HELICOPTER DOWN

"Now the Turkish regime seems to be deaf to any proposals made by us for civilized and democratic solutions to the conflict between us.Indeed,the Turkish government is more resolved than ever to solve the Kurdish question by bloodshed."
~ Abdullah Öcalan.

PKK brings down a helicopter in the Hakkari region, from Fırat News:

A helicopter in the operation was downed.

Five Turkish troops, among whom was a brigade commander, were killed and 19 wounded due to a military helicopter downing in an operation in Hakkari's Kavaklı region.

According to the information received, a clash occured between TSK and HPG, after TSK began an operation in Hakkari's Kavaklı region.

One of the helicopters, which came from Hakkari Dağ and the Commando Brigade Command to intervene in the clash, was downed by the guerrillas. In the incident, five soldiers, among whom was a brigade commander, were killed and 19 wounded.

The Turkish general staff confirmed the incident and claimed that the helicopter was "cut down" due to "technical problems". The general staff had used the term "cut down" [kırıma uğradı] in the aerial attack against South Kurdistan's Zap region, where the TSK was defeated [in February 2008].

[Note: To avoid admitting that helicopters are brought down by HPG, the Turkish General Staff created the term "kırıma uğradı", loosely meaning "cut down". The term was first used in TSK statements during the February 2008 land invasion of South Kurdistan. In fact, there is no such word in Turkish; the General Staff just made it up.]

Meanwhile, several soldiers were mobilized to the area of the clash until late in the night.

In addition to using the phrase "kırıma uğradı", TSK now also uses the phrase "etkisiz hale getirmek", meaning to neutralize or de-activate, when making statements about alleged HPG casualties. The implication of the use of this phrase on the Turkish public is that HPG guerrillas have been killed by TSK. However, if guerrillas are killed, TSK will say "killled". Again, this is like the statements TSK made in February, in which they led the Turkish public to believe that "hundreds" of guerrillas had been killed, when using the phrase meaning "neutralized".

In other words, both "kırıma uğradı" and "etkisiz hale getirmek" are Turkish Newspeak, with no practical meaning vis-a-vis the Kurdish freedom movement.

In other news, a friend sent something in email, showing Devlet Bahçeli, the MHP leader, blowing gaskets in the TBMM because the Ankara regime is attempting to "dialog" with Mesûd Barzanî over the PKK, committing what in Bahçeli's poorly-functioning mind is a major foreign policy faux pas:

"The government fell into a new trap of Barzani, who wants the Turkish government to endorse his presence in northern Iraq," said Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), at a parliamentary group meeting of his party yesterday. "The plot is obvious now: The mastermind of terrorism is Barzani; its executive center is in the Kandil Mountains and the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] is courting it," the MHP leader said, accusing the ruling party of "being on the same page as the PKK and Barzani."

Okay. So Bahçeli is obviously barking mad and is using his insanity to make some political hay. The problem with "dialog" with the South Kurdistani leaders is that there are Kurdish parliamentarians in the TBMM, and they are the ones that the regime should be talking to in order to come to a solution to the Kurdish situation in Turkey. This is something I've said for some time. Now, it looks like I'm not the only one saying it. Fatih Çekirge at Hürriyet is coming around to the same conclusion under his "Third Writing" (Üçüncü Yazı):

We shut down DTP, and talk to Iraqi-KDP

Look at the scenery. We are expecting "goodwill" from Talabanî and Barzanî. We have talks. We give them ultimatums. Now there is preparation for diplomatic action.

There will be talks with Talabanî and Barzanî. A common strategy would be enhanced for a mutual struggle against the PKK.

What an odd thing . . .Imagine a country that:

Does not contact or speak to the elected parliamentarians [DTP] in its own parliament . . . Goodwill is bankrupt. They are not being spoken to, rather they are talking to Barzanî (Kak Mesut, not Mam Mesut), who is considered as one of "our three leaders".

Every time Barzanî points to "them" [DTP].

