freedom of religion provision; and

* Native Americans on reservations aren't entitled to the same constitutional rights (like free speech, religion, assembly, and due process, etc.) as other Americans even though they're legal citizens; non-Indian people when on reservations (so-called "tribal trust status lands") also relinquish these rights while there; in addition, "tribal sovereignty" benefits leaders alone, not their people, and tribal chiefs get their authority from the Interior Secretary and US-run Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The article linked above also quotes from the Republic of Lakota website, which contains a number of interesting facts and statistics about the effects of the genocide to date:

MORTALITY:

* Lakotah men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.
* Lakotah death rate is the highest in the United States.
* The Lakotah infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
* Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.

POVERTY:

* Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
* 97% of our Lakotah people live below the poverty line.
* Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.

UNEMPLOYMENT:

* Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.
* Government funding for job creation is lost through cronyism and corruption.

HOUSING:

* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).
* 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.
* 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.
* 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
* There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL:

* More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease.
* Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.
* Two known meth-amphetamine labs allowed to continue operation. Why?

DISEASE:

* The Tuberculosis rate on Lakotah reservations is approx. 800% higher than the U.S national average.
* Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.
* The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.
* Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.

INCARCERATION:

* Indian children incarceration rate 40% higher than whites.
* In South Dakota, 21 percent of state prisoners were Native, yet they only make up 9% of the population.
* Indians have the second largest state prison incarceration rate in the nation.
* Most Indians live on federal reservations. Less than 2% of Indians live where the state has jurisdiction!

THREATENED CULTURE:

* Only 14% of the Lakotah population can speak the Lakotah language.
* The language is not being shared inter-generationally. Today, the average age of a fluent Lakotah speaker is 65 years.
* Our Lakotah language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.

A study (in .pdf) from Harvard University listed a number of factors that have traditionally been used to explain continuing poverty among native American populations, especially on reservations, as follows:

• Tribes and individuals lack access to financial capital.
• Tribes and individuals lack human capital (education, skills,
technical expertise) and the means to develop it.
• Reservations lack effective planning.
• Reservations are subject to too much planning and not enough
action.
• Reservations are poor in natural resources.
• Reservations have natural resources, but lack sufficient control
over them.
• Reservations are disadvantaged by their distance from markets
and the high costs of transportation.
• Tribes cannot persuade investors to locate on reservations because of
intense competition from non-Indian communities.
• Federal and state policies are counterproductive and/or discriminatory.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs is inept, corrupt, and/or uninterested in
reservation development.
• Non-Indian outsiders control or confound tribal decision-making.
• Tribes have unworkable and/or externally imposed systems of
government.
• Tribal politicians and bureaucrats are inept or corrupt.
• On-reservation factionalism destroys stability in tribal decisions.
• The instability of tribal government keeps outsiders from investing.
• Reservation savings rates are low.
• Entrepreneurial skills and experience are scarce.
• Non-Indian management techniques won't work on the reservation.
• Non-Indian management techniques will work, but are absent.
• Tribal cultures get in the way.
• The long-term effects of racism have undermined tribal self-confidence.
• Alcoholism and other social problems are destroying tribes' human
capital.

The authors of the study note that the factors listed above are not equally weighted, do not apply across the board, or may even be insignificant. Certainly, many of these factors are not brought up in the interview with Russell Means.

Much, however, is made of forced assimilation, so that it would appear to be a significant factor in the situation of native American peoples today. Amnesty International has information on the legacy of native American boarding schools, schools that were specifically designed for forcibly assimilate the native peoples of the US and destroy their cultures:

The schools were part of Euro-America's drive to solve the “Indian problem” and end Native control of their lands. While some colonizers advocated outright physical extermination, Captain Richard H. Pratt thought it wiser to “Kill the Indian and save the man.” In 1879 Pratt, an army veteran of the Indian wars, opened the first federally sanctioned boarding school: the Carlisle Industrial Training School, in Carlisle, Penn.

“Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit,” said Pratt. He modeled Carlisle on a prison school he had developed for a group of 72 Indian prisoners of war at Florida's Fort Marion prison. His philosophy was to “elevate” American Indians to white standards through a process of forced acculturation that stripped them of their language, culture, and customs.

[ . . . ]

Physical hardship, however, was merely the backdrop to a systematic assault on Native culture. School staff sheared children's hair, banned traditional clothing and customs, and forced children to worship as Christians. Eliminating Native languages—considered an obstacle to the “acculturation” process—was a top priority, and teachers devised an extensive repertoire of punishments for uncooperative children. “I was forced to eat an entire bar of soap for speaking my language,” says AIUSA activist Byron Wesley (Navajo).

The loss of language cut deep into the heart of the Native community. Recent efforts to restore Native languages hint at what was lost. Mona Recountre, of the South Dakota Crow Creek reservation, says that when her reservation began a Native language immersion program at its elementary school, social relationships within the school changed radically and teachers saw a decline in disciplinary problems. Recountre's explanation is that the Dakota language creates community and respect by emphasizing kinship and relationships. The children now call their teachers “uncle” or “auntie” and “don't think of them as authority figures,” says Recountre. “It's a form of respect, and it's a form of acknowledgment.”

Many of the policies of forced assimilation and cultural genocide, and even the economic policies, will sound familiar to the Kurdish people and perhaps the solutions sought by the Lakota can inspire solutions for the Kurdish people. Those interested can keep up with news from the Republic of Lakota through their website, republicoflakotah.com.

TORTURING "DEMOCRACY"

"Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor. Congress is duty-bound by the Constitution not only to hold the President, Vice President and all civil officers to account, but it must also send a message to future presidents that it will use its constitutional powers to prevent illegal, and immoral conduct."
~ Caroline Fredrickson, ACLU.

Here's a Sunday evening documentary for you, titled "Torturing Democracy". There's a website for the documentary, hosted at George Washington University. The website also contains an annotated transcript which is available in .pdf.

As you watch the video, remember that the US has not been at war since the Second World War and it is not at war now. Only Congress has the power to declare war and it has not done so since 11 December 1941 (see Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution for more).

Run time just over an hour.

All three parts here.

Compare with PKK's treatment of its prisoners:

"THE PKK WAY"

"TURKISH POWS RETURN HOME"

"HPG HANDOVER OF TURKISH POWS"

BUSH-WHACKED WITH SHOES

"Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow . . . "
~ Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.

Remember all thos photos from 2003, in which Iraqis beat statues and photos of Saddam with their shoes? It looks like it's a political tradition:

And dumbbell Dana Perino got a black eye out of it? PRICELESS!

If it had been a Kurdish mother launching the shoes, Bush would have easily had one shoe firmly lodged in each nostril at that close distance. When you need something done right, better ask a Kurdish woman to gt it done instead of screwing around with amateurs.

KERKUK, A CASE OF POISONING, THE CIA PROFILE DATABASE

"I believe that the people in power -- not only political power, but also economic and social power -- will not non-violently give up that power to the people. Power is not a material possession that can be given, it is the ability to act. Power must be taken, it is never given."
~ The Anarchist Cookbook.

