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.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

"The soldiers have been arrested in order to set an example for the others, so that not everyone in a difficult situation becomes a hostage; so that being taken hostage is not considered an option . . ."
~ Mehmet Tanju Akad, Turkish journalist.

There's something that hasn't been in the media too much and you have to ask yourself, why is that?

Shortly after the release of the Turkish POWs held by HPG, Erdoğan asked for a ban on broadcasting of the story, which a Turkish court of appeals rejected. Since then, the Paşas ordered a ban of the investigation of the former POWs. Ostensibly:

The ban was decided on unanimously in order to "avoid a distortion of the aim of the investigation and misinformation of the public, to avoid giving rise to misunderstandings and in order to safeguard the authority and objectivity of the judiciary."

The decision cited Articles 13 and 28 of the constitution as well as Article 3 of Press Law No. 5187 and includes "activities to obtain, spread, criticise and interpret on information concerning the investigation".The ban is to stay in place until the investigation is completed.

[ . . . ]

Parts of the decision read as follows: "Because the event under investigation happened when the unity of the state was threatened and activities aimed at separating state territory from state administration, most information and documents of this investigation need to stay secret for state security reasons." The ban is aimed at "preventing the publication of information which needs to stay secret in order to protect public order, public security and territorial integrity".

More at Bianet.

The Turkish state is perturbed because the soldiers captured in battle by HPG did not kill themselves. In order to avenge its dubious "honor," the Turkish state is in the process of prosecuting the eight soldiers for not killing themselves:

Yesterday (11 November), the military court in Van, south-eastern Turkey, decreed that the soldiers be detained. The soldiers stand accused of "violating the duties of a civil servant", "serious suspicion of a crime", "excessive weakening of military discipline", "insistence on disobedience" and "desertion abroad". The soldiers are to be tried while in detention.

The Van Gendarmerie Public Order Corps Command Military Court has pronounced the following charges: sergeant Halis Cagan is charged with violating the duties of a civil servant, privates Ilhami Demir, Irfan Beyaz, Özhan Sabanoglu, Fatih Atakul and Mehmet Senkul are accused of insistent disobedience, and privates Fuat Basoda and Ramazan Yüce are charged with insistent disobedience and desertion abroad. It was argued that there was strong suspicion of guilt and that military discipline had been greatly weakened. Citing Article 71 of Law 353 and Articles 100 and 101 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the court decided to detain the eight soldiers.

The reality of what the Turkish state is trying to hide is the sorry condition of the average soldier and the cowardice of the Turkish officer corps. One of the soldiers had been wounded in the clash and he did not have a weapon, so he decided to count on the mercy of HPG gerîlas--and in receiving mercy, he was not disappointed. The same cannot be said for that state for which he wore a uniform. Others commented on the cowardice and inefficiency of those in charge of their units:

"During the exchange of fire we did not have the support of any of our commanders or soldiers. We were fighting on our own." It was also said that most of the soldiers' guns jammed. Another soldier stated that his commander had taken his gun.

Such comments prompted harsh remarks from at least one retired Turkish military judge:

Based on the statements of the soldiers published in yesterday’s (12 November) newspapers, Kardas said: “No intelligence was processed, the guns were not modern, there was no help, no support. Those who have responsibilities need to be held responsible. Those who caused this weakness need to be dismissed from their posts by the General Staff. The Chief of Staff could also accept responsibility and resign.”

Kardas even claimed that the eight soldiers had a right to compensation for physical and mental damages; the state was responsible, but was acting in a manner so as not to loose [sic] prestige.

Indeed, as in so many examples from the past, reality is not the issue; the real issue, and the real reason behind the censorship of the case of the eight former POWs, is the issue of image and the prestige derived from the perception of image. For the Turkish Republic, image isn't everything; it's the only thing.

From the case of the eight former POWs, we can check off a few things from our list of the characteristics of fascist states. We have the example of "powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism"; "Disdain for the importance of human rights"; The "identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause"; And "the supremacy of the military/avid militarism".

Do I need to mention that there has been nothing in Turkish media on the investigation of these soldiers? Nothing. Nada. Nil. Nix. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Of course, now we see very clearly who it is that is civilized and who it is that's barbaric. It's clear who is honorable and who is not. Those regularly labeled as "terrorists" by the barbarians are, in fact, the only civilized actors in this long-playing Orwellian drama.

For more on this situation, check an article from the AP, and there was something else on the Paşas' ban at NTV.

Meanwhile, back in the mountains, Cemil Bayık issued a warning to the US and the Southern Kurdish leadership against any joint cooperation with Turkey against the Kurdish freedom movement:

"The United States, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party should understand that if we want, we can create instability and place their interests in danger."

[ . . . ]

"Bush has declared the PKK as the enemy and wants to eliminate the PKK through pressure and operations," Bayik said. "Our position in the face of these operations is clear; we will resist. We will never surrender."

Let's add that the hysterical reports of the capture of Hevals Cuma and Cemil has been greatly exagerrated. This kind of hysteria could be avoided if the government of South Kurdistan were not as devoted to censorship as their brothers in Washington and Ankara.