tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193129792024-03-13T03:03:25.472-07:00Rastî1. rightness (n) a: accordance with conscience or morality b: appropriate conduct; doing the right thing c: conformity to fact or truth 2. truth (n) a: the state of being the case b: the body of real things, events, and factsMizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.comBlogger1054125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-41331179131341622162011-12-29T16:14:00.000-08:002011-12-29T16:44:31.019-08:00MASSACRE IN TURKEY<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"The massacres are the result of a policy which, as far as can be ascertained, has been entertained for some considerable time by the gang of unscrupulous adventurers who are now in possession of the Government of the Turkish Empire. They hesitated to put it in practice until they thought the favorable moment had come, and that moment seems to have arrived. . ."</span><br /><span>~ British Viscount James Bryce, October 6, 1915, on the Armenian Genocide.</span><br /></div><br /><br />So the devastating news is that the Islamist regime in Ankara has bombed Kurdish civilians in Iraq. . . <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">NOT</span>.<br /><br />The Islamist regime in Ankara has bombed Kurdish civilians in Turkey:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w1UYh1smW0k" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />More from <span style="font-style: italic;">Al-Jazeera</span>:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SMU9joXLu7I" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />But those of us who know, know that bombing by F-16 in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan happens all the time, especially in Şirnak. There's no mistaking it when it happens because the bombing makes such a distinctive noise, even at a distance.<br /><br />I'm sure, however, that Katil Erdoğan will get to the bottom of it with "no cover-up of potential mistakes," as the talking head at Al-Jazeera claims. Mark my words: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">There will be no cover-up of this just as there was no cover-up of the Şemdinli bombing.</span> Everyone should remember that Katil Erdoğan promised no cover-up of that incident and yet, what happened with <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/docs/bhrckhrp/Promoting_Conflict.pdf&sa=U&ei=RQf9TuCPIof5ggfxiqGJAg&ved=0CAYQFjAB&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHqm4HqkywDzQlhhZcpDyVUms7vJQ" target="_blank">that</a>?<br /><br />There have been a lot of misleading headlines in foreign media about this massacre to the effect that the bombing took place inside Iraq, but such headlines are nothing more than bold-faced lies. As Hasip Kaplan explains, the bombing took place well within the Turkish border, in the village area of Ortasu, Uludere District, Şırnak Province. From <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/29/bloomberg_articlesLWYQUK0UQVI9.DTL" target="_blank">Hasip Kaplan</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>More than 20 people were also wounded and the count is increasing, said Hasip Kaplan, a parliamentarian with the pro- Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP. The jets bombed Ortasu village in the Uludere district, killing smugglers who were operating along the border with Iraq, he said in a phone interview from Sirnak. Turkey's military said it's investigating the airstrikes.</blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2103307,00.html" target="_blank">Nazmi Gür</a> describes the victims--and they're not the big, bad PKK:<br /><br /><blockquote>Pro-Kurdish legislator Nazmi Gur said most of those killed were teenagers who were carrying diesel fuel from Iraq into Turkey on donkeys or horses — often the only livelihood in local villages. He claimed that officials would have known that Turkish smugglers would be operating in the area.</blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Of course</span> officials knew that this was a smuggling route. How could they not? Especially when soldiers from the local garrison were the very ones who <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/29/turkish-air-strikes-iraq-border?newsfeed=true" target="_blank">rerouted</a> the teens:<br /><br /><blockquote>According to local accounts, a group of people from the villages of Ortasu and Gulyazi were crossing the border from northern Iraq when they were blocked by soldiers on the path and then bombed at around 9.30pm on Wednesday.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />More on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/29/turkey-kurds-air-strike-pkk" target="_blank">how the group</a> was rerouted:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Hurriyet quoted BDP joint chairman Selahattin Demirtas as saying the killings were "clearly a massacre". A group of 50 smugglers had crossed the border into Turkey and were stopped and redirected by soldiers from a nearby outpost right before they reached their village, Demirtas said.<br /><br />"The air strike happened on that route they were directed to. Those killed were young people who made a living off of smuggling. There were people studying for university exams among them and the soldiers at the outpost knew it."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Absolutely, they knew it! But why were the teens rerouted? Very simply, to create plausible deniability. Everyone in the area knows the smuggling routes and the smugglers--the teens, in this case--are not normally targeted. Let me say it again to be clear: Everyone in the area, particularly the TSK, knows the smuggling routes. If TSK had bombed these well-known routes, it would clearly be a massacre. To cover up any potential charge of massacre, the soldiers at the garrison are ordered to reroute the smugglers, which they do. This forces the smugglers to take a route not known to be a smuggling route. It allows TSK to claim that drones located a group of "unknown" people walking through the area and who else would walk around in this area in a large group but PKK? After all, the group is not on the smuggling route.<br /><br />Finally, TSK lies to the media by saying that it had "intelligence" that PKK was due to make an attack in the area, and Voilà! Plausible deniability!<br /><br />Isn't it odd that TSK never has the same kind of "intelligence" when the big, bad PKK really does come and really does whack about 100 TSK'ers?<br /><br />Check <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/29/turkey-kurds-air-strike-pkk" target="_blank">this</a> out:<br /><br /><blockquote>A security official said: "There were rumours that the PKK would cross through this region. Images were recorded of a crowd crossing last night, hence an operation was carried out. We could not have known whether these people were (PKK) group members or smugglers."</blockquote><br /><br />"Rumours?" That doesn't sound quite as professional as "intelligence", does it? Then let me ask this: What's the difference between "rumors" and "lies"? In addition, if you "could not have known" who the people were then you <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">shouldn't be bombing people</span>, Mr. Security Official. Besides, as we have seen with the soldiers redirecting the teens, the TSK did, in fact, know that these were<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> not </span>PKK guerrillas.<br /><br />But wait, there's more:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Turkish military said the strike had been against PKK forces in northern Iraq."It was established from unmanned aerial vehicle images that a group was within Iraq heading towards our border," it said. "Given that the area in which the group was spotted is often used by terrorists and that it was moving towards our border at night, it was deemed necessary for our air force planes to attack.</blockquote><br /><br />Another bunch of lies. The group was not in Iraq. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>It was in Turkey. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">And it had been redirected by soldiers on the ground</span>. And it was in an area known for smugglers. And if you're not sure who you're bombing, should you be bombing?<br /><br />Then we have the big business angle on the massacre. It would appear that <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/29/bloomberg_articlesLWYQUK0UQVI9.DTL" target="_blank">gasoline retailers</a> in Turkey take a dim view of the smuggling of diesel:<br /><br /><blockquote>Companies including Petrol Ofisi AS, Turkey's biggest fuel retailer and a unit of OMV AG, have complained that smuggling from northern Iraq, where the PKK keeps a command center in the Kandil Mountains, provides unfair competition.</blockquote><br /><br />First of all, the fact that PKK has its command HQ at Kandil has absolutely nothing to do with "unfair" competition. Secondly, Petrol Ofisi AS executives should maybe get off their fat asses and do something about the abysmal unemployment rate in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan so that young people wouldn't have to smuggle for a living.<br /><br />But that's capitalism for you.<br /><br />Protests have already started but I wouldn't expect too much to happen regarding this. In fact, look, here comes Katil Erdoğan now, with a scarf on his head, a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other. Maybe he really won't cover it up. Instead, he'll just sweep up the charred remains of these, the Kurdish future, and throw them in the trash.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-56744245760000024412011-10-19T21:17:00.000-07:002011-10-19T22:18:42.246-07:00WHY THE OUTRAGE?<div style="text-align: center;">Heaven<br />I'm in heaven<br />And my heart beats<br />So that I can hardly speak<br />And I seem to find<br />That happiness I seek<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Cheek to Cheek"<br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><br />Why the angst? Why the agony? Why the shock and turmoil and foreboding?<br /><br />Of course I'm talking about the news of the PKK attacks that have left a reported <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=24-soldiers-dead-in-clashes-in-se-turkey-2011-10-19" target="_blank">24 TSK types dead</a>. Others report <a href="http://www.nationalturk.com/en/26-turkish-soldiers-killed-at-attack-in-se-turkey-14473" target="_blank">26 dead</a> and some 20 wounded.<br /><br />I'll let you in on something, though . . . friends in Hakkâri say that the death tally is quite a bit higher. Not surprising since the Ankara regime historically distorts the numbers, usually deflating it's KIAs and inflating PKK KIAs.<br /><br />HPG itself reports that there were approximately 100 kills and wounded from this operation and that this number includes TSK personnel and Özel Harekât (police) team members. Five comrades lost their lives in the operation and HPG will publish the details of those comrades as soon as it is able.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Firat News</span> has reported that a survivor of the Çukurca operation had called his mother and told her that there were many more deaths than Turkish media had reported. The mother, in turn, reported this information via telephone to Kanal 7 TV (Istanbul).<br /><br />But let's get back to my original questions. Why the shock and agony? Why the promises of revenge from Ankara?<br /><br />Turkey is a country ruled by a religious party. They refer to their dead as martyrs. So why aren't the ultra-fanatic AKP holy men and women rejoicing that paradise is bulging at its borders with more happy martyrs? I mean, this is what <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">they believe</span>, right, so why the long faces and mean words? The AKP should be asses and elbows on the road Kandil to kiss Murat Karayılan's feet for having overseen the creation of more martyrs.<br /><br />I find the AKP's lack of faith extremely disturbing. They're worse than infidels because at least infidels aren't expected to have the proper belief system. But the holy men of the AKP? They should declare a holiday of national rejoicing at the mere thought of more Turkish martyrs. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">They should make Apo Prime Minister of Turkey for life!</span><br /><br />Gee, Mr. Gül and Mr. Erdoğan, maybe you're not praying hard enough. Maybe your lack of sincerity in your prayers, your lack of good intentions and your sins have driven your faith away? Perhaps you could purify yourselves of your sins by sending your own children to fight the PKK instead of sending only the children of the poor to be ground into blood meal. You'd be following in the steps of Ibrahim, who was more than willing to sacrifice his son to show his rock-solid faith.<br /><br />Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen, though. These religious hypocrites are just<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> way</span> too cowardly to put their own kids on the line for their ideology.<br /><br />On the other hand, maybe the faithless Erdoğan could take some advice from <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/sns-rt-us-turkey-kurds-featuretre79i3v4-20111019,0,3533179,full.story" target="_blank">The Baltimore Sun</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>But while Erdogan has become a hero for millions of Muslims abroad by urging Arab leaders to embrace freedom and democracy and by championing Palestinian rights, Turkey's Kurds say Erdogan <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">should first focus on problems at home.</span></blockquote><br /><br />Do ya think??<br /><br />But we've waited over thirty years for the Ankara regime to allow anything like an Arab spring in The Southeast so it's time for the wait to end. It's time for the Kurdish people to create their own Kurdish spring. In fact, since the Ankara regime has placed military and police checkpoints at every meter of the political road in Turkey, there is no other choice but serhildan.<br /><br />BDP is also falling into the <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/news-260324-bdp-says-sorry-for-killing-of-soldiers-calls-for-end-to-deaths.html" target="_blank">trap of faithlessness</a>. There's absolutely no need to apologize for sending worthy souls to paradise.<br /><br />As for the hyenas of the international community and their absurd <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/news-260426-international-condemnation-against-pkk-attack-piles-up.html" target="_blank">cries of solidarity</a> with the infidel AKP, they want Turkey to continue to act for them in Syria and, ultimately, in Iran. After all, so much of the bombing has been cut back in Libya that the hyenas need to smell fresh blood. And Syria's convenient, too, what with İncirlik in the neighborhood.<br /><br />In the meantime, I think I'm going to sit back and continue to enjoy a little schadenfreude.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdYcH9So0Iogob8jurdN_0IYehqTUVzW-lj8mGyNxU7BJ1ikljTSzFLiIqAVBgWFROHQIJx7lBQKqvCMirkh7HnprNWHAftJkr4ld7d9OVgwrhomI8Sa8LSIC7tpp2O_S6lHG/s1600/abdullahgulhakkari.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 204px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdYcH9So0Iogob8jurdN_0IYehqTUVzW-lj8mGyNxU7BJ1ikljTSzFLiIqAVBgWFROHQIJx7lBQKqvCMirkh7HnprNWHAftJkr4ld7d9OVgwrhomI8Sa8LSIC7tpp2O_S6lHG/s320/abdullahgulhakkari.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665439069753114338" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br />Hevallere Not:</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Daha birkaç gün önce askeri üniformasıyla askerlere moral ziyaretinde bulunan Abdullah Gül'ün mesajına en kısa ve en anlamlı mesajınızdan dolayı sizleri kutluyorum.</span>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-23470133780449556842010-11-29T20:21:00.000-08:002010-12-01T19:39:28.744-08:00US EMBASSY ANKARA CABLEGATE DOCUMENTS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests. It is an attack on the international community."</span><br />~ Secretary of State, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101130/wl_afp/usdiplomacymilitaryinternetwikileaks" target="_blank">Hillary Clinton</a>.<br /></div><br /><br />You can read or search the Wikileaks secret US embassy cables at <a href="http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/" target="_blank">this site</a>. If you'd like to cut to the chase for the moment, you can browse all the cables from the US Embassy in Ankara <a href="http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/origin/67_0.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />I haven't made a thorough search of the site yet, but did check out the Ankara cables first. At this point there doesn't seem to be anything shocking in the revelations . . . at least, if you know the real situation in Turkey, there's nothing really shocking, nothing to justify old woman Clinton's hysterics.<br /><br />Germany's <span style="font-style: italic;">Spiegel Online</span> has an <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,731590,00.html" target="_blank">interesting take</a> on the Ankara Embassy cables, though:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The leaked diplomatic cables reveal that US diplomats are skeptical about Turkey's dependability as a partner. The leadership in Ankara is depicted as divided and permeated by Islamists.</blockquote><br /><br />SHOCK!! He,he, just kidding. <span style="font-style: italic;">Spiegel Online</span> continues:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The US diplomats' verdict on the NATO partner with the second biggest army in the alliance is devastating. The Turkish leadership is depicted as divided, and Erdogan's advisers, as well as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Ankara.<br /><br />The Americans are also worried about Davutoglu's alleged neo-Ottoman visions. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">US diplomats quote one high-ranking government adviser as saying that Davutoglu would use his Islamist influence on Erdogan, describing him as "exceptionally dangerous."</span> According to the US document, another adviser to the ruling AKP party remarked, probably ironically, that Turkey wanted "to take back Andalusia and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683."<br /><br />The US diplomats write that many leading figures in the AKP were members of a Muslim fraternity and that Erdogan had appointed Islamist bankers to influential positions. He gets his information almost exclusively from newspapers with close links to Islamists, they reported. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The prime minister, the cables continue, has surrounded himself with an "iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors" and presents himself as the "Tribune of Anatolia.</span>" </blockquote><br /><br />"Sycophantic" advisors?! Personally, I prefer to call them "toadies" but sycophantic advisors will work.<br /><br />Frankly, yes, the AKP is far more dangerous than the paşas. On the other hand, who's in charge of the "Muslim fraternity" quoted in the cables, according to Spiegel Online? Where is this leader living? Why, in the US itself and he's got <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/07/glens-open-door.html" target="_blank">his own green card</a>. You'd think after all the problems the US has had with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, they'd give up on aiding and abetting Islamists. But now they're whining about the problems their Turkish Islamists are causing them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">BOOO-HOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!</span><br /><br />According to the Cablegate site, 278 of the 251,287 cables have been released so far. It's definitely worth watching what's next.<br /><br />It'll also be worth watching to see if Katil Erdoğan is going to prosecute the US for its criticism of him, like what happened to <a href="http://ww.bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/126193-students-convicted-for-criticism-of-prime-minister" target="_blank">some students</a> in Istanbul recently or to <a href="http://ww.bianet.org/english/english/125814-prime-minister-litigates-journalist-eksi" target="_blank">Hürriyet</a> . . . or to another <a href="http://ww.bianet.org/english/english/121359-journalist-convicted-for-anecdote-about-pm-erodogan" target="_blank">journalist</a> . . . or to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4314933.stm" target="_blank">Musa Kart</a> . . . or to <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson03312005.html" target="_blank">Michael Dickinson</a>, et cetera, ad nauseum.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJLHr-xOqPHAX3kmNdiqEfut4W1nAtd8L-vhhjsM157P_yza2R7I6vXz0OknkyFzzUeFtNhrdYRPZXcNK0f92Kto7_6uYOhw8XQEqJN8bATXD2qQ9HkNiRANufEAfqkJ4VEdj/s1600/erdogan-dog.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJLHr-xOqPHAX3kmNdiqEfut4W1nAtd8L-vhhjsM157P_yza2R7I6vXz0OknkyFzzUeFtNhrdYRPZXcNK0f92Kto7_6uYOhw8XQEqJN8bATXD2qQ9HkNiRANufEAfqkJ4VEdj/s320/erdogan-dog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545193662588486738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Best in Show ~ Michael Dickinson</span><br /></span></div><br />Tribune of Anatolia, indeed. What a weenie.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-89304436712241568702010-09-16T20:36:00.000-07:002010-09-16T21:26:48.288-07:00REVENGE TAKEN ON HAKKARI<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple: to force the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security."</span><br />~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Vinciguerra" target="_blank">Vincenzo Vinciguerra</a>.<br /></div><br /><br />The Kurdish patriots of Hakkari are now being made to pay for their boycott of the phony AKP constitutional referendum with their lives.<br /><br />Earlier today a dolmuş was blown up by contra-guerrillas in Hakkari province near the village of Geçitli. Ten civilians are dead as a result. This is no different than the <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR44/024/1998/en/c0a5196b-daa4-11dd-80bc-797022e51902/eur440241998en.html" target="_blank">Güçlükonak massacre</a>, which was the work of the <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=172156" target="_blank">Turkish military</a> or, more recently, the massacre in <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2007/10/turkish-army-commits-massacre-in.html" target="_blank">Beytüşşebap, Beşağaç</a>, in which 12 people, including village guards, were killed.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSV4CqYJeu8YND3G1GaVxuTak4Yh5OILA-6Xn3qrSYAzoG99hF_mfGO3DDH-wgnRk2eM5Q7XE_EYi2ZgByecU7wMgLOp5uQyf4JZO34SWSILjt3WVdKFj946YuOkqOyJPry3wA/s1600/hakkarifalseflag.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSV4CqYJeu8YND3G1GaVxuTak4Yh5OILA-6Xn3qrSYAzoG99hF_mfGO3DDH-wgnRk2eM5Q7XE_EYi2ZgByecU7wMgLOp5uQyf4JZO34SWSILjt3WVdKFj946YuOkqOyJPry3wA/s400/hakkarifalseflag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517732055337538034" border="0" /></a><br />Villagers apparently rushed to the scene of the blast and fought the TSK in order to preserve evidence that was left behind. Shades of Şemdinli! You remember the <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR44/033/2005/en/4bdf6a6e-d483-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/eur440332005en.html" target="_blank">Şemdinli bombing</a>, in which the citizens of the town chased down and captured the TSK perpetrators and found <a href="http://www.uninvitedguest.net/index.php/2006/12/04/the-turkish-deep-state-was-caught-in-semdinli/" target="_blank">loads of evidence</a> in the perpetrators' JITEM-registered vehicle.