PKK AND THE SCOTUS

"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised."
~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

On June 21 the SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the US] determined that providing "training, expert advice or assistance" to teach the PKK how to file human rights complaints or to engage in peace negotiations is the same thing as providing material support to a "terrorist" organization. From The Washington Post, amazingly:

WHICH OF the following is illegal under the law that bars providing "material support" to terrorists?:

1. Giving money to a terrorist organization.

2. Providing explosives training to terrorists.

3. Urging a terrorist group to put down its arms in favor of using lawful, peaceful means to achieve political goals.

After Monday's Supreme Court ruling in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project the answer is: all three.

The material support law prohibits U.S. citizens from providing "services," "personnel" or "training, expert advice or assistance" to U.S.-designated terrorist groups. It has long been understood that funding and providing weapons training were off limits. What was less clear was how far the law could reach to punish activities with no link to terrorism.

The court's answer: Very far. In our opinion, it is the court that went too far.

From Foreign Policy:

And although it seems like attempts to convince terrorist groups to use non-lethal methods to pursue their political agenda would be a no-brainer, the US Supreme Court concluded otherwise. How could this be? According to the Supreme Court, an FTO such as the PKK could misuse such training to feign an interest in peace while in the meantime it builds up its strength as it awaits a more opportune time to resume terrorism. In addition, it could use its newly-gained knowledge of international law to subvert the legal system by manipulating it to prevent successful campaigns against terrorism. Finally, when an FTO such as the PKK learns skills such as peaceful political advocacy and the norms of international law and international humanitarian and human rights law, there is the substantial risk that it will obtain greater legitimacy, thereby making it harder to defeat them.

The Atlantic continues:

. . . But as Justice Breyer suggested in dissent, it makes no sense: Independent speech about a designated group may legitimize the group as much (or more) than advice to the group on conflict resolution. Breyer was equally dismissive of the assertion that such advice enables terrorism by "freeing up" the group's resources: "The Government has provided us with no empirical information that might convincingly support this claim." Nor did it make a factual showing that the speech proposed by the plaintiffs in HLP would confer any particular "legitimacy" on a designated group.

One of the original court documents in the challenge to the Patriot Act can be found here, and the document contains the argument of the plaintiffs in the case, including that of Judge Ralph Fertig. Here's a sample:

Since 1991 the HLP [Humanitarian Law Project] and Judge Fertig have devoted substantial time and resources advocating on behalf of the Kurds living in Turkey and working with and providing training, expert advice and other forms of support to the PKK. Judge Fertig and other individuals associated with the HLP have conducted fact-finding investigations on the Kurds in Turkey and have published reports and articles presenting their findings, which are supportive of the PKK and the struggle for Kurdish liberation. They assert that the Turkish government has committed extensive human rights violations against the Kurds, including the summary execution of more than 18,000 Kurds, the widespread use of arbitrary detentions and torture against persons who speak out for equal rights for Kurds or are suspected of sympathizing with those who do, and the wholesale destruction of some 2,4000 Kurdish villages. Applying international law principles, they have concluded that the PKK is a party to an armed conflict governed by Geneva Conventions and Protocols and, therefore, is not a terrorist organization under international law.

There's much more in the court document that outlines some of the work of the HLP and Judge Fertig on behalf of the Kurdish people. Take a look so that you can get a better idea of what it is to be a "terrorist" in the mind of the United States in general and of the fascist Black Robes of the SCOTUS in particular.

At the same time that the fascist Black Robes of the SCOTUS determined that helping the PKK negotiate peace was an act of terrorism, news reports were discussing the fact that the US military and its civilian contractors were handing out beaucoup bucks to warlords and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It's apparent from Le Monde Diplomatique that not only do US military officers like to flash the cash in the Taliban's direction, but NATO commanders are somewhat taken with the Taliban personally:

Sadly for the US, almost everyone supports the Taliban rebels. Even Nato commanders. A senior officer said: “If I was a young man, I’d be fighting with the Taliban.”

The same article says that, until recently anyway, the entire goal of the US military in Afghanistan was not even to defeat the Taliban:

For Nato soldiers, the fight is confusing. General Stanley McChrystal – their commander until President Barack Obama accepted his forced resignation last month, the result of his candour – told the troops that, in the counter-insurgency campaign, their primary goal is not to kill or even defeat the Taliban but rather to secure the population. The enemy is not even the Taliban, said Major-General Nick Carter, the British general in charge of the Kandahar campaign, but rather a “malign influence”, a code for corrupt government.

In light of a recent House subcommittee investigation into the matter, the Pentagon is taking the allegations "seriously". The entire congressional report can be found here and a larger news report on the investigation can be found at The Nation.

It makes one wonder whether or not such fine, upstanding Americans as US military officers and "free-market" contractors should, perhaps, be the first to be charged with offering material support to terrorists under the SCOTUS ruling. Alas, it's not to be for the simple reason that the Taliban is not listed as an FTO on the State Department's infamous List.

Now why is that?

On the one hand you have the PKK, an organization that has never targeted Americans or even talked about targeting Americans--unlike the MEK, pet organization of so many Republican congressmen--and on the other hand you have the Taliban, which manages to blow up or otherwise kill Americans every few days. Or at least every week. So why is the PKK on the List and the Taliban is not? It all sounds so very arbitrary to me.

Of course, the reason the Taliban has so far avoided being listed is because it was the guest of the Americans back in the 1990s:

Late in 1996, however, the Bridas Corp. of Argentina finally signed contracts with the Taliban and with Gen. Dostum of the Northern Alliance to build the pipeline.

One American company in particular, Unocal, found that intolerable and fought back vigorously, hiring a number of consultants in addition to Kissinger: Hamid Karzai, Richard Armitage, and Zalmay Khalilzad. (Armitage and Khalilzad would join the George W. Bush administration in 2001.)

Unocal wooed Taliban officials at its headquarters in Texas and in Washington, D.C., seeking to have the Bridas contract voided, but the Taliban refused. Finally, in February of 1998, John J. Maresca, a Unocal vice president, asked in a congressional hearing to have the Taliban replaced by a more stable regime.

The Clinton administration, having recently refused the PNAC request to invade Iraq, was not any more interested in a military overthrow of the Taliban. President Clinton did, however, shoot a few cruise missiles into Afghanistan, after the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassies in Africa. And he issued an executive order forbidding further trade transactions with the Taliban.

Maresca was thus twice disappointed: The Taliban would not be replaced very soon, and Unocal would have to cease its pleadings with the regime.

Unocal's prospects rocketed when George W. Bush entered the White House, and the Project for the New American Century ideology of global dominance took hold.

The Bush administration itself took up active negotiations with the Taliban in January of 2001, seeking secure access to the Caspian Basin for American companies. The Enron Corp. also was eyeing a pipeline to feed its proposed power plant in India.) The administration offered a package of foreign aid as an inducement, and the parties met in Washington, Berlin and Islamabad. The Bridas contract might still be voided.

But the Taliban would not yield.

It would appear that the Americans are holding out to continue pipeline negotiations with the Taliban, and are, therefore, not "Listing" the group.

If so it means that former HPG Commander Comrade Bahoz Erdal's repeated comments about the targeting of oil and gas pipelines takes on a much greater sense of urgency. Since the Taliban refusal to go along with American oil companies and its continued targeting of US military personnel have kept it off the List, maybe the same tactics could benefit HPG and the PKK and, finally, force Turkey and the US to negotiate for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish situation.

STATE REPRESSION CONTINUES IN NORTH KURDISTAN

"We have to stand together now and stand behind all the victims of political repression."
~ Bernadette Devlin.

While US and western media have been busy promoting the cause of "democracy" in Iran, they have remained suspiciously silent over the ongoing crackdown against democratically elected Kurdish politicians in Turkey. Since 24 December, a number of Kurdish politicians have been arrested by the Turkish state. These include members of the now closed DTP and its succession party, the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party--Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi).

In addition to the arrests of DTP/BDP politicians, the vice-president of İHD and the chief of the Diyarbakır branch of the İHD, Muharrem Erbey, has also been arrested and the İHD office unlawfully raided.

Here is a current list of the arrested:

Muharrem Erbey.

Hatip Dicle: DTP co-chairman, he was previously arrested while member of parliament and imprisoned for ten years.