Barzanî says, "You do something at home, I will help out". Barzanî refers to the "unspoken-to parliamentarians" by saying "at home".

I mean DTP. The answer is:

"It can't be! At home we are shutting down DTP. Externally, we talk to Barzanî's Iraqi KDP.

What kind of contradiction is this? What kind of paradox is this?

Çekirge has additional commentary on "dialog" with the Southern Kurdish leadership at the top of the page:

They were also contacted.

Reality is sometimes revealed piece-by-piece, and each detail, like a Lego, completes and creates the "big picture".

I define such a "big picture" as "public reality."

This week, I am also adding some pieces to this "public reality".

Now, let me juxtapose, as headlines:

First, the question that Ertuğrul Özkök (of Hürriyet) asked:

Was there any offer taken to "terrorist" leader asking, "Let's solve this problem with you"? Does such bargaining exist?

Firstly, I know the following sentence from the source:

"As MİT, our duty is even to talk to snakes, if needed. We can contact anyone. Even with the enemy."

Now let's look at the events through this lens:

Barzanî told MİT chief Emre Taner, "You take a step. We will disarm them."

In December 2007, the MİT chief gave the following message at an Ankara summit meeting:

"Now there isn't any operation, if we don't do anything the operation will restart." (Indeed, today it already started).

The point we are at now:

MİT chief Emre Taner had contacted Talabanî and Barzanî.

Regarding PKK, the organization had a three-dimensional facet, Imralı [Öcalan]-Murat Karayılan (mountains)-Zübeyir Aydar (Europe). These contacts also occured.

Progress was conveyed to all the state's authoritative names. Of course, this was a study. A plan. We know that it was also conveyed to Abdullah Gül [this means all the government knew about such a contact, although now they deny it.]

The goal was to make the "terrorists" lay down their arms, diffusing the administrative group in the mountains. For this reason, there were contacts with both the "terrorist" leader and the ones in the mountains.

As a result, according to this plan, the weapons could be layed down in a "no-loser" solution. At least, the expectation was so.

However, the government did not take the initiative, did not give any negative or positive response. And especially the military (so then, the chief of the General Staff, Yaşar Büyükanıt, and the Land Forces Commander, General İlker Başbuğ) refused the plan, were not convinced. They kept a distance from this plan. Therefore, the plan to descend from the mountains was left in the middle.

What did PKK want?

In a meeting, Barzanî gave the following message:

"You, too, take some step . . . for instance, reduce the threshold for the elections to five percent, mention about cultural diversity in your constitution."

This also backfired. Thus, the job was left to weapons again.

On this point, I have to say this:

The study that was done definitely was not "bargain with Öcalan", I mean with "the terrorist". It was a strategic preparation to stop the bloodshed. For this reason, the "we can contact even with a snake" phrase is important, since it was done, and maybe it is still being done.

Therefore, the question that Ertuğrul Özkök asked must not be received and transformed into a case of "following the hounds".

Ironic, isn't it, that MİT seems willing to negotiate a solution--and that goes farther back at least to Şengal Atasagun's time--while the Fethullahcı and their boys, the paşas, leave all attempts at negotiation untouched on the table? I'd like to hear what Taner has to say about PKK's offer of a democratic resolution.

By the way, check out an article at the Christian Science Monitor about the recent woes of the TSK. It's the most complete summary in Western media that I've seen on the war news.

BAŞBUĞ: I STILL DON'T GIVE A SHIT

"It seems the Aktütün controversy was the straw that broke the camel's back. Başbuğ upped the ante so high that I can't imagine how things will get back to normal again."
~ Ruşen Çakır, Vatan.

İlker Başbuğ flipped his lid today over HPG's recent Bezele operation:

"Those, who despite everything show this attack of the terror organization as a success story, share responsibility for the bloodshed. I want everybody to understand this very well," Gen. Ilker Basbug told at a televised press conference held in the western province of Balikesir.