<br /><br />According to KCK, from <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=nine-dead-in-se-turkey-mine-blast-2010-09-16" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hürriyet</span></a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>“<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">This is a counter-action against the people of Hakkari who joined the boycotting of the referendum on Sept. 12</span>,” KCK officials were quoted as saying on Fırat’s website. The officials were also quoted as saying that they would not carry out any attacks until Sept. 20, the end of the cease-fire announced earlier by the PKK.</blockquote><br /><br />More from PKK, from Fırat News (http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=1035):<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>PKK said the guerilla forces are committed to the unilateral ceasefire, declared on 13 August.<br /><br />Kurdish boycott campaign against the constitutional referendum was most effective in Hakkari, only 7 percent of the registered voters casted their ballots.<br /><br />PKK statement said in Peyanus village only 5 voters casted their ballots while 99 percent of the voters supported BDP's boycott campaign and labelled the attack "a response to Peyanus's attitude in the referendum."<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The attack in Hakkari is an attack to all the Kurds</span>" PKK said.<br /><br />PKK also warned AKP government saying "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The people of Hakkari is not alone</span>".<br /><br />PKK declared the victims as "martyrs of democracy" and paid condolences to the relatives and Kurdish people.<br /><br /></blockquote><br />Furthermore, Selahattin Demirtaş had this to say, again from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Hürriyet</span> link:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Later Thursday, BDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş condemned the attack in Hakkari, calling it “inhumane” and saying he believed it was carried out not by the PKK <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">but by the “deep state,”</span> a term used to describe an alleged criminal network within the Turkish state.<br /><br />The BDP chief said he and other party officials had traveled to Ankara from Diyarbakır to participate in a secret meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek on Thursday <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">but the meeting was canceled after the blast</span>, CNNTürk reported him as saying at a press conference.<br /><br />Demirtaş was also reported as saying the cancellation implied that the government saw the BDP as responsible for the blast.</blockquote><br /><br />It may appear to Selahattin Arkadaş that AKP blames BDP for the massacre but the cancellation of negotiations with BDP by AKP clearly indicates something else for me. For me, it indicates that the AKP and The Murderer Erdoğan are behind this contra-guerrilla operation. AKP needed an excuse to not speak to Kurds so it cooked up another massacre, in the finest tradition of the Ankara regime. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The AKP ordered this massacre; TSK happily obliged.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkffTj-MUlsC17-ZajVzIxOIqD0OBOiHJBUDj_rBAHeT6CmPOYT_gP7mR_IPDxC_al493XeuKhjHg_tiBhHIQvLbzP71BL0frDgEnSgZ7M8SQnikHGHa7UPNs1g8laqv5F0ri9/s1600/hakkari_patlama_olay.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkffTj-MUlsC17-ZajVzIxOIqD0OBOiHJBUDj_rBAHeT6CmPOYT_gP7mR_IPDxC_al493XeuKhjHg_tiBhHIQvLbzP71BL0frDgEnSgZ7M8SQnikHGHa7UPNs1g8laqv5F0ri9/s400/hakkari_patlama_olay.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517721343697178850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpivfQFPX70MVXS3r0uNaSw-ljKT9qbnh8qs-t73xWY1teLLLB9HSFfMg8QUfaMhaCSaQuRm_mYmqi2ssDYIgSos77VctwjI44ByJcKujwj3hxLYhQWIboEqQCMah77LuAuhys/s1600/hakkari_patlama_asker_ozel_logo.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpivfQFPX70MVXS3r0uNaSw-ljKT9qbnh8qs-t73xWY1teLLLB9HSFfMg8QUfaMhaCSaQuRm_mYmqi2ssDYIgSos77VctwjI44ByJcKujwj3hxLYhQWIboEqQCMah77LuAuhys/s400/hakkari_patlama_asker_ozel_logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517721333523375330" border="0" /></a><br />Among <a href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=96693" target="_blank">the evidence</a> left behind at the scene of the massacre were two military bags with two unexploded anti-tank mines, flares, bayonet, hand grenade, and a Hakkari mountain commando brigade bag containing canned tuna, chocolate, soda, cheese, and bread.<br /><br />Now this is very, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">very</span> sloppy. What professional soldier or contra-guerrilla would leave behind such a mess after completing a showy false flag operation? Such a slob should properly be shot. But, of course, this is very interesting in what it tells me and what it should tell others. It tells me that <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">a professional did not do this job</span>. It tells me that TSK ordered korucular, or village guards--non-professionals, in other words--to do this job. Hell, TSK remembers Şemdinli very well. AKP remembers Şemdinli very well, too.<br /><br />Ah, well . . . 20 September is only a few days away. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">I can hardly wait!</span>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-1279340289275034292010-09-15T20:07:00.000-07:002010-09-15T20:18:43.088-07:00STUPID AMERICAN TOURISTS AND FILTHY PASDARS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."</span><br />~ Albert Einstein.<br /></div><br /><br />One of the crazy Americans who went hiking without a guide last July in South Kurdistan has been released by the <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-14/world/iran.detained.american_1_masoud-shafii-josh-fattal-americans-shane-bauer?_s=PM:WORLD" target="_blank">Teheran regime</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>A jubilant American Sarah Shourd reunited with her mother in Muscat, Oman, on Tuesday after Iranian authorities released her from a Tehran prison where she had been held for 14 months.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />Shourd thanked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, Iran's supreme leader, and "everyone who has been a part of making this moment happen for me and for my family."<br /><br />Shourd, 32, left behind fellow Americans Shane Bauer, 28, who is her fiance, and their friend, Josh Fattal, 28.<br /><br />The three Americans were detained after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Iran accused the three of spying, a charge the United States and the hikers have denied.</blockquote><br /><br />Apparently, the three--who were supposedly journalists--were seized by pasdars as they were hiking in the Khormal region of South Kurdistan near the village of Zalem, according to an article in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/36562/us-hikers-were-seized-iraq" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Nation</span></a> dated July of this year.<br /><br />Aside from the fact that the filthy pasdars, like the filthy TSK, do not respect borders, why were these three hiking around without a guide of some sort? Their behavior was incredibly stupid. Filthy pasdars aside, the region is peppered with numerous land mines. See a map, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/video/36533/map-iran-iraq-border-where-hikers-were-seized" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Really, incredibly stupid.<br /><br />But we haven't heard too much complaining about how filthy pasdars routinely cross the border to commit all kinds of crimes (see <span style="font-style: italic;">The Nation</span> article), have we? That's fine with me. Since I don't hear anyone bitch when filthy pasdars cross the border to murder, rape, kidnap and bomb Kurds, then I don't want to hear bitching about them kidnapping three Americans.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-71048542271368403072010-09-13T19:43:00.000-07:002010-09-13T20:20:57.227-07:00THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE COUP, THE REFERENDUM, AND IRONY<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Top Turkish political figures, including former President Kenan Evren, were among the 49,446,369 voters country-wide who went to the polls Sunday to cast their votes in the constitutional referendum. . . . Former President Evren, voting at the Ankara Highways Guesthouse, declined to release a statement."</span><br />~ <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=politicians-go-to-the-ballot-box-2010-09-12" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hürriyet</span></a>.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><br />The results of the referendum are in, for the most part, and show no big surprises. However, we should extend a big shout out to the bad boys and girls of Hakkari who managed to give both fingers to the fascist AKP by having the lowest turnout rate of all--<a href="http://www.milliyet.com.tr/diyarbakir-bdp-binasina-pkk-flamalari-asildi-5-bin-kisi-kutlama-yapti/referandum/sondakika/13.09.2010/1288222/default.htm" target="_blank">7% of registered voters</a>!!<br /><br />Secim.haberler.com shows that a whopping <a href="http://secim.haberler.com/2010/sonuc.asp?il=hakkari" target="_blank">9% of voters</a> turned out for the AKP constitutional referendum in Hakkari. If you scroll down the page to see Hakkari's results for the March, 2009, local elections, you'll see that 80% of voters voted for DTP (now BDP), so the Hakkari region has become strongly politicized for BDP and against the ruling regime in Ankara. To see that only 7 to 9% of voters in Hakkari bothered to turn out for this utterly <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">worthless</span> referendum should come as no surprise to anyone.<br /><br />For more regional details of the vote, check <a href="http://secim.haberler.com/2010/" target="_blank">this page</a>.<br /><br />Here's the best photo from the vote, taken, naturally, in Hakkari:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVkH7x-KuL0IEtKFv5T7DdilJQ84r9RhP8YWLmrOl_hrmpIIY1PraFTJ4XmPEYWGpHvmF0Ap1Iz77uUVrk-ohdgjuIfBJkp0m47Hs_npKzfmRpQ2g3U9TFEMLppXgsLa1bCbC/s1600/fft28_mf539142.Jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVkH7x-KuL0IEtKFv5T7DdilJQ84r9RhP8YWLmrOl_hrmpIIY1PraFTJ4XmPEYWGpHvmF0Ap1Iz77uUVrk-ohdgjuIfBJkp0m47Hs_npKzfmRpQ2g3U9TFEMLppXgsLa1bCbC/s400/fft28_mf539142.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516594552114420338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This referendum reached a level of irony only possible in Turkey. Throughout the summer, Katil Erdoğan travelled around Turke, bawling his eyes out about all the victims of the 12 September coup, marketing Kurdish heroes like Musa Anter and Ahmet Kaya to get out the vote in favor of the AKP's carefully selected changes to the paşas' 1982 constitution. This would be the same Katil Erdoğan who's been the süt kardeş of every chief of Turkish general staff since Özkök at the very least. From the time of the Şemdinli bombing, Katil Erdoğan "massaged" Büyükanıt. During the Amed Serhildan, The Murderer gave explicit permission for the same paşas to do what they do best--murder Kurds. No doubt, The Murderer is now also süt kardeş to <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=220523" target="_blank">Işık Koşaner</a>.<br /><br />Yet, all this summer, this sorry-assed excuse for a prime minister has attempted to play the role of savior of the people. Whoever was convinced of the veracity of The Murderer's act is a flaming idiot.<br /><br />Another level of irony is that AKP's constitutional changes do absolutely nothing to address the myriad problems of the paşas' constitution. Everyone is still a Turk in Turkey. The legal system still exists to protect the state from the people. The facade of secularism is still maintained.<br /><br />The fact of the matter is that, even while the memory of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the 12 September coup were invoked, the intention of Katil Erdoğan and his evil AKP minions was merely to gain total control of the constitutional court. Don't believe me? <a href="http://www.akparti.org.tr/media/www/Anayasa%20de%C4%9Fi%C5%9Fikli%C4%9Fi%20kar%C5%9F%C4%B1la%C5%9Ft%C4%B1rmal%C4%B1%20teklif%20tablosu.pdf" target="_blank">Read it (in .pdf)</a> for yourselves, boys and girls, from the AKP's <a href="http://www.akparti.org.tr/anayasa-degisikligi-paketi_6830.html" target="_blank">own website</a>.<br /><br />Then there is the irony that the referendum vote was held on the anniversary of the 12 September coup. Honestly, you can't plan this kind of coincidence . . . Unless you happen to be Katil Erdoğan.<br /><br />The final irony was <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">never</span> mentioned. I never heard it once all summer, not from any AKP apparatchik and not through all of The Murderer's crocodile tears. The final irony is that Fethullah Gülen was a huge supporter of Kenan Evren, the CIA's "boy". Let's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Turkish_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" target="_blank">recall exactly who Evren served</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The U.S. support of this coup was acknowledged by the CIA Ankara station chief Paul Henze. After the government was overthrown, Henze cabled Washington, saying, "our boys [in Ankara] did it." This has created the impression that the USA stood behind the coup. Henze denied this during a June 2003 interview on CNN Türk's Manşet, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">but two days later [Mehmet Ali] Birand presented an interview with Henze recorded in 1997 in which he basically confirmed Mehmet Ali Birand's story.</span> The US State Department itself announced the coup during the night between 11 and 12 September: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the military had phoned the US embassy in Ankara to alert them of the coup an hour in advance.</span></blockquote><br /><br />Two years later, there was another <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenan_Evren"target="_blank">constitutional referendum</a> in Turkey, creating yet another level of irony:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>After the coup, in 1982, Kenan Evren was elected the President of Republic of Turkey on November 7 <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">with the 90% approval of the new constitution that was submitted to a controversial referendum, replacing the older constitution which, according to him, had liberties "luxurious" for Turkey.</span></blockquote><br /><br />Nowadays, of course, Evren's biggest supporter has a <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/07/glens-open-door.html" target="_blank">US green card</a>, accompanied by references from former CIA spooks--<a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/06/glen-cia-and-american-deep-state.html" target="_blank">George Fidas and Graham Fuller</a>. The irony never ends.<br /><br />So, what now? The Murderer claims that AKP will write a new constitution after 2012. If so, it's time for BDP to get to work. They should pull out the 1921 constitution, dust it off, update it where necessary, and have it ready to present as an option for a totally new constitution. It's time to reclaim some of those "luxurious" liberties from the shit-eating paşas.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-84452663982795039572010-07-20T11:52:00.000-07:002010-07-20T12:20:58.138-07:00KAYSERI COMMANDO GARRISON DESTROYED BY PKK!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Who am I, you ask?</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The Kurd of Kurdistan,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />a lively volcano,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />fire and dynamite</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />in the face of enemy.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />When furious,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />I shake the mountains,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />the sparks of my anger</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />are death to my foes.</span><br />~ Cigerxwîn, <a href="http://azadixwaz.blogspot.com/2010/03/kurds.html" target="_blank">"Kîme Ez"</a>.<br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Oh, SWEET!!</span><br /><br />A brigade of Kayseri commandos <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">has been destroyed</span> early this morning Kurdistan time by the beloved freedom fighters of the People's Defense Force (HPG)!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">U-LULULULULULULULULU!!!!</span><br /><br />Before we get to the announcement, let's review the <a href="http://variant.org.uk/27texts/cause_for_concern.html" target="_blank">role of Kayseri commandos</a> in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan <span style="font-style: italic;">[emphasis in the original]</span>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The decision to ‘train’ alongside Turkey’s mountain commandos in 1997, we should note, was also made two years after Human Rights Watch had publicly disclosed that “two special Commando Brigades, Bolu and Kayseri, [we]re heavily involved in counterinsurgency operations. Unlike the regular Turkish Army forces, the Bolu and Kayseri [mountain commando] units [we]re more highly trained and [we]re expected to engage in closer contact with PKK fighters and with civilians suspected of supporting the guerrillas. [Witness] B.G. told Human Rights Watch that during his April 1994-May 1995 stint in the southeast, he learned that <span style="font-style: italic;">the Bolu and Kayseri were considered by soldiers and civilians alike to be far more abusive of the civilian population than the regular Army. ‘Nasty behavior toward the population [wa]s encouraged in the Bolu and Kayseri brigades’,</span> he explained, ‘while the Piyade (infantry) Commando tend[ed] to be kinder. The commanders want[ed] there to be a kind of <span style="font-style: italic;">good guy - bad guy</span> situation, which they then use[d] to threaten the locals. <span style="font-style: italic;">They sa[id] be good or we’ll send the Bolu after you!’ Bolu and Kayseri Commandos were prevalent throughout the 1994 Tunceli [Dersim] campaign, during which tens of villages were destroyed. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were able to identify Bolu and Kayseri soldiers, and reported that they were involved in numerous violations of the laws of war, including village destructions, indiscriminate fire, and kidnapping civilians who were then forced into serving as porters during Army patrols</span> … The Bolu and Kayseri Commandos”, furthermore, “appear to have incorporated <span style="font-style: italic;">a significant number of U.S.-designed M-16 assault rifles and M-203 grenade launchers into their regular arsenal</span> … According to Reuters, 5,000 Bolu and Kayseri commandos joined 35,000 other forces in the Tunceli campaign [See ‘Turkish Army Torches 17 Villages, Residents Say,’ <span style="font-style: italic;">Reuters</span>, October 5, 1994]”.</blockquote><br /><br />Now that we know these bastards have received what they have so richly deserved, on to the news report, from <a href="http://www.firatnews.nu/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=30002" target="_blank">ANF</a>:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Garrison Destroyed in Çukurca!</span><br /><br />It has been announced that HPG guerrillas, who conducted an operation against a mobile military garrison in Çukurca, destroyed the entire garrison and killed 30 soldiers. It was also reported that the guerrillas confiscated a number of weapons and munitions.<br /><br />The clashes started between 0100 and 0200 hours. The mobile garrison that was targeted by the guerrillas was located 30 km from Çukurca district in Hantepe, between Bilican and Talise villages and the military unit was the Kayseri Commando Military Brigade Command.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">30 Soldiers Killed</span><br /><br />According to HPG sources, in the operation against the Bilican mobile garrison the entire garrison was destroyed. In the operation, in which 30 soldiers were killed, many weapons like artillery and artillery shells were destroyed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weapons Confiscated</span><br /><br />While the TSK came to pick up their wounded soldiers with helicopters they too encountered guerrilla intervention and it was reported that the helicopters were fired at <span style="font-style: italic;">[by the guerrillas]</span>. HPG sources also indicated that the helicopters were forced to retreat.<br /><br />In addition, during the guerrilla operation, the guerrillas went into the military units and confiscated many weapons and munitions.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Clashes Continue</span><br /><br />Clashes in the region, in the Uzundere area are still ongoing under the control of the guerrillas. Details of the clashes are expected from HPG soon.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />One would presume that these Kayseri commando-types are the same types that would fill the ranks of a so-called professional army within TSK, which would be posted to Turkish-occupied Kurdistan to fight our guerrillas.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Sweet!!</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Bijî Gerîla!<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Çok Yaşa Gerilla!<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Çok Yaşa Önder Apo!</span></span><br /></div>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-20353529799715354932010-07-19T21:03:00.000-07:002010-07-19T22:10:18.638-07:00TURKISH ARMY CONTINUES TO MUTILATE CORPSES<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"We are deeply rooted in the mountains and hearts of the people of Kurdistan. We are able to live another 50 years like this." </span><br />~ Murat Karayılan.<br /></div><br /><br />I remember that last spring and summer two Turkish journalists pushed for a dialog on the Kurdish situation. Hasan Cemal wrote a series of articles from Kandil which were published in <a href="http://www.milliyet.com.tr/Yazar.aspx?aType=YazarDetay&Date=09.05.2009&ArticleID=1100399&AuthorID=63&b=Hasan%20Cemal,%20sen%20Kandil%20Dagina%20neden%20gittin..%20%281%29&a=Hasan%20Cemal&ver=56" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Milliyet</span></a>. Later, both Hasan Cemal and Cengiz Çandar hosted a discussion live on Turkish TV from Diyarbakır, in which they spoke to Kurdish leaders and--surprisingly--actually seemed to listen. Until I find out otherwise, at this point I have to give them credit for trying to open a public dialog on the situation.<br /><br />Of course, at the time, DTP members were being rounded up by the AKP government for two simple reasons: 1. They were Kurds; 2. The DTP had badly beaten the AKP in the March 2009 local elections . . . in spite of all the bribes AKP had dispensed to villagers in the preceeding months and in spite of Katil Erdoğan's hypocritical show at Davos.<br /><br />Now Cengiz Çandar has <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=i-wish-8216erdogan-pasha8217-starts-thinking-the-unthinkable-2010-07-13" target="_blank">called out Beşir Atalay</a>, the Interior Minister (the ministry responsible for Turkey's domestic "security" affairs), on this whole "democratic initiative" farce, stating correctly that "[t]he democratic initiative is not going anywhere." I would add the fact that the "democratic initiative" was stillborn.