THE FALCONS OF KURDISTAN

"Don't worry. Such things happen. We are doing all that we can."
~ General Gürbüz Kaya, TSK.

The falcons of Kurdistan are tearing the flesh of the wolves of the Turkish Republic.

On its website, Teyrêbazên Azadîya Kurdistan (TAK) has claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing of a military bus in Istanbul. TAK states that the bombing was in retaliation for "an unjust war in Kurdistan" and it also warns TSK about using civilians as shields and warns all civilians to stay away from military areas and vehicles for their own security. It would appear that TAK's intention is to continue its attacks. There's a little more on TAK's statement at Bianet.

The Independent remarks that this bombing marks the end of HPG's ceasefire. However, the end of the ceasefire occurred on 1 June and HPG has no relationship to TAK. If urban operations continue, it may be possible that TAK will operate in some coordinated manner with HPG since TAK has always remained open to such a possibility. At this point, of course, it's too early to tell.

Still, it would be a good idea to avoid Turkey as a travel destination this year.

HPG's policy of active defense has resulted in numerous TSK deaths in the last few weeks. The responsibility for these deaths lies with TSK as the natural result of its recent heavy operations in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. Heavy TSK losses are also a result of a combination of hubris and incompetence in the Turkish officer corps--a fact that Turkish families are suddenly recognizing.

Not that this would be the first instance of such hubris and incompetence. Remember the Dağlıca (Oremar) commander, Onur Dirik? Well, so does Zaman:

Dağlıca Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Onur Dirik had left his battalion at the time of the attack to attend a wedding. His pictures, dancing at the wedding at the time of the attack, were published in national newspapers.

Now the families are blaming the deaths of their beloved this last weekend on the paşa in charge of the garrison in Şemdinli, General Gürbüz Kaya. It would appear that not only is this particular paşa filled with hubris and incompetence, but he's a big, fat liar, too:

Kaya was previously in the press for his remarks in a recorded phone conversation last year after it became evident that mines that killed seven soldiers in an explosion two years ago had been planted by the Turkish military rather than the PKK. The tragic background of the incident was revealed by Van prosecutors who launched an investigation into the mine explosion after a telephone conversation between Brig. Gen. Zeki Es and Maj. Gen. Kaya indicating that the mines were planted by the people who were responsible for the soldiers' security came to light. In the recording, Kaya -- speaking about the blast that killed seven soldiers -- can be heard telling Es: “Don't worry. Such things happen. We are doing all that we can.”

OOPS!!

But, then, we know for a fact that Turkish officers don't give a shit. Remember this, from last year:

Four soldiers were killed in the eastern province of Elazığ on Aug. 17 after a lieutenant gave one of the privates a hand grenade whose pin he had pulled out to punish him for sleeping during his night watch, the Taraf daily claimed yesterday.

The testimony of members of the army obtained by the daily reveal that the four soldiers died when an activated grenade given to them by Lt. Mehmet Tümer exploded. According to the records, Tümer wanted to punish Pvt. İbrahim Öztürk for falling asleep during his night watch. It had previously been claimed that the soldiers were killed when a hand grenade carried by one of the soldiers exploded accidentally as they were patrolling the rural area against the prospect of a terrorist attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Four other soldiers were injured in the blast. However, soldiers' testimonies point to a totally different cause behind the deaths.

So, this criminally feckless attitude is rife among the officer corps of NATO's second largest army. How appropriate for such a pack of hyenas. Bengi Yıldız is right: "Don't send your children to military service".

On a related matter, Israeli UAV technicians and instructors were recalled to Israel in the first half of June, after the Mavi Marmara incident. CNN reported this:

After the May 31 [Mavi Marmara] incident, Turkey's prime minister ominously warned "nothing would ever be the same again," between the two once-close Middle Eastern allies. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded that Israel apologize for what he has repeatedly labeled an act of "state terrorism" and "piracy" in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv, Israel, in protest and cancelled joint military exercises with Israel. But Ankara has been careful not to sever ties with the Israeli defense industry.

Further down in that article, İlker Paşa had this to say:

When asked on Monday whether Israeli technicians and engineers had to cut short training on the new drones due to the recent rift in relations, Basbug insisted Turkish operators were adequately prepared to pilot the Herons.

"Now our own personnel, our air force, is using the Heron systems that we bought," Basbug said. "They got the training, it is over. We are capable, we have started using them."

But I think İlker Paşa prevaricates; yesterday, Zaman reported that a Turkish military delegation arrived in Israel on Tuesday to complete some testing on the Heron systems. They'll be there for two weeks.

So much for all of Katil Erdoğan's anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian solidarity shit.

In conclusion, let me express my best wishes to our dear Kurdish falcons and let's all lift a glass to happy hunting!

A CHAT WITH THE DAĞLICA COMMANDING OFFICER

"May the prisoners' families not worry. If the prisoners are in the hands of HPG, which they are, they are in good hands. They will not receive any mistreatment. Our people know how the Turkish government treats captive guerrillas. The situation of a guerrilla captured alive is never known."
~ Murat Karayılan.

Here's an example from the commander of the Dağlıca (Oremar) garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Onur Dirik, of how sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and let everyone suspect that you're a fool rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Transcription follows.