Firat Anli: DTP Amed city leader. He was the mayor of Yenisehir in the last term and stood for Mayor of Cewlik in the last election.

Abdullah Demirbas: Mayor of Sur. He was removed from power by the state for supporting multi-lingual administration, but was put back into power by the people in the March Elections. In addition he has health problems that make his detainment without attention of a doctor a threat to his well being

Aydin Budak: Mayor of Cizre-- just like Demirbas was removed from power by the state and re-elected by the people.

Zulkuf Karatekin: Mayor of Kayapinar Serving his second term in office.

Nejdet Atalay: Mayor of Batman. He won his office with a high majority in Batman.

Ferhan Turk: Mayor of Kiziltepe He spent years in the notorious Amed prison and felt the full force of the coup. He is now imprisoned for the second time.

Leyla Guven: Mayor of Viransehir She has previously been a local administrator and has actively taken part in the women’s freedom movement.

Ethem Sahin: Mayor of Suruc won the local election with a landslide victory and has since changed the appearance of the town.

Huseyin Kalkan: Former mayor of Batman

Emrullah CIn: Former mayor of Viransehir

Abdullah Akengin: Former mayor of Dicle

Kazim Kurt: Former mayor of Hakkari

Nadir Bingol: Former mayor of Ergani

Ali Simsek: Assistant mayor of Amed

Yasar Sari: General Secretary of DISKI

Ferzende Abi: MEYADER (Mesopotamia Association of Those Having Lost their Relatives) Van Branch President

Tefik Say: Hacıbekir Suburb Free Citizen Association Chairman

Sıddık Gül: DTP Van Provincial Treasurer

Yıldız Tekin: BDP Women's Council Member

Eylem Açıkalın: BDP Women's Council Member

Kerem Çağlı: BDP Women's Council Member

Ramazan Özlü:BDP Women's Council Member

Selim Çay: BDP Women's Council Member

Cafer Koçak: BDP Women's Council Member

Zihni Karakaya: BDP Women's Council Member

Mustafa Ayaz

Kamuran Parlak

Ahmet Sormaz: Former DTP Batman Provincial President , Göç-Der (Migration Association)

Selamet Akyüz: Batman Manager

Veysi Gülseren

İlyas Sağlam

Aydın Kılıç: former DTP city and county administrators

Gülizar Kal: Urban Women's Council employee

Cahit Conbay: politician

Rıdvan Asaln: politician

Şeymus Yaşar: politician

Şirin Bağlı: Batman Municipality Council Member

Rıfat Başalak: Batman Municipality Council Member

Nesri Kılıç: Batman Municipality Council Member

Fethi Suvari: Coordinator of Local Gundem21

Abbas Celik: Administrator of Goc-Der’s Diyarbakir Branch

Cebrail Kurt: BDP worker

Ramazan Debe

Ahmet Makas

Takibe Turgay

A petition is available online to request the freedom of these Kurdish mayors, politicians, and political workers from Turkish prisons. Please sign the petition and disseminate widely.

TİHV Secretary General Metin Bakkalcı an urgent call for protest against the arrest of Muharrem Erbey and the DTP/BDP politicians, and has urged that the following ministers be contacted in protest:

Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN Prime Minister

Tel: + 90 (312) 415 40 00

Fax: + 90 (312) 417 04 76

Address: Başbakanlık Merkez Bina



Beşir ATALAY Minister of the Interior

E-mail: besir.atalay@icisleri.gov.tr

Tel: + 90 (312) 425 40 80

Faks: + 90 (312) 418 17 95

Address: T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı, Bakanlıklar / ANKARA

E-mail: bilgiislem@icisleri.gov.tr



Sadullah ERGİN Minister of Justice

E-mail: sadullahergin@adalet.gov.tr

Tel: + 90 (312) 417 77 70

Fax: + 90 (312) 419 33 70

Address: T.C. Adalet Bakanlığı 06659 Kızılay / ANKARA

E-mail: info@adalet.gov.tr

Serkeftin!

OPPRESSION: CONTINUED . . .

"A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man."
~ Tacitus.

Having mentioned the murder of Kurds in Iran by the mullahs yesterday, it's rather coincidental that the following was in my inbox today:

I am a twenty-seven year Kurdish woman who has been sentenced to death by the Iranian Judiciary authority for my political activities. After I was given death sentence last year I appealed and my case was reviewed by the Iranian High Court. The High Court sustained the lower court’s decision.

I am under constant torture and humiliation. I was put on an orchestrated trial without a legal representation and after a few minutes I was sentenced to death. I don’t have a lawyer to defend me. The Court only dedicated a few minutes to my case. The Court told me that I was an “Enemy of God,” and in a short period of time all enemies of God would be hanged. All the judges in my trial voted for my execution.

I asked the Judge if I could say good-bye to my mother. He told me “shut up.” The Judge rejected my appeal and refused to let me to see my mother. Since I cannot defend myself, I ask all advocates and activists of human/women’s rights to campaign on my behalf and support me. I need your help.

Zaynab Jalalian

Zaynab's crime? She's a Kurd.

You can see the document at the KNCNA website, under the homepage heading "Documents and letters".

I wanted to point out that last week PRI's The World program aired a segment on The Forbidden Letters in Turkey. Mahmut Alınak--I love this guy--was quoted. A TSK'er insisted that people who use The Forbidden Letters should be imprisoned. Of course, the TSK'er should logically include himself among the imprisoned, if we consider a defense that Diyarbakır's mayor, Osman Baydemir, used in a recent court case against him for using The Forbidden W:

[Murharrem] Erbey [of the Diyarbakır İHD] said his client [Osman Baydemir] asked everyone, “Do you log onto the justice ministry’s website?” The judge and the prosecutors said yes. Then he asked “What do you type when you go there?” The answer was something like “www dot gov dot TR. Then the mayor said, “Aren’t you breaking the law? Every time you type W three times and you go to the site hundreds of times a day. But when W is used in the Kurdish context it’s a crime.”

Touché, Heval Osman!

You can visit the site and read the transcript of the segment or listen to it via mp3.

Let me add that if the nationalists want to be consistent about The Forbidden Letters, some of the Alparen Ocakları types need to go around knocking The Forbidden W off the BMW's of the elites.

HYPOCRISY AND MURDER

"I have never been afraid of death, even now that I feel it closest to me. I can sense it and I'm familiar with it, for it is an old acquaintance of this land and this people."
~ Ehsan Fattahian.

Awww . . . Boo-Hooo-Hooooo! The mullahtocracy has seized Shirin Ebadi's Nobel prize medal:

Iran has confiscated the Nobel peace medal and diploma of Shirin Ebadi, the human rights lawyer who is one of the hardline regime’s most outspoken critics. Her bank account has also been frozen on the pretext that she owes almost £250,000 in tax.

[ . . . ]

In 2003 Dr Ebadi became the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the peace prize, which was awarded for her campaign for democracy and human rights. She was abroad during President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in June and has spent the past five months travelling the world to draw attention to the regime’s alleged electoral fraud and suppression of the opposition. “I am effectively in exile,” she said recently.

She revealed the loss of her Nobel medal in an interview on Radio Farda, a US-backed Persian language station. She said that the regime had frozen her bank accounts and pension, as well as those of her husband, who is still in Tehran. She continued: “Even my Nobel and Légion d’honneur medals, my Freedom of Speech ring and other prizes, which were in my husband’s safe, have been confiscated.”

Too bad Ebadi is not Kurdish because, if she were, she would have lost a lot more than a medal given out to global elites:

According to several reports, Kurdish activist, Ehsan Fattahian, was executed today, November 11th 2009, in Iran. Ehsan was transferred to a solitary ward in Sanandaj prison late yesterday before being executed. Family members, friends and activists gathered outside the prison in protest of his execution. Despite numerous calls from human rights organizations and activists across the world, Ehsan’s sentence was carried out and he was executed.

Ehsan Fattahian was arrested in July 2008 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for his membership in a banned opposition group in Iran. During the appeals process, his sentence was changed by the provincial appeals court to execution for being an “enemy of God” for his activities. None of the activities that Ehsan was engaged in were proven to be violent or connected to any violence and despite reports of Ehsan’s undergoing brutal torture while in the custody of Iranian authorities, he refused to confess to the allegations against him that he helped carry arms or that he participated in an armed struggle. Furthermore, Ehsan’s new sentence was never subject to appeal as required by international law.