By now, everyone has heard of the bombing that took place in Kerkuk on Thursday. KCK issued a statement condemning the bombing, emphasizing that Turkey, Iran, Syria, and their collaborators, are responsible for the bombing in Kerkuk, and that their aim is to separate Kerkuk from Kurdistan. As far as I know, Heval Cuma's offer to help fight in Kerkuk, if necessary, still stands:

Kurdish leaders in Iraq have promised to raise the issue of the northern oil city of Kirkuk which they demand be integrated into a Kurdish autonomous zone after a cabinet is formed. Iran is “trying to help some factions in Iraq work against the Kurdish nation so that Kirkuk doesn’t join the (autonomous zone). This is happening as the new government is being created and the Kirkuk problem is discussed,” Bayik said.

“If the Kurds go to war with the Arabs over Kirkuk we will help them. We don’t just fight for ourselves,” Bayik said adding that such a conflict was “possible.”

Turkey's intent to meddle in Kerkuk was clear in August 2007. In addition, Turkish mercenaries based in Maryland are also operating in Kerkuk.

Thanks to the heval who sent the link, KurdishMedia has a report on a news item that appeared on Kurdistan TV last week:

Last week the Hewler-based Kurdistan-TV Satellite Network reported that a well-known Turkish company has been allegedly sending poisoned food in what many have claimed is a calculated attempt to harm Kurdish citizens in the Iraqi or Southern Kurdistan region. Critics of Turkey find little surprise in this recent allegation claiming that after having publicly failed to justify their torture and even executing of anyone who speaks out for human rights in Turkey, the Turkish government has employed new strategic plan to harm innocent civilians of Kurdish descent.

Turkey, a country that is often falsely labeled as a democracy, has become familiar to many critics for its countless human rights abuses. The government has been regularly condemned by human rights group for imprisoning anyone who speaks or writes about the Kurdish issue in the country.

Recent trade increases between Turkey and the Kurds in Iraq have been viewed as a positive developments in the two group's relations. Turkey is responsible for shipping a very large percentage of foods and other products into South Kurdistan. However, critics say that the Turkish government's policy towards Kurds is unchanged and this recent discovery is proof of that.

Turkish companies ship cooking-oil into South Kurdistan and recent discoveries indicate that it comes with poison. The experts who reported these claims say the recurring incident is far from an accident. The President of the Science Department of the University of Salahadin in the Kurdish capital, Hewler, noted that the food from Turkey containing the poison is a perfect mixture to harm and even kill any person who consumes it.

Critics speculate that there are many reasons as to why Southern Kurdistan could have possibly been a target; a major one being that Southern Kurdistan has become a representation of Kurdish identity and national pride in the region. Critics say it has been Turkey's aim to wipe it out.

Well, if you lie down with dogs, expect to get up with fleas. This is what happens when one relies on an enemy government to provide your food supply and it harkens back to the experiences of many Southern Kurds who fled into Turkey after the 1991 serhildan, only to find that the bread and water supplied by the Ankara regime was poisoned.

Check out some of the photos of Greek police on fire, from Hürriyet. Here's a sample:





Don't you wish . . .

More on the activity in Greece, from the BBC:

When Greeks say no, they mean it in spades.

Rebellion is deeply embedded in the Greek psyche. The students and school children who are now laying siege to police stations and trying to bring down the government are undergoing a rite of passage.

[ . . . ]

The latent Greek contempt for the police, which has now erupted so volcanically, has its roots in the dictatorship, when the police were regarded as the colonels' enforcers and traitors to the people.

[ . . . ]

In an editorial entitled "Anger's teen martyr", Mr Konstandaras wrote that Mr Grioropoulos' blood would be "used to bind together every disparate protest and complaint into a platform of righteous rage against all the ills of our society.

"It will quickly become a flag of convenience for anyone who has a grudge against the state, the government, the economic system, foreign powers, capitalism and so on."

"If Greece had already appeared difficult to govern, it will now be out of control."

"The latent Greek contempt for the police . . . " Ah, now there's the proper attitude to cultivate. Greek police are reportedly out of tear gas and are urgently begging Germany and Israel to renew their supplies. See more at TIME, which describes the area the area in which the 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed as a neighborhood sort of like Tarlıbaşı:

For Athens police, the Exarchia neighborhood is enemy territory.

Exactly! I like it already.

There's also an update on yesterday's post about the morons at Facebook. Basically, they think "we"--whoever "we"are--are afraid of them. However, they are so fearful of PKK than they can't even mention the term. Instead, they say "those guys".

You would think that Turkish ultra-nationalists would know their own language very, very well. Unfortunately, that is not the case in this situation. I feel so much pity for such a poorly educated ülkücü, that, as an Apocu, I would like to provide a corrected version of poor little ülkücü's statement, so that his friends will be able to understand exactly what he means . . . assuming that their literacy skills are better than his, that is. By the way, I also took the liberty of adding consistent punctuation:

ARKADAŞLAR,

GÖSTERMİŞ OLDUĞUNUZ İLGİ İÇİN HEPİNİZE TEK TEK TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM. FAKAT SESİMİZİ DAHA DA DUYURMAK İÇİN SAĞ TARAFTA BULUNAN PAYLAŞ SEÇENEĞİ İLE GRUBUMUZU PROFİLİNİZDE PAYLAŞA BİLİRSİNİZ.

BİZİM ÖYLE DİĞER GRUPLAR GİBİ BİR KORKUMUZ YOK. ARKADAŞINIZI DAVET ETMEZSENİZ, GRUBA KATILMA GİBİ BİR DÜŞÜNCEMİZDE YOK. [ANLATIM BOZUKLUĞU].

ÇÜNKÜ BİZ GÜCÜMÜZÜ BİLİYORUZ. BU GRUPTA HERKES KENDİNİ BİR BİREY OLARAK TEMSİL EDİYOR.

İŞTE GERÇEĞİN BELGESİ

SİZE İYİ BİR HABERİM VAR ÇÜNKÜ BAZILARI O KADAR KORKMUŞLAR ki KENDİ WEB SİTELERİNDE BİZİM GRUBUMUZUN REKLAMINI DA YAPMIŞLAR.

http://rastibini.blogspot.com/

SÖZDE KENDİLERİNİ SAVUNUP ELİ KANLI OLANLARIN BİZ OLDUĞUNU İMA ETMİŞLER. ONLAR GERÇEKLERDEN KAÇSIN ÖNEMLİ DEĞİL.

BİZ ADIM ADIM AMACIMIZA ULAŞACAĞIZ. ONLAR ÖNDERLİK İÇİN WEB SİTELERİNDE ÖZGÜRLÜK YÜRÜĞÜŞÜ DÜZENLESİNLER BİZ NE DE OLSA ONU ENİNDE SONUNDA İPİN UCUNDA SALLANDIRACAĞIZ.GEBERDİKTEN SONRA İSTEDİKLERİ YERE YÜRÜĞÜŞE GÖTÜREBİLİRLER.


