"We have decided to run in the elections with independent candidates."
~ Ahmet Turk, DTP Chairman.
~ Ahmet Turk, DTP Chairman.
The last time that there was a bombing in Hewlêr was May 4, 2005 which killed 60 people. That was the last time until today, from the AP and carried by the hevals at KurdishInfo:
A suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior Ministry in the relatively peaceful Kurdish city of Irbil on Wednesday morning, killing at least 19 people and wounding 80, officials said. Kurdish officials blamed al-Qaida linked insurgents for the devastating attack.
[ . . . ]
Zariyan Othman, the Kurdish health minister, said 19 people were killed and 80 were wounded, including five who were in serious condition. Hamza Ahmed, a spokesman for the Irbil governor's office, said the dead and wounded included police and civilians.
Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman blamed the attack on Ansar al-Sunnah, a Sunni Arab insurgent group, and Ansar al-Islam, a mostly Kurdish militant group with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq. Ansar al-Islam has been blamed for a number of attacks, including attempts to assassinate Kurdish officials.
Othman said authorities learned that insurgents were planning a large attack a week ago when police arrested a militant cell in the town of Sulaimaniyah.
"During questioning they confessed that were getting training lessons in a neighboring country and that was Iran," he said.
The AP gets the date wrong on the last suicide bombing in Hewlêr, citing the deadly attack of February 1, 2004 as the most recent. So, we shall see what comes of this. Since Turkey and Iran have conducted recent operations together against PKK, it's possible that they are coordinating suicide bombings together.
There have been more commentary on the murder of Doa Khalil Aswad, one from The Muslim Woman and another from Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany at Iraqi Kurdistan. The Muslim Woman has the following observation:
While the Kurdish authorities introduced legal reforms to address ‘honour killings’ they have, however, failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible for such crimes.
The Kurdistan government, who originally did nothing in reaction to this event, have now stated – after their dirty little secrets were exposed to the world via the internet – that these men will be punished. Hmm… we’ll see!
Indeed, we'll see. Of course, there will probably be a load of legal wrangling since the murder was committed outside of the KRG's area of authority. Still, The Muslim Woman's observation is consistent with many of the things Kurdish women's rights activists like Houzan Mahmoud have stated. You can check out more of what Houzan has to say at her blog, Houzan Mahmoud.
Kurdish MEP Feleknas Uca is sponsoring a petition on the poisoning of Ocalan, calling for an independent medical team to go to Imrali and conduct a proper examination of the island prison's only inmate. For more on that, head over to DozaMe.
For an update on Sibel Edmonds' case, check Lukery at Wot Is It Good 4. He's running the same post at DKOS and Democratic Underground and you can catch a read of what others are saying about the situation. It can be pretty interesting, but I haven't noticed any pro-TC trolls today, but then again they might be out protesting for the Paşas.
Lukery also picked up on another take on America's Deep State from an op/ed piece at the WaPo on former CIA chief George Tenet's latest apologia pro poor-little-me. In other words, Tenet's new book/whitewash of his involvement with 9/11. Lukery read it all so I didn't have to (and neither do you), and in doing so, he pulled out a very interesting observation:
I'm more fascinated, though, with the collateral damage of his claim: Even in a country like the United States, even with a country that is so seemingly transparent, Tenet is saying that there is great ambiguity associated with what the "state" is, who speaks for it, what the agenda is, what the truth is, even from the highest government officials, who may or may not be speaking from a position of truth or facts or based upon access to, or knowledge of, the ultimate decision-maker.
[]
Without a shred of irony, George Tenet would have us believe that the "they" are someone else, that the decision was -- and is -- the doing of secret, informal, unauthorized, incompetent officials and infiltrators. Not some otherwise innocent entity called the government."
Exactly.
The Middle East Times, out of Egypt, is reporting that DTP is going to run independent candidates in the Turkish election and speculates that Leyla Zana will be one of the candidates.
Maybe this answers something that Ilnur Cevik was crying about the other day, when he whined about knowing DTP's intentions. According to him, if DTP runs independent candidates, they could possibly win between 20 to 30 seats in the TBMM.
What's more interesting is the rest of Ilnur's opinion, especially if one keeps in mind that Ilnur is the representative of the Turkish ruling elites. He calls for KDP/PUK support for AKP because AKP is just so very Kurd-friendly and, besides, Turkey's future is on the line and Ankara would like it's clients to lend a hand in Turkey's future. Of course, Ilnur means KDP/PUK, not those 20 million Kurds of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. Those millions live in the huge void that is Turkey's own internal colony and they have no hand in Turkey's future or Turkey's stability . . . according to Ilnur, anyway. He may have a point on that since Kurds have no political rights within the TC, unless Kurds prove themselves momentarily useful by voting for Turkish parties like AKP.
The question is this: Will KDP/PUK stab DTP in the back by continuing to support the Ankara regime as Ilnur Cevik calls for? After all, KDP/PUK has enjoyed warm ties with Ankara for quite a while. Now that Ankara's business interests own most of South Kurdistan and Gulen's Islamist schools are springing up in South Kurdistan like mushrooms on manure, we'll be sure to note just exactly where KDP/PUK's loyalties ultimately lie.
Yep, there will be some heavy karma going down this year. For good or for bad remains to be seen.
Update: According to Zaman, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Doğan, and Selim Sadak are definitely running for the Turkish parliament. Osman Baydemir and other DTP mayors will not run. For more, see Zaman. Similar news is available from Ozgur Gundem, with the added info that PKK's ceasefire is suspected to end on May 18. However, Ozgur Gundem specifies that Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Doğan, and Selim Sadak will make a final determination to run at a party council to be held at a later date. The same council will determine which other independent candidates will run.
Undoubtedly time is getting short on this, so we should expect an announcement sooner rather than later. Ditto for an announcement of the end of the ceasefire.
