APPLYING THE MILITARY SOLUTION

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE VARIETIES OF TREASON

"Is there not some chosen curse,
Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven,
Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man
Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?"
~ Joseph Addison.

Guess who's arranging an oil deal between Turkey, Kazakhstan, and "Northern Iraq"? The Prince of Darkness himself. Yes, that would be prominent neocon and Turkish agent, Richard Perle. A little bird dropped this into my email today:

Iraq War Advocate Denies Taking Part In a Consortium


Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.

Mr. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy, according to these people and the documents.

It would involve a tract called K18, near the Kurdish city of Erbil, according to documents describing the plan. A consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International is seeking rights to drill there, the documents say. Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan, according to individuals involved.

AK's chief executive is Aydan Kodaloglu, who, like Mr. Perle, has been involved with the American Turkish Council, an advocacy group in Washington. She didn't respond to requests for comment. Phyllis Kaminsky, who identified herself as the U.S. contact for Ms. Kodaloglu, said she herself was aware of the drilling plan but referred questions about it to Mr. Perle.

"Richard would know the most," Ms. Kaminsky said. "He is involved, I know that."

This comes from the WSJ, but you'll need a subscription to read it there.

Now the KRG sees fit to do business with this bunch of devils? This is treason against the Kurdish people.

Aydan Kodaloğlu, the founder of the AK Group International in question, is a former board member of the ATC (American Turkish Council--not so much an "advocacy group" as an MİT asset), and "is a recognized expert on Turkish-American and Turkish-Israeli relations. Ms. Kodaloglu was a member of official delegations of former President Turgut Ozal and Prime Ministers Suleyman Demirel, and Tansu Ciller and was involved in the planning for the official visit to Turkey of former U.S. President George Bush." So this woman is clearly no friend of the Kurdish people and there should be extreme public censure of those Kurds who choose to do business with her.

That the Prince of Darkness himself has a pedigree that's also hostile to the Kurdish people, as well as to any theoretical description of democracy. Perle holds a position of prominence in Sibel Edmonds' gallery of rogues but, as Sibel's information shows, scumbags like Perle have long profited from Turkey and for Turkey:

Someone has to be in the middle (of the Turkish, Israeli, American military/economic machine) to keep the happy affair going, so enter the neocons, intent on securing Israel against all comers and also keen to turn a dollar. In fact the neocons seem to have a deep and abiding interest in Turkey, which, under other circumstances, might be difficult to explain. Doug Feith's International Advisors Inc, a registered agent for Turkey in 1989 - 1994, netted $600,000 per year from Turkey, with Richard Perle taking $48,000 annually as a consultant.

[ . . . ]

Contracts in the hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars provide considerable fat for those well placed to benefit. Investigators are also looking at Israel's particular expertise in the illegal sale of US military technology to countries like China and India. Fraudulent end-user certificates produced by Defense Ministries in Israel and Turkey are all that is needed to divert military technology to other, less benign, consumers. The military-industrial-complex/neocon network is also well attested. Doug Feith has been associated with Northrup Grumman for years, while defense contractors fund many neocon-linked think tanks and "information" services. Feith, Perle and a number of other neocons have long had beneficial relationships with various Israeli defense contractors.

There's more on that at Deep Journal. Let's not forget that Perle was one of the co-authors of the "Clean Break" that created the alliance between the members of the Iron Triangle--the US, Israel, and Turkey.

Kiss democracy in South Kurdistan goodbye; Show's over, folks.

The Ankara regime is using the excuse of the Güngören bombing to bomb civilians in South Kurdistan. Fırat News reports that the villagers have emptied Bokriskan village in the Qendil region. The Turkish military conducted aerial bombing over the Balekan valley, Lewce, Inzo, and Bokriskan villages, and Geliye Bedran. In the villages where civilians were targeted, a lot of animals have been killed and the irrigation project under construction in Bokriskan has been totally destroyed. The people themselves have fled to Çoman and Ranya.

The PUK confirmed the attacks. HPG confirmed that Turkish aircraft had bombed civilian areas and also confirmed that it suffered no casualties--in stark contrast to the BS being served up in Turkish media. The attacks started forest fires in the Zap and Haftanin regions. Not too surprising as the entire region has been suffering a severe drought for months now.

On 27 July, the Turkish military conducted a comprehensive attack against PJAK positions, reinforcing the fact that Turkey and Iran are cooperating in their war against the Kurdish people.

On 24 July, Turkish aircraft attacked Çemço, Saca, and Şamke villages in the Zap region. On 19 July at 1920 hours, TSK artillery shelled the villages of Maye, Ormana, and Ura, in Kanimasi, Amediye region. At 0200 hours on the same day, Turkish bombing began and did not end until 0720 hours. On 18 July at 1230 hours, Turkish aircraft bombed the Deraluk district, Nerwe and Rekane villages, also in the Amediye region.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the grenades found in the Ergenekon house in Istanbul Ümraniye had been traced to Şemdinli. Today, Radikal has a fairly long article on the subject. To make a long story short, the Ergenekon chief prosecutor Zekeriya Öz ordered an investigation into the grenades. That investigation shows that the grenades were seized in a police operation against Turkish Hezbollah in Şırnak, in 1999. There, the grenades were further linked to a TSK major, Mehmet Zekeriya Öztürk, an Ergenekon member who had been stationed in Şırnak from August 1997 to August 1999.

Yaşar Büyükanıt, now the chief of the Turkish general staff, served in The Southeast from 1997 to 2000. Like the Ergenekon grenades, Büyükanıt was also linked to the Şemdinli bombing when he admitted that he knew the bombers, TSK non-commissioned officers Ali Kaya and Özcan İldeniz. Büyükanıt said that he knew them and that they were "good boys". In fact, Büyükanıt knew them so well that when Van prosecutor Ferhat Sarıkaya tried to indict Büyükanıt for his involvement in the Şemdinli bombing, Sarıkaya was told to shut up, go away, and don't bother practicing law ever again.

Büyükanıt is also a party to the Dolmabahçe Deal with the AKP. And so the Deep State comes full circle.

TSK, GÜLEN, AND ROJ TV

"Thought that is silenced is always rebellious. Majorities, of course, are often mistaken. This is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous. Criticism and dissent are the indispensable antidote to major delusions."
~ Alan Barth.

He's back. American vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in Ankara to chum around with Büyükanıt and Saygun, from AFP:

ANKARA (AFP) — A senior US general arrived here Thursday on a a one-day visit for talks with his Turkish counterparts on efforts to root out Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a US embassy official said.

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will "discuss standard issues that concern both militaries, including the ongoing struggle against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and ongoing intelligence sharing," an embassy spokeswoman told AFP.

Cartwright would meet with the head of the Turkish army, General Yasar Buyukanit, and his number two, General Ergin Saygun, she said.

The United States has been supplying Turkey with intelligence to counter the PKK which uses rear bases in Kurdish-populated northern Iraq for attacks on Turkish targets.

With US assistance, the Turkish military has stepped up its campaign against the PKK since December, carrying out several air raids on rebel targets in Iraq as well as a week-long cross-border ground operation targeting a major PKK base.