<br /><br /><br />Çandar describes the signs of the times:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>First of all, the military concentration continues at the Şemdinli border line. The Kurdish administration in Iraq is pressurized. Fighter jets bomb northern Iraq. In the presence of the United States and Arbil, efforts are being made for the handing over of 248 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, militants over to Turkey. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The pre-1990 conditions settle in the Southeast again. We are going back to a state in which people are fed up with check points and barricades</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">If these are called “efforts,” there were more of them in the 1980s and the 1990s. The point we have reached is crystal-clear.</span><br /></blockquote><br /><br />Yes, indeed, I agree. The point that we are at is excruciatingly crystalline.<br /><br />And then Çandar quotes a recent editorial by <span style="font-style: italic;">Radikal's</span> <a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=RadikalYazarYazisi&Date=11.07.2010&ArticleID=1007382" target="_blank">Oral Çalışlar</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>“Here is a letter for you: ‘I am sending photos and information. They belong to guerillas who died in the clashes that took place in Şemdinli. They were handed over to the Şemdinli Municipality as they were. People are washing the bodies in the river.’ I couldn’t look at the photos, burned young bodies in pieces… the Günlük daily has been publishing the photos for a few days. In another letter, an article published in Günlük daily was sent. It is on the same topic. ‘…The images the cameraman recorded are detailed. The cameramen who recorded every single detail of the corpses of the guerillas will leave their mark in the history. That’s for sure. Or rather, the cameramen record acts of violence the state is involved in against Kurds, Kurdish bodies, corpses in the 21st century… I cannot look at the photos. My eyes are shut. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Yes, we are at the end</span>… where humanity ends. In the 21st century such acts are flat violence. Their goal is to destroy the willpower of the Kurdish people, scare away Kurdish women and the Kurdish youth.’ For days, funeral ceremonies are being held for the PKK members in Hakkâri, Şemdinli, Diyarbakır, Van and in many other southeastern cities. Groups to pick up the bodies are waving placards writing ‘Welcome our martyrs’ on them. The corpses are not being returned to the families. They are buried at the scenes of encounters. For this reasons, demonstrations are held, people fight against police officers. The PKK members who are killed in the regions mostly driven by a political trend advocating the Kurdish identity are welcomed not as ‘terrorists’ but as ‘martyrs.’ They are treated like martyrs. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">This is the latest picture in the Southeast… In other words, a completely different psychology and public opinion is settling in the region…</span>”<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Indeed.<br /><br />The daily <a href="http://www.gunlukgazetesi.net/haber.asp?haberid=96586" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Günlük</span></a> has a photo of one of our guerrillas who's body was mutilated and had something to say about the situation:<br /><br /><blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIXKDEp_beCt0nYsywb61iVVQFcSpWERIHsLZwBXPEln0O8y4lSQ1G1phkK3TEz6u3prw63vJyl-W6zRCEzcp_KhDFNA6olVGwl5Bd6CTgcJvN7XJwNyjzg9X8-80E-0FYywM/s1600/ozgur_cenaze_vahset_2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIXKDEp_beCt0nYsywb61iVVQFcSpWERIHsLZwBXPEln0O8y4lSQ1G1phkK3TEz6u3prw63vJyl-W6zRCEzcp_KhDFNA6olVGwl5Bd6CTgcJvN7XJwNyjzg9X8-80E-0FYywM/s320/ozgur_cenaze_vahset_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495846180281230946" border="0" /></a>HPG member Özgür Dağhan's family was shocked when they went to the morgue to identify their son, who was killed in a clash in Gümüşhane. Özgür Dağhan's head had been completely deformed. The things remaining from his head were some hair and his teeth.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />The family saw that inhumane act not only against their son but in two more HPG members' bodies. There weren't any deformations on the other parts of Dağhan's body, which indicates he was caught alive and was tortured after he was killed.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />The article goes on to say that the bodies of Hamit Ulaş and Bayram Dün, HPG fighters who were killed in Karadeniz and Diyarbakır Silvan on 23 June, had also been tortured. Their heads were also smashed and the bodies tortured.<br /><br />At Dağhan's funeral, which saw a turnout of thousands of mourners, BDP Diyarbakır Provincial Chairman Nijad Yaruk asked, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"What kind of fire is that in your heart to make you attack the bodies of dead people?"</span><br /><br /><br />In addition to these recent mutilations, Selahattin Demirtaş also forwarded information to Katil Erdoğan on the TSK's mutilation of Rojhelati guerrilla, <a href="http://www.yeniozgurpolitika.org/?bolum=haber&hid=4498" target="_blank">Abbas Emani</a>, from<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-215991-100-bdp-claims-special-teams-defiled-militants-corpses.html" target="_blank">Zaman</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>BDP leader Nurettin Demirtaş<span style="font-style: italic;"> [sic. Note: It's not Nurettin Demirtaş but Selahattın Demirtaş who is the BDP co-chair referred to here--Mizgîn] </span>earlier this week sent a CD to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan filled with images of Özgür Dağhan, who was recently killed in Gümüşhane, and Abbas Emani, an Iranian militant who was allegedly killed when he was captured in Batman five years ago. According to the BDP’s claims, PKK member Emani was captured by the Special Forces. He was interrogated and then executed near a vehicle parked in front of a gendarmerie post. Later, his body was dragged to the site of a clash between the military and PKK terrorists, where it was mutilated by Turkish soldiers.<br /><br />Demirtaş also enclosed a note to the prime minister that said: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">“These incidents [corpse defilement] are common, to our knowledge. Are you thinking of apologizing to the people and the families and punishing those responsible?” He said many witnesses in the area had confirmed the truth of these acts of disrespect for the dead.</span><br /></blockquote><br /><br />I might add that I personally know people who can confirm similar behavior from the 1990s. There's more at<span style="font-style: italic;"> Zaman</span> from Mehmet Dağhan, the father of Şehîd Özgür Dağhan, via <span style="font-style: italic;">Taraf</span>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The Taraf daily spoke to Mehmet Dağhan, father of Özgür Dağhan, who said: “When my son was killed I went to Trabzon to identify him. They showed me about 10 pictures. There was blood on his face in the picture, his hair had been neatly combed and he was vaguely smiling. I said it was my son. Then I went to the Council of Forensic Medicine’s (ATK) morgue to identify the corpse. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">They brought my son’s body. His skull had been smashed and burnt. His body was completely black. I said I was not able to identify him.</span> I talked to the prosecutor who was following up on the autopsy. He was about the same age as my son, and he was very nice to me. He was very respectful. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">He showed me pictures. There was not a blemish on his body in those pictures. He was dead, but his body was intact</span>. It is natural for him to die in a clash. But later, I don’t know if they charred his body with gasoline, chemicals or some kind of acid. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">You wouldn’t even do this to an animal</span>.”<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Of course, none of this is new behavior on the part of NATO's second largest army, nor of Turkish state officials charged with the remains of guerrillas. As Heval Selahattin said, "These incidents <span style="font-style: italic;">[corpse defilement]</span> are common, to our knowledge." Earlier photos of atrocities carried out against guerrilla corpses were posted on<span style="font-style: italic;"> Rastî</span> in <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/03/turkish-army-war-crimes.html" target="_blank">March 2008</a> and in August of the same year, I posted information that appeared in the daily <span style="font-style: italic;">Taraf</span> on the same subject:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Terrifying confession of a sergeant</span><br /><br /><br />"They threw a PKK member from a helicopter . . . A police special operations member raped the dead body of a female PKK member . . ." Former sergeant Çakan wrote this, including the name, date, and place, in his book; however, he was the one prosecuted.<br /><br />Former Sergeant Kasım Çakan assembled information in his book on murders he witnessed which were committed by unknown perpetrators while he was on duty in The Southeast. Demanding that Çakan's book be accepted as an informant's document, Çakan's publisher, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, made a criminal complaint against the soldiers and police named in the document.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Being a Soldier While a Sergeant</span><br /><br />Kasım Çakan, who used to work in the East and Southeast as a sergeant, compiled information about incidents that happened to him just after he was discharged from the army, in a book called Being a Soldier While a Sergeant. While Cakan wanted the incidents mentioned in his book to be considered as an informant documentation, Istanbul's chief prosecutor charged Çakan and his publisher with the charge of "making terror propaganda" [Article 7/2 of the new and improved Anti-Terror Law]. The trial of Çakan and Tevn Publications owner, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, is still ongoing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A criminal complaint</span><br /><br />Publisher Mehdi Tanrıkulu made a complaint to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office based on the writing in the book. Tanrıkulu did so with the rationale that starting an investigation about such incidents would reveal several murders by unknown perpetrators.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />More on that is available <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/08/disclosing-war-crimes-in-north.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Other photos documenting TSK atrocities can be found at <a href="http://www.yeniozgurpolitika.org/?bolum=haber&hid=4892" target="_blank">this page</a> at <span style="font-style: italic;">Yeni Özgür Politika</span>. Atrocities committed by TSK have also been disclosed by TSK conscripts in Nadire Mater's book, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Front-Turkish-Soldiers-Guerrillas/dp/1403961204" target="_blank">Voices from the Front</a> (Turkish title: <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=14173" target="_blank">Mehmedin Kitabı</a>).<br /><br />While Katil Erdoğan was, no doubt, crying his eyes out in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the victims of the <a href="http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=61213" target="_blank">Srebrenica massacre</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>I remember all the martyrs of Srebrenica with great respect and hope that they are all in heaven, Erdogan said.<br /><br />Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that the massacre of 1995 in Srebrenica dealt a heavy blow to human dignity.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />The victims of the Srebrenica massacre lost lives for their homeland, honor and humanity. They were massacred in a bloody, ruthless, lawless, and wild war, Erdogan stressed.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />Erdogan referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague which ruled that what took place in Srebrenica was a genocide.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Now, this is the same son-of-a-bitch who has never bothered to shed a tear for Kurds but, in fact, was the one to authorize the murder of Kurdish women, children and elderly during the <a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/kurdish-intifada-by-fatih-tas" target="_blank">Amed Serhildan</a> in 2006. This is the same son-of-a-bitch who refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. This is the same son-of-a-bitch who replied to Heval Selahattin's letter and CD <a href="http://www.gazete5.com/haber/olu-pkkli-teroristlerin-cesetlerine-iskence-iddiasi-17-temmuz-201-29046.htm" target="_blank">thusly</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"They have sent me a letter on [BDP] letterhead with a CD attached, stating that the situation of these corpses was a crime against humanity and asking what are we going to do about this. Is it left to you, BDP, to advocate for an organization that has been declared a terrorist organization by a majority of the world's countries? . . . Where are we going to put the armless, legless veterans in GATA <span style="font-style: italic;">[Gülhane Askeri Tıp Akademisi--TSK's hospital in Ankara]</span> then?"</blockquote><br /><br />So this murdering son-of-a-bitch continues to ignore the incidents which are endemic to NATO's second largest army. He lies about PKK being a "terrorist" organization according to "a majority of the world's countries"--only state-sponsors of terror like the United States and Turkey and their little f***ing lapdogs in the EU think that PKK is a "terrorist" organization and these bottom-feeders are hardly "a majority of the world's countries". And then this son-of-a-bitch, Recep Tayyip Katil Erdoğan goes on to deflect any accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity by referring to some "armless, legless veterans in GATA". Oh, and I can guarantee you that the sons of Katil Erdoğan are never going to be found among those GATA unfortunates, nor will they ever be quoted in any future Mehmedin Kitabı, and you, dear reader, can easily guess the reason why.<br /><br /><br />Here's how Heval Selahattin <a href="http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=588" target="_blank">responded</a> to the Murderer's idiotic statement:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"This is an unfortunate statement. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">If a PM is thinking this way then he has lost his legitimacy</span>. It is a confession that he is not the PM of a certain part of the country. . . . We do not distinguish the dead bodies, the pain. There is not your pain or my pain. There is our pain. Guerrillas are also the sons and daughters of this country. They are all our people. The parents of guerrillas are also citizens of this country. But if a PM is doing this then he will pass into history as the PM defending brutal treatment on dead bodies."</blockquote><br /><br />Well, all I can say is that Heval Selahattin is a much better man than I. As far as I'm concerned, what <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/7897170/Turkeys-tourist-resorts-threatened-with-terrorist-campaign.html" target="_blank">this comrade</a> said.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-81328978689645775712010-07-09T15:12:00.000-07:002010-07-09T15:47:29.433-07:00THE NEXT GENERATION TO BE BORN IN PRISON<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Diyarbakır Prison is not only the wildest chapter of the Kurdish issue, but it is also the wildest face of Sept. 12. It is certain that the horrible incidents encouraged people to join the armed fight. The fury among Kurdish people due to Diyarbakır Prison has long remained one of the most important resources for the PKK."</span><br />~ Mithat Sancar, Professor, Ankara University.<br /></div><br /><br />While most people will protest Israeli treatment of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/14/palestinian-children-rights-violated-israel?a=1" target="_blank">Palestinian children</a>, including R. Katil Tayyip Erdoğan. In fact, this great and noble defender of children's rights had this to say <a href="http://paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447%3Aturkish-prime-minister-erdogan-addresses-the-european-community-in-oxford-&catid=3%3Anewsflash&Itemid=156" target="_blank">last year</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>I saw with my own eyes young Palestinian children being killed in Gaza.<br /><br /></blockquote><br />Yet there has been little or no discussion of Katil Erdoğan's own treatment of Kurdish children--who also happen to be citizens of Turkey--in Western media. Here's something to help make up for the corporate media lap dogs' cover up of the Turkish state's official policy of Kurdish child abuse:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXtSrCIpOtA&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXtSrCIpOtA&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uCJrTCB5BsQ&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uCJrTCB5BsQ&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br />In April of last year--just days before Katil Erdoğan spoke about the killing of Palestinian children at Oxford, as mentioned above--these evil, stone-throwing, juvenile threats to the indivisibility and territorial integrity of the great and democratic Türkiye Cumhuriyeti were visited by a human rights delegation at their new home in the Diyarbakır E-Type prison. Here's what was noticed, among <a href="http://bianet.org/english/english/114600-childrens-situation-in-diyarbakir-prison-is-desperate" target="_blank">other things</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Because the children are washing their clothes by hand, they are not clean. The beds are old, dirty and contain several bacteria. The tables are not hygienically clean, and because the children wash their dishes in an unhygienic environment (on the bathroom floor), this brings serious health problems."</span><br /><br />There is no prison doctor. According to the manager, a doctor comes once a week, and an ambulance is called for emergencies. In general, children are transferred to hospital <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"if the gendarmerie is not busy on that day."</span><br /><br />The delegation noted that one child had had a detached finger stitched back on, but that the stitches had not been removed for three months. Another child had cuts on his head and hands. He said that they had been stitched six days earlier, but that the wounds had not been bandaged since his detention.<br /><br /></blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"></span>Does this surprise you? It shouldn't. Diyarbakır's prisons have always been notorious and these days it ranks as one of the ten <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3832983.ece" target="_blank">most notorious</a> in the world. This is where the Turkish state puts Kurdish children after charging them with political "crimes".<br /><br />Fast forward one year later and how do we find these young Kurds? Unsurprisingly, again, <a href="http://bianet.org/english/children/123250-imprisoned-juveniles-punished-and-transferred-after-protest" target="_blank">as follows</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Juveniles detained in the Diyarbakır E Type Prison who protested against the fact that their sick fellow inmates were not taken to the hospital were all punished for their protest by the prison management. The young prisoners are convicted and imprisoned in the scope of the controversial Anti-Terror Law (TMK).</span><br /><br />Özgeder, the Association for Solidarity with Young People Deprived of Freedom, sent a letter to the Directorate for Prisons and Detention Houses within the Ministry of Justice to make an inquiry about the children that participated in the protest action.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No reply for torture inquiry</span><br /><br />The letter said, "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">We were informed that the children were punished heavily and that officials applied physical violence from time to time. We also learnt that they were sent to neighbouring provinces</span>". Özgeder requested according information.<br /><br />The Directorate for Prisons and Detention Houses did not respond to the allegations of "torture" in their written reply. The juveniles who had joined the protest were called "criminals". The letter furthermore put forward that they damaged public property.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />By protesting prison conditions, these young Kurds are following in the footsteps of Mazlum Doğan, Kemal Pir, M. Hayri Durmuş, and <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">many</span> others who died in Diyarbakır Military Prison in protest of the treatment in the prison and its conditions. For this reason, it has been said that Diyarbakır Military Prison is the birthplace of the PKK.<br /><br />The Turkish state and the international community had better pay attention and act on behalf of the young Kurds now serving sentences as political prisoners in Diyarbakır and elsewhere in Turkey. Otherwise, this new generation may soon pick up <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">their own matches</span>.<br /></div></div>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-75866673474518062722010-07-07T18:32:00.000-07:002010-07-07T18:59:14.425-07:00PKK AND THE SCOTUS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised."</span><br />~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.<br /></div><br /><br />On June 21 the SCOTUS <span style="font-style: italic;">[Supreme Court of the US]</span> determined that providing "training, expert advice or assistance" to teach the PKK how to file human rights complaints or to engage in peace negotiations is the same thing as providing material support to a "terrorist" organization. From <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062104267.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Washington Post</span></a>, amazingly:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>WHICH OF the following is illegal under the law that bars providing "material support" to terrorists?:<br /><br />1. Giving money to a terrorist organization.<br /><br />2. Providing explosives training to terrorists.<br /><br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Urging a terrorist group to put down its arms in favor of using lawful, peaceful means to achieve political goals.</span><br /><br />After Monday's Supreme Court ruling in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project the answer is: all three.<br /><br />The material support law prohibits U.S. citizens from providing "services," "personnel" or "training, expert advice or assistance" to U.S.-designated terrorist groups. It has long been understood that funding and providing weapons training were off limits. What was less clear was how far the law could reach to punish activities with no link to terrorism.<br /><br />The court's answer: Very far. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">In our opinion, it is the court that went too far.</span></blockquote><br /><br />From <a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/23/unsurprised_but_still_disappointed" target=""><span style="font-style: italic;">Foreign Policy</span></a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">And although it seems like attempts to convince terrorist groups to use non-lethal methods to pursue their political agenda would be a no-brainer, the US Supreme Court concluded otherwise.</span> How could this be? According to the Supreme Court, an FTO such as the PKK could misuse such training to feign an interest in peace while in the meantime it builds up its strength as it awaits a more opportune time to resume terrorism. In addition, it could use its newly-gained knowledge of international law to subvert the legal system by manipulating it to prevent successful campaigns against terrorism. Finally, when an FTO such as the PKK learns skills such as peaceful political advocacy and the norms of international law and international humanitarian and human rights law, there is the substantial risk that it will obtain greater legitimacy, thereby making it harder to defeat them. </blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/material-support-bans-and-the-criminalization-of-political-advocacy/58469/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a> continues:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>. . . But as Justice Breyer suggested in dissent, it makes no sense: Independent speech about a designated group may legitimize the group as much (or more) than advice to the group on conflict resolution. Breyer was equally dismissive of the assertion that such advice enables terrorism by "freeing up" the group's resources: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"The Government has provided us with no empirical information that might convincingly support this claim." Nor did it make a factual showing that the speech proposed by the plaintiffs in HLP would confer any particular "legitimacy" on a designated group. </span> </blockquote><br /><br />One of the original court documents in the challenge to the Patriot Act can be found <a href="http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/hlpash12304ord.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, and the document contains the argument of the plaintiffs in the case, including that of Judge Ralph Fertig. Here's a sample:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Since 1991 the HLP <span style="font-style: italic;">[Humanitarian Law Project]</span> and Judge Fertig have devoted substantial time and resources advocating on behalf of the Kurds living in Turkey and working with and providing training, expert advice and other forms of support to the PKK. Judge Fertig and other individuals associated with the HLP have conducted fact-finding investigations on the Kurds in Turkey and have published reports and articles presenting their findings,<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> which are supportive of the PKK and the struggle for Kurdish liberation</span>. They assert that the Turkish government has committed extensive human rights violations against the Kurds, including the summary execution of more than 18,000 Kurds, the widespread use of arbitrary detentions and torture against persons who speak out for equal rights for Kurds or are suspected of sympathizing with those who do, and the wholesale destruction of some 2,4000 Kurdish villages. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Applying international law principles, they have concluded that the PKK is a party to an armed conflict governed by Geneva Conventions and Protocols and, therefore, is not a terrorist organization under international law.</span></blockquote><br /><br />There's much more in the court document that outlines some of the work of the HLP and Judge Fertig on behalf of the Kurdish people. Take a look so that you can get a better idea of what it is to be a "terrorist" in the mind of the United States in general and of the fascist Black Robes of the SCOTUS in particular.<br /><br />At the same time that the fascist Black Robes of the SCOTUS determined that helping the PKK negotiate peace was an act of terrorism, news reports were discussing the fact that the US military and its civilian contractors were handing out beaucoup bucks to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/united-states-military-funding-taliban-afghanistan/story?id=10980527" target="_blank">warlords and the Taliban</a> in Afghanistan. <br /><br />It's apparent from <a href="http://mondediplo.com/2010/07/04afghanistan" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Le Monde Diplomatique</span></a> that not only do US military officers like to flash the cash in the Taliban's direction, but NATO commanders are somewhat taken with the Taliban personally:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Sadly for the US, almost everyone supports the Taliban rebels. Even Nato commanders. A senior officer said: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">“If I was a young man, I’d be fighting with the Taliban.” </span></blockquote><br /><br />The same article says that, until recently anyway, the entire goal of the US military in Afghanistan was not even to defeat the Taliban:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>For Nato soldiers, the fight is confusing. General Stanley McChrystal – their commander until President Barack Obama accepted his forced resignation last month, the result of his candour – told the troops that, in the counter-insurgency campaign,<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> their primary goal is not to kill or even defeat the Taliban</span> but rather to secure the population. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The enemy is not even the Taliban, said Major-General Nick Carter, the British general in charge of the Kandahar campaign</span>, but rather a “malign influence”, a code for corrupt government.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />In light of a recent House subcommittee investigation into the matter, the Pentagon is taking the allegations <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/06/us-contractors-bribing-afghan-taliban-for-safe-passage-house-probe-finds-.html" target="_blank">"seriously"</a>. The entire congressional report can be found <a href="http://www.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4993:chairman-tierney-releases-majority-staff-report-warlord-inc&catid=72:hearings&Itemid=30" target="_blank">here</a> and a larger news report on the investigation can be found at <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/36493/congressional-investigation-confirms-us-military-funds-afghan-warlords" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Nation</span></a>.<br /><br />It makes one wonder whether or not such fine, upstanding Americans as US military officers and "free-market" contractors should, perhaps, be the first to be charged with offering material support to terrorists under the SCOTUS ruling. Alas, it's not to be for the simple reason that the Taliban is not listed as an FTO on the State Department's infamous <a href="http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm" target="_blank">List</a>. <br /><br />Now why is that?<br /><br />On the one hand you have the PKK, an organization that has never targeted Americans or even talked about targeting Americans--unlike the MEK, pet organization of so many Republican congressmen--and on the other hand you have the Taliban, which manages to blow up or otherwise kill Americans every few days. Or at least every week. So why is the PKK on the List and the Taliban is not? It all sounds so very arbitrary to me.<br /><br />Of course, the reason the Taliban has so far avoided being listed is because it was the guest of the Americans back <a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/63632/?page=entire" target="_blank">in the 1990s</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Late in 1996, however, the Bridas Corp. of Argentina finally signed contracts with the Taliban and with Gen. Dostum of the Northern Alliance to build the pipeline.<br /><br />One American company in particular, Unocal, found that intolerable and fought back vigorously, hiring a number of consultants in addition to Kissinger: Hamid Karzai, Richard Armitage, and Zalmay Khalilzad. (Armitage and Khalilzad would join the George W. Bush administration in 2001.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Unocal wooed Taliban officials at its headquarters in Texas and in Washington, D.C., seeking to have the Bridas contract voided, but the Taliban refused</span>. Finally, in February of 1998, John J. Maresca, a Unocal vice president, asked in a congressional hearing to have the Taliban replaced by a more stable regime.<br /><br />The Clinton administration, having recently refused the PNAC request to invade Iraq, was not any more interested in a military overthrow of the Taliban. President Clinton did, however, shoot a few cruise missiles into Afghanistan, after the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassies in Africa. And he issued an executive order forbidding further trade transactions with the Taliban.<br /><br />Maresca was thus twice disappointed: The Taliban would not be replaced very soon, and Unocal would have to cease its pleadings with the regime.<br /><br />Unocal's prospects rocketed when George W. Bush entered the White House, and the Project for the New American Century ideology of global dominance took hold.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Bush administration itself took up active negotiations with the Taliban in January of 2001, seeking secure access to the Caspian Basin for American companies.</span> The Enron Corp. also was eyeing a pipeline to feed its proposed power plant in India.) The administration offered a package of foreign aid as an inducement, and the parties met in Washington, Berlin and Islamabad. The Bridas contract might still be voided.<br /><br />But the Taliban would not yield.<br /><br /></blockquote><br /><br />It would appear that the Americans are holding out to continue pipeline negotiations with the Taliban, and are, therefore, not "Listing" the group.<br /><br />If so it means that former HPG Commander Comrade Bahoz Erdal's repeated comments about the <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-on-btc-operation.html" target="_blank">targeting of oil and gas pipelines</a> takes on a much greater sense of urgency. Since the Taliban refusal to go along with American oil companies and its continued targeting of US military personnel have kept it off the List, maybe the same tactics could benefit HPG and the PKK and, finally, force Turkey and the US to negotiate for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish situation.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-7902558813302300762010-06-23T21:11:00.000-07:002010-06-23T21:40:43.702-07:00THE FALCONS OF KURDISTAN<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Don't worry. Such things happen. We are doing all that we can."</span><br />~ General Gürbüz Kaya, TSK.<br /></div><br /><br />The falcons of Kurdistan are tearing the flesh of the wolves of the Turkish Republic.<br /><br /><a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlIZaGvAs_b-YxNQlJk6QXfixvbTZ5cAlwj6vlOdhcXdw6iHXpCTF9VKp3fSMbr7jf0GKvuL6CU8C84sI_nsze-mTM869yczQ92BJV1TtpADvT_knhLt0gItMLKn27oID78zf/s1600/teyrebazenazadiyacrop.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlIZaGvAs_b-YxNQlJk6QXfixvbTZ5cAlwj6vlOdhcXdw6iHXpCTF9VKp3fSMbr7jf0GKvuL6CU8C84sI_nsze-mTM869yczQ92BJV1TtpADvT_knhLt0gItMLKn27oID78zf/s320/teyrebazenazadiyacrop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486191671337953586" border="0" /></a>On its website, Teyrêbazên Azadîya Kurdistan (TAK) has claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing of a military bus in Istanbul. TAK states that the bombing was in retaliation for "an unjust war in Kurdistan" and it also warns TSK about using civilians as shields and warns all civilians to stay away from military areas and vehicles for their own security. It would appear that TAK's intention is to continue its attacks. There's a little more on TAK's statement at <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://bianet.org/english/minorities/122899-tak-claims-the-responsibility-for-the-bomb-attack" target="_blank">Bianet</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/istanbul-bomb-marks-end-of-kurdish-ceasefire-2007588.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Independent</span></a> remarks that this bombing marks the end of HPG's ceasefire. However, the end of the ceasefire occurred on 1 June and HPG has no relationship to TAK. If urban operations continue, it may be possible that TAK will operate in some coordinated manner with HPG since TAK has always remained open to such a possibility. At this point, of course, it's too early to tell.<br /><br />Still, it would be a good idea to avoid Turkey as a travel destination this year.<br /><br />HPG's policy of active defense has resulted in numerous TSK deaths in the last few weeks. The responsibility for these deaths lies with TSK as the natural result of its recent heavy operations in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. Heavy TSK losses are also a result of a combination of hubris and incompetence in the Turkish officer corps--a fact that Turkish families are suddenly <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-213929-101-families-of-slain-cukurca-soldiers-put-blame-on-gen-kaya.html" target="_blank">recognizing</a>.<br /><br />Not that this would be the first instance of such hubris and incompetence. Remember the Dağlıca (Oremar) commander, <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/05/chat-with-dalica-commanding-officer.html" target="_blank">Onur Dirik</a>? Well, so does <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-213820-101-military-security-flaws-under-spotlight-after-hakkari-attack.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Zaman</span></a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Dağlıca Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Onur Dirik had left his battalion at the time of the attack to attend a wedding. His pictures, dancing at the wedding at the time of the attack, were published in national newspapers.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Now the families are blaming the deaths of their beloved this last weekend on the paşa in charge of the garrison in Şemdinli, General Gürbüz Kaya. It would appear that not only is this particular paşa filled with hubris and incompetence, but he's a big, fat liar, too:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Kaya was previously in the press for his remarks in a recorded phone conversation last year after it became evident that <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">mines that killed seven soldiers in an explosion two years ago had been planted by the Turkish military rather than the PKK</span>. The tragic background of the incident was revealed by Van prosecutors who launched an investigation into the mine explosion after <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">a telephone conversation between Brig. Gen. Zeki Es and Maj. Gen. Kaya indicating that the mines were planted by the people who were responsible for the soldiers' security came to light.</span> In the recording, Kaya -- speaking about the blast that killed seven soldiers -- can be heard telling Es: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">“Don't worry. Such things happen. We are doing all that we can.”</span></blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">OOPS!!</span><br /><br />But, then, we know for a fact that Turkish officers don't give a shit. Remember this, from <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-185257-privates-died-after-lieutenant-punished-one-for-sleeping-on-duty.html" target="_blank">last year</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Four soldiers were killed in the eastern province of Elazığ on Aug. 17 after a lieutenant gave one of the privates a hand grenade whose pin he had pulled out to punish him for sleeping during his night watch, the Taraf daily claimed yesterday.<br /><br />The testimony of members of the army obtained by the daily reveal that <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the four soldiers died when an activated grenade given to them by Lt. Mehmet Tümer exploded.</span> According to the records, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Tümer wanted to punish Pvt. İbrahim Öztürk for falling asleep during his night watch. </span>It had previously been claimed that the soldiers were killed when a hand grenade carried by one of the soldiers exploded accidentally as they were patrolling the rural area against the prospect of a terrorist attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Four other soldiers were injured in the blast. However, soldiers' testimonies point to a totally different cause behind the deaths.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />So, this <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">criminally </span>feckless attitude is rife among the officer corps of NATO's second largest army. How appropriate for such a pack of hyenas. <a href="http://bianet.org/english/minorities/122903-kurdish-politician-investigated-for-call-to-refuse-military-service" target="_blank">Bengi Yıldız</a> is right: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Don't send your children to military service"</span>.<br /><br />On a related matter, Israeli UAV technicians and instructors were <a href="http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/20100619.aspx" target="_blank">recalled to Israel</a> in the first half of June, after the Mavi Marmara incident. CNN reported <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/06/21/turkey.israeli.surveillance/index.html" target="_blank">this</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>After the May 31 [Mavi Marmara] incident, Turkey's prime minister ominously warned "nothing would ever be the same again," between the two once-close Middle Eastern allies. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded that Israel apologize for what he has repeatedly labeled an act of "state terrorism" and "piracy" in the eastern Mediterranean.<br /><br />Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv, Israel, in protest and cancelled joint military exercises with Israel. But Ankara has been careful not to sever ties with the Israeli defense industry.</blockquote><br /><br />Further down in that article, İlker Paşa had this to say:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>When asked on Monday whether Israeli technicians and engineers had to cut short training on the new drones due to the recent rift in relations, Basbug insisted Turkish operators were adequately prepared to pilot the Herons.<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Now our own personnel, our air force, is using the Heron systems that we bought</span>," Basbug said. "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">They got the training, it is over. We are capable, we have started using them.</span>"</blockquote><br /><br />But I think İlker Paşa prevaricates; yesterday, Zaman reported that a Turkish military delegation <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-213846-turkish-military-delegation-in-israel-for-shipment-of-heron-drones.html" target="_blank">arrived in Israel</a> on Tuesday to complete some testing on the Heron systems. They'll be there for two weeks.<br /><br />So much for all of Katil Erdoğan's anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian solidarity shit.<br /><br />In conclusion, let me express my best wishes to our dear Kurdish falcons and let's all lift a glass to happy hunting!Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com89tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-65047102434118341822010-02-15T19:47:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:02:51.607-08:0015 ŞUBAT<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"In the category of small nations without any rights, it is best not to be Kurdish. It is better to be an ethnic Albanian or a Palestinian.... Because they do not fit with the interests of any superpower...and because they happen to be under Turkey's rule, a U.S. ally and NATO member, the Kurds will not have their Madrid conference or their Dayton agreement or Rambouillet talks.... While everyone has been recalling that Ocalan's organization is a terrorist organization, everyone has been forgetting that the Kurdish people of Turkey are the victims of state terrorism...called ethnic cleansing. The same thing that has the United States and Europe up in arms when it is done in the Balkans, leaves them cold when it is done in Turkey."</span><br />~ <span style="font-style: italic;">Le Monde</span>, <a href="http://www.hri.org/news/usa/voa/1999/99-02-18.voa.html" target="_blank">18 February 1999</a>.<br /></div><br /><br />Eleven years ago today Turkey thought its Kurdish problem was solved. It wasn't. Cengiz Çandar, writing in <a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=RadikalYazarYazisi&Date=31.01.2010&ArticleID=977704" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Radikal</span></a>, doesn't think Turkey's Kurdish problem is solved either:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yei_bJsrNzUgbuL-gMoiUaNAvNHBNnWJ-O00A4UCyPfeXjbII9JTptqaTQdTxhzq524q3HiTLTuvbPXAeV6Z1m6kLwoWY-Dh5ed9VnCBIDYRlvNgaCeItfnhQDR59nqCe6-u/s1600-h/candaryuksekova.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yei_bJsrNzUgbuL-gMoiUaNAvNHBNnWJ-O00A4UCyPfeXjbII9JTptqaTQdTxhzq524q3HiTLTuvbPXAeV6Z1m6kLwoWY-Dh5ed9VnCBIDYRlvNgaCeItfnhQDR59nqCe6-u/s320/candaryuksekova.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438683536746079410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oppression and Disappointment in the Southeast</span><br /><br /><br />If you make your way to the Southeast often--and not only talk to officials but also particularly have a relationship with the street--if you open up your heart and listen to the region's people, there is a result that you can easily arrive at: the ruling party's regional parliamentarians are not representing the region in Ankara but are representing Ankara and their party in the region.<br /><br />I've stated this on every occasion when I met with important people in the state and in the government. The AK Party's Southeastern parliamentarians are not representing their regions; they do not convey the pulse of the Southeast to Ankara. Whenever they go to their election districts, they represent Ankara and their party.<br /><br />Therefore, PM Erdogan's statement, "There are 75 Kurdish parliamentarians in my party," or the AK Party's receiving the greatest amount of votes in the region doesn't mean anything.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Have you ever heard these 75 "Kurdish" parliamentarians open their mouths to say anything about the Kurdish question? Have you ever heard them mention the unbearable oppression in the region in Ankara in front of the public?</span><br /><br />A couple of days ago, Diyarbakır's Special Heavy Penalty Court convicted a fifteen-year-old girl called Berivan for "throwing stones at police" in addition to "cheering party slogans" during the events that took place on 9 October in Batman. She was convicted to 13.5 years at the first hearing. Yes, at the very first hearing.