KATILAN VE KATKIDA BULUNAN ARKADAŞLARA TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM
SAĞLICAKLA KALIN

Troy İSUS

[Note to Troy: It's okay to be a poorly educated ülkücü but you don't need to disclose the fact to the whole world.]

I guess they all missed the news that Facebook is a CIA profile database. That information was on Youtube a while ago . . . OOPS!! They can't see Youtube in Turkey! For those of you who can see Youtube, here you go:

In the meantime, I guess the CIA will continue to collect their addresses, hometowns, phone numbers, emails, jobs, birthdates, sexual orientations, interests, daily schedules, relations to friends, pictures, political affiliations . . .

SERKEFTIN!

CENSORSHIP AND THE KURDISH CAUSE

"Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have, or the views they express, or the words they speak or write."
~ Hugo L. Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

A bunch of Turkish nationalists would like to shut Rastî down, among others. From Facebook, under "Recent News":

Friends,

Now I'm going to give you bad news. Those sons of bitches established websites which can be accessed easily in Turkey, and which make PKK propaganda.

I am calling to all people who love this homeland: Let's start a campaign to block access to these websites:


http://istanbul.indymedia.org/news/2007/10/218770.php

http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/03/pkk-war-balance.html

http://www.hezaciwanan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34147


These three websites must be shut down. I'm waiting for your help. Please send the links that I gave to your friends and let's shut down access to these websites.

You can make a complaint by clicking on the link below. In the shortest time, we will have results.

Then a link is given to something called the Informational Technology and Communication Association, Telecommunication Communication Ministry, Information Reporting Center. Let's note that I translated the word "ihbar" as "reporting" in that last part because it makes more sense in English. However, "ihbar" has the meaning of "denunciation" or "informing" as a criminal informant would provide information to authorities . . . of course, they usually do that for money or some other favor.

I have no idea why the morons that make up this particular Facebook group would bother to complain about something I wrote in March. I'd prefer that they complain about something I wrote about more recently, like the post, "LOTS OF TSK DEAD AT BEZELE" or "THE SINS OF THE RULING PARTY". But from way back in March? I mean, the Turkish general staff has already seen all that old stuff. Give them something fresh to get their panties in knots over.

But, leaving these small fry at Facebook aside, let's move on to bigger fish.

A captain from the TSK did a piece for his master's degree work at the US Naval Postgraduate School in 2006, specializing in the question of how to counter so-called "terrorist" training subsystems. It looks like he considers Rastî to be part of that subsystem. Unfortunately, as the captain admits, he can't find any operational training, only "motivational" training:

Content analyses reveal that PKK terrorist network uses the Internet for communicating with its target audience, be it government, its support base or international community. Although this author did not find any operational training material in these sites, they carry out a massive motivational training through the content.

This isn't a very accurate analysis, however; the Ankara regime itself is the greatest "motivational" trainer for anyone thinking about going to the mountains. The captain does promote the idea of using social network analysis to figure out just what the hell is going on with Kurdish websites. He includes a number of tables and graphs that illustrate the results of all his statistical analysis. In conclusion:

Social network analyses techniques can be used to map the Internet-based infrastructure of terrorist systems. Social network analysis helps to identify the central sites of terrorist networks. Influential websites should have the first priority in an elimination strategy, because the other sites simply imitate or use these influential websites as their main source. This does not necessarily require an extensive censorship that would create more problems than it solves. A selective elimination strategy that would include the internet users who are interested in the terrorism should be tried. Community policing the internet would enhance the sense of ownership among the responsible internet users. There are some hacker groups who do it now, as individuals. But to be effective these efforts must be coordinated. There has to be a central site where people can go to inform about terrorist content and an implementation group that has the technical expertise to disrupt such systems.

The website network of the terrorist organization PKK is analyzed as a case study and its influential websites are identified using social network analyses tools. The case study demonstrates how a modern terrorist system uses the internet for motivational training of its current and prospected militants and how its presence could be reduced even eliminated using social network analyses. In this case study, there were three steps in the elimination strategy. The first step was to collect data for constructing a dataset of the terrorist websites—and suggested that community policing the internet can enhance the effectiveness of this step. The second step was to map them to determine the overall network structure. The third step was to identify the key websites that could be eliminated. The next steps would be to disrupt these website networks or deny internet users to be able to reach these sites. The future steps in the elimination strategy have technical, social, and political aspects, all of which are different research topics. However it is obvious that we need international collaboration. Terrorist networks publish their websites from almost every country that has web hosting providers. Terrorist networks can move their sites if they are banned in one country. To be effective, the elimination strategy needs to be comprehensive.

This is the kind of thing that's been attempted for some time. Özgür Gündem is constantly harassed and, back in early 2007, KurdishInfo was one of the Kurdish websites that went down for a short time because the US Treasury Department OFAC ordered the domain hosting KurdishInfo (and several other Kurdish sites) shut down.

Then we have the censors at Google (Note: Registration may be required, so use BugMeNot.com:

In March of last year, Nicole Wong, the deputy general counsel of Google, was notified that there had been a precipitous drop in activity on YouTube in Turkey, and that the press was reporting that the Turkish government was blocking access to YouTube for virtually all Turkish Internet users. Apparently unaware that Google owns YouTube, Turkish officials didn’t tell Google about the situation: a Turkish judge had ordered the nation’s telecom providers to block access to the site in response to videos that insulted the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which is a crime under Turkish law. Wong scrambled to figure out which videos provoked the court order and made the first in a series of tense telephone calls to Google’s counsel in London and Turkey, as angry protesters gathered in Istanbul. Eventually, Wong and several colleagues concluded that the video that sparked the controversy was a parody news broadcast that declared, “Today’s news: Kamal Ataturk was gay!” The clip was posted by Greek football fans looking to taunt their Turkish rivals.

Wong and her colleagues asked the Turkish authorities to reconsider their decision, pointing out that the original offending video had already been voluntarily removed by YouTube users. But after the video was taken down, Turkish prosecutors objected to dozens of other YouTube videos that they claimed insulted either Ataturk or “Turkishness.” These clips ranged from Kurdish-militia recruitment videos and Kurdish morality plays to additional videos speculating about the sexual orientation of Ataturk, including one superimposing his image on characters from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” “I remember one night, I was looking at 67 different Turkish videos at home,” Wong told me recently.

After having many of the videos translated into English, Wong and her colleagues set out to determine which ones were, in fact, illegal in Turkey; which violated YouTube’s terms of service prohibiting hate speech but allowing political speech; and which constituted expression that Google and YouTube would try to protect. There was a vigorous internal debate among Wong and her colleagues at the top of Google’s legal pyramid. Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s director of global public policy, took an aggressive civil-libertarian position, arguing that the company should protect as much speech as possible. Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, took a more pragmatic approach, expressing concern for the safety of the dozen or so employees at Google’s Turkish office. The responsibility for balancing these and other competing concerns about the controversial content fell to Wong, whose colleagues jokingly call her “the Decider,” after George W. Bush’s folksy self-description.