More from Gülen's daily, Zaman, Friday edition:

This is the third visit to Ankara by Cartwright since November, ahead of Turkey’s first air strike into northern Iraq in order to eliminate the PKK bases there. On Nov. 20, Cartwright, along with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of US forces in Iraq, visited Ankara and discussed measures to crack down on the PKK with Turkish Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun.

Cartwright’s next visit to Ankara was in February at a time when talks between the United States, Turkey and Iraq were intensified ahead of Turkey’s ground incursion into Iraq. Cartwright yesterday met with both Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt and Saygun. In November, following a landmark White House meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President George W. Bush, it was announced that Saygun, his US counterpart, Cartwright, and Petraeus would be part of an intelligence network that will work to wipe out PKK bases in Iraq. The network has been facilitating the flow of intelligence information between the military forces.

Expect an intensification of fascist TSK operations in the coming months, bearing in mind that the Şirnak, Siirt, and Hakkari regions have already been experiencing intense operations.

There is more info on Fethullah Gülen's US immigration case, in English, from TDN:

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Stewart Dalzell ruled in favor of Immigration Services. Upon the verdict, Gülen, the leader of a religious movement with interests in the media and education sector, needs to leave the United States in one month's time. However, the time Gülen can illegally stay in the country can go as high as six months.

Gülen's financial resources were detailed in the public prosecutor's arguments, which claimed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Turkish government, and the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, were behind the Gülen movement. It stated that some businessmen in Ankara donated 10 to 70 percent of their annual income to the movement and that it corresponded to $20,000 to $300,000 per year per person. It added that one businessman in Istanbul donated $4-5 million each year and that young people graduating from Gülen's schools donated between $2,000 and $5,000 each year.

The Israeli Memri Blog, disagrees:

Immediately following Fethullah Gulen’s acquittal in Turkey by the Supreme Court in June 24, Turkish media widely reported on the status of Fethullah Gulen’s case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Reports in mainstream Turkish media stated that the federal court had ruled against Fethullah Gulen and in favor of the U.S. government agencies and that he faces imminent deportation. Court records reveal that the action remains pending and the court has not yet entered a decision on the claims filed by Gulen. In fact briefs were submitted by both parties as recently as June 25, 2008.

Many of the press reports purported to summarize the court’s reasoning in denying Gulen’s claims, whereas a ruling is not expected for several months. These misrepresentations raise questions as to which circles were feeding this news to the media and to serve what purpose.

It appears that MEMRI is defending old Hoca, which raises questions as to what purpose is it doing so? After all, MEMRI never questions the TSK's official media propaganda. MEMRI notes that the news of Gülen's immigration status broke immediately after his acquittal in a Turkish court. The trial had been ongoing for seven years on charges that Gülen had formed a "terrorist organization" (Anti-Terrorism Law, No. 3713).

Gülen himself appeared to be happy with the court's decision, not only for himself, but because the decision may also get Abdullah Gül off the hook in at least part of the closure case against AKP:

Gülen pointed out that with this decision, visiting Turkish schools associated with the Gülen movement would not be considered a crime. He was referring to the closure case filed by the chief public prosecutor against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in which President Abdullah Gül was cited as visiting Turkish schools abroad while he was foreign minister, an act that allegedly violated the secular principles of the Constitution.

Of course, now that Gülen has been acquitted, there's no reason for him to remain in the US and he has absolutely no need for an I-140 visa, is there?

In other news, Goran at Mideast Youth has an excellent summary of Nazi Germany's ban of Roj TV. The ban is suspicious to say the least, particularly since Denmark has been investigating Turkish (and American) claims against Roj TV for years now:

However, separate decisions made after investigations in Denmark have denied such claims. After multiple requests from the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTSC), the Denmark Media Secretariat - an institution of the Denmark Ministry of Culture - issued a document that concluded that none of the complaints justified closure of the Kurdish broadcast station. Denmark authorities concluded in the document that although the station often shows violent footage in it’s broadcasts as claimed, “they represent the violence that actually exists in Turkey and in Kurdish areas.” They concluded that although the broadcasts may have an “unpleasant effect on the Turkish authorities,” they are completely “unexaggerated” and there are no proofs that the station is causing “incitement” through their reporting.

Bijî Denmark!

How exactly is Nazi Germany going to enforce the ban? Let's see, Roj TV is banned in Turkey, including Turkey's internal colony Kurdistan. Turkey used to go around destroying or confiscating satellite dishes to prevent Kurds watching Roj. Turkey has always attempted to jam Roj TV's frequencies. Yet Kurds continue to watch Roj. We watched Roj every day in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, so if Turkey is still trying to fight the losing battle by jamming frequencies, it doesn't appear to be working very well.

This brings us back to the question: How exactly is Nazi Germany going to enforce the ban? By destroying satellite dishes? By confiscating them? By jamming Roj's broadcast frequencies? It reminds me of an idiot standing on a beach, trying to hold back the tide.

Perhaps the more interesting question is: What did Nazi Germany get from Turkey in order for it to go to the trouble of standing on the beach and trying to hold back the tide?

SPEAKING OF INJUSTICE

"Injustice boils in men's hearts as does steel in its cauldron, ready to pour forth, white hot, in the fullness of time."
~ Mother Jones.

Ahmet Türk had a few things to say today about the Ergenekon gang and the AKP closure case, from Zaman:

At a parliamentary group meeting yesterday, Türk pointed out that there have been many gangs in the history of Turkey. “We know that since the establishment of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa [an Ottoman intelligence agency] in 1915-1917, state assassins have been used in certain killings,” Türk said.

He added that the activities of gangs intensify when the Kurdish question is on the agenda.

“Ergenekon and similar gangs are holding the society like an octopus. We want these gangs to be uncovered completely, but the investigation is not going in this direction. We are seeing a power struggle, not a struggle for a transparent and democratic state,” he said.

This follows additional Ergenekon arrests over the last weekend, which included: Doğu Perinçek, chairman of Turkey's Worker's Party (İşçi Partisi--a hardline nationalist party); İlhan Selcuk, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper; and Kemal Alemdaroğlu, former rector of Istanbul University. The main battle here appears to be between AKP and the secularists, particularly CHP, with CHP chairman Deniz Baykal accusing AKP of "trying to build its own 'deep state'" and Erdoğan responding with "If there is a deep state in this country, you (Baykal) would be one to know it best. You are the architecture of the deep state."

Thus the poo-flinging rages fast and furious in this power struggle. Of course, all of this leads people to suspect that the Ergenekon investigation has now become a tool for AKP to use against its enemies, who brought a closure case against it.

That brings us to Ahmet Türk's comments on AKP's closure:

"The government did not show any reaction when the court case opened against us, but today they are seeking formulas to save themselves. Bring the new constitution to Parliament and, if you don’t have a majority, submit it to the public. But you are only out to save yourself."

Certainly AKP is only out to save itself; it's not the "democratic" party that ignoramuses in the West would have us believe. On that, check the points of failure enumerated by Cengiz Çandar at TDN:

If you stop halfway and push the decision with some other calculations in mind to dig out anti-democratic structures within the state structure and seek reconciliation, then the "Ergenekon boomerang" will come back and hit you through the closure indictment.