<br /><br />Since she was a minor, the court showed mercy and reduced its punishment to seven years and nine months! At the event<span style="font-style: italic;"> [during the protest in Batman]</span>, Berivan's face was covered with a scarf but police were determined that the girl with the scarf was Berivan. That girl with the scarf may very well be Berivan; but while there is more solid and concrete evidence for the generals who gathered to overthrow the government, which is a crime against the state, and while they've been released pending trial, have you ever seen any Southeastern AKP parliamentarian object to Berivan's conviction of 13.5 years for stoning police and cheering party slogans?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Do you know that there are over 1,000 children in prison in the Southeast?</span><br /><br />In a condition where belief in justice is damaged so deeply, can we talk about the "Democratic Initiative" or the "National Unity and Brotherhood Project"?<br /><br />In the Southeast there is no justice but oppression!<br /><br />The other day, one of the members of AKP's executive council told me that in the council meeting PM Erdoğan was informed that people in the Southeast are very happy and very excited about the ongoing events <span style="font-style: italic;">[the "democratic" initiative]. </span> Based on the PM's sources, everything is going well in the Southeast. Whereas the contrary is the case and the "political decision maker" <span style="font-style: italic;">[Erdoğan--i.e. Turkey's "decider guy"]</span> is being deceived or prefers being deceived. Again, another piece of information I received from a similar source: AK Party's executive council is expecting very important incidents about Kandil around Newroz. If there are AKP members that believe this, I'm curious about what planet they're living on. Newroz is only one and a half months away; is there any indicator that thousands of armed people from Kandil will come and surrender?<br /><br />Well, is there any little indication of a general amnesty to come out for the ones at Kandil? There are only two possibilities left so far. 1) America and Iraqi Kurds will have a joint military operation and finish PKK's military existence--for those who believe this, they are living in a dream. 2) The ones at Kandil disappear unexpectedly.<br /><br />There are no such situations and there isn't the slightest sign that these will happen.<br /><br />Meaning, within one and a half months, related to Kandil, it is impossible for any incident to happen, for PKK to disarm. A "climate" for such a thing has been removed in Turkey anyway. In the region <span style="font-style: italic;">[Southeast]</span>, in addition to 1,000 children, more than 1,000 people in political groups, including elected mayors, have been arrested.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The PKK members who came from Kandil three months ago are free; mayors have been handcuffed and arrested for having connections with PKK.</span><br /><br />There are two ways to make the armed cadres give up on armed struggle:<br /><br />1. Regarding Kurdish identity, you have to take such unilateral democratic steps that will remove the armed group's masses of supportö and the support will completely be removed. There won't be support of the masses for armed forces.<br /><br />2. Open up ways for armed groups to become involved with peaceful <span style="font-style: italic;">[without arms]</span> politics.<br /><br />Until now, regarding the first, there are positive but insufficient steps. Regarding the second, just the contrary is being done. Elected people, who are involved with peaceful politics, are jailed. It is a politics of "to the ones in the cities calling 'go to the mountains'; meanwhile, to the ones in the mountains, 'stay there'" is being made.<br /><br />The "negative atmosphere" and the "disappointment" in the region were reflected to Ankara as "information to the state in the governors' meeting". The governors in the East and Southeast told Interior Minister Beşir Atalay that, "initially, the democratic initiative raised expectation and excitement to their peaks in the region. Citizens became very hopeful. When the package <span style="font-style: italic;">["democratic" initiative's packages]</span> was presented, a serious disappointment took place. The citizens are expecting more concrete steps."<br /><br />They are right.<br /><br />For months, we have been saying and writing this. I forgot exactly how many articles I wrote specifically about this issue and specifically in this way. The governors who work in the region mentioned that our people's expectation became lively in March of last year due to Abdullah Gül's statement of "soon there will be good things on the Kurdish question" and with the initiative, their expectation is at its peak.<br /><br />President Gül said those words to three journalists--of whom I was one--in the plane on the way to Tehran. Since that day, I am among those who've been keeping an eye on the pulse of the region. I spent a remarkable amount of the summer months in the Mardin, Van, Doğubeyazıt, and Kızıltepe regions. On 1 August<span style="font-style: italic;"> [2009]</span>, I was among the attendees for the Kurdish Workshop. One month later, in September, I traveled 1,000 kilometers between Diyarbakır and Şemdinli.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Today's atmosphere is 180 degrees different from the atmosphere of those days.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">It is as much a deep disappointment and negative atmosphere [now]</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">as it was equally positive in those days.</span></span><br /><br />How in the world will "national unity and brotherhood " come about without including our Kurdish citizens who live in the Southeast, who want to join with great enthusiasm and an expectation of an optimistic future?<br /><br />How will a "national unity and brotherhood" will come about from a region where 1,000 children are currently living lives of misery in prisons?<br /><br />The Interior Ministry said "İnşallah, soon good things are going to happen" to the governors and wanted them to wait for a while. I wish this problem could be solved with "İnşallahs" and empty promises. This is not a kind of problem that can be solved with "İnşallahs" and "Maşallahs".<br /><br />And god forbid the potential of the disappointment is so great as to overwhelm the struggle against the junta members in Ankara and Istanbul, and to overwhelm Turkey's successful foreign politics that present Turkey as a "rising regional power".<br /><br />PM Erdoğan needs to open up his eyes to the ongoing things in the Southeast and, without any delay, he must change track.</blockquote><br /><br />Çandar's piece reminds me of something else from history, something that happened four years ago tomorrow--the visit of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Ankara. Let's recall what was said <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/783/re103.htm" target="_blank">at the time</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Although they feared that too open an endorsement of Hamas's victory would antagonise both Israel and the international community, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials were privately discussing intensifying behind-the-scenes contacts with Hamas in preparation for more contacts in Palestine. But they advised the Turkish government that it should delay any public contacts with Hamas until it had formed a government. In this way they could argue that they were meeting not with representatives of a group which is included on both the US's and the EU's list of terrorist organisations <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">but with representatives of the democratically elected Palestinian government</span>.</blockquote><br /><br />What was said by the AKP government <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/11/opinion/oe-barkey11" target="_blank">in defense of</a> the Hamas visit?<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>The Turkish government justified its decision to invite Meshaal, who is based in Damascus, by arguing that <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Hamas had won free and fair elections in the Palestinian territories.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Turks stressed the importance of having a dialogue with Hamas in order to moderate its position.</span></blockquote><br /><br />The AKP government has not changed its position on this subject as Katil Erdoğan was on Turkish media last week crying for Palestinians again. It should be noted, however, that Katil Erdoğan has yet to shed any tears for the Kurds of Turkey. What's more is that Katil Erdoğan's government continues to carry out mass arrests of Kurdish politicians who were, in fact, members of a legal and peaceful political party in Turkey and who had been overwhelmingly elected to their positions by the people of their constituencies during last year's 29 March elections. While I'm at it, let me reiterate that neither DTP nor BDP have been listed on anyone's "Terrorist" List . . . except perhaps for some super secret List which may have been filed in Gladio's <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-197388-states-dirty-laundry-might-come-out-with-cosmic-room-search.html" target="_blank">Kozmik Odası</a>.<br /><br />Since the ruling party has completely ruled out any possibility of a political solution for the Kurdish people, there is only <a href="http://www.pkk-online.net/" target="_blank">one approach</a> left.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-17018331661608072702010-02-03T20:38:00.000-08:002010-02-04T20:39:16.975-08:00EREN KESKIN TO SPEAK IN MINNEAPOLIS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"I believe that the ideology of the perpatrators of the Armenian Genocide, the Committee of Union and Progress, and its special organization Teskilat-i Mahsusa, are the “founding ideology” of the Turkish Republic."</span><br />~ <a href="http://www.armenianweekly.com/2009/10/20/eren-keskin-we-are-all-guilty/" target="_blank">Eren Keskin</a>.<br /></div><br /><br />For those of you in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, there will be a free conference on the Armenian Genocide this Friday, 5 February 2010, at the University of St. Thomas <a href="http://hrp.cla.umn.edu/events/outsideEvents.php?entry=213627" target="_blank">School of Law</a>. It will run all day, from 0900 in the morning until 1700 in the evening.<br /><br />There's more information at <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2010-01-14-minneapolis-symposium-to-explore-armenian-genocide-and-the-law" target="_blank">The Armenian Reporter</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVBACjT_O7Lo1fAZFQfGcXibd0en8r4WbdyAWIs7gZkYzwG_C-InGeU120w2tU6sZVcIfN_0FI5_ZnpKMqkcgTUv2VdTucHoaXCCOazd0YZAF4zPI8b1sQU2mGLXXmFGvVZc0L/s1600-h/Eren-Keskin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVBACjT_O7Lo1fAZFQfGcXibd0en8r4WbdyAWIs7gZkYzwG_C-InGeU120w2tU6sZVcIfN_0FI5_ZnpKMqkcgTUv2VdTucHoaXCCOazd0YZAF4zPI8b1sQU2mGLXXmFGvVZc0L/s200/Eren-Keskin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434244544436995826" border="0" /></a>Among the speakers will be Eren Keskin, who I have written about <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2006/06/profile-in-kurdish-courage.html" target="_blank">previously</a> and it would be a great treat to be able to hear her speak.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Word is also that the Turkish embassy and the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) will have representatives present at the conference. <span style="font-style: italic;">Rastî</span> readers will remember that the TALDF represented Jean Schmidt in the Krikorian case, for which Sibel Edmonds <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/08/turkish-espionage-operations-target.html" target="_blank">was deposed</a> last summer.<br /></div><br />If you can go, please go and show your support for a legitimate and open discussion of the Armenian Genocide, to support the Armenian community in the face of the Turkish government and its lobbyist watchdogs, and to hear Eren Keskin. Then let me know how everything went by posting something in comments.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE:</span></span> Unfortunately, due to visa issues, Comrade Eren will be unable to attend the conference at the University of St. Thomas in person but she will participate by video link. If you're wondering what Comrade Eren will have to say, please check out her <a href="http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/02/04/5801/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>current column</a> at <span style="font-style: italic;">The Armenian Weekly</span>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Yes, in Turkey, all together, the genocide committed against the Armenian nation has been “swept under the carpet.”<br /><br />Everybody has a share in that. And everybody is guilty.<br /><br />Those who don’t explicitly say “genocide,” those who are still ambivalent, who remain silent, who are afraid, I want to remind you of the words of Dr. Nazim in a secret meeting of the CUP in the beginning of 1915: “…Armenians are like a deadly wound. This wound is first thought to be harmless. But if it is not treated by a doctor in time, it definitely kills. We must act immediately. If we act as in 1909, it will do more harm than good. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">It will awaken the other groups we have decided to eliminate, the Arabs and the Kurds, and the danger will become threefold…</span>”</blockquote><br /><br />Apparently the TALDF has exchanged "words" with the law school and were rebuffed by the school (<span style="font-style: italic;">Bravo for UST!</span>), so now TALDF claims that it will bring protestors. If you're in the area and you have a Kurdish flag (or a picture of Önder Apo), take it along and wave it at the TALDF.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">SERKEFTIN!</span>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-27481379481606896532010-01-29T20:19:00.000-08:002010-01-29T20:39:45.572-08:00NEWS FOR FRIDAY<div style="text-align: center;">"<span style="font-style: italic;">Actually, Cemil Çiçek's approach, in a way, is Turkey's century-long general approach. The hysterical, assimilationist, exclusionist, vengeful, denialist policy reveals itself through Cemil Çiçek."</span><br />~ Mehmet Nuri Güneş, DTP mayor of Iğdır.<br /></div><br /><br />Last week the Vineyard Saker interviewed Zerkes from <a href="http://zerkesorg.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Zerkesorg</span></a>. It's an excellent and extensive interview discussing the current situation in Turkey, the Turkish Deep State, and potential Kurdish alliances in the region, so go on over to <a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-friends-but-mountains-saker.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Vineyard of the Saker</span></a> and enjoy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwoG3TPVI6g-GW_aZqELu2_k6NcILxnxOw8sbDqTxpD8UxgPn5TR0N78TT3poy_3oS0lSgvoll5TxU0Ndd-T6myB0MCT2V38BcSGPI17rdd5pk3ljJNaU6Lc8GCeC0mKQp8scD/s1600-h/Armitage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwoG3TPVI6g-GW_aZqELu2_k6NcILxnxOw8sbDqTxpD8UxgPn5TR0N78TT3poy_3oS0lSgvoll5TxU0Ndd-T6myB0MCT2V38BcSGPI17rdd5pk3ljJNaU6Lc8GCeC0mKQp8scD/s200/Armitage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432387210120316674" border="0" /></a><br />This week the third installation of an examination of the career of the new American Turkish Council chairman Richard Armitage is up at <a href="http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2010/01/25/armitage-part-iii-a-neocon-for-all-seasons/" target="_blank">Sibel Edmonds' place</a>. You can also find <a href="http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2009/11/11/armitage-part-i-the-early-years-the-golden-triangle/" target="_blank">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2009/12/03/armitage-part-ii-history-in-washington/" target="_blank">Part 2</a> on Armitage if you missed them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Down in Tucson, Arizona there's been a bit of a dust-up over a <a href="http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/hidden-agenda/Content?oid=1694764" target="_blank">Gülen school</a>. You might want to notice the final comment of the Turkish principal:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"I'm hoping that they know that these are defamatory allegations which may put them in trouble later on. These are excelling schools. ... I hope they are aware of what they're doing."</blockquote><br /><br />Cue threatening music . . .<br /><br />Turkish is taught in the school and students are encouraged to participate in Gülen's Turkish Olympiads. The Turkish Olympiads are sponsored by local Turkish organizations around the world and news about these Olympiads regularly appear on Fethullah Gülen's official website.<br /><br />The interesting thing about this, especially in the US, is that the Bush administration created the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/competitiveness/nsli/index.html" target="_blank">National Security Language Initiative</a> in 2006. Turkish is included as <a href="http://turkceyarismasidc.org/ty/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48%3Abakent-washington-dcde-tuerkce-cokusu&catid=17%3Ahaberler&lang=en" target="_blank">a language</a> that is "fundamental to the economic competitiveness and security interests of the Nation."<br /><br />Now, that begs the question: What kind of translators are former Gülen students going to be? Are they going to be like Sibel Edmonds? Or are they going to be like <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=jan_dickerson" target="_blank">Melek Can Dickerson</a>? Does anyone think, if these students have a Gulen-inspired view of Turkey--<span style="font-style: italic;">a Turkish <span style="font-weight: bold;">nationalist</span> view of Turkey</span>--that they are going to translate things in a way that is favorable to Turkey? Doesn't that <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">undermine</span> the whole idea of a "National Security Language Initiative"?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT6ogGnB-U7uK94dmsocVdl0bljPAcC4VrD_u3wH7KKbkaGRGxxgJVU_lqpc__Y4_srwI6DzS64xOrGt_uKIrTChIJhl_BQq9UyR0K9f6bjPEWcSeIltmtiWYjEVPW8VVh0dPd/s1600-h/dtp_igdir_mnuri_gunes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT6ogGnB-U7uK94dmsocVdl0bljPAcC4VrD_u3wH7KKbkaGRGxxgJVU_lqpc__Y4_srwI6DzS64xOrGt_uKIrTChIJhl_BQq9UyR0K9f6bjPEWcSeIltmtiWYjEVPW8VVh0dPd/s200/dtp_igdir_mnuri_gunes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432384147975780738" border="0" /></a>Finally, last week the DTP/BDP mayor of Iğdır, Mehmet Nuri Güneş, was among those <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=igdir-mayor-detained-for-suspected-terror-ties-2010-01-21" target="_blank">detained</a> in the continuing terror actions against the Kurdish people in Turkey. Many here will remember an <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/05/dtps-man-in-igdir.html" target="_blank">interview</a> with Comrade Mehmet from ANF last year. This was after deputy prime minister Cemil "Chicken Little" Çiçek almost had a stroke because the DTP (read: the <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">KURDS</span>) had taken over Iğdır. The problem being, of course, that Iğdır borders Armenia and you know how Kurds might just let the Armenians in the back door so that they would be able to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">SEPARATE--OMG! OMG! OMG!--</span>Turkey.<br /><br />According to Roj TV, Comrade Mehmet's detention officially became an arrest last weekend.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-58628841653819739092010-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:002010-01-25T20:10:11.041-08:00ALI HASAN AL-MAJID FINALLY PAYS FOR THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"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."</span><br />~ Ali Hasan Al-Majid.<br /></div><br /><br />Well, well, well . . . they finally executed that son-of-a-bitch Ali Hasan Al-Majid. I would have preferred that Chemical Ali had been handed over to the women survivors of the Anfal so that they could cut him to pieces rather than allow him the comfort of a hangman's noose but, unfortunately, proper Kurdish justice was once again thwarted.<br /><br />Here's a little something on the dead bastard:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4xXDa2zbIUw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4xXDa2zbIUw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br />Chemical Ali is responsible for a lot more suffering than what happened in 1988. Here are some videos about Helebce which show some of the long-term effects of chemical weapons on the civilian population. I believe these videos are from 1998 because they feature Dr. Christine Gosden of the UK, who went to Helebce in 1998 to evaluate the long-term effects of weapons of mass destruction:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HW6mX_j3VRE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HW6mX_j3VRE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vxqOedvOSRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vxqOedvOSRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dIgiJAHwmSc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dIgiJAHwmSc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MOmENbDd50A&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MOmENbDd50A&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />Remember that it wasn't only in Helebce that chemical weapons were used. It was the policy of the Saddam regime to use these kinds of weapons against the Kurdish people.<br /><br />For more on Dr. Gosden's evaluations, see this article of hers from the <a href="http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27a/016.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Washington Post</span></a>. Check also her testimony before the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030301084148/http://judiciary.senate.gov/oldsite/gosden.htm" target="_blank">Senate Judiciary Committee</a> on Technology, Terrorism and Government and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.<br /><br />I have posted the <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2007/06/web-of-deceit.html" target="_blank">following videos</a> before but, now that Al-Majid is dead, it's time to revisit them so that we should never forget. Besides, these videos were a documentary that was <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">never</span> aired in the US. I wonder why?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qkswer28xpk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qkswer28xpk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_QC5S8zrsYk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_QC5S8zrsYk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mTL88NvWH-w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mTL88NvWH-w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o-eD-Z0SQqU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o-eD-Z0SQqU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qYlhHxl66cQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qYlhHxl66cQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1i7pJ0gn_BY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1i7pJ0gn_BY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lf83udJfbMs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lf83udJfbMs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z2dw6_AKsPA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z2dw6_AKsPA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />Now it's time to deliver those non-Iraqis who are responsible for the Anfal to the Kurdish women survivors . . . <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">and let them all be cut to pieces.