Wong decided that Google, by using a technique called I.P. blocking, would prevent access to videos that clearly violated Turkish law, but only in Turkey. For a time, her solution seemed to satisfy the Turkish judges, who restored YouTube access. But last June, as part of a campaign against threats to symbols of Turkish secularism, a Turkish prosecutor made a sweeping demand: that Google block access to the offending videos throughout the world, to protect the rights and sensitivities of Turks living outside the country. Google refused, arguing that one nation’s government shouldn’t be able to set the limits of speech for Internet users worldwide. Unmoved, the Turkish government today continues to block access to YouTube in Turkey.

That explains why Google is such a frequent visitor to Rastî. It also explains why it is impossible to link to www.kurdish-info.net, www.firatnews.com, www.gerila.tv, www.hpg-online.com, www.kongra-gel.org, www.pkk-info.com, and www.sehid.com, through Blogger, which is owned by Google. There are probably a lot of other sites that Google censors as well.

Of course, none of that censorship keeps you from copying-and-pasting. Not yet, anyway.

TURKEY: GUARANTEEING HUMAN RIGHTS GLOBALLY

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
~ Thomas Jefferson.

From the No Shit Department:

Kenneth Roth, administrator of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), described Cemil Çiçek, minister in charge of the issues related to human rights, with whom he met about their reports about the police violence in Turkey and not punishing those responsible for it, as sarcastic and too defensive.

[ . . . ]

According to Roth, Çiçek denies even the existence of the problem and when reminded of the police violence cases, describes this as an outcome of the psychology of the police officer up against terrorism.

Emphasizing that Çiçek offered excuses about every matter they brought up in regards to the human rights violations, Roth said, "When we mentioned the Constitutional Reform, the freedom of expression and the police violence he brought up the constitutional process in the European Union (EU), the EU’s attitude towards Turkey and the violence used by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), respectively."

"It is ironic that Çiçek is the minister in charge of the human rights. It made me think that if Çiçek was a minister for improving the human rights or one for violating them. Let alone the implementation of the recommendations in the report, he did not even want to discuss the matter."

Welcome to our world, Mr. Roth! Have a glass of tea and stay a while.

Everyone can read the bloviations--or should I say "flatulations"?--that this worthless little human turd, Çiçek, has to say about Turkey's efforts for "human rights" at Hürriyet (English version, since I refuse to waste my precious time translating the turd's lies). Oh, I'm certain that Turkey will be the vanguard of securing human rights throughout the entire world--especially the Muslim world--because of it's temporary position on the UN security council. Yes, boys and girls, that would be the same UN that has never, in its entire history, so much as passed gas in Turkey's direction for the Ankara regime's genocide against the Kurdish people. After all, image is everything!

Yes, Turkey will be the ultimate vanguard of human rights everywhere, everywhere but right in its own internal colony of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan.

Let's see . . . we had the events of Newroz, with the AKP government beating Kurdish women with nightsticks and dislocating the arms of Kurdish youths in front of the news media, and the AKP police did that in front of the news media because they knew without any doubt that they would not be prosecuted for it. And they haven't been. That, boys and girls, is what is known as a culture of impunity and it is deeply entrenched within the Ankara regime.

Almost two years have passed since the Ankara regime murdered Hrant Dink and they are still screwing around with their bullshit prosecutions. From today's Bianet English page alone, there's an article about alleged charges against the Trabzon jandarma officials who arranged Dink's murder. Another article discusses the fact the fact that one of the so-called "witnesses" has changed his statement, probably for the umpteenth time. In addition to arranging and carrying out the murder of the most prominent Armenian journalist in Turkey, police officials are also under investigation for harassing a journalist from the daily Birgün.

I mean, sometimes I have to check to see if I'm actually reading Bianet or if I've mistakenly accessed the homepage of some human rights organization because it's constantly something involving serious abuses of human rights or violations of free expression that I see there.

Even Europe, the continent with the most hopelessly population, has begun to wonder what has happened with their wonder boy, Katil Erdoğan. From Der Spiegel:

Amid corruption scandals and stagnating reform, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised in Europe as a modernizer, is seeking refuge in nationalist rhetoric, adopting a tougher stance on the Kurds and moving closer to the country's military leaders.

The public prosecutor in Adana, a city in southern Turkey, has clear ideas on how the state ought to treat teenagers who protest by throwing stones. In his view, they should be arrested and locked away, preferably for life.

Last week the prosecutor demanded up to 58 years in prison for six young Kurds between the ages of 13 and 16. During a demonstration in October, the students threw stones at police officers, shouted illegal slogans and unfurled posters touting the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

[ . . . ]

Long praised in the West as a peacemaker and reformer, a man who has made great strides in bringing his country closer to Europe, Erdogan is now revealing reactionary tendencies.

He has recently stopped calling for "cultural rights" for minorities, and is ignoring the human rights abuses being committed by Turkish police. Instead, he now prefers the language of the generals and nationalists. Turkey, Erdogan said excitedly in a recent speech to a Kurdish audience, is "one nation, one flag, one country." He added: "whoever doesn't like it can leave."

When Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, the Kurdish-born deputy chairman of Erdogan's conservative Islamic party, the AKP, resigned from his position, the premier replaced him with a hardliner who prefers military force over dialogue when it comes to the Kurdish question.

Oh, surprise, surprise, surprise.

None of this counts the bombing of Kurdish civilians, and the destruction of their property and livelihoods, in South Kurdistan--a part of the sovereign state of Iraq--by TSK, which has been ongoing for one year now. If it were the Israelis targeting Palestinian civilians like that, no one would hear the end of it.

But no. . . it's only Turkey, this year's global vanguard of human rights, and it's only the Kurds getting bombed. Move along, folks, there's nothing to see here. Move along.

But we all know why the Ankara regime maintains its internal colony Kurdistan and fears the local administration of resources, labeling such a suggestion--as made by Diyarbakır's wildly popular mayor, Osman Baydemir--as "separatism". Resources. High quality oil reserves, the curse of the region, for one. Water and coal, to name two others. For these reasons, resource-rich Kurdistan will continue bereft of liberty, a victim of Turkey's internal imperialism.

How about those Greeks, eh? From the very people who invented democracy--real democracy, not the crap peddled by the Western world, whose "democracy" is merely a euphemism for "unbridled, free-market capitalism", otherwise known as greed. Those Greeks are proving Thomas Jefferson's words: "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

This is exactly what needs to happen in Turkey every time a Kurdish boy has his arm dislocated or broken by the fascist police, every time a Kurd is shot dead in Istanbul because some pig decided he just felt like murdering a Kurd, and every time some brain-dead Turkish nationalist decides to take a shotgun to supporters of the DTP, simply because the murderer he elected as prime minister told him it was just ducky to shoot supporters of the only opposition party in Turkey.

Every time these kinds of things happen, there should be riots throughout the country, without stop, until the regime and it's culture of racism and impunity fears the people more than it fears anything its worst nightmares can conjure.

Then, and only then, will you have liberty.

Happy Freakin' International Human Rights Day!

THE EUTCC ON LEYLA ZANA'S CONVICTION

"The seed of revolution is repression."
~ Woodrow T. Wilson.

