"The U.S. has done more to assist Turkey in its fight against the PKK than any other country. In full coordination with the Turkish government, we have used our diplomatic, military, and intelligence resources to combat PKK operations, logistics, and fundraising. This cooperation continues today, and has saved Turkish lives."
~ Joseph Ralston, Lockheed Martin lobbyist.
~ Joseph Ralston, Lockheed Martin lobbyist.
A bad sign for Ker Kurê Kerdoğan:
From KorucuTV (TRT 6) and Bugün. And the fake Kurds at the Bugün article complain in the comments about how embarrassed they are to see such a sign because Bugün explains what "ker" means.
Where in the hell have the fake Kurds been all this time? People have been referring to Kerdoğan for some time now.
Turkish journalism awards for 2008 have been announced and SURPRISE, SURPRISE, nothing for Taraf. I do notice, however, that there's an award for a charicature of Hüseyin Üzmez, the Fethullahçı septuagenarian who recently made news for sexual abuse of his 14-year-old "bride" and AKP attempts to lower the age of marriage to 14 for girls. How convenient. Remember, these are the people the US supports. More on that child-bride bullshit, here.
A Turkish "humanitarian delegation" was finally allowed to enter Gaza. For some reason, the Ankara regime can't understand why there was a "brutal" hold-up with their aid:
“We cannot understand why the Turkish delegation faced an almost brute force approach and wasn’t let in, although a lot of foreign delegations, including French, German and Irish ones, were let in. We cannot understand this harsh stance by the Egyptian authorities. We are going to that region only for humanitarian purposes, and most of the delegation members are doctors anyway,” a member of the delegation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Anatolia news agency on Saturday.
Well, maybe everyone was a little nervous because much of the aid was transported by the Turkish Red Crescent, and Turkish Red Crescent is well known for carrying arms shipments. There's no reason why a rational person should not believe that the Islamist Ankara regime would not be trying to ship arms to Islamist HAMAS.
In the meantime, Turkish families are sponsoring Palestinian orphans, something they've never done for the Kurdish orphans they've created in both North and South Kurdistan for more than 80 years now. In fact, they applaud the murder of Kurdish infants and children by TSK because it's helping to get rid of their "terrorist" problem.
I continue to find the Ankara regime's attitude towards HAMAS to be highly hypocritical, according to Babacan:
They have made mistakes, too. On the other hand it is impossible to ensure peace by ignoring Hamas.
On the other hand, it's impossible to ensure peace by ignoring PKK, no matter what Lockheed Martin or Babacan say.
In other news, Turkey, the US, Iraq, and the Southern Kurds are setting up a "joint command center" in Hewlêr to combat the big, bad PKK. This is going to be an intelligence dispersal point so that the Americans can continue to give intel to the Ankara regime so it can continue to bomb civilian areas in South Kurdistan, with the blessing of Baghdad and the Southern Kurds. They'll probably move the Israelis from Batman to Hewlêr to help with the effort as well.
Good luck with that. These same groups have been fighting against PKK since the 1990s and have failed miserably. Besides, this move should be seen for what it is: a piss-poor excuse to avoid doing what they are afraid of doing. And what all of them--Turkey, the US, Israel, Iraq, and the KRG--are afraid of doing is growing a pair and actually going to the mountains to fight. But, then, it's so much easier to simply blast away at Kurdish civilians with targets provided by the US and Israel. . .
9 comments:
The US support to Turkey, is never even discussed. Even the US antiwar movement ignores the issue. I think it's in response to Iraqi Kurds supporting the US.
I found the posters of (K)erdogan in very bad taste. I found the protestors in bad taste as well. TRT Ses is a major milestone.
It's up to the DTP to get voters for the next election. If their voter base is going to be fooled by an election gimmick, then they need to try better than shouting slogans like "Kerdogan" and obstructing positive developments, like TRT6. Plus, some voters have been fooled in the past by much less than official Kurdish state-run TV -- like bags of flour or coal or a new refrigerator.
If the AKP wants to take a positive step as an "election gimmick" then I would encourage that. DTP should react with a constructive approach not by name-calling. Seems immature to me.
~nistiman
If you really think of having a turkey state run Kurdish TV station a good thing then I guess you should apploud the village guards who are getting paid by the Turkey state and fighting against the PKK!