If you do not adopt a decent and determined approach to the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and needlessly impose in parliamentary sessions and say "I will not speak with you until you name the PKK terrorists," then you suddenly share the same fate with it.

Instead of undertaking the responsibility to do your best as the executive party in the Dink murder investigation, but rather adopt a different attitude and say "the issue has been transferred to the judiciary," making excuses about Article 301 and any anti-democratic provisions in the legal system yet say "Let's see the implementations," you would be "transferred to the judiciary" all of a sudden.

How can the AKP have a right to object to the closure case, if there is inconsistency in its own acts?

The AKP's wrongdoings are innumerable. You name it; from putting the draft constitution on hold and focusing on the headscarf issue, which unnecessarily turned the political agenda upside down, to not touching the Political Parties Law as one of the by-products of the 1983 Constitution in its fifth year in the government.

The case against the AKP finds legal ground with the current Political Parties Law.

The Political Parties Law, forumlated by the MGK (National Security Council) in 1983, "which was intended to regulate the formation of political parties in advance of the November 1983 National Assembly elections, stipulates that political organizations cannot be based on class, religion, race, or language distinctions . . . Political parties are prohibited from criticizing the military intervention of September 1980 or the actions or decisions of the NSC. The Political Parties Law empowers the NSC and its successor, the Presidential Council, to investigate all party members and candidates for office and to declare any unsuitable."

Ahmet Türk had some words about state-sponsored Newroz violence:

Türk said that before Nevruz they had met with Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and asked him to give the DTP permission to hold celebrations at its own discretion. He said Atalay told them the decision had to be made by the individual governorates.

“We warned them. If we had been allowed to celebrate as a party according to our own schedule, we would have been able to establish discipline. But we witnessed terrible events that we wish we hadn’t had to see,” Türk said.

Apparently, DTP has additional video of the violence which it will submit to Erdoğan and Gül. If no results come from that--and the real shocker would be if results did, in fact, come from the AKP--then DTP plans on releasing the video to the international public to "pass judgement on the videos."

But there's an easy explanation for the failure which is AKP, and that explanation is widely known and is not limited to the Ergenekon case:

But the “Justice and Development Party” is not concerned with justice, but with control, no matter which means, which compromises, which approval were needed for this control…The AKP’s control is guaranteed by the “mutual agreement in Dolmabahce Palace” which Prime Minister Erdogan and Chief of General Staff Büyükanit made, and it is thus naïve to think that justice will be handed out to anyone at a higher level than retired general Veli Kücük. The fact that the AKP has formed a single-party government has made it easy to remain committed to this agreement. On the other hand, this agreement gives the AKP a free hand to deal with the “extra-parliamentarian” pursuits which do not clash with the protected zones of the General Staff.

Ain't that the truth?

BÜYÜKANIT HIDES REALITY

"Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death."
~ John Gilmore.

There's a remarkable video over at Youtube--embedded here for your convenience--with a bit of translation included, so you get the idea of what's going on:

A disastrous strike to the organization [PKK] from the TSK . . .

In its statements, the Turkish general staff says 100% of targets hit . . .

100% of targets have been hit . . .

General Yaşar Büyükanıt celebrated this success by hugging General Aydoğan Babaoğlu and expressed his feelings by saying, "I am proud of these kids . . . "

The targets were hit; the public is being convinced that the organization received a disastrous strike . . .

The general staff, unlike before, issued statements one after the other, mentioning the numbers of the organization's losses. . .

The general staff stated 200 targets had been hit; 150-175 "terrorists" have been pacified (from the media 26 December 2007) . . .

On 9 January 2008, General Yaşar Büyükanıt visited the GES [Genelkurmay Elektronik Sistemler] commander , who played a key role in the operations . . .

Everyone thought the general staff's visit was a visit to congratulate. However, with the exception of one: GES commander General Münir Erten . . .

Because Münir Paşa knew from the beginning that the operation was a failure and the number of "terrorists" killed was only 5 . . .

There were only five people killed . . .

The main reason for the General Staff to visit the GES commander was to make him corroborate the number of 175.

Here are very striking statements from General Münir Erten:

"The general staff would make statements about the bombings of December 16 and 18. They were looking for consistent information, thus they asked us (GES commander) "How many people we killed in the operations?" We openly said that five people [guerrillas] were killed and eight wounded. The first four of them were wounded in the first bombardment; the latter four were wounded when we had a land operation with two companies south of Şemdinli. Since they could not mention this in the statements, they just mentioned that numerous people [guerrillas] have been pacified.

"In a presentation where General Büyükanıt was also invited, he called me and made me sit right beside him. Then he said, 'I am very glad of the information you provided. I am receiving very good news from you.'

[By this quote, Büyükanıt is basically telling Münir Paşa to shut up, because Büyükanıt does not want to reveal the actual number of guerrillas killed--five. By mentioning "good news", Büyükanıt is referring to the phony 150-175 body count of his official statements.]

Here's the war balance of the operation, mentioned by GES commander, General Münir Ertan, which is being hidden from the public: 5 dead, 8 wounded . . .

Questions waiting for answers:

1. Why was the reality known by the Turkish chief of staff and the vice chief of staff hidden from the public?

2. Are there any other realities that are being hidden from the public?

3. While the results of the [aerial] operations are so disastrous [for TSK], what was the main goal of those operations and of the land operation that will begin on 22 February 2008? Is the goal of this new operation to relieve AKP from the pressure from the people about the headscarf, and thus to change the focus?

4. Has the number of dead for this new operation already been determined?

This video was originally posted on Youtube on 20 February 2008 . . . ONE DAY BEFORE LAND OPERATIONS BEGAN.

So who leaked the extremely confidential information about the date the land operation would begin?

Now, if the Turkish general staff lied about the number of guerrillas killed in their air strikes, but HPG clearly stated from the beginning that only five guerrillas were killed, you know who you should believe.

Now that you do know who to believe, what are you going to make of Turkish general staff claims of a land operation that includes "around 8,000 troops"? What are you going to make of Turkish general staff claims that the TSK killed 79 guerrillas? What are you going to make of Turkish general staff claims of who is a "terrorist"?

Now that you do know who to believe, what are you going to make of HPG claims that the guerrillas killed 22 Turkish soldiers in the Çiya Reş region? What are you going to make of HPG claims that the guerrillas killed 19 Turkish soldiers in the Zap and Zagros regions? What are you going to make of HPG claims of guerrilla possession of the bodies of 15 Turkish soldiers?

Now that you do know who to believe, what are you going to make of the official international media that takes the Turkish general staff as its source and what other realities is the official international media hiding from the public?

UPDATED INVASION PLAN

"Remember remember the fifth of November . . ."
~ Traditional rhyme, Guy Fawkes Night.