Then there's the case of Farzad Kamangar:

Security agents arrested Mr. Kamangar around July 2006 in Tehran. Mr. Kamangar was held incommunicado for seven months, and even after that, contacts to his family were very limited; there have been none since the beginning of the Persian New Year, 21 March 2008. Being held incommunicado violates Principle 19 of the United Nations Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1988.

Mr. Kamangar has been denied access to his lawyer, before, during and after his trial, which violates Principles 17 and 18 of the Body of Principles, as well as Article 14 (3) (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the Islamic Republic of Iran ratified on 24 June 1975

While the charges against him have been changed in the course of his case, Mr. Kamangar has been denied any and all information concerning the case against him. This violates Article 9 (2) of ICCPR, as well as Principles 10 and 11 of the Body of Principles.

Evidence confirmed by multiple sources strongly suggests that Mr. Kamangar has been tortured during his detention.

Or the case of Zeynab Jalalian or Shirkuh Moarefi.

And where are all the great defenders of democracy, the same ones who became so agitated for the defense of democracy following the Iranian elections in July? Why have they not become just as agitated over the imprisonment, torture, and execution of Kurds under Iranian brutality? Why haven't they twittered brutality that targets Kurds? Obama found the murder of Neda "heartbreaking" but where are his remarks about the Tehran regime's unjust murder of innocent Kurds?

We must forget these hypocrites. Instead, let us remember the words of Ehsan Fattahian, written two days before his murder:

. . . [I]n my last visit with my prosecutor he admitted that the death sentence is unlawful, but for the second time they gave me the notice for carrying out the execution. Needless to say that this insistence on carrying a death sentence under any circumstance is the result of pressure from security and political forces from outside of the judiciary department. Said people look at life and death of political prisoners only from the point of view of their paychecks and political needs, nothing else matters to them other than their own goals, even if it is about the most fundamental right of other human beings, their right to live. Forget international laws, they completely disregard even their own laws and procedures.

But my last words: If in the minds of these rulers and oppressors my death will get rid of the “problem” called Kurdestan [the province], I should say, what an illusion. Neither my death nor the death of thousands like me will be remedy to this incurable pain and perhaps would even fuel this fire. Without a doubt, every death points to a new life.

Even as the rest of the world closes its eyes, we will never forget.

ŞEHÎD NAMIRIN!

UPDATES FROM DIYARBAKIR'S IHD OFFICE

"Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts."
~ Mary Robinson.

Here are a couple of statements from the Diyarbakır IHD office. The first is an update on the human rights situation in the Kurdish region of Turkey:

PRESS STATEMENT

27 October 2009

(Give the Republic’s biggest project a chance)

Dear press members

Although we’ve seen partial advancements regarding democracy and human rights in Turkey in recent times, we can still say that there are serious problems concerning the exercise of basic rights and liberties. Two forms of power are needed for human rights to find life in a country; the first is the power of Democratic Public Opinion, and the second is the power of the law. If these two forms of power don’t exist in a given country we can’t mention human rights. When we look at practices in Turkey in recent years, it’s clear that there are very serious complications obstructing the exercise of each of these forms of power.

In the European Union progress report released on 13 October 2009, it says that Turkey has made progress in the areas of economic competition and statistical and scientific research, but that there’s a chequered picture in the areas of human rights and democracy.

According to the EU report, with respect to the primacy of human rights and democracy, the protection of minorities, civil and political rights, civil oversight of expenditures on security forces, reform of the constitution, freedom of assembly and protest, freedom of belief, reform of local administration, the independence of the country’s forensic medical foundation, the independence of the judiciary, children being punished with sentences of 25 years in prison, the use of languages other than Turkish, the right to unionize, the rights of disabled people, the Kurdish question, the Cyprus question, the question of cultural rights, the problem of novels and discrimination, in some areas we’re still witnessing serious fluctuations – that is, regression – instead of halts to violations.

Fourteen days after the 29 March 2009 local elections, a major operation was carried out against the Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi – DTP). Three operations have been carried out against the party in the last six months. More than 1,000 people have been detained. Due to a judicial decision prohibiting access to files concerning the situation of the detained people, 450 DTP members and activists have remained under arrest for months without knowing what they’re being charged with. The principle and practice of being released pending trial is violated for DTP members and child victims of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. There country’s prison population now exceeds 120,000. In the last four years, security forces have increased the use of disproportionate force against children and children’s deaths have increased as a result. In the latest EU progress report this matter is raised by mentioning police officers who have been “acquitted” after facing trial for “killing outside legitimate self-defence”.

In recent years the army’s repression and tutelage over politics, the judiciary, media and society have reached extraordinary dimensions. The military very frequently goes before the press and makes statements on all varieties of political issues. In the EU progress report it’s requested that the 1997 EMASYA secret Protocol on Security, Public Order and Assistance Units be terminated.

When we look at our table of confirmed violations in the East and Southeast Anatolia region, we can’t say that a heart-warming picture emerges. When we evaluate violations in the last nine months of the year 2009, we see an erratic picture. The number of lives lost in clashes has decreased compared to last year, but we’ve observed that these losses continue and that there’s been a sharp increase in extrajudicial killings as well as murders carried out by unknown perpetrators.

We’ve also seen that the number of people killed and injured by mines and stand-alone explosive articles has increased. A serious increase of complaints regarding torture and maltreatment has been seen again. An increase in incidences of interference in and beatings at social actions has been confirmed in the last nine months. The disproportionate use of force has been triggered by a failure to open sufficient inquiries against those who use excessive force, the abscence of anger control, and the forcing of security forces to work excessive overtime hours.

It seems that everything changed for the worse following the Prime Minister’s July 2005 action and greatly important speech on the Kurdish question in Diyarbakır, especially in 2008, when violations reached their highest levels. Violations decreased considerably in the first three months of 2009 and have continued to increase since April. At a time when a democratic solution for the Kurdish question is being debated, we’re curious as to why violations are increasing non-stop.

In recent years the government has introduced an extremely hardline approach to policy and matters related to children. Slapping children with sentences of between 10 and 25 years in prison due to their flashing of the ‘V’ for victory sign with their fingers or for throwing stones, the aquittal of those responsible for the death of Uğur Kaymaz, the 28 September killing of Ceylan Önköl with an artillery shell, and the fact that those responsible for the loss of 18 month-old Mehmet Uytun’s life - who died as a result of a gas bomb that was deployed as his mother was breastfeeding him on the balcony of their home in Cizre – still haven’t been found, has damaged the trust of the region’s people in the state and judiciary and increased mistrust between local people and the state. Why has there been a serious increase in children’s deaths? Why haven’t the perpetrators been tried following these deaths? What’s the explanation for the fact that 98% of judicial and administrative inquiries opened about security forces between 2003 and 2008 ended in their favor and that 2% ended with light punishments?

The increase in human rights abuses in recent times has been caused by intensified operations and clashes in northern Iraq and Turkey’s Eastern and Southeastern regions, the repression of peaceful and nonviolent social movements and political parties, and the growth of hardline nationalism.

We find the work the government’s doing concerning the ‘Democratic opening’ to be meaningful and positive. However, the rapid increase in human rights violations that this process has coincided with perturbs us. We don’t understand the extreme reaction that’s been shown to the return of those who came from Kandil and Mahmur. They returned with the goal of opening the clogged political process and were met with a peaceful gathering, without throwing a single stone, initiating any violent rallies or shouting anti-state slogans. We think that there needs to be an end to the speeches to the effect that after this, every word and every step taken must be taken within an approach that considers all of the emotions in Turkey, that those who are going to contribute to a solution must be ‘more careful’, and that ‘we’ll turn back, we’ll start from the beginning.’

If we turn away from a Democratic solution to the Kurdish Question – the Republic’s biggest project – our country will be brought back a hundred years, and if there’s a solution it’ll be the end of an era and we’ll move into a bright period. It’ll be brought closer to Europe. We’re either going to forget the pain of the past and open a new page or we’re going to dig new graves. Believing in everyone’s dream of peace, from now on we request that prejudices and the past be left aside, that work be done to stop the flow of blood, and that steps be taken mindful of the weight of every word and action.