Kurdish Spokesperson and EUTCC Patron Leyla Zana Convicted to Ten Years in Prison by a Turkish Court

6 December 2008

Press Release: For immediate release

Kurdish Spokesperson and EUTCC Patron Leyla Zana Convicted to Ten Years in Prison by a Turkish Court

Leyla Zana, a well know political spokesperson for the Kurds in Turkey, was Thursday convicted to ten years in prison by a Turkish Court in Diyarbakir. The court ruled that Leyla Zana had violated the penal code and the anti-terror law in nine different speeches. She is accused of having supported and spread propaganda in favour of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). At a Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir Leyla Zana stated that PKK leader, Mr. Abdulla Öcalan, should be regarded as one of three Kurdish leaders. It is expected that Zana will appeal the verdict.

Leyla Zana was the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish Parliament in 1991. Her decision to give the Parliamentary Oath in Kurdish led to immediate calls for her arrest. This was the first time Kurdish had been spoken in the Turkish Parliament. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 2004 due to international pressure. Zana received the Rafto Prize in 1994 and the Sakharov Prize the following year.

Despite Leyla Zana’s sufferings and personal losses during the previous 10 years of imprisonment in Turkey, she has continued to speak on behalf of her people. Since her release in 2004 Leyla Zana has been an outspoken, courageous and loyal ambassador to the Kurdish people. She demands recognition for the Kurdish language, Kurdish identity and freedom of expression in addition to political and cultural rights. Zana seeks a non-violent and democratic solution for the Kurds living within Turkey's borders.

Leyla Zana sent the following statement to the EUTCC Chair Kariane Westrheim today:

“The case against me is a violation against freedom of thought, and represents a threat to every Kurd in Turkey. The decision of the court is just another way to repress, silence and punish the Kurds. The mentality governing this country is that problems can be resolved by anti democratic and repressive means and that unfair trial can provide political and social peace. But despite all this, our people will claim their legitimate rights, and will continue to struggle for this as long as it takes”.

EUTCC calls on the European Union and the international community to take political action and strongly condemn Turkey for having convicted Leyla Zana to ten new years in prison.


For further information
Kariane Westrheim
Chair of EUTCC
Menneskerettighetenes plass 1
5007 Bergen, Norway
Telephone: +47 976 42 088

TERRORISM, GLOBALIZATION, AND CONSPIRACY

"Just as the power of the feudal aristocracy had to be broken in order for capitalism to emerge fully, so must imperialism and capitalism in Third World nations be overcome if a new system is to prevail."
~ Michael Parenti.

Here's an old video. from 2002, which I have just come across but which has a very good discussion of capitalism, globalism--a euphemism for that most advanced form of capitalism, imperialism--and the addiction of the elites.

The speaker is American political scientist, Michael Parenti. Run time one hour.

Enjoy.

GENOCIDE AND THE KURDS

"I will kill them all with chemical weapons! Who is going to say anything? The international community? Fuck them! The international community and those who listen to them."
~ "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majeed.

CNN recently aired a documentary on genocide. Among those interviewed for the documentary was Peter Galbraith, the only person in the West who tried to draw attention to Saddam's attempted genocide of the Kurds. From CNN:

Years before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was slaughtering Iraq's Kurds with bombs, bullets and gas.

The Reagan White House saw it as a ruthless attempt to put down a rebellion by a minority ethnic group fighting for independence and allied with Iraq's enemy, Iran.

But Peter Galbraith thought it was something worse.

"A light went off in my head, and I said, 'Saddam Hussein is committing genocide,'" said Galbraith, who was on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

An unabashed idealist, Galbraith was known for tackling unconventional issues.

"If you're going to be idealistic in life, you're going to be disappointed," he said. "But that's not a reason to abandon idealism."

Galbraith was one of the first Westerners to witness the effects of the slaughter. During a fact-finding trip for the Senate in 1987, he saw something troubling.

"When we crossed from the Arab part of Iraq into the Kurdish part of Iraq, the villages and towns that showed on our maps just weren't there," he said. Bulldozing Kurdish villages was just the first phase of Hussein's war against the Kurds. In 1988, it escalated with chemical weapons.

"Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people were killed in those attacks, and then Iraqi troops moved into those villages and gunned down the survivors."

There are several video clips of Galbraith talking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour: Video 1, Video 2, and the bullshit excuses can be seen in Video 3.

More on the documentary can be found here.

It was "special interests" that saw to it the Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 was never enacted. In her book A Problem from Hell America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power notes that it was agricultural "special interests", notably wheat and rice growers who were engaged in supplying Iraq with their products, who helped to kill Galbraith's legislation. But there were other "special interests", too:

According to a 1988 confidential State Department cable, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the non-profit National Security Archive (NSA), U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie wrote that Bechtel officials threatened to bypass the sanctions, passed by the Senate in 1988.

”Bechtel representatives said that if economic sanctions contained in the Senate act are signed into law, Bechtel will turn to non-U.S. suppliers of technology and continue to do business in Iraq,” the cable said.

The document also shows further behind-the-scenes particulars of how the U.S. corporation, now part of President George W. Bush's project to bring democracy to post-Saddam Iraq, courted the dictatorial regime with full knowledge of Saddam's use of chemical weapons against Iranian troops and the Kurds -- with the approval of U.S. diplomats.

”They (Bechtel) were certainly well aware of what was going on in Iraq and had no qualms about making a buck there,” said Jim Vallette, research director at the Washington-based Sustainable Energy and Economy Network.

”So they had no concerns over what Saddam was doing to his own people.” [sic]

[ . . . ]

In the 1980s Bechtel signed a technical services contract to manage the implementation of Iraq's two-billion-dollar petrochemical project II. U.S. firms, including Bechtel, won 300 million dollars in contracts to build the plant.

But the deal was jeopardised when the U.S. Senate wanted to penalise Baghdad for using chemical weapons against the Kurds, although it was well documented that Saddam had employed such weapons against Iran for at least four years before he used them on the Kurds.

The Senate initiative came on the heels of a series of Iraqi chemical weapons assaults against Kurds -- most notably in Halabja in March 1988 -- and called for strict economic sanctions against Baghdad, including blocking all international loans, credits and other types of assistance.

The government's then minister of industry, and Saddam's son-in-law, Husayn Kamil, told Bechtel officials he was angry the Senate passed the 'Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988', according to the cable.


[ . . . ]

Fearing to lose the contract, Bechtel officials threatened then to use non-U.S. suppliers and technology to keep the lucrative deal, in spite of the Senate's decision.

Isn't capitalism great?! Aren't "free" markets wonderful?!! Let's not forget that Turkey was also involved in the genocide of Kurds along with Saddam.

Ah, well . . . at least Hussein Kamel got his. Now if only scumbags like those at Bechtel and in the Ankara regime would get theirs.

While we're on the subject of hoping for just desserts, Blackwater mercenaries were indicted by a federal grand jury in DC of the slaughter the mercenaries carried out in Baghdad in September 2007. It looks like every attempt now is to make the mercenaries look like honorable human beings, but the fact is they are simply mercenaries, whores of war, so to speak.