Özgür Gündem is running an item on the status of Kerkuk and Turkish recognition of an autonomous South Kurdistan. Naturally, there are strings attached. Excerpts from Özgür Gündem:

Turkey, which does not compromise to solve the Kurdish question in a democratic way, began its cross-border operation with the active support of the US on 16 December [2007]. Contrary to what they claim, the PKK did not suffer any significant losses [5 şehîds], but the Turkish army murdered civilians. Since the aerial operation resulted in a fiasco, Turkey is preparing a land operation against South Kurdistan, thus it is bargaining internationally for this operation. These activities are becoming obvious day by day.

It has been mentioned that if the KRG cooperates with Turkey against the PKK, Turkey would assume guardianship of a controllable South Kurdistan. For this purpose, two steps have been taken: 1. Cross-border operations are being implemented at the cost of the violation of a nation's sovereignty (Iraq's); 2. The Kerkuk referendum has been delayed. Thus the deal is that Turkey is willing to recognize a limited Kurdistan, which excludes Kerkuk, and includes only Hewlêr-Silêmanî.

Apparently Barzanî and Talabanî approved this plan, selling Kurdistan down the river, and for that reason we see no objections to Turkish stipulations. On the contrary, Talabanî has praised AKP's policies and urged Northern Kurds to vote for AKP.

Continuing:

A controllable Kurdistan plan became obvious with the cross-border operations. Some experts claim that, despite the support of the US, since Turkey could not annihilate the Kurds, Turkey is willing to recognize a limited South Kurdistan. On 5 November, Turkey forced the US to exclude Kerkuk from the Kurdish region and, thus Turkey would recognize the government of such a limited region. This was the first step of the controllable Kurdistan plan. It is not a coincidence that two days after the first Turkish [air] attack on 16 December 2007, the Kerkuk referendum was delayed on 18 December. While this decision of delay was being made, US Secretary of State Rice was in Kerkuk--again this was not a coincidence. These steps were the indicators of the US-Turkey alliance against the Kurds. Later on, the KRG parliament also approved the decision. The approval of the decision by the KRG was satisfactory for Turkey. In December 2007, Büyükanıt, who always considered South Kurdistan as a threat, said, "It might be a modern federation which excludes Kerkuk." By saying so, he stressed that Turkey would accept a South Kurdistan that excludes Kerkuk.

This is an updated plan because Turgut Özal was the one who most recently toyed with the idea of re-annexing the Mosul Vilayet:

Turkey has never entirely lost its interest in the former Vilayet of Mosul. There are those who believe that the entire Vilayet rightly belongs to Turkey — the previous Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yaşar Yakiş, suggested that Turkey might wish to lay claims to this territory. The late Turgut Özal, Turkey’s former Prime Minister and President, flirted with the idea of re-integration of this region with Turkey. He appeared to believe that a form of federation between Turkey and the Kurdish part of Iraq would be mutually beneficial and could potentially solve Turkey’s Kurdish problems. This shows at the very least that Turkey’s commitment to Iraq’s territorial integrity has been less than consistent and wholehearted.

More backgrounder on Turkey's longing for its Vilayet at AsiaTimes, pre-Iraq War.

Turkish politicians only matter as part of the "democratic" show for international consumption; however, if Büyükanıt--the real ruler of Turkey--accepts the deal, then you know know it's done. With all the scurrying around of generals and politicians in the last few weeks-culminating, no doubt, with Dick "Halliburton" Cheney's visit to Ankara this coming March--anyone who's surprised by a Turkish invasion in the spring should be considered incomparably thick.

At the end of last week, Hürriyet reported a surprise visit to Ankara of General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Cartwright's visit closely follows Turkish General Ergun Saygun's visit to Washington in the first week of February. More from AFP:

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will discuss "the ongoing struggle" against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with Turkish counterparts, an embassy spokeswoman said.

Cartwright, Turkish General Ergin Saygun and US General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, are coordinating measures against the rebel group.

Washington has been supplying its NATO ally Turkey with intelligence on PKK movements in northern Iraq, where the group has taken refuge.

On Thursday this week, the MGK (Milli Güvenlik Kurulu--National Security Council) will meet to hold discussions on this spring's Turkish invasion of South Kurdistan:

US Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright's last week's visit to Turkey will also be on the agenda at the meeting. Cartwright met twice with Turkish Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ergün Saygun in the last 10 days, once in US and once in Turkey. His visit to Turkey bears great importance in terms of Turkey's possible cross-border operation into northern Iraq with its land forces in the spring.

In another amazing coincidence, the new US Attorney General, Michael Mukasey was in Turkey last week as well. In addition to offering advice on the legality of torture techniques as part of the Global War on Terror, Incorporated, he discussed joint US-Turkish operations against the Kurdish freedom movement and Turkey's hosting of al-Qaeda operatives:

Mukasey would not elaborate on media reports that his talks focused on the possible capture and handover to Turkey of PKK commanders.

Ankara and Washington, like much of the international community, list the PKK, which has waged a bloody 23-year campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey, as a terrorist organisation.

Mukasey said he also discussed measures against Al-Qaeda, which has stepped up activities in Turkey in recent years.

"Our two countries can expand our collaboration on this and other judicial and law enforcement matters," he said.

More from Hürriyet:

News about upcoming Cheney visit to Ankara was revealed during the latest high level visit by an American official, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Meeting with top level Turkish officials, Mukasey delivered a warning from Washington with regards to Al Qaeda presence in Turkey.

"We are watching Al Qaeda closely. And we have seen in the recent period that they have increased their activities in Turkey" he told Turkish Justice Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin and Interior Minister Besir Atalay, according to sources close to the matter.

In addition, the US head of the Justice Department warned Turkish officials that it "appeared as though Al Qaeda may have chosen Turkey as a base". Mukasey is the first American head of Justice to have made an official visit to Turkey.

Really?? Only recently?? I don't think so. Remember, the 9/11 hijackers were trained in Turkey.

The updated plan for the invasion of South Kurdistan, and Turkey's "guardianship" of the same, has been agreed upon as part of America's wider plans for the region, specifically with regard to Iran. Turkey's expanded sphere of influence into South Kurdistan will shift the regional balance of power away from Iran.

Of course, the Medya Defense Zones--those areas in which PKK operates--are key terrain. That the US is working with Turkey to gain control of those areas by annihilating a freedom organization that has offered ceasefire and political solution, indicates clearly enough that the PKK has refused to compromise its integrity by caving in to US interests.

MONDAY'S NEWS AND THEN SOME

"Congress could do a good job theoretically, but it can't. Why? It's owned lock, stock, and barrel by Corporate America."
~ Mike Gravel, former US Senator (D-AK).

Oh, you have to see the photos Hevallo has up from the protest against war criminal Yaşar Büyükanıt, in London on Sunday. I'll post one here as a teaser:




Isn't that great?! Go take a look at the rest. Big kudos to Hevallo and all those in the UK who helped to expose the Turkish Pinochet! Now expect some big Turkish military operations in the near future because, as a friend noted, trips by the Paşas to the UK tend to precede big operations. Credit where credit is due, after all. It was the British who cooked up the Gladio program. I mean, who else would come up with such a stupid Latin name for terrorism? The sows who populate the British government think they are such classicists.