With our respect,

Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law

Vice President of the Human Rights Association

President of the Diyarbakir Branch of the HRA

The second statement, below, is an IHD statement on the murder of Ceylan Önkol:

PRESS STATEMENT

13 October 2009

(Why aren’t those who killed Ceylan being investigated?)

On 28 September 2009 at 11:30, 12 year-old Ceylan Önkol lost her life as a result of being fired upon while tending sheep. The incident occured in Xambaz hamlet near Şenlik village in the Lice district of Diyarbakır province. A Human Rights Delegation drafted a report after visiting the village where the incident took place and gathering everyone’s statements. Ceylan’s mother, father, older brother and indeed every witness asserted that they had heard a humming and vooming-type sound that came from the direction of Tabantepe police station, followed by an explosion. Even this assertion implies that a mortar had been fired at that time. They didn’t know the exact type of weapon that was used, but the family identified the item as a mortar shell. But the type of artillery doesn’t change the identity of the perpetrators. The perpetrators are the ones who have these very special weapons.

The UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child was published in Turkey’s official gazete in 1994 and went into effect in the country the same year. The Convention’s sixth article states: ‘1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life. 2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.’ The state has to protect and safeguard children. The fact that perpetrators aren’t being tried in an active and effective way as the number of children’s deaths increases leaves us human rights defenders concerned.

In the criminal report it says that a mortar had been fired before the incident occured. But that contention can’t be used to absolve the suspects of responsibility for Ceylan’s death. Has even the most minor inquiry about the perpetrators been carried out up until now? What was the sound that was heard before the explosion, and why was it heard by everyone? Is the topic of the mortar that had been fired before being removed from the line of inquiry?

Do sounds like that emerge when mortar shells are tampered with while they’re on the ground? According to the witness statements, was there or was there not a humming and vooming sound after it was fired? How come the criminal report that wasn’t given to Serdar Çelebi and Keziban Yılmaz (the Önkol family’s lawyers and members of the Human Rights Association’s Steering Committee) by the Lice public prosecturor’s office was given to the entire press in a surreptitious way? We’re interested in the answers to these questions.

In this region, we’ve seen other incidents resulting from articles that resemble unexploded ordinance and remants of war being tampered with or hit with a rock in areas where there are children. We showed that such incidents resulted in the child’s hand being severed and her entire body wounded.

In conclusion, we’ve been told that this incident result from Ceylan hitting an unexploded shell with a farming tool that she was holding in her hand. The report prepared by the criminal investigation unit at Diyarbakır Metropolitan Police Headquarters was not objective, and when the case file comes to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, we’re going to object as the Human Rights Association and as the family’s lawyers.

We’re going to request that research be done to determine whether or not it’s possible to ascertain that a bomb had been deployed or not by looking at the components of the case file.


Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law

Vice President of the Human Rights Association, President of the Diyarbakır branch of the HRA

IHD: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ON THE INCREASE

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."
~ Paulo Freire.

I have received a press statement from a comrade in the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Righs Association (IHD). This statement is dated 9 July 2009, however I think it's appropriate to post it now, since Interior Minister Beşir Atalay has proclaimed that the Ankara regime's Kurdish "initiative" or democratic "intitiative", or whatever the hell he's calling it these days, has been an overwhelming success.

The irony is that since the actual and overwhelming success of the DTP during the 29 March elections, repression has been on the increase, at least in the Kurdish Region of Turkey. IHD has the cases, with evidence, to support its claims:

PRESS STATEMENT

(The Kurdish question will only be solved with the prevention of human rights abuses)

09 July 2009

Esteemed members of the press,

Although we were pleased to see an even partial decrease in human rights abuses in the first three months of 2009 after leaving behind a year of debating people’s most basic human rights, our concerns were increased by a sudden explosion of abuses following the local elections on March 29th. Fourteen days after the elections, the operation launched against the Democratic Society Party (DTP – Demokratik Toplum Partisi), detetions and arrests, the cancellation of green cards (cards from a social program designed to help disadvantaged people access health services) belonging especially to DTP voters in the provinces, the detention and arrest of members of the Public Workers’ Trade Unions Confederation (KESK - Kamu Emekçileri Sendikaları Konfederasyonu), the arrest of human rights and peace activists, and the initiation of a witch hunt, so to speak, people from all sectors were gathered together. In the operation against the DTP, 945 people were detained and 414 were arrested. In a manner illegal and contrary to human rights law, after their telephone conversations were listened to, many people were arrested on the basis of very ordinary conversations, suspects and lawyers weren’t allowed to see the files concerning their cases due to a secret decision, information concerning legal cases was given to the press surreptitiously and in violation of the law, the list of offenses detained people were charged with were also handed to the press, and detained people were declared guilty before the public without even knowing what crimes they were being charged with.

Although all sectors entered a period of expectation regarding a solution to the Kurdish issue following the 29 March local elections, the spike in arrests and detentions and the increase in operations on both sides of the border served to increase our concerns. The intensification and escalation of violations after distinguished President Abdullah Gül said ‘good things will happen’ regarding the Kurdish issue prompted a debate on how ‘good things’ are perceived.

In the first six months of 2009, the question of clearing mines along the borders and inside Turkey became a current topic; however, mines continue to claim lives as the question of who will clear them becomes more contested and the road to a solution is debated. Whoever plants them and for whatever goal, mines are a crime against humanity and mined fields must be located and their perimeters marked immediately. Later, these fields must be cleared and opened for agriculture.

With the understanding that the state must act as a welfare state, the state’s use of green cards as a political tool especially during elections is a very important indicator of the state’s character. It’s known that a large majority of people don’t have social security. It’s possible that following the elections, the security forces gave the district governorships reports concerning the electorate’s political preferences and that previously-issued green cards were cancelled according to this information. The implementation of green card cancellations increased especially extremely following the March 29 local elections. Following the elections, in our districts the green cards of 122,018 people were cancelled.

In our region, applications were received from five people asserting that they had experienced discrimination on the basis of their beliefs. Our organization considers freedom of belief important and it’s one of the rights that we defend.

In our region, the topic that comes to our attention the most is violations in prisons and detention centers. In Batman prison, due to a disciplinary punishment an inmate by the name of Resul Çelik wasn’t allowed to meet with his family for three months, and for 40 days his request to be transfered to another prison wasn’t being accepted. He couldn’t escape the depression he fell into and hanged himself. This incident was a death under detention. In the prisons in the regions, treatment isn’t given to seriously ill patients, they aren’t committed to infirmatories, and requests to be transferred to hospitals aren’t accepted. No one should be surprised if there’s an explosion in the near future as a result of the conditions and repression in the prisons.

Violations in prisons have continued to increase and become more severe. From the prisons, 33 people applied to us concerning violations of their right to health, 253 people applied concerning the obstruction of their right of communication, and 193 arrestees and inmates applied complaining of having received gratuitous and unjustified punishments, and all of these assertions were proven. 73 families applied to us because their meetings with imprisoned relatives had been obstructed due to disciplinary actions. 44 arrestees and inmates applied to our branch asserting that they had been tortured.

Regarding the heavy intervention by security forces into activities in our region such as Newroz over the last six months, camera images showing the butt of a police officer’s gun hitting the head of a small child show the degree of disproportionality prevailing at this stage. In 47 rallies and public meetings interfered in by the security forces, 501 people were detained.

Regarding the statement in the European Union’s latest progress report on Turkish accession that there is no freedom of thought in our country, how can we express that there are not positive developments in this area. It’s necessary to understand that our country can’t move forward with a democratization characterized by very timid and heavy steps and that in this sense Turkey won’t be able to join the European Union for a long time. In six months in our region 546 new lawsuits were opened against people because of ideas they expressed. 324 people received various punishments due to ideas expressed before the first six months of 2009.

In the first six months of the year, a total of 73 homes were raided. It was claimed in received applications that those in the raided houses had been subjected to indecent and severe interference. Finally, everyone was shocked by an application we received in which it was claimed that when security forces entered a house in the Ofis district of Diyarbakır on the account of a resident’s political activities, a woman was subjected to sexual violence and harassment. The chief public prosecutor’s office has opened a legal investigation and the Diyarbakır regional governorship an administrative one about this event.