Man, I'd pay to see these guys swing. I'd even bring the popcorn.

OPPRESSED AND OPPRESSORS: THE ERGENEKON DOG AND PONY SHOW

"From the beginning of their first term the AKP, starting from their leader to the lowest-ranking party member, created and shared a mythology of being oppressed."
~ Ece Temelkuran.

It looks like Leyla Zana may be going to prison for ten years. From the BBC:

A Turkish court has sentenced a Kurdish politician to 10 years in prison for spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The court ruled that Leyla Zana had violated the penal code and the anti-terror law in nine different speeches.

Ms Zana, 47, has already spent 10 years in prison for links to the PKK, though that conviction was later overturned.

Ms Zana was not in court, and this latest conviction will not be imposed until her appeal has been heard.

Her lawyer called the sentence an "unfortunate" decision in a country working to join the European Union, and said her client's words were well within the bounds of free speech.

The prosecution sought a sixty year conviction for Leyla's crimethink. She had spoken out in London earlier this year when she spoke in London. Hevallo also had an eyewitness report on Leyla's speech in the UK parliament.

The next step will be to hear the outcome of the appeals process. I wonder if all the world's liberals will be concerned with the case of this Sakharov prize winner this time around? I'm inclined to doubt it. Our only friends are the mountains.

Of course, Leyla's conviction, and all similar prosecutions, expose clearly the weakness of the Ankara regime, which functions out of terror that truth will be spoken and heard.

Speaking of liberals, there's a very good article at Counterpunch from a Turkish Leftist, female political columnist. Thanks to the Vineyardsaker for sending the link. From the heart of the article:

A friend from the socialist left stopped me on the street the other day. His voice was anxious: “You know what, maybe you should not write about Ergenekon for a while”. He paused and sulked: “I think the way you do on this issue but you know… They made two little boxes: a Kemalist box and a liberal one. Even if you don’t fit to either of the boxes they break your arms or legs and make you fit one of them at the end. They don’t open a third box for you. This is a dangerous political climate and we are all going to be wasted in the end”.

He is right. If you ask questions about the indictment, or even if you express your concern about the seriousness of the case, there you go into the Kemalist box. If you clap your hands whenever you hear the name of the Ergenekon case, then you can be considered a democrat and can inhabit the same box as those I mentioned above. In that box the concept of democracy is reduced to freedom of faith, and its links to social justice or equality have been cut mercilessly. That is why in Turkey at the moment, if you are coming from the left, in order to be recognized as ‘not a fascist’ you are obliged to bow your head before right-wing perceptions of democracy. Even though it was the left that has been the ultimate victim of the deep state, they are for the time being the ones accused of being the deep state itself. This discourse or political climate has such a strong character that even the most intelligent and experienced spin doctors on the left have been stammering since last January about the Ergenekon case. Meanwhile the right-wing democrats, the liberals, are making noise saying that this time the gang was caught before it managed to carry out the coup. Thank god, the AKP government at the last minute busted them in the very act!

This reduction of politics to barren dualities didn’t actually start with the Ergenekon case; on the contrary, it had already been creating an intellectual industry with interesting products since the political polarization deepened with the start of the AKP’s second term. On almost every news channel there are talk-shows featuring a pro-AKP liberal democrat and an anti-AKP democrat. Since their controversies are the product on sale, these programs are visually exaggerated as well. In one of them, before the show begins they show two tigers attacking each other and in another program one, side has a black, the other a white background. The AKP, beyond its other achievements, gave Turkey this amazing present: intellectual and political discussions are now made in little boxes between black-and-white tigers!

I urge a close reading of the entire piece, particularly for the history that is recounted and the role of the Islamists in that history, particularly the fact that the Fethullahcı were founded in the wake of the 12 September coup. Not coincidentally, that was the same timeframe that saw the implementation of the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis and Turkish Hezbollah.

Finally, check Hevallo's recent post on defense lobby conflicts of interest in the UK. What a shock--they are linked to Lockheed Martin! Or, maybe not so shocking.

THE TURKISH CONSTITUTION AND THE FACADE OF DEMOCRACY, PART 3

"And the closer the elections get, the following messages will be delivered secretly: "If we can weaken DTP and militarily control PKK, we will recognize your rights without facing any clashes by convincing the general staff."
~ Mithat Sancar, Ankara University.

Below is the third and final part of the interview Taraf's Neşe Düzel conducted with Ankara University's Mithat Sancar. Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 is here.

ND: Why did AKP become so hawkish on the Kurdish question and see that military operations is the only solution? Can it be the only party with this way?

MS: Someone had convinced AKP that with such hawkish strategies it could finish DTP and weaken PKK. AKP thinks that the more it becomes hawkish, the more powerful it would become in the Southeast. And the closer the elections get, the following messages will be delivered secretly: "If we can weaken DTP and militarily control PKK, we will recognize your rights without facing any clashes by convincing the general staff." In the election, they will show the candidates who will give the messages that they have not given up the policies they had promised. In this way, AKP is planning to annihilate the Kurdish political movement. There is a thesis that if AKP loses the Southeast, the only bridge between the Turkish east and west will collapse.

ND: What kind of thesis is this?

MS: This is very dangerous because with this thesis is the understanding that ignores the importance of political representation with one's own identity. However, the demand for representation with one's own identity is very important for a democratic solution in ethnic conflict. DTP, or a party like that, their existence will reinforce Kurdish unity with Turkey because it will make Kurds feel they are represented. If DTP is annihilated, the possibility of speaking out [with] Kurdish identity and the feeling of political representation will weaken. And it will be that point that the dissolution of Kurds from the country and from the state will begin. DTP's loss will not facilitate the problem. On the contrary, it will make the solution difficult.

ND: In AKP's cadres, it's as if there's a chauvinistic discourse. The national defense minister said that if the Rom and Armenians didn't go, we could not be a nation-state the way that we are today. How do you comment on this speech?

MS: With one word. I read his speech with great fear. The mentality which approves of the Armenian Genocide and confesses it wants to base its problem-solving on homogeneity. This mentality cannot solve all of its Kurdish and non-Muslim problems. On the contrary, it will make more violence occur and make more pains felt on the Kurdish question.

ND: Does the minister advocate Armenian forced immigration?

MS: Clearly, he says forced migration was necessary, it had to be. My main concern is this: there wasn't any criticism from either the government or the prime minister about Vecdi Gönül's words.

ND: Where does he find this courage?

MS: This is the problem. AKP is facing tides since 2005. The more it gets away from its democratization goal, the more deeply nationalistic AKP is revealed [to be]. Today the nationalistic vein in AKP is greater than ever because, to date, there were three main traits that kept AKP from being a statist, right-wing party. These are the EU, the democrats in AKP and outside AKP. Today the AKP administration excludes these three elements.

ND: Is Turkey sliding into racism?

MS: In terms of political culture and daily life, Turkey is becoming a society that has a powerful racist vein. Daily racism has increased a lot in Turkey. I mean racism became normal. The disasters which are created by the normalization of racism can be understood by looking at world examples and the pains that result [from racism]. This racism destroys the base of democracies and it makes it easier in Turkey to polarize society and then drag people to the point that they can slaughter each other. In fact, in the last year, torture incidents in Turkey, deaths in prison and in detention, and shooting on the streets have increased. All these incidents are related to each other.