Perhaps the biggest news on Sibel's news from yesterday's Sunday Times article on the FBI's cover-up of evidence against the Deep State in the US, is the commentary on the US media by Daniel Ellsberg. He's the guy who leaked the Pentagon's top-secret, in-house study of how the US government was making decisions on the Vietnam War--during the Vietnam War. This study became known as the Pentagon Papers. Here's a little backgrounder on the release of the Pentagon Papers, from Wikipedia:

Because he held an extremely high-level security clearance, Ellsberg was one of the very few individuals who were given access to the complete set of documents. They revealed that the government had knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism towards the public as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians.

Ellsberg was appalled by the cynicism and hypocrisy reflected in these papers, and, after a period of soul-searching, became determined to make their contents public. He knew that releasing the papers violated the trust placed in him by his colleagues, would damage reputations and would most likely result in his conviction and a lengthy prison sentence.

[ . . . ]

Throughout 1970, Ellsberg covertly attempted to persuade a few sympathetic U.S. Senators — among them J. William Fulbright, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and George McGovern, a leading opponent of the war — to release the papers on the Senate floor, because a Senator could not be prosecuted for anything he said on-the-record before the Senate.

When these efforts came to naught, Ellsberg finally leaked the documents to New York Times correspondent Neil Sheehan. On Sunday, June 13, 1971, the Times published the first installment of the 7,000 page document.

Obviously, Ellsberg has some experience in the matter of releasing classified materials to the American public, which makes him the best expert to comment on Sibel Edmonds' story and to blast the mainstream American media for its complicity in the cover-up of Sibel's story. From The Brad Blog:

In support of the official cover-up, various American journalists in the last weeks have reportedly received calls from "intelligence sources" hinting that "what Sibel Edmonds stumbled onto" is not a rogue operation by American officials and Congressmen working to their own advantage --- as believed by Edmonds and some other former or active FBI officials --- but a sensitive covert operation authorized at high levels. If there is any truth to that, we clearly have another prize candidate --- giving us, as blowback, the Pakistani Bomb and nuclear sales --- in the category of "worst covert operation in U.S. history," rivaling such contenders as the Bay of Pigs, Iran-Contra, and the secret CIA torture camps abroad.

In the first two of those, the American press gullibly responded to official warnings of "sensitivity" and sat on information they should have reported (as did the New York Times, for a year, on the illegal NSA surveillance program). If the Washington Post had heeded such warnings and demands with respect to the covert torture camps, they would have missed a well-earned Pulitzer Prize and the camps would still be torturing.

Many, if not most, covert operations deserve to be disclosed by a free press. They are often covert not only because they are illegal but because they are wildly ill-conceived and reckless. "Sensitive" and "covert" are often synonyms for "half-assed," "idiotic," and "dangerous to national security," as well as "criminal." All of these would apply to the pattern of activities revealed by Edmonds if it were truly presidentially authorized, as is being whispered. Such activities persist, covertly, to the point of national disaster because the press neglects what our First Amendment was precisely intended to protect and encourage it to do: expose wrongdoing by officials.

Ellsberg asks if the mainstream American media would publish the Pentagon Papers today. I doubt very much that they would. The chickenshit American media is nothing more than a propaganda tool to "manufacture consent" for Corporate America. Remember, Sibel offered her story to the chickenshit American media way back in October 2007 and nothing happened. NOTHING.

All of this nonsense from the manufacturers of consent in the chickenshit American meida about Sibel stumbling onto some "rogue" operation is just that--NONSENSE. Anyone who knows anything about how the Turkish state works, or about Susurluk and hundreds of other Turkish scandals, or Sibel's posting of Mehmet Eymür's photo in her "Most Wanted" gallery, or the Turkish Dirty War against the Kurdish people--anyone who knows these facts also knows, without a shadow of any doubt that what Sibel says about the Deep State in the US is pure truth.

Luke also has a post up on Ellsberg's reaction, and he asks the following:

As an aside, where are the major bloggers on this story? They justifiably criticize journalists for being stenographers, and they justifiably criticize journalists for delaying stories like such as the New York Times withholding the illegal spying story for a year. Where are they on this story? It's time to step up, people.

Luke's absolutely correct; major bloggers have done as excellent a job as the chickenshit American media in avoiding exposure of the Deep State in the US. And if the FBI has destroyed the evidence connected to Sibel's claims and translation work, then things are even worse. The guilty should be strung up publicly.

Don't miss Luke's interview today with Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio (run time about 45 minutes). Luke got up at 4:30 in the morning to talk about Sibel, so honor his sacrifice and listen.

Now, it's been noted before that the criminals associated with Sibel's story come from both the Demopublicans and the Republicrats. In other words, the Deep State in the US is completely bi-partisan and, since this is an election year in the US, I wouldn't want anyone to think that their vote meant a damned thing. In that vein, check out a video interview with former senator, Mike Gravel (D-AK), brought to my attention by the The Saker and reposted here. Let me add, too, that Gravel was the only Senator to enter a large portion of the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record of his subcommittee back in 1971:

Seriously, the best thing that could possibly happen to the US would be the reinstatement of the draft.

TIME TO EMAIL

Regarding the welcome we hope is given Büyükanıt in the UK on 20 January, Hevallo has a request for readers to send an email "to the UK Home Secretary responsible for crime."

Here's the generic email from Hevallo which everyone can use:

Dear UK Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith,

The General of the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, General Yasar Buyukanit is to visit London on the 20th Jan 2008.

General Buyukanit has committed serious and grave human rights abuses in Turkey against the Kurdish people during his time as commander of the 7th Turkish Army and during his time as General of the Chief of Staff.

There are so many cases that need further investigation, but there is sufficient evidence in two of the cases to justify an immediate arrest under international human rights law.

The first case is in regards to the large amount of bones and human remains found in a mass grave in the grounds of the military prison facility based in the notorious HQ of the Turkish 7th Army on 21st Sept 2007. General Buyukanit was the commander of 7th Army during the late nineties when many disappearances and killings by ‘unknown persons’ took place. He will certainly know where these human remains have come from.

The second case involves General Buyukanit being accused by a Turkish prosecutor of setting up rouge and secret militias to carry out killings and assassinations of Kurdish targets in the South East of Turkey.

These accusations came to light after a bombing of a Kurdish bookshop in the Kurdish town of Semdinli 9th Nov 2005. One man was killed in the attack. As the bombers made their getaway a crowd gathered around their car and captured them. In the car investigators found a cache of weapons, maps of the area and a list of further names of prominent Kurdish people listed for assassination.

General Buyukanit when responding to this attack, called one of the bombers who were caught red handed a ‘good chap’. The man served under General Buyukanit.

In any other country these serious crimes would have been investigated and the men responsible would be behind bars but these crimes remain unsolved and covered up.

The man who has been leading and directing these acts of ‘state terrorism’ against the Kurdish people, General Yasar Buyukanit is visiting London on 20th Jan 2008.

This is a chance to detain, question and charge him with crimes against humanity.

The UK authorities cannot just ignore and excuse such serious and systematic human rights abuses. By doing so the UK will be condoning and supporting ‘state terror’.

Please take action to arrest General Buyukanit.

