THE FETHULLAHÇI AND SOUTH KURDISTAN

"These schools are like shop windows. Recruitment and Islamization activities are carried out through night classes ... Children whom we educated in Turkey are now in the highest positions. There are governors, judges, military officers. There are ministers in the government. They consult Gülen before doing anything."
~ Nurettin Veren.

A little over a week ago, I wrote about the activities of the Gülen movement in Central Asia--among other regional actors. In order to "infect" a region, the Fethullahçı take over education, particularly the education of the children of a society's elites. Cadres of Fethullahçı businessmen permeate the economy, spreading Gülen's version of Islam, which is inseparably intwined with Turkish nationalism, and serve as conduits to funnel money into the movement.

Now it would appear that the same tactics are being used in South Kurdistan, from Özgür Gündem:

The Federal Region of Kurdistan Wrapped Up in the Movement

Since the beginning of the 1990s, universities, associations, foundations, hospitals, and language centers, which belong to the Fethullah Gülen movement, have been opened in Central Asia. Such schools must fall under the National Education Ministry and must be evaluated by it. Instead, they are being evaluated by the National Security Council (MGK) and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). In addition, MİT is one of the primary organizations that supports this movement.

Additionally, it is very well known by everyone that the Gülen movement's schools in Uzbekistan were shut down in 1999-2000. The reason for the shutting down of these schools was that the people who were working in them became directly involved with the assassination attempt against Uzbekistan's president, Islam Kerimov.

The Russian Security Service revealed the relationship of the movement, which founded schools and foundations in this country, with MİT. They [the movement] were implementing ideological work as well as trying to form a Turkish lobby in the regions in which they were located. Thus the movement's schools, foundations, associations, and business in Russia were shut down and their employees were deported by the Russian Security Service.

The Gülen movement started to open "education" associations in the Federal Kurdistan Region since 1994, and it is still conducting its activities there. It is obvious that these foundations and associations ideologically conduct Turanism and Pan-Turkism in the Federal Kurdistan Region. Despite the fact that the movement's racial, imperialist, and invasive activities were banned by several states, who are allowing it to conduct its activities in the Federal Kurdistan Region? Who is turning a blind eye? Again, additionally, who is getting an advantage out of it and of what kind, are the questions that must be answered.

Teaching in English language in Gülen's schools causes an increase their demand. In addition, there are increasing demands for lessons to be taught in Arabic and Kurdish Sorani dialect in elementary and middle schools. However, the reality of these schools is different. Although in the schools' records English is indicated as the official language, in reality lessons are being conducted in Turkish. To see this reality, it is enough to check the weekly lesson schedules. Turkish, Turkish grammar, and Turkish history lessons make up the greatest amount of the existing lessons in high schools, in addition to elementary and middle schools.

The movement finalized work to open a school in Kerkuk in 2006. However, the movement's members met PUK's high administrators and the Federal Kurdistan Region Vice*President, Kosrat Rasul, to open new schools in the city. After conveying their thanks to each other, the representatıve of Gülen's schools (responsible for all Gulen schools), Muammer Turk, and [Kurdish] officials agreed on the new projects for Kerkuk.

The Gülen Movement's Schools Opened in the Federal Kurdistan Region:

Hewler:

1- Fezalar Eğitim Kurumu
2- Işık Dil Merkezi
3- Işık İlköğretim Okulu
4- Nilüfer Kız Koleji
5- Işık Erkek Koleji
6- Işık Üniversitesi

Süleymaniye:

1- Süleymaniye Kız Koleji
2- Selahattin Eyyubi Erkek Koleji
3- Selahattin Eyyubi Dil Merkezi

In Kerkuk also there is one school and one language center.

In the movement's schools, [there are] celebrations like 23 April (Children's Day and Republic Day) and 19 May (Youth and Sport Day), and the [Turkish] national anthem is memorized. Celebrations are held in the schools' yards and the students' guardians are also invited. However, neither the Kurdish national anthem "Ey Reqib" is sung nor are official holidays of federal Kurdistan celebrated.

Meanwhile Atatürk's pictures are put in the schools. It disturbs Kurdish students and their guardians to make students memorize Turkish history and Atatürk's life. However, the students' guardians want the regional government to take precautions about these issues.

These schools also have activities about Turkey. Some of the students of these schools are taken to Turkey for sightseeing once a year wıth the goal of "introducing Turkey and improving sympathy for Turkey"; however the real goal is known by the students' guardians. The chosen students are taken to vacation resorts and camps. It is not a secret that ideological education is given to them under the name of "vacation".

The movement's activities are not limited to these, of course. Every Thursday, "reading" and "regional conversations" are held with some students and their guardians. Through such activities, that aim to form a mass movement, the Fethullahçıs made a remarkable improvement. Despite all these activities, the turning of a blind eye by the KRG creates several questions.