What is the difference between the TV station who is run by the state or the village gueards who are paid by the same state?
Turkish Red Crescent is a joke. I remember when they were caught smuggling arms into Lebanon for Hezbollah. That's kind of the direction Turkey is heading, though. Hamas, Hezbollah, AKP. If it's not one kind of fascism (far right), then it's another (Islamism). And again we see, as if we needed further examples, that the only political development that will benefit the northern Kurds is autonomy.
@ Hamo
Silav hamo, I can't see many similarities worth making between the state-sponsored village guards and a state-sponsored kurdish television station except the fact that they are both state sponsored. Surely, if Kurdish was recognized as an official language in Turkey, then TRT6 would be very laudable effort.
I'm completely in agreement that without constitutional changes TRT Ses doesn't go near "solving the Kurdish problem". If anyone believes that then they probably weren't very useful for the Kurdish cause to begin with.
I've come to a personal conclusion that the Kurdish problem in Turkey is not simply a legal problem of rights but a societal problem with both the Kurds and the Turks as sources of the problem. Kurds must become aware of their basic rights and demand them and Turks must "unlearn" their racist attitudes towards Kurds and Kurdishness.
No politician in Turkey can start negotiating with PKK and still maintain any sort of support among the Turkish population. I doubt any politician can make any constitutional changes either. The society isn't ready to support it. TRT6 has a societal impact -- on Kurds and the Turks. Kurds realize their language is worthy of respect and it may even entice them to actually use it in their daily lives or to seek ways of learning it and Turks also learn the same respect. Even if TRT6 is closed, the public discourse on the Kurdish problem will have changed. IT has already changed. I'm surprised and shocked at what I hear almost every single day. It isn't revolutionary but some revolutions are slow processes, especially democratization.
Yes, TRT6 might divide the Kurds initially. Some may go back to supporting the AKP (I still believe those who are primarily interested in Kurdish rights would never have voted for AKP to begin with). But the best way of immunizing the Kurds against being tricked by an electoral gimmick is to make him aware of his natural rights. That way, his votes cannot be bought with some bags of rice and he will hold the Kurdish parties up to a high standard. It is up to the DTP to impart this self-knowledge to the Kurds. I don't think this self-knowledge can be attained by attacking a Kurdish television that appears to be a great addition to Kurdish programming and is not (as far as I know) spewing anti-PKK crap 24/7.
I could go on, but that's where I'm coming from.
~nistiman
Silav û hirmet hevalên hêja û delal,
It is no good to be act like a child when you are adult, but I know when I do it. Birez kak Hamo does understand how stupid he sound as he says TRT 6 is like village guards. Yes, it is true, TRT 6 is killing people and burning village. What a stupid thing! Let us ignore this statement!
Nistiman xan, have you watch TRT 6? Do you able to talk Kurdish now? Also, there is a song "Zer Mircan", its name is not "Yar Mircan" but you can learn.
You said, "No politician in Turkey can start negotiating with PKK and still maintain any sort of support among the Turkish population."
So this excuse makes it okay for Turkish politicians not to seek a peaceful solution?
Firstly, the same politicians are the ones who created the atmosphere of anti-Kurdish sentiment that makes your quoted statement above partially true.
Secondly, I don't think it would take long to convince the Turkish public that peace could be achieved if their government engaged in negotiations. Your statement just gives them excuses not to.
@ Bawer -- don't be too hard on hamo, since I doubt he came up with the idea that TRT6 is like the village guard system. Apparently, Kurdish artists have formed a group protecting the channel as well. Go figure.
Thanks for the correction about Zer Mircan. Now that you pointed it out, it's so obvious :) And, I've only watched TRT6 a handful of times and while I'm capable, I'm not uber-precocious to learn Kurdish that fast :) Hedi hedi ....
@ Kurd
I never intended my comments to give a politician or a member of the Turkish public an "excuse" to continue implementing racist policies. There is no excuse.
If you believe that it wouldn't take long to convince the Turkish public (which I really have no issue with) then it would make sense that TRT6 would benefit in reforming their view about the necessity to provide for protections to the Kurdish language and culture ...
~nistiman
Edit: The sentence above should read:
Apparently, Kurdish artists have formed a group protesting the channel as well on the grounds it is like the Village Guard system. Go figure.
~nistiman
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