Yours sincerely,

I'm sure Hevallo wouldn't mind if readers decided to personalize this. When you're all ready, send your email to the following addresses:

public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Smithjj@parliament.uk

Please do your part to help insure that Yaşar Büyükanıt gets the welcome he so richly deserves.

AIMING AT A WAR CRIMINAL

"At the heart of the concept of war crimes is the idea that an individual can be held responsible for the actions of a country or that nation's soldiers. Genocide, crimes against humanity, mistreatment of civilians or combatants during war can all fall under the category of war crimes. Genocide is the most severe of these crimes."
~ Tarik Kafala.

Hevallo and the UK Bakûrî are preparing a nice welcome for Yaşar Büyükanıt when he visits the UK on 20 January. They want to make sure that Büyükanıt the War Criminal gets everything that he deserves and plan to make a proper introduction of The Criminal to British polic authorities through a dossier of Büyükanıt's war crimes against the Kurdish people.

Everyone knows that Büyükanıt praised the Şemdinli bombers as "good boys" but not everyone may know that Büyükanıt was the commander of the Turkish 7th Corps, headquartered in Diyarbakır, from 1996 to 1998. Altay Tokat, the retired Turkish general who admitted to ordering bombings of Turkish civil servants in The Region during his time in The Southeast:

Turkey's Chief of General Staff Prosecutor's Office has drawn up its indictment against retired Lieutenant General Altay Tokat for his public revelation that he was responsible for ordering one or two clandestine street bombings when assigned to the Southeast region "to bring judges and civil servants in line".

[ . . . ]

Diyarbakir Bar Association Sezgin Tanrikulu had said Tokat's revelations were a self-confession and that he had directly committed the offences of threatening, influencing the judiciary and praising crime. In its complaint and application, the Bar Association had requested for an investigation to be launched into the general's past activities and other possible clandestine acts in the Southeast.

Human rights associations and the Bar Association not only want the full spectrum of Tokat's activities investigated but for him to be put on trial for human rights violations in the region based on his statements.

[ . . . ]

"In my time," the retired general said, "I also had them throw a few bombs to some critical points. These were empty places! My issue was to give a message".

Tokat said the message given through street bombings targeted civil servants and judges who were assigned to the region and the explosions occurred close to were they lived.

"Civil servants, judges that come from the West [of Turkey] don't understand the seriousness of the situation... when things became calmer, they started to take this business nor seriously... In consequence I had [bombs] thrown at two places close to their houses. After that they understood that they needed to be careful. One [act of] disaster is better than a thousand words of advice. This way I educated them," he said.

"You can't immediately evaluate this by saying throwing bombs is illegal. I might have saved the lives of those people. I did not tell them either. Now if you construe this as assassination, I'll laugh at that" he was quoted as further saying.

When did MHP'er Altay Tokat serve in The Southeast, you ask? From 1995 to 1998, meaning that he served under Büyükanıt. Therefore, Büyükanıt, as the commanding officer, is also responsible for Tokat's bomb-tossing at Turkish civil servants and judges.

Not only did Tokat's bombs go off during Büyükanıt's watch, but a mass grave also found its way to "the courtyard of the Turkish 7th Army Headquarters in the Kurdish capital of Amed (Diyarbakir) in northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey.)". Büyükanıt may also be responsible for the deaths of the victims buried in the 7th Army Corps Headquarters mass grave.

Büyükanıt is responsible for everything that happened and failed to happen in The Southeast during his time there, so he is guilty of numerous atrocities. If anyone has any information linking Büyükanıt to any specific incidents, please email me and I will forward your information to Hevallo to be included in the dossier on the War Criminal Büyükanıt.

Wouldn't it be nice to see Büyükanıt running for his life, à la Donald Rumsfeld?

NO CHANGE IN SIGHT

"We stand for the maintenance of private property... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order."
~ Adolf Hitler.

Here's Obama's plan for Kurdistan--thanks to Anonymous, who dropped off the link in comments.

Why am I not surprised? Maybe because of the people behind Obama:

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Anthony Lake, Clinton administration national security adviser

Sarah Sewall, Clinton administration deputy secretary of defense, counter, insurgency czar

Richard Clarke, Clinton and Bush administration counter, terrorism czar

Susan Rice, Clinton administration Africa specialist and NSC member, Brookings

Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer, NSC Near East and Asian affairs, Brookings

To see who's behind the other major candidates, take a look at this. Are you among the deluded who believe having a Demopublican in the White House will change US policy? Remember, they are all the same, so think again:

The “war on terrorism” will not only continue but likely intensify and expand under “new management." The only question is whether the bias will be towards a neoliberal brand, , , the “more nuanced” multinational New World Order, a “bipartisan consensus” in Washington, more orderly economic and political declines, etc. . . . .or a continuation of the open brutality and criminality of Bush-Cheney.

[ . . . ]

The Republican candidates have uniformly and consistently echoed the Bush/Cheney/neocon war agenda and 9/11/“terrorism” lies. Huckabee, the bizarre dark horse of the Republican side, has voiced criticism of some Bush-Cheney policies, but not the “war on terrorism” in general.

The Democratic candidates have each declared themselves the champion “anti-terrorist," or the “real” anti-terrorist that George W. Bush is not.

Obama’s murderous views on war are well documented, and similar to those of Bush-Cheney. In addition to war on Iran, Obama has declared that he would attack Pakistan if his administration possessed “actionable intelligence” that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, and the government there did not act.

Don't miss Huckabee's plans for the Kurdish people at Foreign Affairs. Check page 2.

The forecast: No change in sight.

Also, read about the special gift some Turkish high school students sent Büyükanıt:

Have you heard the news? A group of high school kids from Kırşehir, a central Anatolian city, sent a special Turkish flag to the commander in chief of the Turkish military, Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt. What made the flag special was the stuff it was made of. The red color in the background was not any ordinary paint. It was literally the blood of these students, which they had joyfully spilt to symbolize their devotion "to the homeland."

According to the daily Bugün, which ran the news from its headline yesterday, Gen. Büyükanıt was deeply touched by this present. In a public speech, he mentioned it as symbolic of the fact the whole nation is ready to "spill its blood for the sacred cause of our national unity."

As is pointed out at the TDN link, this special gift gets very close in idea to the "blood flag" of the Nazi Party, and it's an appropriate comparison: the Nazi regime was, and the Ankara regime is, fascist. The Nazis attempted to carry out a genocide against Jews, Gypsies, and others, while the Ankara regime continues to carry out genocide against the Kurdish people. Obviously, the Ankara regime's taste for genocide is a carry-over from the Ottomans. Contrary to the other claims in the TDN article, Turkey did not remain neutral during WW2, but was among those countries that "' . . . played an equally critical rold in sustaining the war effort' by providing Nazi Germany with minerals essential for making weapons."

Don't forget to stop by Hevallo's place to get the link to Sibel Edmonds' Kill the Messenger video, if you haven't seen it yet. And considering that those in the US may have to wait for hell to freeze over until it's aired here, watching it at Google may be your only opportunity to see it.

AKP'S KURDISH POLICY

"Some might not agree with the things I say but the time will show the truth."
~ Murat Karayılan.

