"COLOSSAL DAMAGE TO THE ENTIRE REGION"

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

Which measures should be taken to strengthen BTC security?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORE ON THE BTC OPERATION

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

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

"Guerrillas will continue to strike the economy"

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

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

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

One more sabotage

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

Convoy ambushed

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

Dr. Bahoz Erdal: Attacks against economic resources will continue

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

"There is a comprehensive attack against us"

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

"We think it will be a deterrent"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HPG: BTC PIPELINE TARGETED

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"More ominously", indeed. Bijî Serok Apo!