ND: Has Turkey become militarized?

MS: The pace of the last five months is not a civilian pace, but it is a militarized pace. The things that we live today are the signs that we are being dragged into militarism, nationalism, authoritarianism. If the prime minister maintains hawkish discourses, Turkey will have deeper polarizations and will move farther away from democracy. Nationalism, authoritarianism, racism will wrap up all parts of Turkey. Turkey will become a ghetto. However, we must not forget that in Turkey, there exists democrats whose power is not proportional to their numbers.

ND: How can they be effective.

MS: They are effective because Turkey has a powerful conscience. I trust in Turkey's conscience. And let's not forget that there are also democratic people in AKP.

By the way, there was a little something a few days ago on Southern Kurdish reaction to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq. From IPS via Alternet:

"Kurdish leaders have very fervently talked about approving the agreement and have appeared to be like the number one attorneys for this deal," Nawshirwan Mustafa, a former deputy to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, wrote in Sbeiy, a Kurdish news website he founded. Mustafa resigned from Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan after disagreements over the party management style. "They [Kurdish leaders] have thought they should unconditionally support whatever America does and consider it as good."

Ooooh . . . Bad idea. Very bad idea.

Now, the extent of fears are such that senior Kurdish lawmakers broke their silence in the past few days demanding amendments to the deal in a way that would curb the central government's hand in using the country's military to "settle scores" with its political opponents.

What makes it even more worrying for Kurds is that the deal commits the U.S. military to back the Iraqi army in its operations. But Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has firmly rejected any changes, saying that parliamentarians should either accept the deal in its entirety or reject it altogether.

I guess these guys have already forgotten the betrayals of the past. Shame, shame, shame.

THE TURKISH CONSTITUTION AND THE FACADE OF DEMOCRACY, PART 2

"AKP is dragging the non-nationalistic, mild conservatives into nationalism. The discourse that it uses regarding the Kurdish question empowers the authoritarian, nationalistic vein. This is a disaster for Turkey."
~ Mithat Sancar, Ankara University.

The following is part 2 of Neşe Düzel's interview with Mithat Sancar. Part 1 is here.

ND: AKP said they would make a civil constitution, but then it retreated. Did anyone scare AKP do you think?

MS: It is not only about fear but also about various profits, balance of power, and tactics. This is AKP's effort to be "the state's favorite elite." AKP is trying to be accepted by military and civilian bureaucracy in order to enter the salon and this is the effort for that. In this, pragmatism is AKP's essential trait anyway. If this pragmatism unites with opportunism, it will be a disaster. Because in AKP there is not only pragmatism, but also an opportunistic vein. This kind of pragmatism, short-term tactical calculations, and opportunism occurs especially at election time. For that reason, AKP is engaging in authoritarian, nationalist slogans. However, since September 12, including Özal's ANAP, AKP had the most democratization potential among all the parties.

ND: Isn't it still so?

MS: It is still so, however the destructive potential of AKP is incomparably greater, compared to the other parties. AKP might be destructive. With AKP's civil attempts, the people who had problems with the system, the people which the military excluded, the people which the civil bureaucracy did not respect were all abandoned to nationalism and military understanding. However, now when AKP is getting closer to having a deal with authoritarian forces, it might drag these people back to nationalism again.

ND: Does AKP make such crowds nationalistic?

MS: AKP is now dragging portions of the population, which are mildly conservative, to nationalism. AKP is dragging the non-nationalistic, mild conservatives into nationalism. The discourse that it uses regarding the Kurdish question empowers the authoritarian, nationalistic vein. This is a disaster for Turkey. For instance, during Tansu Çiller's prime ministry, the support that she provided to the military was only a political support. Çiller did not have a social support to present to the military because the military and Çiller were standing on the same ground. AKP and the military, however, are not standing on the same ground. The more AKP gets closer to the military, the more it brings authoritarian and nationalistic support. And this is a great danger for democracy. This AKP becomes more fearful after its constitutional court closure case. The closure case precipitated the ways AKP sought to have a deal with the general staff and the civil bureaucratic elites, its bargaining and the period to get close to them. But another reason for using this kind of nationalistic language is the chief of general staff İlker Başbuğ's concept regarding the Kurdish question. Some people say Başbuğ made some room for a civil governing party for solving the Kurdish question.

ND: Don't you think it did?

MS: Quite the contrary. The general staff's new concept is as follows: "We are ready to make the gestures that you like. I can come to the government and give briefings. In appearance, I can give the impression that I am under civil authority but you are also going to cooperate with us in terms of our red lines." In short, to AKP they say, "You be on the field, but you do what we say. Implement our policies without making us appear." Now, apparently, the general staff conveyed its Kurdish policy to AKP.

ND: Did the AKP government have an agreement with the general staff regarding Kurdish policy?

MS: Now it seems so. Let me put it this way: In this country, the Kurdish question is a key problem. Any party that becomes hawkish and that goes far away from a democratic solution regarding the Kurdish question, without any exception, will be nationalistic and authoritarian. Demirel's DYP, Karayalçın's SHP, Yılmaz's ANAP, Çiller's DYP, and Erbakan's Refah all shared this end. Being hawkish on the Kurdish question does not bring anyone anything.

ND: Does PM Erdoğan's discourses result from fear or are there any other reasons for these policy changes that we don't know?

MS: AKP never had a comprehensive democratic program and Kurdish policy anyway, to let us speak of its policy change today. AKP only worked on the EU's project architecture in a good way. It's goal was limited to get a negotiation date for candidacy. Then, since the period of membership was long, it could just loosen it and sometimes it could precipitate it. Whenever AKP domestically feels weak, it gets closer to the EU project and whenever it feels strong it moves away from the EU. Now I think AKP will feel strong. As you see, the general staff also does nothing that would give a hard time to AKP.

ND: Okay, so today what exactly is the point that you say AKP got close?

MS: The center is statist. It reversed the state and whenever it gets stuck it engages in nationalistic enmity and it will say, "One state, one nation, one flag, one homeland." The center does not see the crowd's discomfort as a democratic discomfort or a demand for democracy, but rather it sees a source of disturbance. In the center of the state, there is a rigid, rude, primitive nationalistic spirit. Erdoğan's recent example, such as "love it or leave it" is an example of the central understanding. AKP's Yozgat parliamentarian's statement, "I would love to shoot whoever comes against my nation and state" is also this understanding.

ND: Does AKP want to solve the Kurdish question?

MS: AKP never had a Kurdish policy. It didn't go beyond messages. Today, at the point we are at, we see that AKP neither has the capacity, nor the power, nor the courage to get to the bottom of the Kurdish question. AKP thinks it can solve the Kurdish question by finishing DTP, which is doing politics on behalf of the Kurds. Indeed, today, all the statist environment is saying we have to support AKP in the Southeast. This is a very dangerous calculation. If AKP wins the elections, do they think the Kurdish question will end? On the contrary, the dissolution of the Kurds from the system will be deepened. Clashes will be sharpened.