Last month, the hevals at KurdishInfo ran an interview with Murat Karayılan, who has a lot of interesting things to say about a number of issues affecting Kurdistan. Karayılan's explanation of the AKP's approach to the Kurdish situation is enlightening, especially after we have witnessed the intensification of military operations against the Kurdish freedom movement since Abdullah Gül's visit to military installations in The Southeast in September, and the recent Ankara regime massacre in Beytüşşebap.

Politically, the war has also been intensified by the Ankara regime, with DTP parliamentarians, mayors, and politicians continue to be harassed, rounded up, arrested, and fired upon with weapons since the July elections. Threats are made to lift parliamentary immunity so that bogus accusations of "separatism" can be tried in kangaroo courts. Once again, the regime is engaging in its usual policy toward Kurdish political participation, one that will lead to the banning of yet another Kurdish party, as Büyükanıt has begun the call for:

The military, in parallel with their intervention on the ground, have also become more strident. Last week, before members of the military academy, General Büyükanit suggested it would be necessary to ban the DTP, whose members "call 'terrorists' brothers."

The full interview can be read at KurdishInfo but this post contains that portion in which Karayılan speaks about the AKP's policy toward the Kurdish people [Note: Paragraphs have been created that do not exist in the original, in order to make the replies easier to read--Mizgîn]:

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

Question: In the context of Abdullah Gul's becoming president, Iran and Turkish military attacks, the deferral of the Kirkuk referendum, we have Iraq's head of state and PUK leader Jalal Talabani's statement that the struggle in North Kurdistan is against democracy. How do you see this statement?


Murat Karayılan: Certainly any politician from Kurdistan can make comments about Kurdistan. But making empty statements is wrong. It is important to respect the people's situation in each part, taking in account that the people are living under pressure of colonialist powers. I think they should be careful when make their views public. Also we should consider Turkey's past history and the Kurdish people's struggle in Turkey. The Kurdish people's struggle opens the door for Turkey's democratic process. It was the Kurdish nation that resisted the 12 September military regime. It was again the Kurdish nation under the leadership of the PKK in its struggle for democracy on the 12 September fascist incidents. Since that time, the Kurdish struggle has helped Turkey to become democratic. It is the same today.

It is wrong to see the Kurdish nation's struggle as against democracy. The Kurdish struggle is a democratic struggle. In all parts of Kurdistan, the Kurdish nation has only one flag. With this, the Kurdish nation is reaching to its freedom. Whether in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, the Kurdish nation should be democracy's main dynamic and voice. The Kurdish nation's struggle is against flag-waving nationalism and anti-democratic oppression. When considering this, it should be assessed accurately. It is not right to make empty political statements about these issues.


Question: Talabani in his statement mentioned the voting in Kurdistan and stated how the AKP have proved that they are not racist. How true is this assertion do you think?


Murat Karayılan: The nature of the AKP should be understood. Generally, the AKP government is not well known by South Kurdistan politicians and individuals. They are misled by the AKP's false moderate political approach. Truly there are no huge differences between the AKP's and the military's strategic politics. The military's aim is to destroy the Kurdish people and their movement physically. They believe they can achieve this exclusively by using violence. The AKP uses not just military means, they are also doing it in a political way. Their political aim is to destroy the Kurds politically, militarily and culturally. The military's attitude is shared by the CHP and MHP.

In the AKP' s view all cannot be destroyed by violence alone, a more subtle approach should be used to destroy them. The AKP is saying to the military "you always say we will destroy, weakening them culturally, finishing them politically, but you cannot do it. Together with this you should use a policy of gradual erosion". Approach the Kurds softly, give them a hand, feed the poor, meet them; they think if they approach them from Islamic perspective, they can shift them from the national movement. Under developing Islam, they think they can hold Kurds under a colonist power, like Ottoman Empire's holding many nations under the umbrella of Islam, because the Turkish republic is the continuance of the Ottoman regime, which is why they are following this policy.

The AKP's policy is an Ottoman type of policy. They believe that by following this policy they can control and include the Kurds in their system. This is what they stand for. They do not recognize the Kurds as a power, they are aiming to include the Kurds in the system. Consequently, the strategic aim is the same, but the method is different. Apart from violence they also follow a devious policy. This means they defending a policy light force while the military is only defending use of force. The AKP says "No, we should give them sweets and hit them with a whip".

The Southern powers are developing and analyzing this policy. There is a trust and belief in some of Abdullah Gul's political statements that are sent from religious orders via the AKP party. This is definitely a trick; on the other side AKP is working to activate former collaborators. Again supporting the Islamic groups and trying to damage the federal state's national politic organizations in the South. In my point of view, Southern politicians cannot understand the Turkish republic's political views. Thus they cannot analyse the AKP correctly.

Some might not agree with the things I say but the time will show the truth. The AKP's policy is to pressure and weaken the Kurdish nation. The AKP has come together with the state and military on the Kurdistan problem. As a result of this cooperation, it was agreed about Abdullah Gul's becoming president. If this cooperation had never taken place, they would not have agreed to it. This is a certainty. All the Kurds should know this. The AKP agreed on using the military, from military side and AKP's political side to destroy the Kurdish nation. The AKP is an extremely ambitious political structure. To gain full power, they said "yes" to destroy Kurdish nation. This will be revealed even more when the time comes. This is why all the Kurdistan powers should see the true side of the AKP party.

Last year when Turkish chief of general staff Yasar Buyukanit started his duty, he gave a speech, which he repeated later at a press conference at different dates in the USA and Turkey, where he declared what was the strategy of the Turkish policy towards Kurdish problem. That strategy was not just to destroy the PKK, but at the same time destroying the regional government in South Kurdistan. "Clarifying the PKK is not enough, Kurdistan strategy should be elimination". Clearly these terms were used. Also the AKP held the same perspective. From now on, the Kurdish people's freedom is is to be fought militarily, politically, socially and culturally. This is the policy of colonisation and weakening of the AKP and the government which are one and the same. There is no other power.

Mr Talabani has said that "the DTP have four MPs from Diyarbakir, and the AKP has eight, this shows that the AKP is in the future of this area". He has also said things like it has been proved that the AKP is not a racist party. There is a mistake in numbers, but it is Turkey's anti-democratic approach which discriminates against Kurdish people, and puts a barrier which stops the true representation of the people's choice in parliament, with a 10% threshold, that led the DTP not to go to the elections with all its candidates in Diyarbakir.

The anti-democratic practice is clear here and cannot be ignored. DTP could not get more than four MPs. If there were more, this would have caused confusion and would have been a barrier for others to be elected. It is for this reason the DTP could have not have had all of Diyarbakir's seats, due to the 10% threshold. Wrongly evaluating Turkey's anti-democratic practices could lead someone to wrong decisions. In respect of this, the oppressive policies of the Republic of Turkey against the Kurdish people must be seen in every aspect.