In the first six months, 21 people were proven to or applied to our branch claiming to have been exposed to torture and maltreatment in detention units in our region. Compared to the past, torture and maltreatment in detention centers has decreased but the practice has been carried to the street. Now, in front of cameras, mobile squads and other security forces have been using disproportionate force against social activities in a way that has been resulting in heavy injuries. In six months 109 people applied to our branch claiming to have been exposed to torture and maltreatment outside of formal detention centers.

With the goal of abolishing the village guard system, for ten years the Human Rights Association has prepared statements and reports concerning very serious violations perpetrated by village guards. Most recently, the massacre in Bilge village in Mardin province shows once again just how correct our discourse is. The result of the state’s security perspective approach to the Kurdish problem is always death and tears. In the first six months of 2009, 49 people were killed 8 were injured as a result of violations of the right to life carried out by village guards. It was established that village guards were involved in 33 incidents of torture and maltreatment.

Finally, the number of occurences involving people being kidnapped and suggested to become spies has experienced an increase. In the first six months, 7 people applied to our branch asserting that they had been kidnapped and threatened into becoming a spy.

In our region, intervention is often brought upon demonstrations organized by civil society organizations and political parties; upon one person’s slogan or throwing of a stone, gas and teargas are used against all particpants. Heavy interference is personally confirmed by leaders from our branch who act as observers in the activities they participate in. In the first six months of 2009, 215 people were beaten and injured as a result of police intervention into public demonstrations.

Esteemed members of the press,

We can say that almost all of the violations in our region that come to our attention are directly related to the Kurdish problem. The lack of a solution to the Kurdish question is the reason for our country’s inability to democratize or join the European Union as well as the reason our economy is so sunken. A big part of the problem would be overcome with the acceptance of the Kurds’ existence, language and culture and the construction of a new civil and democratic constitution. The sit-down protests we initiated with the goal of putting the fate of disappeared people on the public agenda and trying the perpetrators has entered its 23rd week. The disappeared people that our branch has tried to locate with our own resources exposes the fact that the mistakes the state made in the past were not insignificant. We think that all the graves of the disappeared will be revealed only with the existence of a strong political will. We request that the state come face to face with the past, apologize to the loved ones of the disappeared, apprehend the perpetrators, that the political killings of Kurds be included in the Ergenekon investigation, and that the trial take place on the northern side of the Euphrates river. A truth commission including intellectuals, legal experts, non-governmental organizations, public institutions, judges and prosecutors needs to be established and its work begun immediately.

With the goal of ending the ending the disproportionate violence applied to actions and activities, we’re prepared to deliver human rights education through our branches found in 16 provinces to the security forces that serve in our region. We also recommend that the the security forces be given education in anger management.

Everyone has a role to play in resolving the Kurdish issue, guns must continue to be silent, and we want to keep the doors to dialogue open until the end. We hope that the PKK’s ceasefire will be extended beyond July 15th, and we hope the state also puts an end to operations and behaves with common sense by taking urgent steps with the goal of stopping the flow of blood. We don’t want to see deaths or severe violations any longer. We’re hoping to present a violation-free balance table in the first six months of next year.

With our respect,

Muharrem ERBEY, Attorney at Law

Vice President of the Human Rights Association, President of the Diyarbakır branch

When will we hear Sayın Atalay address these charges? Inquiring minds want to know.

Many thanks to the comrade who sent the information. And let me add that those who have worked in the IHD have been true heroes of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey, as much so as have our guerrillas. Among the many who have served the Kurdish people in this way, we can include Osman Baydemir, Akın Birdal, and Eren Keskin. There is a short history of the IHD at IHD's website, which includes a list of IHD leaders and members who were murdered because of their work.

Serkeftin!

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, STARBUCKS, AND ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING

"Manifestly, the Obama DOJ has one goal and one goal only here: to prevent any judicial ruling as to whether the Bush NSA warrantless eavesdropping program was illegal. And they're engaging in extraordinary efforts to ensure that occurs."
~ Glenn Greenwald.

I wanted to point out a few things tonight.

Firstly, Zerkesorg has posted a montage video of the Kurdish situation under the boot of America's "Model of Democracy" for the Middle East. He also has a post about a recent development in Turkey, in which a former soldier provided information about a mass grave inside a Turkish military garrison, so make sure to take a look at that.

Most people in the US realize that Starbucks has had some problems recently, beginning last year when the company announced it would 600 stores. Things haven't been so smooth for Starbucks in Turkey, either, as Gordon Taylor informs us with a little help from the WSJ.

Finally, over at Sibel Edmonds' place, she's posted the first of her podcasts. At this point, she intends to post two podcast interviews a month. Her inaugural podcast features an interview with James Bamford, who is an investigative journalist who specializes in digging the dirt on the intelligence community. In this podcast, we learn that two Israeli companies conduct the interception of your telecommunications companies.

Check the link for more information on Bamford's work and make sure and listen to the podcast. You'll never look at your cell phone, or your computer, in the same way again.

ANOTHER ELECTION FIASCO

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
~ Joseph Stalin.

There is a statement from PJAK on the recent Iranian elections at KurdishMedia, but the English version is not available at PJAK's website. However, here's a piece:

A none-democratic [sic] and threatening response entailing the acts of violence would not produce a positive and auspicious result for the regime or for its leadership. The mass’s protests have been escalated in scope and degree and there is no doubt it will continue in the future. The public protests have been triggered in different cities of Kurdistan and in the following days we will witness the mass movement.

Once again we declare that the Kurdish nation would not accept none-democratic [sic] or degrading treatments. The Iranian regime must stop these approaches in both Kurdistan and Iran. As a democratic party, we declare that the Kurdish nation and all other Iranian nations have the rights to participate in these civil disobedience and peaceful protests. These rights have been laid out within the framework of the international laws and charter and not a single person or an oligarchic group can deny them.

Meanwhile, the KNCNA had called for a Kurdish boycott of the Iranian elections. Note the following:

Aside from the issue of selected nominees, no party in Iran, “reformists” or “non-reformists,” have ever addressed the dire life and death concerns of the Kurdish people in Iran. The provinces where Kurds reside in Iran have been under “emergency rule” for the past 30 years, which means a martial law and the presence of heavy military personnel. The fiscal allocations to these regions have always been severely under prioritized; in such a way that currently some of the most poverty stricken areas of Iran are places where Kurds reside. Unimaginable poverty, unemployment, homelessness, illiteracy, health-care issues, environmental concerns, including lack of clean and available water, under-developed infrastructure, security concerns, trafficking of drugs and many other concerns plague the region, and yet none of the selected candidates, “reformists” or “non-reformists,” have made attempts at addressing these issues.

Kurds make up the highest number of political prisoners of conscience, are arbitrarily detained, and are executed at an alarming rate in Iran, which again, neither one of the selected nominees think should be revised or reformed.

The issue of human rights, political prisoners of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of press, freedom of religious practice and assembly, the execution of minors, the crackdown of decent or organized civil rights movements and unionization, is beyond a Kurdish human rights crisis, it is an International crisis that crosses all borders and political partisanship.

This, of course, is why we have PJAK. But you don't hear about any of this in the bullshit American media, do you?

There would be no point in Iranian Kurds voting anyway, since the Teheran regime continues to repress Kurds, as documented by Human Rights Watch as late as January, 2009, a report that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Teheran regime has not improved its human rights record since 2005.

In July of 2005, in Mahabad, Iranian security forces murdered Sivan Qaderi in public--a fact which was also documented by HRW--and which set off protests in East Kurdistan that lasted through August of that year:

On July 9, security forces shot and killed Shivan Qaderi in Mahabad. Kurdish groups, quoting Qaderi's brother, said that Qaderi was approached by the security forces in public, shot three times, and then tied to a military vehicle and dragged around the city. According to these reports, Qaderi was a social and political activist, but government authorities have accused him of “moral and financial violations.”

In the wake of Qaderi's murder, protests erupted in several cities and towns in Kurdistan. Protestors demanded that the government apprehend Qaderi's killers and put them on trial. Some of the protests reportedly involved attacks on government buildings and offices. Human Rights Watch obtained a list of 17 protestors killed by the security forces, including three people shot dead in Oshnavieh on July 26, two people shot dead in Baneh on July 30, one person shot dead in Sardasht on August 2, and 11 people shot dead in Saqqez on August 3.

Photos of Qaderi's body can be viewed here. Having taken office in August 2005, this was Ahmadinejad's first response to the Kurdish people as president. Nothing has changed.