</span>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-18077749572696835752010-01-13T19:49:00.000-08:002010-01-13T20:15:09.622-08:00ÖCALAN IN IL MANIFESTO<div style="text-align: center;">"<span style="font-style: italic;">The Turkish State’s mentality to date of denying the Kurdish people their fundamental human rights, is not so different from the uniformising fascist, authoritarian mentality that in the twentieth century established itself in Germany and Italy."</span><br />~ Abdullah Öcalan.<br /></div><br /><br />Italy's <span style="font-style: italic;">Il Manifesto</span> has begun publishing articles by <a href="http://www.ilmanifesto.it/il-manifesto/ricerca-nel-manifesto/vedi/nocache/1/numero/20100109/pagina/01/pezzo/268607/?tx_manigiornale_pi1[showStringa]=ocalan&cHash=749673a7ab" target="_blank">Abdullah Öcalan</a>. Here is a translation of the first article, from the <a href="http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/english/hintergrund/schriften/ilmanifesto.htm" target="_blank">International Initiative</a><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">A just peace for the Kurds</span><br /><br />by Abdullah Ocalan<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lxlQUhAmY-bAaj_uY-ZkyQZjrY89dHxZM2b6Zy5pl3XFLX2NxpblH0Afn4btWz8ZYR0RwehT7r4df9sxGjZpIh4SfD_oAaysYX63TiFZmpDuMckukNHsMVJVtyWnHumZMK6V/s1600-h/baskanapo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lxlQUhAmY-bAaj_uY-ZkyQZjrY89dHxZM2b6Zy5pl3XFLX2NxpblH0Afn4btWz8ZYR0RwehT7r4df9sxGjZpIh4SfD_oAaysYX63TiFZmpDuMckukNHsMVJVtyWnHumZMK6V/s200/baskanapo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426440619496775282" border="0" /></a>I respectfully greet all the readers of Il Manifesto and my friends in Italy. My particular thanks go to your newspaper for giving me this opportunity to express my opinions.<br /><br />Italy is a country that holds a most particular meaning for me. Not only because in November 1998 my quest for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question led me to Rome, but also because of the high opinion I hold of Italian history and the struggles for liberation that have taken place there. In my most recent book, “The Democratisation of Middle-Eastern Culture”, I devoted several pages to Italy and its role. I hope to be able to share it with my readers soon, although direct communication may not always be possible due to my being in solitary confinement.<br /><br />On another occasion I would like to discuss the international conspiracy that brought me from Rome to the island of Imrali. To discuss not only the historical significance of this event for the Kurds, but also the power structures of the global system and the nature of international relations. I think this could be of interest to the progressive side of European public opinion.<br /><br />I personally learnt historical lessons from the 3-month odyssey that took me to Athens, Moscow and Rome. The central concept of my most recent books is that of the “capitalist modernity” which, with its 1000 masks and weapons, I was able to witness close-up during my adventure. If this hadn’t happened I would never have drawn the conclusions that I did. Perhaps I would have remained attached to a simple, statist-type nationalism, or would have become part of a classic left-wing movement like so many before me. As a socio-scientifically thinking individual I don’t want to draw any definitive conclusions, but I assume that I would never have been able to arrive at my current analyses.<br /><br />I would like to underline a fundamental conclusion. The true strength of the capitalist modernity lies neither in its money nor in its arms. Its true strength is represented by its almost magical ability to suffocate in its own liberalism all utopias, including the strongest and most recent utopia – socialism. Until we are able to understand how the whole of humanity can be trapped in the vortex of liberalism, even the most self-confident school of thought will be incapable of being anything but a lackey to capitalism, let alone the possibility of fighting it.<br /><br />I am fighting with the Kurdish people, not only for our identity and our existence. Our battle is also against the dominant ideology of the capitalist modernity and is an attempt from Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, to contribute towards the creation of an alternative which we call “democratic modernity”.<br /><br />In the context of global terrorism paranoia, we see the attempts by the Turkish government to label our democratic struggle as “terrorist” as just the same old propaganda game. The Turkish State’s mentality to date of denying the Kurdish people their fundamental human rights, is not so different from the uniformising fascist, authoritarian mentality that in the twentieth century established itself in Germany and Italy.<br /><br />To this day the Turkish State perpetrates political, economic and cultural genocide against the Kurdish population. The Kurdish people opposes this with obstinate, organised resistance. I continue my quest for a peaceful, democratic solution against the chauvinist, fascistic nationalism which has, in the meantime, advanced its lynch-mob culture wherever Kurds live. From 1993 onwards I have made a number of proposals and tangible steps. The unilateral ceasefire in 1999 – the year of crisis – was respected despite various attacks, the withdrawal of guerrillas from Turkish territory and the symbolic peace delegations from Europe and from the Kandil mountains, are only a small part of the peace efforts. The fact that in 2009 the guns have been unilaterally silent and a delegation of guerrillas arrived in Turkey from the Kandil mountains should serve as proof of the continuity and perseverance of my efforts for peace. Despite everything the stance of the Turkish State has not changed. Our efforts in the direction of peace continue to be underestimated and are taken as a sign of weakness. Military operations and attacks on the population continue. All the state organs continue to shout in unison: “eliminate them!” The current AKP government is carrying out the most insidious diversionary manoeuvre of all in trying to make the European states believe that they are working towards democratisation and a solution to the Kurdish question.<br /><br />It is this government that has passed laws, thanks to which Turkish prisons are full of Kurdish children and thanks to which in Sirnak a prosecutor could demand 305 years of imprisonment for five children. Thanks to this government it was possible to outlaw the Party for a Democratic Society (DTP). And it is this government that continues to humiliate Kurds, taking Kurdish mayors away from their electorate in handcuffs, something that recalls images of the deportations to concentration camps.<br /><br />The Kurdish people will never stop fighting for their fundamental rights. They will continue to organise themselves with the aim of regaining their dignity and a life of freedom. The will gain that freedom fighting with democratic means, but also reserving their right to self-defence. I have not the slightest doubt of this.<br /><br />In concluding this article, written at the beginning of a new year, I would like to wish the Italian people a happy 2010. That this year may bring liberation to oppressed peoples, classes and sexes.</blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=20048" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Fırat News</span> reports</a> that <span style="font-style: italic;">Il Manifesto</span> is not revealing the source that is giving it Öcalan's writings, although the Italian paper remarked that it is not receiving the writings through regular mail or through email. Another <a href="http://it.peacereporter.net/articolo/19695/Turchia,+rabbia+per+articolo+Ocalan+sul+Manifesto" target="_blank">Italian-language news site</a> reports on the Turkish [In]Justice Ministry's statement--via its website--that "Öcalan has no right to send articles to newspapers or write for a newspaper while being held [in prison]".<br /><br />A <a href="http://www.ilmanifesto.it/il-manifesto/ricerca-nel-manifesto/vedi/nocache/1/numero/20100112/pagina/08/pezzo/268797/?tx_manigiornale_pi1[showStringa]=ocalan&cHash=56a8d3900e" target="_blank">follow-up article</a> in <span style="font-style: italic;">Il Manifesto</span> describes the response received by the paper after Öcalan's initial piece. Here's a portion (translation courtesy Google):<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Our site has been besieged ever since a few minutes after the publication of the output of the first article signed by the President of the PKK. Two positions, clearly the opposite: there are those who evaluated the initiative for what it is, namely the attempt to give voice to a leader who - you judge how you want - is working on a solution to the conflict (and perhaps is worth remembering that the PKK is a unilateral ceasefire since last March, that is, ten months). There are others who simply preferred the attitude of former British Prime Minister John Major (British, however, withdrawn by the same major): Ocalan is the devil and a priori does not interest me to know what to think or what to propose.<br /><br />The Turkish side on our site was bombarded with foul language and insults. A sort of organized attack, given that many had the same email address. The most frequent comments: Ocalan is a terrorist who can not give voice. Kurdistan does not exist, the Kurds do not exist, then what are you talking about? Why do not you do your own business? (written in a much less polished way). Many Americans, or at least email from the U.S., have reminded us that the PKK is on the list (the American and European Union) of terrorist organizations. So was the IRA, Irish Republican Army and now his (stated) commander, Martin McGuinness, Deputy Prime Minister of the decentralized government of Northern Ireland.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />I might add that Nelson Mandela was also once-upon-a-time listed on a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-30-watchlist_N.htm" target="_blank">"terrorist" watch list</a> by the American government, as are certain <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/22/AR2008032202228.html" target="_blank">former KDP members</a> who served as translators for the US Army in Iraq. What was the KDP's crime that it was characterized as an "undesignated terrorist organization" by the US? It tried for many decades to overthrow stalwart American ally, Saddam Hussein.<br /><br />Hehehe . . .Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-5805197927293163562010-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:002010-01-12T20:06:48.919-08:00INTERVIEW WITH ABDULLAH DEMIRBAŞ<p align="center"><em><br /></em></p><p align="center"><em>"If the country needs communism, we will bring it."</em><br />~ Abdullah Demirbaş, quoting the Kemalists.<br /><br /><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">Here's a short interview with the now arrested mayor of Diyarbakır-Sur, Abdullah Demirbaş. He talks about the same things I've bitched about since forever. In the first part of the interview, he points out the hypocrisy of the Turkish regime using Kurdish for itself--even though in many cases such use is illegal--while forbidding the use of Kurdish for Kurds. Hand-in-glove with that goes his implication of the international community's Pay attention, too, to his remarks on the fact that the Turkish consitution must be changed and that identity must not be connected in any way to the constitution.<br /><br />While he doesn't say it because he can't, let's not forget that the changes forced on the regime thus far are not only the result of struggles by those such as Musa Anter, Uğur Kaymaz, and many, many others; it is also the result of the struggle of our courageous guerrillas and Abdullah Öcalan.<br /><br />Many thanks to the comrade who sent the links.<br /><br />Without further ado:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xlks6OOiXxk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xlks6OOiXxk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7QZRwKN3J3E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7QZRwKN3J3E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />Now, he doesn't sound like you expected a big, bad, scary, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">SCARY</span> "terrorist" to sound, does he? But that's what he's been arrested for.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.gopetition.com/online/33128.html" target="_blank">petition</a> to free Kurdish mayors like Abdullah Demirbaş is still available for your signature.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Serkeftin!</span><br /></div><p align="center"></p>Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-47809557071716545952010-01-07T20:01:00.000-08:002010-01-07T20:11:29.967-08:00ARMENIANS, KURDS, AND THE RECALCITRANT TURKISH NATION<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"I write upon Kurdish-Armenian relations with a mingled feeling of regret and of gratitude. That, through the sinister influence of the Turk and the ignorance of the Kurd, the Armenian, in certain localities and at certain periods, has suffered is a cause for deep regret. That we have already buried the past is cause for congratulation and gratitude . . . "</span><br />~ Sureya Bedirxan, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Case of Kurdistan Against Turkey</span>, 1928.<br /></div><br /><br />In the past I have said that unless Turkey acknowledges the Armenian Genocide and settles its situation with the Armenian people, the survivors of that genocide, then there will be no precedent for Turkey to acknowledge the atrocities it has carried out and continues to carry out against the Kurdish people.<br /><br />I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Taner Akçam spoke in just this same way on 4 January in Lebanon. There's a video below and a partial transcript, which begins at about the 3:50 minute in the video:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9EY98fTjujY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9EY98fTjujY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><blockquote>"The main flaw of this concept [the Turkish national security concept] is its perception that the promotion of basic democratic rights such as equality, and social reforms and freedom of speech are a threat to national security. So, this is very important. In the past, the emergence of the so-called Armenian Question was the result of Armenian demands for equality and for social reforms which arguably would have led to a better Ottoman society. Their demands and the Armenians themselves were considered as a security threat by the Ottomans, which led to them being targeted for massacres and deportations. Today the demand for an honest account of history is being handled in the same way--as a security problem.<br /><br />"The irony is that criminalizing historical injustices for national security reasons is not only a huge obstacle on the path to democracy, but also is counterproductive and leads directly to real security problems for the Turkish state. The self-fulfilling prophecy, as it's called, can be shown not only in the Armenian Genocide of the past but in the Kurdish problem of today. Just as the Armenians and their social and political demands for a more just society were considered a threat in the past, a democratic future for Kurds today is also considered a threat to security<br /><br />"So, instead of solving the Kurdish problem by seeking solutions that would lead to a more democratic society, the old--I would argue now useless security concept--has been resurrected and and has declared that the Kurdish demands are essentially a security problem for the Turkish nation. [ . . . ] As long as Turkey continues to regard moral principles, one of which is facing historic injustices with honesty, and national security as two opposing foes that are mutually exclusive, and refuses to come to terms with the past for national security reasons, indeed as long as Turkey's national security is defined in opposition to an honest historical recounting, further problems will be created in Turkey.<br /><br />"So, there is a security aspect for the Middle East. A non-democratic, authoritarian Turkey creates more security problems than it solves when it makes the consistent denial of historical injustices an integral part of its security policy. It is exactly this attitude that delays not only democratization in the region [ . . . ] You cannot solve any problem in the Middle East today without addressing historic wrongdoings because history is not something in the past; it is the present in the Middle East today.<br /><br />"So, my conclusion is that Turkey should stop going around and threatening other countries who wants to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and only acknowledge historic wrongdoings, acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, pave the way for Turkey for a democratic, secure future for the region."</blockquote><br /><br />Now <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/08/sibel-edmonds-on-armenian-genocide-and.html" target="_blank">who does he sound like</a>?<br /><br />Many thanks to the friend who sent the link to the video.<br /><br />On a related item, someone else sent a link to <a href="http://www.asbarez.com/2010/01/04/our-friends-our-foes-the-kurds/" target="_blank">this interesting article</a> at <span style="font-style: italic;">Asbarez.com</span>. Here's a teaser:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>I was given a seat in the front row. There was an empty chair to my left; I thought it might have been planted there deliberately, because Kurds, all from Turkey, came to shake my hand, and sit on that chair to share thoughts and “Secrets” with the “Representative of the Armenian People”, which I was not, nor did I claimed to be. A few of them posed a rhetorical question: “Why are the Kurds Muslims, what have we gained by being Muslims?” at least a dozen or so told me, on promise of anonymity, that their grandmother is Armenian. I was not shocked. A few years later I heard the Kurdish explanation of kidnapping our girls, which I will discuss later.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />I said my word, loud and clear, from the podium, the gist of which was: yes we have the same cause, yes we have a common enemy, yes there should be an alliance between us, but each party has its own interests and rights for which to struggle. There should be no dispute between our two Nations, we are partners in destiny, our rights were spelled out, in detail, in the provisions of the Sevres Treaty, which was then refined and mapped by President Woodrow Wilson. It is to our advantage, and in detriment to Turkey, to stick to this map and the provisions of the Sevres Treaty.<br /><br />I got standing ovation all three times, but not necessarily as endorsement of my expressed ideas. They were, I believe, happy for my exposing Turkey for what it is: an occupier, an oppressor of other nations, and a violator of human rights.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />Our relationship with the Kurds is a complex one:<br /><br /> 1. We are allies by necessity; the enemy of my enemy is my friend.<br /><br /> 2. They definitely look up to us, yet we look down upon them. We are wrong; Kurds have advanced in every imaginable field beyond anyones imagination, certainly beyond mine.<br /><br /> 3. Whether we like it or not, they are our neighbors, we better understand them.<br /><br /> 4. Other than Western Armenia, there is, for them, the issue of the “Red Kurdistan”-Lachin, Kelbajar, Fizuli. For us the case is closed!<br /><br />So, are the Kurds friends or foe? Probably both! Smart approach to this seemingly impossible situation will make them, in my opinion, our friends, much more than our foes.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Food for thought and the basis for dialog, my friends.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-87053482457391468832010-01-05T16:07:00.000-08:002010-01-05T18:29:30.718-08:00SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE THEY UNDERSTAND<div style="text-align: center;">"<span style="font-style: italic;">We are frankly Nationalist . . . and Nationalism is our only factor of cohesion. Before the Turkish majority other elements have no kind of influence. At any price, we must turkify the inhabitants of our land, and we will annihilate those who oppose Turks or 'le turqisme.'"</span><br />~ İsmet İnönü, 1925.<br /></div><br /><br />KCK Executive Committee member Bozan Tekin recently spoke to a graduating cycle of new HPG guerrillas. Here's what <a href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=84586" target="_blank">he had to say</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK5hgtluYDU0mp6v50b2N9VMUFeZ_jvCgOibPbx7XWdbYDTphWTR-tuIslfNZZG2olmBjQsxpvvVact1lZkuqvXiFh2yjH8PWm-TSm6iPF4C_WmjMhKM4asXo4u9h0kcwPuQD/s1600-h/bozan-tekin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK5hgtluYDU0mp6v50b2N9VMUFeZ_jvCgOibPbx7XWdbYDTphWTR-tuIslfNZZG2olmBjQsxpvvVact1lZkuqvXiFh2yjH8PWm-TSm6iPF4C_WmjMhKM4asXo4u9h0kcwPuQD/s320/bozan-tekin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423411820035065378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bozan Tekin: From now on, we'll speak the language they understand.</span><br /><br />At a time when the policies to take Kurds from the mountains are being used, the number of youths that join HPG is increasing. Forty-one warrior candidates were delivered to their units after successfully completing their Şehit Kemal training cycle.<br /><br />In the closing session of the graduating cycle that was dedicated to Kemal Şêvişkî, who was murdered by the TSK at a time when the Kurdish movement had declared a ceasefire, KCK Executive Council member Bozan Tekin made a speech.<br /><br />In his speech, Tekin mentioned that the Turkish state is conducting a new genocide under the name of "Initiative". Tekin said, "The discourses about 'initiative' that have been mentioned up until now are revealed clearly that it's a game. Despite all our goodwill and endeavors, the Turkish state conducts cultural, social, and political genocide against the Kurds with the policy of 'one nation, one state'. Despite our ceasefire decision, the level of military operations remained the same; in addition, our people's representatives have been thrown in jail. The Kurdısh party, the DTP, has been closed and its members have been arrested. My people, who were demonstrating their legitimate reactions, were raided and our youths were murdered. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">From now on, our movement and our people will speak the language they will understand.</span>"<br /><br />After the swearing-in ceremony, the HPG guerrillas received their graduation documents and the ceremony ended with dancing.</blockquote><br /><br />According to a <a href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=83125" target="_blank">report from ANF</a> earlier in the month of December 2009, the number of new guerrilla recruits joining HPG since March 2009 was 787, with 591 of those joining since August.<br /><br />At this point, it is very likely that those numbers will increase in 2010.