A group of Kurdish MPs have gained seats in the parliament. This is a victory of the Kurdish freedom movement. This was achieved through a lot of hard work. Many obstacles were put in the way to stop this popular power reaching parliament. They went there by overcoming these obstacles. For this reason at the present this group is under attack. Many cases have been opened against this group to take them out and make them ineffective. These MPs are encircled and are under psychological pressure. If Kurds on the outside "carry water to the well" of the Turkish government, this will not help the Kurdish case. For this reason, they must support a national politics and support the democratic struggle of the Kurdish nation in Kurdistan.

Considering the struggle in Northern Kurdistan as a struggle against democracy will not be stating reality. The struggle of the Kurdish nation is a legitimate struggle. Its use of weapons for self-defense is legitimate. Young Kurdish people are being killed with chemical weapons and shot down every day. Without doubt, these young people are going to defend themselves, against tanks, cannon balls and chemical weapons. What can they do other than defend themselves against a situation like this?

Despite this, in October 2006 a ceasefire was declared.

People from Kurdistan and international forces were aware of this, but no one stopped the attacks of the Turkish military. None of the democratic forces in the US, Iraq or Turkey tried to stop the assassination of the Kurdish youth by the Turkish military. The present situation aims to eradicate the will power of the Kurdish people, this is evident, and a right politics cannot be carried out without seeing this.

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

According to Firat News, thousands of peşmêrge forces equipped with heavy guns have been sent to the border (to Karavole, Çiyaye Bexer, Sinava, and Beçika in Zaxo) by the KRG.

In an attempt to impose an information blackout within North Kurdistan, the Ankara regime has shut down Özgür Gündem for another 30 days. This is the fifth time ÖG has been shut down and is not permitted to publish inside Turkey, and it will make 60 consecutive days of censorship against the paper.

Northern Kurds are in mourning today for the loss of Kurdish author, Mehmed Uzun, who lost his battle with stomach cancer this morning in Amed. The Canadian Press carries the announcement in English. Özgür Gündem has an announcement in Turkish and Azadiya Welat in Kurdish.

MULLING THE INVASION

"Truly there are no huge differences between the AKP's and the military's stragetic politics. The military's aim is to destroy the Kurdish people and their movement physically. They believe they can achieve this exclusively by using violence. The AKP uses not just military means, they are also doing it in a political way. Their political aim is to destroy the Kurds politically, militarily and culturally."
~ Murat Karayılan.

Most of the news today had to do with Turkey planning the invasion of South Kurdistan. You can check some of the major news agencies on this at Reuters or the Guardian. These are basically phony reports that push the Ankara regime's propaganda on Beytüşşebap and fail to mention that the dead TSKers were, in fact, Bolu Commandos. No mention of Bolus is significant because the Bolu Commando Brigade is notorious for its war crimes and commission of atrocities, and the Ankara regime knows that no one is going to get worked up over the whacking of a bunch of Bolus.

Meanwhile, HPG has raised the body count of dead Bolus to twenty-one and has raised some gerîlas from the dead, namely Heval Nuda Karker and her comrades.

The US continues to remain irrelevant to the situation.

The BBC has an interesting quote from a columnist at Zaman:

Sahin Alpay, a columnist on Zaman newspaper, says the attacks are "definitely creating an atmosphere where there are calls for severe repressive measures, possibly a push for military intervention".

"But that would be really crazy," he adds.

"Everyone knows most of the PKK is based inside Turkey. It's a distortion to pretend this problem is imported from abroad."

Which, of course, is true if you take the time to examine the geography of Kurdistan. Considering that the average height of the mountains in the Zagros are almost 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in elevation, and that the highest peak is almost 15,000 feet (4,500 m), it becomes obvious that it is difficult, if not impossible, to leave Qendil after breakfast, knock off a few Bolus and regular troops at Mt. Kato, Beytüşşebap in the afternoon, and then be back at Qendil for bedtime. So there's no massing of guerrilla forces at one location deep inside South Kurdistan and then sending those forces off to North Kurdistan with any regularity. The nature of guerrilla warfare would not permit such operations, nor are they consistent with HPG/YJA-Star's structure and methods.

Anyone who claims othewise has not been to The Region or is lying.

The only report today that brings up the subject of geography is, amazingly enough, TIME:

But even if Erdogan gave Turkey's military the green light, going across the border has its problems. The PKK bases in northern Iraq are deep in the mountains, a long way from the Turkish border. The PKK forces are in the remote Qandil Valley near Iran, and the Turkish army would have to penetrate deep into Iraq and travel through several Iraqi cities before reaching it. By that time the PKK's mobile guerrilla units would have most likely have snuck away to fight another day. And even if the Turkish air force got U.S. permission to cross into Iraq, air strikes have a limited effect on a guerrilla insurgency. Additionally, the attacks against Turkish military and civilians were apparently perpetrated by PKK operators within Turkey.

Of course we know that the "attacks against [ ] civilians"--a reference to the Beytüşşebap massacre--was a TSK operation.

More amazing comments come from Ilnur Cevik, of all people:

We have lost 13 soldiers in a PKK attack in the southeastern province of Sirnak. The nation is stunned. This time it was not a roadside bomb. It seems to have been an ambush where the PKK militants managed to kill our soldiers designed to wipe out the PKK inside Turkey. in the midst of a "major military operation"For days we have been reporting that the military has launched a major fall operation to inflict as much harm to the PKK as possible before winter sets in. The operation was also designed to prevent PKK militants from escaping back into Iraq. The military even increased its security zones to make life more difficult for the PKK.

After all this you would think the PKK would find it difficult to move inside Turkey. Yet, we see that the PKK militants can roam around the region and inflict serious harm on our soldiers.

[ . . . ]

We call these people terrorists and we are frowned upon if we do not do so. However, it is time we all realized the facts and lived with realities instead of nationalist cliches.

[ . . . ]

. . . [W]hat we see in eastern and southeastern Turkey is not terrorism. It is clearly some form of warfare which should be taken seriously and which should not be regarded as an act of terrorism.

Soldiers are legitimate targets in war, and that's what we've had in North Kurdistan since the foundation of the Ankara regime. Those who cry for dead Turkish soldiers should get a grip on reality and go after those who perpetuate the seemingly endless conflict. Obvious people like Gül, Büyükanıt, and Erdoğan, for starters, but also all those dirty Deep Staters who should have been prosecuted in the 1990s. Who was prosecuted for Susurluk? No one, so go ahead and start with them. Add to the prosecutor's list old terrorist TSKers like Altay Tokat and Erdal Sarızeybek, who openly admit they terrorized the population of The Southeast.

Then there are people like Joseph Ralston, Edip Başer, and all their friends at Lockheed Martin who, one year ago this month rejected both a ceasefire and the offer of a democratic solution as well as any suggestion that there might be an opportunity in looking at the IRA's model for a resolution--and for what? A few billion greenbacks, that's what. Behold the Pimps of War. It's the likes of them that were planning the scenarios at the Hudson Institute, as Hevallo reminds us today.

Good. Let them come. Let them climb those peaks of Kurdistan and find their graves as they have done many times before. Let them remember, as they cross the border, that there are 20 million Kurds at their back, 4 million in front of them, 5 million to their left, and almost 2 million at their right.

To paraphrase: An invasion of South Kurdistan will be an invasion of Amed.