For an informal discussion of the Iranian elections as covered by the bullshit American media, check Sibel Edmonds' Tuesday post and for a comparison of the treatment of other elections by the bullshit American media, including events in Ağrı after Turkey's 29 March elections, see her Wednesday post.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE TAMILS

"After Sri Lanka survived English imperialism, the Tamils demanded freedom. There has been a Tamil people's continuous armed struggle for a period of almost 26 years."
~ Zübayir Aydar, KONGRA-GEL Chairman.

Zübeyir Aydar calls for solidarity with the Tamil people (Source: http://www.firatnews.info/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=7619):

Kongra Gel Called for An Immediate Ceasefire in Sri Lanka

Kongra Gel chairman Zubeyir Aydar condemned the Sri Lankan state's massacre of the Tamil people and stated that Kongra Gel is with the Tamil people in their freedom struggle. Calling for a bilateral ceasefire, Aydar criticized the silence of the international community.

The Sri Lankan army has been conducting heavy operations against the Tamil people for months. For the Tamil people, the operations that have killed thousands of civilians is called an "attempted genocide". While the violent clashes are ongoing in the north of the island, during the night of Saturday to Sunday [9-10 May], according to Tamil sources more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives.

A Continuous Struggle

Kurds, too, are watching closely the massacre against the Tamil people and are conducting solidarity activites. The Kongra Gel chairman, Zubeyir Aydar, said, "After Sri Lanka survived English imperialism, the Tamils demanded freedom. There has been a Tamil people's continuous armed struggle for a period of almost 26 years."

In the north of Sri Lanka, twenty-five percent of the population consists of Tamils (5 million), Hindus, Christians, Muslims, whereas 75% is Buddhist Sinhalese (15 million) people. Tamils are a Hindu people. Tamil Eelam Freedom Tigers (LTTE), the Tamil guerrillas, are conducting an independence struggle for the Tamil people who live in the north and northeast of Sri Lanka. Since 1972, at least 70,000 people lost their lives in the clashes.

In 2002, a ceasefire was declared between Tamils and the Sri Lankan state. However, Sri Lanka, which receives support from India and the US, empowered its army and began attacks against the Tamil people after 2006. The ceasefire was abolished de facto. Sri Lanka's president broke the ceasefire in 2008 and intensified attacks.

The Tamil's Demand Is a Just Demand

Pointing out the hardliner attitude of Sri Lanka's government, Aydar said, "All the calls for peace and ceasefires from LTTE were left without any response. Almost one week ago guerrillas declared a unilateral ceasefire; the army did not acknowledge it and continued to attack."

Stressing that the Sri Lankan army is not obeying any kind of law or international laws of war, Aydar said, "Excessive force is being used, civilians are targeted, hospitals are fired on; these are war crimes. Despite the various numbers, thousands of civilians lost their lives in the last couple of months. In the clashes that took place on Saturday and Sunday, mostly civilians lost their lives. It is mentioned that the numbers exceed thousands; there is a humanitarian tragedy there. The Tamil people's freedom demand is a just demand. The demand for living freely in their own country is a just demand. The Sri Lankan government is in an unjust position. Its attitude is an imperialist approach. It wants to keep the Tamil people under pressure and imperialism."

The Imposition of Official Language
The Sri Lankan state imposed Sinhalese language as the national language in 1956. This exacerbated the Tamil peoples reaction. The imperialist attitude, the imposition of official language, and the assumption of the non-existence of the Tamil people's rights first made severe clashes in 1983, which turned into a civil war.

It Is Getting the Support of the Great States
"In the recent clashes it seems like the Sri Lankan army feels itself powerful. It seems like, in the international arena, they acquired the support of the great states. Using this advantage, it conducts a massacre in front of the world's eyes. It wants to smash a people's hope for freedom. The world is just watching," said Aydar.

The International Community Remains Silent
Criticizing the western counties' silence toward the massacre, Aydar said that some European countries' (France and England) foreign ministers went to Sri Lanka. However, their efforts did not go beyond their statements. Aydar said, "America is silent on this issue." He claimed that the international powers are encouraging Sri Lanka by putting the Tamil independence organization on their "terrorist list".

Aydar stressed that the UN's attempts are insufficient. It's calls do not go beyond the statements, like "We are worried about civilian casualties", "The guerrillas must lay down their arms". In addition, it tries to soothe the consciences by saying, "Weapons must be silenced".

Despite the statements from international human rights organizations about Sri Lanka committing war crimes and that there must be intervention immediately, the international powers do not even move. The UN data, too, reveals the massacre. According to the UN, since the beginning of this year to date, 6,500 civilians lost their lives. However, it is estimated that the real number is much higher.

An International Mechanism Must Be Established

Aydar stated that there are similar ongoing incidents in other parts of the world, and suggested the establishment of a neutral and just mechanism with a lawful foundation that has been formed. Mentioning that fifteen years ago great massacres occurred in Rwanda, that the incidents that occur in Kurdistan are before everyone's eyes, and that there was a humanitarian tragedy in Darfur. Aydar said, "There may not be any oil in Sri Lanka, there may not be any conflict of interest from international powers, however humanity is being hurt there. Humanity is put underfoot. The place to bring up such issues is the UN; however since the UN consists of nations, not peoples, it reacts based on the interests of states. For this reason, this mechanism is insufficient. The international community must improve a mechanism for such issues. This international mechanism must react immediately when a people, a minority, a belief, or any group, is subjected to torture by a state's imposition. This mechanism must be a mechanism for which a lawful foundation has been formed and protects the weak."

Kurds and Tamils Must Be in Solidarity

Saying that they support the Tamil people's freedom demand and their struggle, Aydar said, "We are in solidarity with them. Previously we have told our supporters to join the activities for solidarity with the Tamil people. We remind them once more. We want them to show solidarity with the Tamil people, to be with them, to share their griefs, and to protest the Sri Lankan army's cruel attacks."

Call for Immediate Bilateral Ceasefire

Calling on the Sri Lankan government, Aydar said, "The Sri Lankan government could not solve this problem militarily for 26 years. It cannot solve it, either. Maybe now they are more powerful than the guerrillas. They may have partial superiority against the guerrillas, but this will not solve the problem. Insisting on the current attitude will result in more casualties."

For the solution of the problem, Aydar primarily called for an immediate ceasefire. He said, "Our wish and call is like the way they have done before, to come back to the table and resolve the problem through dialog."

Here's a video of the concentration camps in which the Sri Lankan government is rounding up the Tamil people, from Britain's Channel 4. Note that having a "democratically-elected government" makes it all okay:

Nick Paton Walsh, the Channel 4 reporter at the end of the segment showing the concentration camp, and his team were expelled from Sri Lanka for this report.

Here was the reaction of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defense secretary, to Walsh's report:

“Who is this? You rang me earlier? Is this Channel 4? You have been accusing my soldiers of raping civilians? Your visa is cancelled, you will be deported. You can report what you like about this country, but from your own country, not from here.”

He certainly sounds like he takes it seriously . . . but not seriously enough to investigate.

For more background on the LTTE, check a report by one of LTTE's first female Tigers, teaser here:

December 23 1987 was a warm, clear day, and I was hiding under a lantana bush with eight of my comrades in a village north of Jaffna. With our rifles cocked and our cyanide capsules clenched between our teeth, we awaited the soldiers who had been scouring the area for us for several hours. Our orders were to empty our magazines into them before biting into the glass capsules we called 'kuppies' that hung on a thread around our necks. As a Tamil Tiger guerrilla, there was no honour in being caught alive.

There had been 22 of us that morning – nine boys and 13 girls, aged between 15 and 26 (I was 17). Now, four of my comrades were missing, two were wounded. Ten were dead.

For the rest of the story.

Long live the Tamil people! Long live the Tigers! Long live the solidarity of oppressed peoples!

VIDEO OF TURKISH STATE TERROR IN AMARA

"I don’t think that a point of view that considers the Kurds as zero will be able to provide peace in the Middle East."
~ Osman Baydemir.

Here is the Turkish state terror, the state-sponsored violence, so heartily supported by the new American president:

That was Mustafa Dağ's blood spilling out on the ground after he had been hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired by brutal Turkish security forces. Let me add that Turkish security forces learned everything they know from the Americans, from NATO. This is their so-called War on Terror.