Hmm . . . I don't know . . . it seems to me that if HPG managed to "de-activate" 62 Turkish soldiers at the Bezele (Aktütün) garrison, it certainly sounds like it was a success story and it seems to me that Başbuğ and his paşas share the greatest responsibility for the bloodshed among themselves alone. But wait, there's more:

"The Turkish Armed Forces have full self-confidence and it is stronger, more determined and resolute today than ever. The systematic attacks that had increased in recent days would do nothing but increase strength, determination and will of the Turkish Armed Forces," he said.

[ . . . ]

"The response any army would give to such attacks is obvious, and therefore I call on everyone to act with caution and stand in the correct spot," Basbug said, adding an investigation was launched on the attack.

I wonder if they're going to be making that investigation from the back nine on some Turkish air base? More from Zaman:

“This is my last word: I invite everyone to be careful and to stand in the right position,” Başbuğ told a hastily arranged press conference in the northwestern province of Balıkesir, where he was attending a routine military ceremony. Journalists were flown to Balıkesir from Ankara on two planes, and the brief conference was broadcast live on television. “Those who present the actions of the separatist terrorist organization as successful acts are responsible for the blood that has been shed and will be shed.”

Blah, blah, blah . . .

Başbuğ's issuing threats with a red face because, on Tuesday, Taraf published information about "serious security flaws" on the part of TSK during the Bezele operation. Again, from Zaman:

Aerial infrared images of the Aktütün area in Hakkari, the province bordering northern Iraq where the military outpost was attacked, published in the Taraf daily yesterday clearly show figures approaching the area through the northern Iraqi border. Images from Oct. 3, taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), show a group of individuals laying mines at around 9:35 a.m. local time, about three-and-a-half hours before the attack. The group gets larger in the following images as more and more of these individuals -- who eventually attack the outpost -- take their positions on hilltops in preparation for the attack. The UAV camera then switches to the Aktütün military outpost, where the attack occurred. The terrorist raid, which killed 17 young soldiers, was literally broadcast live on General Staff monitors. Taraf said this is concrete evidence that the security forces had been informed about every move made by the PKK terrorists.

Taraf also claimed that the General Staff actually had intelligence about the plans for the attack one month before it occurred. On the day of the attack, live UAV images were transmitted for hours to the Electronic Systems Command of the General Staff, as well as to a monitor in the office of the deputy chief of general staff in the capital.

The General Staff Electronic Systems Command is the same branch of the TSK that was commanded by Münir Ertan, who was silenced by Yaşar Büyükanıt for Ertan's confirmation that the December 2007 bombings of South Kurdistan only resulted in five HPG deaths, as compared to the alleged hundreds of deaths which the Turkish General Staff claimed for public consumption.

Ertan was retired in August.

Zaman continues:

Taraf published internal security status reports sent to the General Staff -- including one from Sept. 29 -- that featured detailed intelligence about terrorist activity in the region. Even the names, birth places and ages of the terrorists crossing the border, as well as the number of people in various groups formed by the militants, are included in the status reports. A report wired on Oct. 2, just one day before the Aktütün attack, warns that “the PKK is engaged in extensive preparations to attack security forces outposts along the border ahead of a possible cross-border operation.” Even the name of the PKK commander -- Habat, one of the group’s female leaders -- who staged the attack was reported in the Oct. 2 document.

Below is part of the infrared imaging from the UAV as presented on Samanyolu TV. Pay attention to the black-and-white images that are shown:

According to Taraf, these were the UAV images that were beamed to the General Staff Electronic Systems Command. Uninterrupted infrared images can be viewed here.

The biggest lesson to be taken from the Bezele operation and the information published by Taraf is that HPG needs to clamp down on operational security severely and immediately so that future operations are not leaked to TSK ahead of time. No mercy should be shown to those who are willing to unnecessarily jeopardize the lives of our guerrillas.

The second lesson is that the paşas still don't give a shit about the cannon fodder under their command.