ND: Why?

MS: The main barrier in front of AKP that will lead it to become a hegemonic party is not CHP; it is DTP. A hegemonic party, in appearance, is a multi-party system. However, in fact this system is de facto a one-party system, because there is no functionality of the other parties anymore. AKP is calculating to get Southeast from DTP and become Turkey's hegemonic party. There is a danger of a hegemonic party in Turkey.

Part 3 tomorrow.

THE TURKISH CONSTITUTION AND THE FACADE OF DEMOCRACY

"AKP can be destructive with the discourse it uses about the Kurdish question. It transforms the non-nationalistic, mild grassroots to nationalism. This nationalism is a disaster for Turkey."
~ Mithat Sancar, Ankara University.

Here's another interview from Taraf's Neşe Duzel. This time she interviews Mithat Sancar, a professor of constitutional theory at Ankara University.

By the way, Taraf has been having difficulty raising revenue, mainly from advertisements, which it needs to continue publication. This seems to be a result of its reporting matters of which the Turkish general staff does not approve. Taraf is taking some steps to maintain itself and I sincerely hope it is able to survive this difficult time. Taraf's staff has consistently worked toward journalistic excellence, something that is, for the most part, completely lacking in reporting from the so-called "civilized" world of the West.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the first part of Neşe Duzel's interview with Professor Mithat Sancar of Ankara University:

Mithat Sancar: "The military is making the Kurdish policies implemented by AKP."

"AKP agreed with the military. The Turkish general staff conveyed it's Kurdish policy to AKP. Başbuğ goes through the gestures of briefing the government, however [he says]: 'You be on the field, but do whatever we tell you to do'".

"There are dangerous calculations. If AKP wins the election in the Southeast, do they think the Kurdish question will end? On the contrary, the dissolution of the Kurds from the system will be deepened. Conflict will be sharpened."

"There is the danger of a hegemonic party in Turkey. AKP is calculating to take the Southeast from DTP, to become the hegemonic party. This is a one-party system in which the other parties exist only in appearance."

"A minister says, 'Clearly there must be forced immigration". My main worry is that there isn't any reaction to these words from neither the Prime Minister nor from the government. Today, AKP's nationalistic vein is greater than ever."

"AKP can be destructive with the discourse it uses about the Kurdish question. It transforms the non-nationalistic, mild grassroots to nationalism. This nationalism is a disaster for Turkey."


Why Mithat Sancar?

Turkey is going through an agitation for the last two years. First, the presidential election, then the general elections, and now the local elections that will be held in four months. Turkey shut itself down inside remarkably. AKP, which gave up on proceeding with the EU process, which also always engages in nationalist enmity. And AKP raised this nationalism to the level of racism. Within this era in Turkey, only "terrorist" incidents did not increase. Also, state violence against citizens exploded. Okay, but what's happened? Only one year ago, when this country was debating about a civil and democratic constitution, now even the chief of the constitutional court is scared to talk about the contstitution. How did this happen? Why did AKP turn into such a fearful and status quo party? Did it have any secret deals not to free society and solve the Kurdish problem in democratic ways? What kind of consequences will such policy changes by AKP have? What did the democratic vein in AKP do? We talked about all this with Professor Mithat Sancar, who is a faculty member of Ankara University's law department. Professor Sancar especially studies constitutional theory, the birth of modern Turkey, the state of law, and human rights.


ND: Last week in Bilkent University there was a symposium organized and the immutable articles in the constitution were debated. Do you think there can be any immutable articles in a constitution?

MS: Yes there may. In the constitutions of many developed countries there are immutable regulations; however, these are generally the articles which guarantee a democratic legal state. For example, in Germany's constitution, the article related to human dignity, human rights, cannot be changed.

ND: What are the articles that are immutable for us?

MS: Indeed, we have an armageddon in the second article of our constitution. This article, that is related to the republic's qualification article, has turned this article into Atatürk's nationalism loyalty principle. It makes Kemalism a constitutional principle.

ND: Developed countries can debate the immutable articles in their constitutions. Can we debate our immutable articles in Turkey?

MS: This is the problem: we cannot debate. In addition, those parts which do not want the immutable articles in the constitution to be changed have more control over this. However AKP did not keep its promise regarding the preparation of a civil constitution.

ND: Which of the other nations' constitutions does our constitution resemble?

MS: Right now our constitution is not a very bad text because a lot of articles were changed. The problem is this: the spirit of this constitution did not change because constitutions convey the spirit of the era in which they were prepared. A constitution that is prepared in a free environment, even if it has some shortcomings compared to today's constitution, if it is backwards compared to today's constitution, it would have potential for more freedom. Because that constitution would carry the era's pluralism and color. In our constitution, however, the ghosts of the "revolutionaries" are roaming. This spirit of the coup sees society as a dangerous focus that must be controlled and any attempts to deepen freedom have backfired.

ND: I had asked which country's constitution does our constitution resemble?

MS: In appearance, in terms of basic institutions, it is no different than western constitutions. Elections are held, parties are founded. In our constitution we have superficial rules for democracy. However, there are no arrangements to deepen freedoms. Because the understanding of the national security mentality hasn't been left yet. Domestically, the military and bureaucratic elites, outside [of Turkey], the US, both of these together imposed a model of a state of national security in Turkey in the 1982 constitution. They defended that Turkey could be ruled by a crippled democracy that is peculiar to Turkey itself. There were several changes in the constitution, but this model never changed. This is a Turkey-type democracy.

ND: In international politics, is there any term called "Turkey-type democracy"?

MS: Of course there is! In the world arena, political science scholars use this term. For instance, for Turkey and Russia they say, "peculiar democracies belonging to the same family". And now, today, AKP is inclined toward the Turkey-type democracy. In the EU, the sides which do not want Turkey's membership are inclined to see a Turkey-type democracy.

ND: Can there be any democracy as a "peculiar" democracy?

MS: There can't be. Peculiar to itself means being far away from universal measures. This is a democracy type which never had an inside to deepen rights and freedoms. There is authoritarian administration. This is a kind of democracy that does not have any inside to deepen justice and freedoms, but is eager for authoritarian administrations. Of course, this is not democracy. This is a monstrosity! Today, AKP is settling for a Turkey-type democracy. There is a coalition between the AKP government, the state elites, and some forces in the EU that a Turkey-type democracy is sufficient for Turkey. That is why the EU is not pushing so hard about freedoms.

ND: Did AKP make a deal with opponents of Turkey in the EU?

MS: The government has not given up the progress of the EU yet. It seems that it wants the EU, but it has an alliance with military, civil, bureaucratic forces not to enhance democracy. The government tells the EU, "Turkey's conditions do not enable us to enact the norms that you want us to enact. Forgive us." The government's alliance with the state elites makes Turkey go far away from the EU's goals. In one way, the AKP government is doing the will of the authoritarian, fascist forces in the right-wing of the EU.

Tomorrow, Part 2.