As is obvious from the video, they themselves are the agents of terror. So Obama did speak the truth when he said that the US and Turkey can build a "model partnership" based on ideals and values. Truer words were never spoken! The same ideals and values form the basis for both nations: Murder, repression, terror.

And so the values are spread. DTP parliamentarian Ayla Akat Ata was beat by nightstick-weilding AKP police as she attempted to gather information about the murders of Mustafa Dağ and Dicle University student Mahsum Karaoğlan at Birecik state hospital. Source: http://www.kurdish-info.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12894

Now, this is an elected parliamentarian, a woman who stands for her people, represents them in the parliament, and who went to seek information about the murders of two of her people. And she is beaten by the ruling party's police forces? Ah, well, there's democracy in action, for you, coming straight from America's "Model of Democracy" for the Middle East.

Certainly Obama is working to "transform the US-Turkish relationship into a well-oiled machine"--a machine well-oiled by Kurdish blood is what they mean.

Yet Obama--who himself does not have the courage of Ayla Akat Ata, or Leyla Zana, or Emine Ayna, or DTP's women mayors, or PKK's women guerrillas--has the balls to lecture Ahmet Türk about violence or armed stuggle not being the means to solve the Kurdish situation? Well it's clear that a political solution does not exist, nor does an avenue toward a political solution exist. America's boy, Katil Erdoğan, still refuses to meet with DTP officials, much less will he sit down with them to lay the groundwork for a political solution. The US was the one to refuse PKK's most recent (2006) ceasefire so that it could sell more Lockheed product to Turkey. The US is providing targets for TSK to bomb Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq.

Change you can believe in!

Even the recent elections have suffered the same, old corrupt electoral practices that the Ankara regime has used since Day 1. A German delegation of election observers in Ağrı are lending their support to the people of Ağrı, based on the "irregularities" that they witnessed in that town:

As an observer delegation, we agree with the claim of the residents of Agri after elections. We urge the international press, to pursue the events in Agri and publicize them. International public opinion is the best protection for their democratic rights to citizens struggling in Agri.

Another item that no one in Obama's press entourage bothered to cover . . . 88 vehicles have been burned in two days throughout throughout Turkey in protest against Turkish state terror in Amara and Ağrı. Eighty-five of those vehicles were in Istanbul in the following areas: Sultangazi, Maltepe, Sancaktepe, Sultanbeyli, Ümraniye, Küçükçekmece, Ataşehir, Çekmeköy, Yeşilpınar and Kadıköy. Vehicles were also burned in Diyarbakır and Silvan. The vehicle burned in Diyarbakır was associated with a Fethullahcı business, while the two burned in Silvan belonged to professional soldiers and not conscripts. In addition, ten Fethullahçı-affiliated stores in Istanbul were burned. A Sabançı İş Bank office was burned in Diyarbakır.


What do you expect when every political avenue has a road block?


Addendum: For those who wish to help spread the video, particularly by embedding it in your own blog, check this link. You'll need a Youtube account to access the video and its embed script, since the video is restricted to 18 years or older on Youtube. Spread it far and wide, comrades!

CEASEFIRES AND STATE TERRORISM

"These enemies of humanity who believe that the state authority has weakened and turned their guns on our innocent citizens will definitely drown in the hole that they have fallen into. Such attacks which are against the existence of the Turkish Republic prove how just we are in the struggle against terrorism."
~ Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller on the Güçlükonak Massacre.

Well, we all know Ergenekon goes east of the Fırat. Now they are finding out. From Özgür Gündem:

Ekmen confessed it: The Güçlükonak massacre was conducted by the state


The former state minister responsible for human rights, Adnan Ekmen, had important statements about the Güçlükonak massacre. These statements shed light on the reasons for leaving the Kurdish question unresolved and point out the who provoked, and why, the declared ceasefire.

The confession came after 13 years

The minister responsible for human rights in the 52nd government, in which Tansu Çiller was prime minister and Deniz Baykal was foreign minister, Adnan Ekmen made statements to Yeni Aktüel magazine by saying, "My conscience makes me uncomfortable": "Although we knew the background of the event, unfortunately we could not explain it to the public. According to the hearings from the region and from the relatives of the people who were killed, we realized that the situation was not the same as the security forces were talking about. The event that took place was in a location where the security forces had full control anyway; It was impossible for PKK to conduct an operation. Yet the ID cards of the murdered were in the hands of the security forces, people were burned; however, somehow, their ID cards were never damaged. Apparently the people who burned them took their ID cards before burning them. To me, this was the point that exposed them.

"We sat and talked about what we could do together with the ministry's bureaucrats. I called a village guard chief and tribal leader who I trusted, and told him what I had heard. He said to me, 'I cannot lie to you; whatever you heard is true. The official statement ofthe security forces does not reflect the truth.' I asked him whether he would be willing to tell us the truth if we went to Güçlükonak; 'This is not possible. If we tell the truth we cannot protect ourselves, and neither can you,' he said. After he said that we changed our minds about going to Güçlükonak.

"I offered Deniz Baykal the things that I knew, to tell Prime Minister Çiller. When he said 'It is up to you, but the Prime Minister is very busy nowadays,' I changed my mind."

"I told the event to the chairman of CHP, of which I was a member, and I told him that I wanted to share what I heard with the public. He asked me why they were putting the blame on PKK. In Europe there would be a very important vote about the Kurds. By blaming this incident on PKK, I said to him that they might want it to give a message to the association which would hold the election."

First ceasefire, first provocation

Özal wanted it, a ceasefire was declared.

President Turgut Özal conveyed his ceasefire demand to PKK through the PUK leader Celal Talabani. The Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, responded to Özal's demand positively. On 17 March 1993 in Lebanon's Bar Eliyas town, Öcalan and PUK leader Celal Talabani, as mediator, came out in front of the press and declared a 25-day ceasefire.

Özal expressed his satisfaction to Talabani, who visited him after the ceasefire, by saying: "For ten years it is the very first time I slept peacefully." After Özal's positive reaction, one day after the limited ceasefire, on 16 April, in Bar Eliyas, Öcalan came out in front of the press one more time and declared that they had extended the unilateral ceasefire indefinitely.

Özal's suspicious death and the 33 soldiers incident

Özal, who had sympathy for most of the demands that were mentioned in the ceasefire, including a general amnesty, died suddenly, one day after the indefinite ceasefire, on 17 April 1993. It was stated that Özal suffered a heart attack. However, many people, primarily his family, and including Öcalan, said "Özal was murdered". On 24 May 1993, the news of the massacre came. Şemdin Sakık, who blocked the Bingöl-Elazığ highway and killed 33 unarmed soldiers, declared the end of the first ceasefire. Öcalan said that incident of the murder of 33 soldiers was not related to them [PKK] and he refused to take responsibility. Öcalan mentioned this truth many times on İmralı and he called for the enlightenment of this incident.

Second ceasefire, second provocation

This time Çiller wanted it

After Özal's death, Süleyman Demirel became president and Tansu Çiller became prime minister. Çiller sent a letter to Öcalan, again through Talabani, and wanted Öcalan to declare a ceasefire. After that, PKK declared the second unilateral ceasefire on 15 December 1995.

11 villagers were raked with gunfire and burned

One month after the ceasefire, on 16 January 1996, this time the news came from Şırnak's town, Güçlükonak. The Koçyurdu minibus, which contained 11 villagers, was raked with gunfire and the corpses were then burned. The general staff and government officials declared the operation was conducted by PKK. PKK, on the other hand, defined the incident as "provocation through state-related contra groups" and despite this incident, declared the "continuation of the ceasefire". However, for the very first time the general staff took journalists, including foreign journalists, to the scene and made anti-PKK statements. However, the general staff did not let the journalists talk to the villagers.

Intellectuals blamed the state

The Together for Peace Working Group members, intellectuals, and journalists, went to the scene twice and found clues. They focused on the fact that the incident was related to the state. They sued, however not only did they receive no result, but also they were countersued by the charge of "insulting the army" and were convicted to ten years in prison.