APPLYING THE MILITARY SOLUTION

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ . . . ]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TURKISH INVASION, TERROR, AND OCCUPATION OF SOUTH KURDISTAN

"Indeed, it is more than a bit ironic that the major recurring threat to society and political stability in Turkey over the past 60 years, the "Deep State," was actually enabled by the country's Western allies, and first of all, America."
~ Chris Deliso.

Check out Gordon Taylor's recent post at Progressive Historians:

For a lot of very young kids in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, today really is Spain 1937. On Friday, 22 February, the Turkish Army began yet another ground operation into lands which its enemy, the PKK, refers to as the Medya Defense Zones; i.e., those steep and remote regions which adjoin the extreme southeast border between Turkey and Iraq. Fighting is reportedly intense, and the conditions, in freezing snow-covered mountains, as bad as anything that can be imagined. So far the Turks claim 79 "terrorists" killed, while the PKK says they have lost 2. The PKK claims some 22 Turkish soldiers have died, and they report the downing of a Cobra helicopter near the River Zab. (If true, the latter would definitely be a coup. And it is not, it should be noted, the first time that the PKK has taken out a helicopter.) First touted as a "major" incursion, it now appears that only a limited number of elite mountain troops, equipped with snow camouflage and winter uniforms, are taking part. These are undoubtedly picked men, all volunteers and probably all career soldiers--not draftees like the eight unfortunate young men who were captured by the PKK in October and ended up being imprisoned by their own army after they were repatriated.

[ . . . ]

Meanwhile the Bush administration, going on in its dazed, robotic way,continues to incorporate the PKK, a tiny group which has never attacked Americans, into its Global War On Terror. Both the EU and the United States, it should be noted, officially regard the PKK as a "terrorist" organization. Since the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited Washington in November 2007, the U.S. also officially regards the PKK as a "common enemy".

[ . . . ]

Satellite maps tonight (1:20 AM, 2/24) show a large weather system that has come off the Mediterranean, now covers northern Syria, and soon will be in Iraq. Forecasts for Mosul call for rain, and rain in Mosul means snow in Kurdistan. Meanwhile, the Kurds of southeast Turkey, having held mass demonstrations repeatedly in the past three months, are planning another for Diyarbakir on Monday, February 25. It should be a big one.

Let's hope so.

Make sure you also check out Hevallo's recent posts on HPG's call for serhildan and his photos and video of today's protest in Amed (Diyarbakır).

Yeni Özgür Politika has a roundup of war news, all in Turkish. However, scroll down for Rastî weekend posts for most of that information.

Included is a body count which shows 22 Turkish soldiers killed on the first day of the war and 42 more killed in the last two days for a total of 64 Turkish soldiers killed total. Among the dead are included one major, a first lieutenant, a master sergeant, and a "skilled" sergeant. Names of the dead have also been released and are included in the YÖP article.

In another YÖP article, HPG Headquarters Commander Bahoz Erdal says the body count for the five days of the war is at least 81.

HPG reports three guerrilla şehîds.

Land Forces Commander İlker Başbuğ met with American military officials and peşmêrge commanders in Silopi on Sunday. As noted in the YÖP article (and in weekend comments), a convoy of some 70 American military vehicles, including M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and armored Humvees left Musel for Duhok.

The WaPo has an article on the situation for civilians in the area of South Kurdistan near the border. In spite of quoting ridiculous Turkish general staff numbers--and you do know who to believe now, don't you?--it's clear in the article that the deployment of tanks in the area is meant simply to terrorize the civilian population:

"Whenever the children hear the military operations, they feel frightened," said school headmaster Aoni Mashaghti. "Most of the women came to school to take their kids out. Whenever they hear any sound of bombardment, the school becomes empty."

Hawzan Hussein, who lives in a community of about 160 families, said people are worried because some of the Turkish targets are so close to their homes.

The explosions "have become a daily scene that frightened me with the possibility of hitting our house any time," the 25-year-old said.

Associated Press Television News footage from the border area showed Turkish tanks dug into barren hillsides, with armored vehicles taking positions in towns.