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-43179134838697786652010-01-04T16:34:00.000-08:002010-01-04T18:57:25.182-08:00THE END OF REASON<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"The extreme severity of the Turkish measures of repression may temporarily break the spirit of rebellion, but will probably produce a good deal of future hostility to Turkish rule on the part of the remaining Turkish Kurds, and this may eventually complicate the situation on the Irak frontier."</span><br />~ Sir Ronald Lindsay, British Ambassador to Turkey, 1925 - 1926.<br /></div><br /><br />Here's some commentary on the current situation in Turkey from <a href="http://taraf.com.tr/makale/9221.htm" target="_blank">Ahmet Altan</a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be Reasonable!</span><br /></div><br />These people are the sons of a race that has suffered, been tortured, been forcibly displaced, has been killed on the streets, had their homes burned.<br /><br />Grievance and anger accumulated in their souls.<br /><br />You take them, line them up in a single row and walk them, like scenes reminiscent of Dersim, forcible emigration, and Nazi camps. What kind of injustice, understanding, and torture is this?<br /><br />Those people are the politicians who received their peoples' votes.<br /><br />If you are suspicious that they are criminal, you can call them and get their statements. All of us give statements, so will they.<br /><br />Where did the handcuffing come from?<br /><br />With Homer's saying, this is "adding insult to injury."<br /><br />Why do you want to insult? What are you trying to prove? What happened to the "democratic initiative"? Are you doing this to make them say, "Let such an initiative not exist."<br /><br />On the day a new Kurdish party established a group in parliament, you raided and assembled the Southeast's mayors and politicians from their homes toward the morning.<br /><br />You put handcuffs on their arms. You lined them up in a row and took their pictures. Who will believe your sincerity about the "initiative" from now on? Who will forget these scenes?<br /><br />You make up an Emine Ayna out of the most peaceful person. What kind of "initiative shit" is this, that you create Nazi camps in the middle of the initiative?<br /><br />If the government is sincere about this "initiative" it must act sincerely. There cannot be any initiative by breaking peoples' hearts, raising their anger and creating hopelessness in them.<br /><br />There can't be an "initiative" by handcuffing people.<br /><br />There can't be an "initiative" by insulting people.<br /><br />AKP became sluggish after it said "initiative" and created big hopes. Now when they [the Kurdish people] encounter these scenes, how will they dream about peace and how will they believe in peace?<br /><br />Are you doing all these things to let them say, "I don't have any other ways to protect my honor except by weapons"?<br /><br />If AKP does not come to its senses, and it does not behave the way the "initiative" requires, it will break all the hopes, one by one. If it kills all the hopes, it will put itself and the whole country in trouble.<br /><br />Whoever is going to do an "initiative" needs to do it like they mean it.<br /><br />There can't be any initiative by fearing MHP or abstaining from CHP. Now AKP must be clear. It must say what it will do. Not only the Kurds but also the Turks need this "democratic" initiative.<br /><br />There isn't any single man who hasn't been crushed by the state in this country.<br /><br />It is time to take steps that inspire confidence, reign in the state, stop the state from committing crimes, create conditions for all people from every ethnicity and every language to live freely, to strengthen the rule of law.<br /><br />If you are the one in power, act like it.<br /><br />After saying, "I will be a historical person, I will change the fate of this country," if you say "but I should not pay any cost" with cunning maneuvers, at the end you will pay the biggest price that you feared without even having done anything.<br /><br />You will lose control.<br /><br />The men under your orders will tear down your "initiative" in pieces by causing "'cuffing scenes".<br /><br />The things that must be done are not secret. Turks and Kurds will be equal; whatever rights the Turks have, Kurds will have; if Turks teach their mother language to their children, so will the Kurds; you will rescue both Turkish and Kurdish municipalities under Ankara's despotic rule and will recognize autonomous regions for them; you will change the law that convicts "stone-throwing children" for eight years; you will change the current constitution that shows the Turk as the master of the country; you will prevent the closure of both Turkish and Kurdish parties; you will open up ways to let the armed people in the mountains to begin a new life within the community; you will enable the people who want to lay down their arms and have their voices heard instead through political means.<br /><br />An "initiative" starts like this.<br /><br />With an "initiative" program like this you will guarantee not only the rights of the Kurds but also those of religious people, Alevis, Leftists, laborers. You will free not only the Kurds but also the headscarf and the cemevi, too.<br /><br />Which one of these did you do; which ones will you do?<br /><br />The ruling party must decide if it is going to do an "initiative" it should take the required steps. It must not commit injustices reminiscent of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersim_genocide" target="_blank">Dersim</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyid_Riza" target="_blank">Seyit Rıza</a>.<br /><br />Those handcuffs are not put on only the Kurdish politicians but they are put on the whole country, the whole people, the whole future.<br /><br />If you are the ruler, honest and sincere, take off the handcuffs.<br /><br />And do not allow oppression in this country any more. </blockquote><br /><br />Unfortunately, I think we have reached the end of reasonableness. There is no initiative. There is no political avenue. There is only one language they understand.<br /><br />Sureya Bedirxan's words from 1928 apply today: "The war between Turk and Kurd is going on--and will go on--until the objective of the Kurd has been attained."Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-4263167942118775282010-01-03T18:41:00.000-08:002010-01-03T18:48:31.549-08:00STATE REPRESSION CONTINUES IN NORTH KURDISTAN<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"We have to stand together now and stand behind all the victims of political repression."</span><br />~ Bernadette Devlin.<br /></div><br /><br />While US and western media have been busy promoting the cause of "democracy" in Iran, they have remained suspiciously silent over the ongoing crackdown against democratically elected Kurdish politicians in Turkey. Since 24 December, a number of Kurdish politicians have been arrested by the Turkish state. These include members of the now closed DTP and its succession party, the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party--Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi).<br /><br />In addition to the arrests of DTP/BDP politicians, the vice-president of <a href="http://www.ihd.org.tr/english/" target="_blank">İHD</a> and the chief of the Diyarbakır branch of the İHD, Muharrem Erbey, has also been arrested and the İHD office unlawfully raided.<br /><br />Here is a current list of the arrested:<br /><br /><blockquote>Muharrem Erbey.<br /><br />Hatip Dicle: DTP co-chairman, he was previously arrested while member of parliament and imprisoned for ten years.<br /><br />Firat Anli: DTP Amed city leader. He was the mayor of Yenisehir in the last term and stood for Mayor of Cewlik in the last election.<br /><br />Abdullah Demirbas: Mayor of Sur. He was removed from power by the state for supporting multi-lingual administration, but was put back into power by the people in the March Elections. In addition he has health problems that make his detainment without attention of a doctor a threat to his well being<br /><br />Aydin Budak: Mayor of Cizre-- just like Demirbas was removed from power by the state and re-elected by the people.<br /><br />Zulkuf Karatekin: Mayor of Kayapinar Serving his second term in office.<br /><br />Nejdet Atalay: Mayor of Batman. He won his office with a high majority in Batman.<br /><br />Ferhan Turk: Mayor of Kiziltepe He spent years in the notorious Amed prison and felt the full force of the coup. He is now imprisoned for the second time.<br /><br />Leyla Guven: Mayor of Viransehir She has previously been a local administrator and has actively taken part in the women’s freedom movement.<br /><br />Ethem Sahin: Mayor of Suruc won the local election with a landslide victory and has since changed the appearance of the town.<br /><br />Huseyin Kalkan: Former mayor of Batman<br /><br />Emrullah CIn: Former mayor of Viransehir<br /><br />Abdullah Akengin: Former mayor of Dicle<br /><br />Kazim Kurt: Former mayor of Hakkari<br /><br />Nadir Bingol: Former mayor of Ergani<br /><br />Ali Simsek: Assistant mayor of Amed<br /><br />Yasar Sari: General Secretary of DISKI<br /><br />Ferzende Abi: MEYADER (Mesopotamia Association of Those Having Lost their Relatives) Van Branch President<br /><br />Tefik Say: Hacıbekir Suburb Free Citizen Association Chairman<br /><br />Sıddık Gül: DTP Van Provincial Treasurer<br /><br />Yıldız Tekin: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Eylem Açıkalın: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Kerem Çağlı: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Ramazan Özlü:BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Selim Çay: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Cafer Koçak: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Zihni Karakaya: BDP Women's Council Member<br /><br />Mustafa Ayaz<br /><br />Kamuran Parlak<br /><br />Ahmet Sormaz: Former DTP Batman Provincial President , Göç-Der (Migration Association)<br /><br />Selamet Akyüz: Batman Manager<br /><br />Veysi Gülseren<br /><br />İlyas Sağlam<br /><br />Aydın Kılıç: former DTP city and county administrators<br /><br />Gülizar Kal: Urban Women's Council employee<br /><br />Cahit Conbay: politician<br /><br />Rıdvan Asaln: politician<br /><br />Şeymus Yaşar: politician<br /><br />Şirin Bağlı: Batman Municipality Council Member<br /><br />Rıfat Başalak: Batman Municipality Council Member<br /><br />Nesri Kılıç: Batman Municipality Council Member<br /><br />Fethi Suvari: Coordinator of Local Gundem21<br /><br />Abbas Celik: Administrator of Goc-Der’s Diyarbakir Branch<br /><br />Cebrail Kurt: BDP worker<br /><br />Ramazan Debe<br /><br />Ahmet Makas<br /><br />Takibe Turgay<br /></blockquote><br /><br />A petition is available online to request the freedom of these Kurdish mayors, politicians, and political workers from Turkish prisons. Please <a href="http://www.gopetition.com/online/33128.html" target="_blank">sign the petition</a> and disseminate widely.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tihv.org.tr/index.php?turkce" target="_blank">TİHV</a> Secretary General Metin Bakkalcı an <a href="http://www.tihv.org.tr/index.php?Urgent-Call-for-Action-against-the-Detention-of-Human-Rights-AssociationaEs-AEHD-Vice-General-Chairperson-and-Chairperson-of-DiyarbakAEr-Province"target="_blank">urgent call</a> for protest against the arrest of Muharrem Erbey and the DTP/BDP politicians, and has urged that the following ministers be contacted in protest:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN Prime Minister<br /><br />Tel: + 90 (312) 415 40 00<br /><br />Fax: + 90 (312) 417 04 76<br /><br />Address: Başbakanlık Merkez Bina<br /><br /><br /><br />Beşir ATALAY Minister of the Interior<br /><br />E-mail: besir.atalay@icisleri.gov.tr<br /><br />Tel: + 90 (312) 425 40 80<br /><br />Faks: + 90 (312) 418 17 95<br /><br />Address: T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı, Bakanlıklar / ANKARA<br /><br />E-mail: bilgiislem@icisleri.gov.tr<br /><br /><br /><br />Sadullah ERGİN Minister of Justice<br /><br />E-mail: sadullahergin@adalet.gov.tr<br /><br />Tel: + 90 (312) 417 77 70<br /><br />Fax: + 90 (312) 419 33 70<br /><br />Address: T.C. Adalet Bakanlığı 06659 Kızılay / ANKARA<br /><br />E-mail: info@adalet.gov.tr<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Serkeftin!Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-60500587557655796442009-12-17T19:04:00.000-08:002009-12-17T19:27:36.119-08:00UPDATE ON TURKISH POLITICS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.”</span><br />~ Albert Camus.<br /></div><br /><br />Check out these retards as an example of what is passing for politics in Turkey these days:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://aksam.com.tr/2009/12/16/haber/siyaset/4190/_cocuklar_basbakan_i_izlesin___.html" target="_blank">"Let kids watch the prime minister!"</a>:<br /><br />Regarding MHP chairman Bahçeli, <span style="font-style: italic;">[in recent days] </span>Erdoğan said, "Keep your children away from the TV when Mr. Bahçeli talks." When Bahçeli was reminded of this statement, Bahçeli said, "Apparently he doesn't listen to us very well. There is no need for such polemics. What if I say, "I suggest that children watch Mr. Prime Minister. Let them always watch him. I think they will have as much amusement as if they are watching Walt Disney movies."</blockquote><br /><br />Of course, Bahçeli then goes on to engage in polemics.<br /><br />Forget about Disney, however; Turkish politics more closely resembles the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom from SpongeBob SquarePants:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezQ_fAWeSo2NutnJOyD3D-PKuGF3d_q4gNfqTfHM0QPeAkC0hlME6gqB74F1vcTYI0i_066DSkFxVyqyXb_-HzogHUhW3tQ5ROdZUjBmBUYz9q8nUBPbgAQZQHXIgd1w99jqR/s1600-h/spongerecep.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 382px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezQ_fAWeSo2NutnJOyD3D-PKuGF3d_q4gNfqTfHM0QPeAkC0hlME6gqB74F1vcTYI0i_066DSkFxVyqyXb_-HzogHUhW3tQ5ROdZUjBmBUYz9q8nUBPbgAQZQHXIgd1w99jqR/s400/spongerecep.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416408127896129122" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(Credit: <a href="http://www.bobiler.org/" target="_blank">bobiler.org</a>)</span></span><br /></div><br />Notice the resemblance between Squidward Tentacles and Bahçeli?<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSurZO98Iq98yqL5QgCnAYqMwhJc6Pb1Xds0PM93yhlBC288AK6xFYi9TBG3psogBEnwprocAdhuX7QLwk4mXUHR1rqghgOVeLdTe7oHnqPme0g4XCtkGEIv_dRVEmXvyVKS7Q/s1600-h/squidward.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSurZO98Iq98yqL5QgCnAYqMwhJc6Pb1Xds0PM93yhlBC288AK6xFYi9TBG3psogBEnwprocAdhuX7QLwk4mXUHR1rqghgOVeLdTe7oHnqPme0g4XCtkGEIv_dRVEmXvyVKS7Q/s320/squidward.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416407849851209218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKW2vQWU5IiHOUA1XbdE4FcuZHh2YYHfPkpEmlSBws8FibL3LW017lCezXu2MEr2nyyzkkkjKdEL95ZMygBsVqsBPOkJgsOB2pdIR_2FLmzPBXyE3NZPdetnUgM681y7mU3JR/s1600-h/bahceli.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKW2vQWU5IiHOUA1XbdE4FcuZHh2YYHfPkpEmlSBws8FibL3LW017lCezXu2MEr2nyyzkkkjKdEL95ZMygBsVqsBPOkJgsOB2pdIR_2FLmzPBXyE3NZPdetnUgM681y7mU3JR/s320/bahceli.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416407929984440834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now we just need the creators of SpongeBob to add a character that looks like Deniz Baykal.<br /><br />Yes, boys and girls, the inmates <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">really are</span> running the asylum.<br /><br />That is all.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-920987740060403492009-12-15T20:56:00.000-08:002009-12-16T16:13:24.560-08:00THE TURKISH LOBBY, THE NEOCONS, AND THE CRUSADE TO FREE THE ERGENEKON TERRORISTS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"The enlargement of the Ergenekon investigation will improve the standards of our democracy. Not only the Ergenekon on the western side of the Euphrates River, but also the one on the eastern side should be investigated, and a real 'clean hands' operation should be started."</span><br />~ Ahmet Türk.<br /></div><br /><br />A very interesting video was brought to my attention by a reader in the comments section <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/12/our-hope-our-guerrillas.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Let's take a look:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WOkYlB-hH1Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WOkYlB-hH1Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />Wayne Madsen makes some interesting speculations about Katil Erdoğan's visit to Washington last week, which ended up with the resignation of Turkey's ambassador to the US, <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-195211-100-ambassador-mars-us-visit-with-surprise-resignation.html">Nabi Şensoy</a>.<br /><br />Madsen speculates that Obama spoke to Katil Erdoğan about the Ergenekon prosecutions with the intent of dropping them and freeing the Ergenekon terrorists. He points out that the paşas would like to see an end to the prosecutions. We know that the Ergenekon terrorists were actually sponsored by the US as part of the CIA's Gladio stay-behind program and that the charges they face today are minor in comparison to the terror they carried out against the Kurdish people in The Southeast--for which they are not being prosecuted.<br /><br />Madsen mentions that Turkish lobby organizations in the US, like the American Turkish Council (ATC), have been trying to influence the US government into pressuring the AKP to drop the Ergenekon issue. Although I have not seen evidence of the ATC's overt involvement in this particular aspect of influence peddling, there is a Turkish organization that has been working on exactly this matter and it has a relationship with the ATC. That organization is the ARI Foundation.<br /><br />As was brought up in comments <a href="http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2009/12/04/podcast-show-14/#comments" target="_blank">in a post</a> on Sibel Edmonds' website, the ARI Foundation hosted a seminar last month for the US Congress in which the members of the foundation urged Congress to "intervene urgently to stop the trial . . . " From <a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article163027.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">VoltaireNet</span></a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>. . . [O]n 18 November 2009 a seminar was held at the U.S. Congress to deny the existence of Ergenekon, putting it down as a myth invented by the Erdogan Government to discredit Army Chief of Staff, General Mehmet Yaşar Büyükanıt, and the U.S.-friendly officers in his entourage, in the hope of imposing an Islamic state.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The participants stressed that the United States should intervene urgently to stop the trial, but should not do so openly since it would feed into the "conspiracy theories" purporting that NATO has set up a "Deep State" in Turkey which has manipulated or attempted to manipulate public institutions for decades.</span><br /><br />The seminar was organised by the ARI Foundation, a low-profile think-tank bent on promoting relations between Washington and Ankara. Actually, ARI is a front for the Atlanticist-Israeli lobby. In accordance with Robert Strausz-Hupé’s policies, ARI is promoting a Tel-Aviv-Ankara axis under NATO auspices for the control of the Middle East.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />The piece mentions the ARI Foundation's connections to the Israeli lobby, especially the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (<a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Washington_Institute_for_Near_East_Policy" target="_blank">WINEP</a>). WINEP was founded by former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, who started his "public service" career as a research director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (<a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee" target="_blank">AIPAC</a>. Indyk also served as a founding director for WINEP.<br /><br />Yurter Özcan, the president of the ARI Foundation, works with Turk neocon Soner Çağaptay, who is the director of WINEP's Turkish "Research" Program.<br /><br />The first of ARI Foundation's symposia was presented in 2002 and featured Daniel Pipes of the <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Middle_East_Forum" target="_blank">Middle East Forum</a>. Other contributors to their symposia include AIPAC spy <a href="http://www.stopaipac.org/spystory.htm" target="_blank">Steve Rosen</a>, who now works with Daniel Pipes' <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/6346/standing-with-steven-j-rosen" target="_blank">Middle East Forum</a>.<br /><br />Former Florida congressman Robert Wexler has also been involved with the ARI Foundation. Wexler is a <a href="http://wexler.house.gov/bio.shtml" target="_blank">co-founder</a> of the Caucus on US-Turkish Relations who recently <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1281774.htmlvV" target="_blank">resigned</a> his congressional seat to take a temporary job with a minor pro-Israeli think tank while he waits out the <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28539.html" target="_blank">one-year ban</a> that former congressmen must wait before taking up lucrative lobbying jobs. My money says that, as soon as Wexler passes the one-year mark, he'll slide right into a nice, cushy, lobbying job for the Turkish government.<br /><br />Also involved with the ARI Foundation is Zeyno Baran, an <a href="http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2008/08/hudson-institute-ergenekon-and-islamist.html" target="_blank">Ergenekon defender</a> at the very neoconservative <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Hudson_Institute" target="_blank">Hudson Institute</a>.<br /><br />For <a href="http://www.implu.com/nonprofit/810577418V" target="_blank">tax purposes</a>, the ARI Foundation lists Gunay Evinch (Günay Övunç) as it's contact person. Övunç is, of course, the <a href="http://www.ataa.org/about/#bod" target="_blank">current president</a> of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). The ARI Foundation has conducted anti-Armenian Genocide propaganda in conjunction with the ATAA, and you had better believe that if an organization or person is anti-Armenian Genocide, they're anti-Kurd as well.<br /><br />Furthermore, those who've been moaning the most about the suffering paşas, current and retired, are the Israelis and neoconservatives. Here's a sample from a recent column in the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255547729496&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFullV" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jerusalem Post</span></a>:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>TURKEY'S BREAK with the West; its decisive rupture with Israel and its opposition to the US in Iraq and Iran was predictable. Militant Islam of the AKP variety has been enjoying growing popularity and support throughout Turkey for many years. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The endemic corruption of Turkey's traditional secular leaders increased the Islamists' popularity.</span> Given this domestic Turkish reality, it is possible that Erdogan and his fellow Islamists' rise to power was simply a matter of time.<br /><br />But even if the AKP's rise to power was eminently predictable, its ability to consolidate its control over just about every organ of governance in Turkey as well as what was once a thriving free press <span style="font-style: italic;">[Haha, good one! -- Mizgîn]</span>, and change completely Turkey's strategic posture in just seven years was far from inevitable. For these accomplishments the AKP owes a debt of gratitude to both the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as to the EU.