Two days after the massacre, the EU parliament would assemble for a ceasefire

During the Güçlükonak incident, the European parliament had assembled for an important agenda. Turkey conducted its military operation despite the PKK's unilateral ceasefire. However, the ceasefire issue became a hot debate in the international arena. The European parliament called PKK and Turkey for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question on 13 December 1995. The ceasefire decision was given as a response to this call. In fact, a proposition related to Turkey was accepted unanimously during the 18 January 1996 session. One of the articles in the proposal was about the ceasefire: "The European parliament greets the unilateral ceasefire declared by Öcalan and accepts this initiative as a positive response to the European parliament's decision on 13 December 1995. At the same time it [the European parliament] hopes Turkey considers this gesture as a step towards a peaceful solution and accepts it as an opportunity to initiate a national-level dialog to overcome the problem in the Eastern Anatolian Region." Just two days before the meeting at which this decision was made, the Güçlükonak massacre took place.

Villagers were detained

It was revealed that some of the villagers who were murdered were detained and were held in the Taşkonak Jandarma Battalion, and some of them were taken from their homes on the day of the incident. Among the people who were killed, Halit Kaya's daughter from Yatağankaya village, Ramazan Oruç's son, and Ali Nas's nephew from Çevrimli village had previously joined the PKK guerrillas.

Third ceasefire, third provocation

Everyone wanted a ceasefire

Prime minister Erdoğan made moderate statements related to the Kurdish question in 2005 and showed attempts to make PKK declare a ceasefire. Many parties, including the US, the EU, KDP, PUK, AKP and DTP, made various attempts toward this issue. On 1 October 2006, PKK declared a ceasefire. However no improvement was made after the ceasefire.

Massacre in the first year of the ceasefire

One year passed and the ceasefire was still in effect. On 29 September 2007, the news of the massacre came from Şırnak's Beytüşşebap. Twelve people in a minibus going to Beşağaç (Hemkan) village were ambushed. The general staff and the government made a statement that "PKK did it" about the massacre, which resembled the Guclukonak incident. PKK on the other hand declared that "the massacre was committed by JITEM, which is linked to the army". Villagers also said that the incident was conducted by village guards and JITEM; the information received confirmed this claim. After this date, not only did the hope for a solution to the Kurdish question weaken but it was also the start of the cross-border operations. Thus the policies of violence entered a new stage.

Kaplan: The state prosecutor must act

DTP's Şırnak parliamentarian Hasip Kaplan expressed his views regarding the statements made by the former minister responsible for human rights at that time, Adnan Ekmen, and wanted the state prosecutor to take action. Kaplan said, "The investigation and evidence previously found by the intellectuals and the NGOs is today confirmed one more time by the statements of someone who has been at the ministry level. The prosecutor must immediately begin an investigation, listen to Minister Ekmen, the intellectuals, and the NGOs who have previously made such investigations. Because this is a massacre case, a case of provocation, the case must be reopened." Mentioning that they would take this issue to the parliament's attention, Kaplan said: "Previously we had given question and investigation proposals to the parliament regarding extrajudicial murders and massacres. We are going to keep a close eye on these. We will bring up this incident too."

Now tell me again, who are the real terrorists? Who are the real "enemies of humanity", as Çiller so boldly put it? What is this bullshit "struggle against terrorism" really all about?

GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF KURDISHNESS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC

"Every time they asked me about my ethnicity, I answered, "Kurdish," and they beat me with a whip that looked like some kind of a hose."
~ Farhad Kamangar, Kurdish prisoner of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Last Friday, HRW issued its recent report on repression in East Kurdistan by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not that I agree with HRW's pacifist stance on everything particularly since, if you're a Kurd, the political avenue in the Islamic Republic is identical to that in Turkey--closed. But at least this is more documentation, more fuel for the fire. You can read the entire 42-page report here and here's something from the press release:

"Iranian authorities show little tolerance of political dissent anywhere in the country, but they are particularly hostile to dissent in minority areas where there has been any history of separatist activities," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division.

Kurds account for 4.5 million of the 69 million people in Iran, and live mainly in the country's northwest regions. Political movements there have frequently campaigned for greater regional autonomy. The main Iranian Kurdish parties with a long history of activism deny that they engage in armed activity and the government has not accused these groups of any such activity since the early 1990s.

"No one would contest a government's right to suppress violence," Stork said. "But this is not the case here. What is going on in the Kurdish areas of Iran is the routine suppression of legitimate peaceful opposition."

The new report documents how the government has closed Persian- and Kurdish-language newspapers and journals, banned books, and punished publishers, journalists, and writers for opposing and criticizing government policies. Authorities also suppress legitimate activities of nongovernmental organizations by denying registration permits or charging individuals working with such organizations with spurious security offenses.

One victim of the government's repression is Farazad Kamangar, a superintendent of high schools in the city of Kamayaran and an activist with the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan. He has been in detention since his arrest in July 2006. The new report reproduces a letter Kamangar smuggled out of prison describing how officials subjected him to torture during interrogation.

On February 25, 2008, Branch 30 of Iran's Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death on charges of "endangering national security." Prosecutors charged that he was a member of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but provided no evidence to support the allegation. In July, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. Kamangar's lawyer has appealed to the head of the judiciary to intervene, the only remaining option for challenging the sentence.

The report notes that the recent round of repression began in August 2005 with the murder of Kurdish activist Şîrvan Qaderî, who was shot by the mullah's flying monkey security forces and then tied to the back of their vehicle and dragged through the streets until dead in the venerable Kurdish city of Mahabad.

What is also interesting in the report is the discussion of the Islamic Republic's constitution and that it is interpreted in ways similar to that in Turkey:

Iranian laws ostensibly protect freedom of expression and thought . . .

Article 15 of Iran's Constitution designates Persian as the "official and shared language of Iran" but allows for the "use of local and ethnic languages in groups' press and media and teaching of their literature in schools alongside Persian."[96] Article 19 of the Constitution states that "the people of Iran, no matter what ethnicity or tribe, have equal rights, and attributes such as color or race or language will not be a reason for privilege."[97] Despite these provisions, the cases covered in this report show that the editors and writers of Kurdish publications face violations of rights guaranteed by Iran's constitution and Press Law.

Article 9 of the constitution contains two seemingly contradictory provisions. On the one hand, it endorses prima facie violations of international human rights law and allows no option for balancing individual rights of freedom of expression or association with legitimate security considerations when it states, "No individual, group, or authority, has the right to infringe in the slightest way upon the political, cultural, economic, and military independence or the territorial integrity of Iran under the pretext of exercising freedom." The article goes on to state that "no authority has the right to abrogate legitimate freedoms, not even by enacting laws and regulations for that purpose, under the pretext of preserving the independence and territorial integrity of the country."[98] The authorities often rely on the first part of Article 9 to justify restricting freedom of speech in the Kurdish regions, while disregarding the same article's prohibition on undue restrictions.

[ . . . ]

The scope of Article 6 gives authorities broad legal cover to suppress freedom of expression. Section 1 prohibits publication of material that is "atheistic or contrary to Islamic codes, or promote subjects which might damage the foundation of the Islamic Republic."[101] Section 4 outlaws material that "creates discord between and among social walks of life, especially by raising racial issues."[102] Section 9 outlaws "quoting articles from the deviant press, parties, and groups which oppose Islam (inside and outside the country) in such a manner as to propagate such ideas."[103] Section 12 prohibits publishing anything critical of the constitution.

The Islamic Republic's constitution is also supposed to protect minority rights but, as in Turkey, this is merely cosmetics. Take this, for example and notice how Turkish it sounds:

Article 15 states that Persian is the official language of the country but stipulates that "the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian."[124]

Article 19 states that "all people of Iran, whatever the ethnic group or tribe to which they belong, enjoy equal rights; color, race, language, and the like, do not bestow any privilege." [125] Article 20 confirms equal protection under the law by stating that "all citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria."

Yeah, right everybody's equal! Well, we know very well that "Islamic criteria" don't count for a damn when the Muslims in question are Kurds.

The discussion includes "freedom of association" or the de facto lack thereof in the Islamic Republic's constitution, a lack which is justified by "security laws". All of these laws are interpreted broadly, as pointed out by the HRW report, so that they are virtually meaningless and a meaningless constitution is a hallmark of all fascist regimes. Such constitutions are nothing more than pieces of paper designed for show, to allow ugly regimes like those of Turkey or Iran a place at the table of so-called civilized nations.

A few years ago, a study published in the academic Journal of Religion and Society reported, "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."

I wonder if higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator also correlate with higher rates of repression, human rights violations, and atrocities?