Yeah, barren hillsides and occupation of towns. You're sure to find oodles of guerrillas in those places. The firing of tanks and artillery in this area, as well as Turkish military occupation of Southern Kurdish towns, has no other purpose but terror, which is exactly what we should expect since the world's greatest terrorist states are coordinating and conducting this war.

For more on civilians caught in the areas of Turkish aggression, check Goran's new article at MideastYouth:

Turning eyes to Turkey, one will be disturbed to say the least at the various issues at hand with regards to Turkey’s long history of human rights abuses and oppressive policies. The Kurds in Turkey have been the primary victims of these policies who have suffered everything from harsh assimilation campaigns, displacements and various forms of ethnic cleansing. During the 1990s alone, nearly 4000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were completely destroyed leaving the people homeless and forced to move to large cities where they rarely were able to adapt to the new life. Results of these internal displacements can be seen with a simple visit to the impoverished Kurdish southeast where unemployment rates reach unbelievable highs of 60 - 70%. In addition to economical as well as other problems (cited by human rights organizations) such as torture, unexplained disappearances, black operations in which innocents are killed and even the banning of the Kurdish language in Turkey and lack of cultural rights, the Kurds have also been limited a political voice. Many Kurdish politicians have been imprisoned sometimes for decades for simply speaking out for Kurdish rights. Resulting factor in all this: Many have turned to an arms struggle, which has haunted the country for over two decades.

[ . . . ]

First and foremost, although the Turkish military claims to have inflicted damage on rebel camps, no claims could be confirmed. Instead, footage and reports of the area are showing that the only damage being done is to the civilian villages in the region. (See a video reporting on the region at Real News.) Contrary to the Turkish claims, the Iraqi Kurdish leadership has said it believes Turkey’s expansion of the war into northern Iraq is not against the PKK Kurdish rebels, but instead against all Kurds as demonstrated by the attacks on the villages, and in particular, the Iraqi Kurds’ own political gains and autonomy in the region.

Of course, those conducting state terror against the Kurdish people, and their lapdogs in official media, have never made reference to the PKK's ceasefire and offer of a peaceful, democratic solution--and one that is in accord with Europe's EU requirements for Turkey's accession--both of which were offered in 2006.

If you possibly can, take some time to listen to a recent interview with Chris Deliso and Daniel Ellsberg by Scott Horton from the Stress blog.

In Part 1, Scott interviews Chris on the situation in the Balkans and promotes Chris' recent book, The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West. Rastî readers may remember that Chris wrote an excellent article about the Ralston conflict of interest. What you may not know is that Chris took a bit of a break to write the Ralston article while rushing to get his Balkan Caliphate manuscript to the publisher.

Let me also take a moment to point out that the whole Yugoslav war was overseen by none other that The Cohen Group: William Cohen was the Secretary of Defense at the time; Marc Grossman was the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs; and Joseph Ralston was the Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

As the only English-language journalist living in Macedonia, Chris has first-hand knowledge of everything that's going on there. In the interview, among other things, Chris talks about the nature of the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, saying that the missions are a very lucrative business and that in the 10 years that the UN has had a mission in Kosovo, the roads are still unpaved or filled with potholes. According to Chris, "Kosovo is a corporation; it's not a country and it's a very corrupt one."

Well, what do you expect when The Cohen Group's involved?

In the second part of the interview, Daniel Ellsberg--who's been speaking out on behalf of Sibel Edmonds--joins the interview and the discussion of Kosovo and the Balkans delves into its connections with the Turkish Deep State and the Deep State's heroin industry. Ellsberg argues the case for Turkey having a nuclear weapons program. He talks more about Sibel's case, too.

Interesting stuff and highly recommended. The Part 1 mp3 can be downloaded here (runtime: 28.20). Part 2 of the interview can be found here (runtime: 49:08).

There is also a webpage for Part 1 and Part 2.

TURKEY'S KURDISH POLICY

"Turkey must be aware that we will be faced with an independent state in the north of Iraq when conditions are suitable. I can say that this would be a security problem rather than a political problem."
~ Yaşar Büyükanıt, Chief of General Staff.