Do you want to know our most terrible mistake in this incident? It would be inevitable for me to be dismissed due to this error. Do you know what that is? It is the appointment of Ramazan Yüce to that radio. For this incident, I, the company commander, and the branch commander--all three of us--must be fucked because of this error. I am telling you the truth.

If they held a sufficient investigation on this matter, regarding finding the main person who made the error and fucked him, I might have gotten out of it, but someone would definitely be found guilty.

We don't have such an enhanced system right now. That's right, they [the guerrillas] are coming and, if you could not realize that they are coming, then I could understand it to some extent. And you don't actually have to find out because he [Ramazan Yüce] is saying that. He is saying that he is a PKK guy and he is saying that he has been in prison for praising "terrorist" activities, and he has been in prison in Diyarbakir for eight-and-a half months.

What we did was appoint him to the radio, where the "terrorists" have communication. Like I said before, from the troop to the commander of the army, we all made mistakes in this issue. If you did not have any error, he could not exploit this anyway. If there is an operation somewhere, that means definitely there is a mistake somewhere. Everyone must derive their error in the system.

Today I realized that this "terror" incident will not ever end. There were ten mules with ten people, who were "terrorists", in front of us and we asked for helicopters, we asked for reinforcements . . . none of them responded to us. We were going crazy while they were passing in front of us, where we could not do anything because we could not get any permission to attack them. And we waited like idiots there and we don't even know who we are serving. Right now we know that if we are here, we are here for nothing. Our commanders did not order us to attack them. They told us to let them go.

We must have policies that we can implement toward the villagers. These policies must be "fuck-off" policies; these policies must be "I-fuck-your-mothers" policies; these must be "you-are-a-traitor" policies. I fuck the villagers, but I have to use them.

There was an asshole general there, Ali Duvar Ince was his name. He is a bastard; he's not even worth a cent. No one loves him; he's a dog. Son of a bitch. And there is a major who is a very good man; he is trying to do his best in the system. But the commander was not working in harmony with the others. Sometimes he received orders that he had to send some troops somewhere, and he was complaining about such orders, which . . . you are a soldier there and you can't complain; you have to obey the rules. This is a kind of medieval lieutenant.

Then we tried to normalize our relationship with the colonel of Çukurca but there wasn't any way to normalize it. They had a kind of illegal drug-trafficking between the lieutenants there, and I revealed the organization. And I brought that report and put it in front of the colonel, and the colonel just fucked all of those lieutenants because of their activities. And he's referring to the headquarters general staff as bastards. Such a critical issue just perished in the controversies among themselves.

When my commander came, I mentioned this to him and he said,"I wish you had told me before," and since he said "I wish," I realized he didn't know anything about this and I didn't go further because later on if we had gone through that he would say, "Why didn't you tell me in time?" and everyone would blame each other for not telling the truth on time. This was an issue which was directly related to the general staff; therefore, when his commander came, I didn't say anything to him.

These were the two issues that I was highly concerned with. And another issue, about Ramazan Yüce, those weapons that did not fire . . . I swear I do not get sad about those eight prisoners. I fuck their mothers; I don't care about them. And on the second day of the operation, those weapons did not fire again. If they could shoot at least ten rounds, I'm sure one or two of them would have hit those guys [guerrillas]. Then I told myself, and at that time I didn't think about it, but right now I am thinking that if I had known that, I would have told the guy on artillery to bomb those "kidnapped" soldiers--our soldiers.

I find it very difficult to believe that a lieutenant colonel in the TSK has to ask, and then wait, for permission to fire on HPG guerrillas. The only thing that Lieutenant Colonel Dirik is doing here is whining and covering his ass. What a total loser.

Akşam already has something on this scandal, but naturally it's a whitewash.

Since old Onur is worried about having assigned Ramazan Yüce as a radio operator, let's review some facts about Yüce:

While seven of them are being tried for sentences ranging from 3-5 years, Private Ramazan Yüce might end up spending the rest of his life in jail. Why the huge discrepancy? The short answer: because of his Kurdish origins.

[ . . . ]

Yüce's impeccable record during his military service, however, is making it difficult for the prosecutor to make the case against him. Yüce's been awarded by his superiors numerous letters of merit for distinguished performance, which is why he was entrusted with as crucial a duty as thermal-camera operation and radio interception in the first place. Moreover, ironically, it was his ability to speak Kurdish that made it possible for him to operate as a radio interceptor. And yet, this asset became a major liability since his capture by the PKK. In order to frame Yüce as a "mole" in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, the military prosecutor has gone to extraordinary lengths and peppered his indictment with preposterous allegations. For instance, it is alleged in the indictment that a couple days before the incident, Yüce was overheard saying that "Our [Kurdish] girls are better looking. As soon as I am discharged I'll go join them on the mountains. I'm a terrorist." As one Turkish columnist duly noted, if Yüce had indeed uttered these kinds of statements within earshot of other soldiers in the virulently nationalist military environment of the barracks, he should be sent to a mental institution to check for his mental competence to stand trial.

In comparison, here's a video showing the prisoners of war from the Dağlıca operation, playing chess and chatting about football with HPG guerrillas:

Yeah, I bet those former POWs wish they were back in the mountains with the guerrillas.