<br /><br />The Bush administration ignored the warnings of secular Turkish leaders in the country's media, military and diplomatic corps that Erdogan was a wolf in sheep's clothing. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Rather than pay attention to his past attempts to undermine Turkey's secular, pro-Western character and treat him with a modicum of suspicion, after the AKP electoral victory in 2002 the Bush administration upheld the AKP and Erdogan as paragons of Islamist moderation and proof positive that the US and the West have no problem with political Islam.</span><br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />In Turkey itself, the administration's enthusiastic embrace of the AKP meant that Erdogan encountered no Western opposition to his moves to end press freedom in Turkey; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">purge the Turkish military of its secular leaders and end its constitutional mandate to preserve Turkey's secular character</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">[Turkey is not secular; read the constitution -- Mizgîn]</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">intimidate and disenfranchise secular business leaders and diplomats;</span> and stack the Turkish courts with Islamists. That is, in the name of its support for its water-downed definition of democracy, the US facilitated Erdogan's subversion of all the Turkish institutions that enabled liberal norms to be maintained and kept Turkey in the Western alliance.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />So, yeah, we all know that Turkey was an absolute paradise while under absolute paşa rule, but if the JPost writer wants to blame the Bush administration, she'd damn well better blame her neoconservative colleagues. Here's a blast from the past (circa 2004) from the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20040804093345/http://www.meib.org/articles/0407_t1.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Middle East Intelligence Bulletin</span></a>, published by Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>While Erdogan and other AKP leaders unabashedly affirm their private religious convictions, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">they advocate secularism in the conventional Western sense of the term</span>. "Before anything else, I'm a Muslim . . . I have a responsibility to God, who created me, and I try to fulfill that responsibility, but I try now very much to keep this away from my political life, to keep it private," Erdogan told the New York Times last year. "A political party cannot have a religion, only individuals can . . . religion is so supreme that it cannot be [politically] exploited or taken advantage of," he explained.[5]<br /><br />[ . . .]<br /><br />Ironically, the old line Kemalists, who for 80 years preached about the need to modernize and Westernize Turkey, have in many ways become the reactionaries in Turkey, while <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the "Islamists" have taken the lead in promoting Western-style reforms</span>. In spite of the dismal electoral fortunes of nationalist political parties in 2002, the Kemalist elite continues to dominate not only Turkey's military, but also its civilian bureaucracy, judiciary, and media. The so-called "deep state" in Turkey has resisted many of the changes introduced by the AKP.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Turkey</span>, a country of about 70 million Muslims, most of whom are religious, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">is ruled today by a conservative party with an Islamic pedigree and a humane, tolerant, and democratic track record.</span> Can we generalize from the AKP's experience? Not without some care. Turkey is quite different from the rest of the Middle East, whether Arab or Persian. What works in Ankara will not necessarily work in Tehran, Damascus or Baghdad. Nonetheless, there are definitely lessons to be learned.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Read the whole thing because it contains an accurate description of how the Bush administration pushed aside long-time American allies in Turkey . . . you know, the paşas, in favor of Islamists. Then think about how the US has always chosen Islamist regimes over secular ones. Do the terms "Afghan mujahedin" or "Taliban" ring any bells? In 2004, it would appear that everything was sweetness and light, with the pro-Israeli neoconservatives praising AKP and Katil Erdoğan to the heavens. What a difference a few years makes among fascists! But for the pro-paşa, pro-Israeli neoconservative opinion on Ergenekon, check the AEI's <a href="http://www.aei.org/article/28442" target="_blank">Michael Rubin</a> or the <a href="http://www.meforum.org/search.php?cx=015692155655874064424%3Abbfcmdvi9ym&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Gulen&sa=Search#935" target="_blank">Middle East Forum</a> or the <a href="http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1256557977260" target="_blank">columnist section</a> of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Jerusalem Post</span>, and all those who cooked up the <a href="http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/clean_break.htm" target="_blank">Clean Break</a>.<br /><br />In any event, we can see that Madsen is totally correct when he emphasizes the links between the Turkish and Israeli lobbies, and it's extremely unfortunate that more people in media aren't talking about the fact.<br /><br />Did Obama actually talk to Katil Erdoğan about releasing the Ergenekon terrorists? I doubt it. Obama and Erdoğan certainly had more pressing matters to talk about, like coordinating NATO's <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=19312979&postID=92098774006040349" target="_blank">heroin industry</a> in Afghanistan in order to keep Goldman Sachs alfoat. The US has backed the AKP and Fethullahçı from AKP's initial rise to power and Gülen's movement provides some inside access to The Grand Chessboard of Central Asia. Certainly Gülen was deeply involved with the Ergenekon terrorists but it no longer serves his purposes to have anything to do with them nor does he have any need to try to save them from prosecution. Besides, Gülen is a valuable asset to the US right these days.<br /><br />Gülen's disciples have followed his command to "work patiently and to creep silently into the institutions in order to seize power in the state". The paşas no longer force out Islamists from the TSK's officer corps. Fethullahçı moles inside the Turkish general staff leaked the information about the coup attempts metnioned by Madsen. Gülen's star slowly rises while that of the paşas slowly sets, and who is hosting Gülen? Who is protecting him? Who was it that approved Katil Erdoğan as the leader of Turkey while Erdoğan was banned from holding political office?<br /><br />Let the CIA worry when Tansu Çiller is arrested.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-29055271712846305782009-12-13T17:52:00.000-08:002009-12-13T19:04:34.025-08:00A BAD MOON RISES OVER TURKEY<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I see the bad moon arising.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I see trouble on the way.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I see earthquakes and lightning.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">I see bad times today.<br /></span>~ John Fogerty.<br /></div><br /><br />This weekend, Yüksekova and Hakkari led the way on payback for the new realities on the ground in Turkey.<br /><br />Below is a video from Yüksekova showing the protests in the city this weekend. Please note that although it may be possible for some people to mistake the police in this video for Israeli security forces and the protestors as Gazans, this is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not</span> the case.<br /><br />Although, it's also possible for some to ask me what the difference is between Turkish and Israeli security forces and I'd have to say, "<span style="font-weight: bold;">None.</span>"<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VA45mByNeco&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VA45mByNeco&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />Here's a similar video (hat tip: <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=83514" target="_blank">Özgür Gündem</a>), which shows a pack of Turkish--<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not</span> Israeli--police severely beating one Kurd--<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not </span>a Palestinian.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2hMl8U3calM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2hMl8U3calM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br />In Beytüşşebap, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at the Kaymakam's headquarters and the post office building. There were also clashes with police. My sources indicate that no DTP party members intervened to end the beating of two not-so-lucky police in Beytüşşebap. There's a tiny bit from ANF on that here: http://www.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=18508 and something at<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=83483" target="_blank">Özgür Gündem</a>.<br /><br />The word from the region is that not only did the Kurds of Hakkari beat the shit out of two Turkish police, the people had also disarmed the police. In a moment of irony, if not for the intervention of DTP party members, the goat-smelling asses of these two police would have been torn to pieces by the crowd. You can see a video of those police getting what they <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">so richly</span> deserve, <a href="http://dha.com.tr/n.php?n=olayli-protestolar-2009-12-12" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Better luck next time.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Radikal</span> had a number of photos from Hakkari, <a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalGaleriHaber&ArticleID=968824&PAGE=1&Date=12.12.2009" target="_blank">here</a>. Below is a selection:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ngtiVYzCIcbll9t8EV05Sn79Agmm0grrF3ZnoBXwcaoveUVcT6BI0oyHkVMyVC5oTIcneXNABla0ClliTChHPSXn_TzDzTmuXX1fC8acgNoLXObkX3-uAupCGe8i_Kdj4Xic/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp2.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 187px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ngtiVYzCIcbll9t8EV05Sn79Agmm0grrF3ZnoBXwcaoveUVcT6BI0oyHkVMyVC5oTIcneXNABla0ClliTChHPSXn_TzDzTmuXX1fC8acgNoLXObkX3-uAupCGe8i_Kdj4Xic/s400/yuksekovadtp2.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904915250097362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtyGHjM8Aa7H_Y8arptilo7CWmEbA3toNW-U0IklfPjHA-gErLD79Y53WvYDaB0GIK8oU37eluCaNM2wPHuvKezOjMp5Si7K06w_ipWB2uQctHkSjiqFKOjO9EMnEZKmXPFI5/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp3.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtyGHjM8Aa7H_Y8arptilo7CWmEbA3toNW-U0IklfPjHA-gErLD79Y53WvYDaB0GIK8oU37eluCaNM2wPHuvKezOjMp5Si7K06w_ipWB2uQctHkSjiqFKOjO9EMnEZKmXPFI5/s400/yuksekovadtp3.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904908409636226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRCEco4VJg0A82v_aXJYHgVlH-oEb9j8LX4X0DkWu_h9pUrjrVDGOAMdDzDQQ2vtskQx2Q8LZ8oov8SYYOzyEhZ2hZmWGZynn2P_b6SuXnbfb_05F2alqVYxFlcXlfuTrS4NA/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp4.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRCEco4VJg0A82v_aXJYHgVlH-oEb9j8LX4X0DkWu_h9pUrjrVDGOAMdDzDQQ2vtskQx2Q8LZ8oov8SYYOzyEhZ2hZmWGZynn2P_b6SuXnbfb_05F2alqVYxFlcXlfuTrS4NA/s400/yuksekovadtp4.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904726502551442" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOSpumQjPW3HhNeaXZpnpGx71ytZcFJl87Rf-my5YNYrJFxzGvqVoWgQdOPmH_5e_x9zgGbGOgBIid8unlENTRD0eVNLFVdnQLPVk-CMTUTvaSpZUGrsqlfu1e25OOWQ0rSjC/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp6.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOSpumQjPW3HhNeaXZpnpGx71ytZcFJl87Rf-my5YNYrJFxzGvqVoWgQdOPmH_5e_x9zgGbGOgBIid8unlENTRD0eVNLFVdnQLPVk-CMTUTvaSpZUGrsqlfu1e25OOWQ0rSjC/s400/yuksekovadtp6.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904719618570018" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_UX1Bl6PZE1aa7Lv83QFA3xM-7aaowWKU3iObmu5ICQsOVtRImmKhWNjsSRysioDZHDLIfsenfsZ-rYfBDIAbPiL460fRokd_mEu9_w6l-4l8_t6XnO_JM18VU4HoqtF7jbz/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp7.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_UX1Bl6PZE1aa7Lv83QFA3xM-7aaowWKU3iObmu5ICQsOVtRImmKhWNjsSRysioDZHDLIfsenfsZ-rYfBDIAbPiL460fRokd_mEu9_w6l-4l8_t6XnO_JM18VU4HoqtF7jbz/s400/yuksekovadtp7.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904717473095954" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBfW60TUQyB9CVwGUiAMLBIGKqOqIEVl2nyI3t4TcCw3i15Mda7PhYga7Or8oklG16G-T0nmhJPq420zCPM8vuhumfW-VAddCOMFcxz9if-TqwiiwzHLOHMA9IuoEfleEYOUx/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp8.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBfW60TUQyB9CVwGUiAMLBIGKqOqIEVl2nyI3t4TcCw3i15Mda7PhYga7Or8oklG16G-T0nmhJPq420zCPM8vuhumfW-VAddCOMFcxz9if-TqwiiwzHLOHMA9IuoEfleEYOUx/s400/yuksekovadtp8.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904484829885138" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">(I'm sorry, Mr. Police, but if you really love your fascist regime, you'll have to part with <span style="font-weight: bold;">much, much more</span> of your blood than that.)</span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8fC7bWHvEBwidV44Q0FJIyKiAlFhhhSPuK9XP6PD9QSGgCYk-uFz6_7RuIQGb9QBJHrk0-maHJ6TS78HycFEafCdCZg6cNWmKiUJEB-bDd_p2HHOA5AZW5a7HLZJ1M61fw3AV/s1600-h/yuksekovadtp9.Jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 317px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8fC7bWHvEBwidV44Q0FJIyKiAlFhhhSPuK9XP6PD9QSGgCYk-uFz6_7RuIQGb9QBJHrk0-maHJ6TS78HycFEafCdCZg6cNWmKiUJEB-bDd_p2HHOA5AZW5a7HLZJ1M61fw3AV/s400/yuksekovadtp9.Jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414904474317868322" border="0" /></a><br />In another item, I noticed that <span style="font-style: italic;">Radikal</span> was reluctant to show the faces of two fascists who shot Şevket Aslan, a Kurdish youth who was attending a protest against DTP's closure in İstanbul Beyoğlu, but ANF had no such qualms. Here are the photos:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1-l_OwlHr_1FjRnEeTANXDdqGZKJh8_IyvFiiNtWQcj7foruxD6kRqMMkQ_vLJpqihdMEIT_XLWgkSlq3Xt1j_B9K7Jv5x_qHjPffJASYbIFuSbfhj6cVyK-V-TH9eKxJqvV/s1600-h/fasistbeyoglu1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1-l_OwlHr_1FjRnEeTANXDdqGZKJh8_IyvFiiNtWQcj7foruxD6kRqMMkQ_vLJpqihdMEIT_XLWgkSlq3Xt1j_B9K7Jv5x_qHjPffJASYbIFuSbfhj6cVyK-V-TH9eKxJqvV/s400/fasistbeyoglu1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414917529648317042" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbVBkD0srCBTDDYuZQrdwlCZWHSC8JXa2Tq5a4o_F8D8gHH5_IP75kU5PSh_zYMDjY5oa7y7Fv_rnbZORG1sJkewI2uT9WiNjv5qF8eoBOiqkc0gakioLl1oifmELxKi8pSLlF/s1600-h/fasistbeyoglu2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbVBkD0srCBTDDYuZQrdwlCZWHSC8JXa2Tq5a4o_F8D8gHH5_IP75kU5PSh_zYMDjY5oa7y7Fv_rnbZORG1sJkewI2uT9WiNjv5qF8eoBOiqkc0gakioLl1oifmELxKi8pSLlF/s400/fasistbeyoglu2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414917526101530114" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibe5jj6hvzOGrWdoeg5-izhXE5-6-7ZtHGsI5eIjgMrBJKVkQCOOa5AgKN0R5ChikJDOQKLOM5Pd6g0aA12wkq5gAoSmQ8xfj-ELG5Z5OOR6LoNKL6KcZ15t2OZkIrY-KmeNLG/s1600-h/fasistbeyoglu3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 334px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibe5jj6hvzOGrWdoeg5-izhXE5-6-7ZtHGsI5eIjgMrBJKVkQCOOa5AgKN0R5ChikJDOQKLOM5Pd6g0aA12wkq5gAoSmQ8xfj-ELG5Z5OOR6LoNKL6KcZ15t2OZkIrY-KmeNLG/s400/fasistbeyoglu3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414917514810768370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYrWqFODg1uIpIcKvlUpjRr2OHTAIL6CkxcPRMjpS4HRX5jMMLbXofCPUUvOC-YH6ISJU6hCGjMS8FyykKfPmhMZbqshIO1FNqmyj1JcWCVO-XQw0IICpOGyG_W51kyhD344p/s1600-h/fasistbeyoglu4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 304px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYrWqFODg1uIpIcKvlUpjRr2OHTAIL6CkxcPRMjpS4HRX5jMMLbXofCPUUvOC-YH6ISJU6hCGjMS8FyykKfPmhMZbqshIO1FNqmyj1JcWCVO-XQw0IICpOGyG_W51kyhD344p/s400/fasistbeyoglu4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414917512175998994" border="0" /></a><br />(Source: http://www.firatnews.com/gallery/index.php?rupel=galeri&gid=2491)<br /><br />The images were captured by an <a href="http://www.gundem-online.net/haber.asp?haberid=83536" target="_blank">AFP photographer</a>. I hope they are spread around as much as possible so that these two hyenas can meet with an untimely end.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch released a statement on DTP's closure. It says, <a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/11/turkey-kurdish-party-banned" target="_blank">"Blah, blah, blah, blah"</a>, which is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">exactly</span> the same thing the ECHR is going to say about DTP's closure when their case finally makes its way through all the bullshit legal hurdles of the world's finest "democracies".<br /><br />Excuse me for a moment while I vomit.<br /><br />To end on a positive note, almost 800 new guerrillas have joined HPG in the last nine months (Source: http://www.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=18013). That's almost 100 new recruits per month. With any luck, by the spring we may see an increase in that average.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19312979.post-31083036993471189502009-12-09T20:10:00.000-08:002009-12-09T20:29:28.604-08:00WITHOUT TURKEY'S KURDS, THERE IS NO SOLUTION<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"In 1993, a ceasefire was declared by the Kurdish opposition. The EU tried to pressure Turkey to respond constructively to it. Instead, the Turkish government, with crucial US support, escalated the war. That led to years of further atrocities and destruction."</span><br />~ <a href="http://www.kurdistan.org/Current-Updates/chomsky.html" target="_blank">Noam Chomsky</a>.<br /></div><br /><br />Here's an opinion piece on the current situation in Turkey from <span style="font-style: italic;">Radikal's</span> <a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=RadikalYazarYazisi&ArticleID=968268&Yazar=ORAL%20%C7ALI%DELAR&Date=09.12.2009&CategoryID=98" target="_blank">Oral Çalışlar</a>:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">There won't be any solution without Turkey's Kurds</span><br /><br /><br />With the recent days' events (DTP's closure case, the reaction after Öcalan was transferred to a smaller cell, and, finally, the seven troops who were killed in an ambush in Tokat), the Kurdish "initiative" is in a sharp curve.<br /><br />I prefer to call it a sharp curve rather than an impasse. The conditions for the solution to the Kurdish question are available despite all the barriers.<br /><br />Most of Turkish society's preference, despite everything, still favors a solution. I can see most of the Kurds also want a solution. I think the ones who don't want a solution among Turks are not the majority. It is not possible that death and war be the desire of the majority. <br /><br />Of course, whatever the conditions are, it is a must that the "initiative" be based on a right strategy and the process must be managed very well based on this strategy. From the days that the first steps were taken for the Kurdish "initiative" some mistakes have been made. If these mistakes can be identified and lessons can be learned from previous mistakes, the "Kurdish initiative" can be on track again.<br /><br />When I listen to the sides carefully, I can reason the events went on as follows:<br /><br />The government--maybe it would be better to call it the state--got into the feeling that it could squeeze PKK and "would be able to convince" it by reaching an agreement with Northern Iraq's Kurdistan administrators and with US support to take PKK down from the mountains and empty the Maxmur camp.<br /><br />The government conceived that the international conjuncture was available. It made some alliances with Iran, Syria, the Kurdistan administration in Northern Iraq, the Iraq government and the US for a solution in the region and to disarm PKK. The government thought these alliances would be sufficient. It presupposed the problem would be solved with these alliances.<br /><br />DTP states that the government did not inform it about the road map and deliberately mentioned that it does not know what AKP is trying to do. Kongra-Gel chairman, Zübeyir Aydar, who I met in Brussells, stressed that they have not received any information regarding bringing PKK down from the mountains.<br /><br />This stoppage could be overcome by talking to DTP. However, the severe criticism by the opposition and nationalistic protests pushed the government to inactivity.<br /><br />In this ambiguous situation, the judiciary and police moved forward and several big operations have been conducted against DTP. Tens of DTP administrators were imprisoned.<br /><br />The scenes occured after 34 PKK members, who entered from Silopi based on Ocalan's call, scared the government more. and this resulted in a slow down in the initiative the government started by taking some risks. Slowing down put DTP on the target. An approach could be summarized as "DTP is the common target." occured. Despite all its weaknesses, DTP is a party consisting of legal representatives from Turkey's Kurds. They are the ones who can contribute the most for a solution of the question if they are left with enough room. However, the different voices coming from them were reflected in an exaggerated way that can trigger reaction from the public. The west of Turkey was conditioned negatively against DTP.<br /><br />However this is a fact that the Kurdish question is Turkey's own internal problem. In a hierarchichal rank, the first addressees of this problem are Turkey's Kurds. For them, the most effective power is DTP. Turkey's Kurds, in a way, are the leaders of all Kurdish culture. DTP is the representative party of the struggle for Kurdish identity in Turkey. They should be the first and prioritized addressees for this problem. To bring PKK down from the mountains, Öcalan is one of the most important possibilities. It is possible for Öcalan to contribute toward solving the problem.<br /><br />The power that rules Turkey does not move from this point of view, despite the fact that it sees this reality. <br /><br />In recent days, scenarios such as "there are other Kurds, we can settle the matter with them" are produced. If you go to Diyarbakir or any other place in The Southeast, you will see that the demand of identity that DTP voices is the common demand of all Kurds--no matter what parties they vote for.<br /><br />It is a must to see we cannot get anywhere with the "Good Kurds/Bad Kurds" duality. The demands of almost all the Kurds are common. Despite their different political approaches, different political preferences, there isn't any difference, in essence, in their identity demands.<br /><br />All this requires stressing the following: For the success of the Kurdish initiative, it is necessary to include Turkey's Kurds in the process. Without them, a result cannot come about.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />What I have said for a long time: <span style="font-style: italic;">"It is necessary to include Turkey's Kurds in the process. Without them, a result cannot come about."</span><br /><br /><br />Amin.Mizgînhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01850990661771197094noreply@blogger.com0