The nice people at Info-Turk.be have translated IHD's statement on the Beytüşşebap massacre:

A minibus, in the rural area of Beytüssebap district of Sırnak province, was raked. 12 people (children, women and men) in the minibus were killed. At the moment, perpetrators of the attack are unknown.

The region has been declared as security zone a few months ago. As a result; entrance and exit is being kept under the control by security forces of the State. Media and public opinion, currently, do not have proper, right information about the attack.

So, as Human Rights Association (IHD) we are commenting the attack within the framework of our principal attitude that is; We are defending dominance of peace in our country. Keystone of peace is composed of human rights and freedoms, democracy and rule of law.

As IHD we are against attack, which targets civilian, without considering peace period or war period. We condemn the violation of the Article 3, which is about prohibition of arbitrary murdering and common in Geneva Conventions that are the most important documents of Humanitarian Law. We are against extrajudicial executions, which are violation of right to life, by the State organs.

We are against executions by organizations that use arm as a tool in their activities, too. The attack in Şırnak is inhuman and cruel.

IHD considers the attack as the one, which should be condemned and be against without regarding its perpetrators or aim. We are sharing sorrow of families whose relatives killed in the attack.

We demand for revealing perpetrators and bringing them to justice.

The Turkish version is at IHD's website.

Hevallo has taken the time to deconstruct the Ankara regime's initial lie about a seven-year-old being killed in the massacre. He also reminds us of the games played at the Hudson Institute, where quite a few scenarios for Turkish-occupied Kurdistan were concocted. I have to agree with him that it's entirely possible that a scenario like the one played out over the weekend in Beytüşşebap might be one of the results of the game plan hashed out by the perverted minds involved with Hudson.

In the meantime, Yaşar Büyükanıt has set up DTP as a target for the regime's assassins:

We are faced with a mentality which cannot bring itself to call a terrorist organisation terrorist, which calls members of this terrorist organisation "brothers", and which calls the Turkish Armed Forces "separatist".

Remember that DTP's Ankara office came under gunfire earlier this week.

Yaşar Paşa goes on to blame the incompetence of the TSK, in its fight against the Kurdish freedom movement, on those pesky human rights types, which is what he did in June.

And, as if it weren't enough to treat the Kurdish problem in Turkey (which the Ankara regime created) as a strictly security matter, Büyükanıt says that an autonomous Kurdistan in the South will "be a security problem rather than a political problem". It is clear then that the Ankara regime considers South Kurdistan as a "problem" in and of itself and has nothing whatsoever to do with PKK.

Land forces commander, İlker Başbuğ, who will succeed Büyükanıt as chief of the Turkish general staff, parroted the same idea earlier:

Land Forces Commander Ilker Basbug signaled Monday that the main worry of the Turkish Armed Forces regarding northern Iraq is the danger of the region becoming a center of attraction for Turkey's Kurds.

The area which is run by the autonomous administration of the Kurdistan Regional Government seems to be regarded as a main threat to Turkish unity.

"It is a fact that the developments in north of Iraq has given political, legal, military and psychological strength to the Kurds living in the region as they have never had or experienced before in the past. We must be careful about the developments in north of Iraq as these may give some of our citizens a feeling of belonging to this region," the Land Forces chief said.

The idea of Kurdish autonomy as a threat to the Turkish state will be the guiding principle of Turkish policy toward the South for the foreseeable future. The Ankara regime's fears of Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan getting uppity as a result of Southern autonomy is the reason for the renewed Dirty War in the North. TSK's massacre in Beytüşşebap is the practical expression of this policy. Expect to see many more similar TSK atrocities.

There's more on Büyükanıt's remarks about the "threat" of South Kurdistan at TNA which concludes with his remarks on the division of Turkey:

Let us be sure of one thing. No force can divide Turkey. No one has the power to divide Turkey.

Unfortunately, Büyükanıt is merely the most recent in a long line of fascists who, all by themselves, divided Turkey a very long time ago.