Hewler is one of the cities on which the Fethullahçıs are most focused. In addition to school activities, an important improvement is just as much the case in the field of health. For this goal, Sema Hospital was opened in "Doctors' Street" in Hewler in 2006. This hospital, in addition to being a laser eye center, treats people with internal diseases. The hospital has a 50% off promotion for people who are close to Gülen's movement. For teachers, officials, and students who are working in the movement's associations, treatment is free.

Another movement "organization" in Hewler is Atasay Jewelry. Opened late due to not getting permission from the government, it was officially opened in recent months. The function of Atasay Jewelry for the Gülen movement is to conduct money transfers between Iraq and Turkey. It transfers the revenue received by the movement, specifically from the federal Kurdistan area, to Turkey or to other countries.

The majority of the students who attend Gülen movement schools are either Turkmen children and the children of high-level KRG officials. Some of the students who graduate from these schools are sent to Turkey to "continue their education". These students are placed in the universities under the quota such universities dedicate to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) [i.e these students are counted in TSK's quota]. They [the students] are admitted to universities especially in Ankara and Kayseri. The number of the TSK quota that is being spared for Gülen's movement changes every year. Students sent from the Federal Kurdistan Region receive "other education" in addition to their university education. Students receive their education through TSK's and MİT's scholarships; whenever they finish their university education and go back to federal Kurdistan, they start working in the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Turkmen TV, radio, or cultural associations.

Another group of students who attend such schools are the children of high officials of the KRG. The existence of these students is important for the movement in order to get their [official] work done more easily.

Another group that is used by the movement is businessmen from Turkey. Gülen's schools are the first schools applied for by some of these businessmen, for their children's educations. In their internal discussions, officials in the movement consult with businessmen coming from Turkey for implementing their new projects. That is, having their children in Gülen's schools for their education is not the only reason to make contact with the movement. For getting their children's education in these schools, these businessmen contribute great help both in the Federal Kurdistan Region and in Turkey.

What kind of money are we talking about, with regard to Turkish businessmen who support the movement? Ten to seventy percent:

We asked the group of a dozen businessmen in Ankara whether each of them contributes financially to Gülen-inspired projects and, if so, approximately how much they give each year. Each of the 12 men said that they contribute as they can to the movement projects. Amounts of contributions varied from 10%-70% of their annual income, ranging from $20,000-$300,000 per year. One man, in particular, said he gives 40% of his income every year which is about $100,000; however, he said he would like to give 95% but is not able to do so and still maintain himself and his family.

[ . . . ]

Another very successful businessman in Istanbul whom we interviewed provided insight into the sums of money being contributed by the supporters of the Gülen Movement to local projects. He is 48 years old and is in the textile business. He contributes 20% of his 4-5 million dollar yearly income to movement-related projects. 80% of his good friends are also members of the movement and contribute as they can to projects.

We're talking some serious coin here, and this is in addition to the problematic issue of spreading Turkish nationalist ideology.

The questions that Goran Akreyi raises in the article most definitely need answers. Sooner rather than later.

WILLFUL AND DEDICATED IGNORANCE

"It is only in folk tales, children's stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to destroy evil. The real world teaches very different lessons, and it takes willful and dedicated ignorance to fail to perceive them."
~ Noam Chomsky.

I used to think IWPR was a fairly decent source of news, especially from such places as Iraq or Afghanistan, but I think I'll have to reasses my judgement.

IWPR has a piece up about the PKK and the KRG, in which it claims that the KRG is supposed to "end the fighting between it's neighbors and Kurdish rebels based inside its borders."

How is the KRG supposed to do that when those who need to sit downn to "end the fighting" are the Ankara regime and the Kurds of North Kurdistan, including the PKK?

Henri Barkey, author of a recent report on the region for a Washington-based think-tank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told IWPR the KRG could seek to persuade the rebels to agree to some form of deal “and ensure that a demilitarisation is done honourably”.

Now we have just seen where the PKK itself stands with regard to a political solution with the Ankara regime, in Hasan Cemal's series from Kandil (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4), all of which were available from the original source at Milliyet days before the IWPR piece was published. Later we had the piece from the London Times which included statements from Murat Karayılan that were the same as in the Hasan Cemal series.

So why didn't IWPR or Henri Barkey call attention to the position of the PKK as regards a cessation of hostilities? Why did they ignore PKK's position on the matter altogether?

And the same can be said of the jackass who passes for the "US embassy official in Ankara" who spoke to the author of the IWPR piece. Are we to believe that the diplomatic jackass had absolutely no clue about Hasan Cemal's series? I find that impossible to believe. The Americans know very well but have their own reasons for keeping the fighting going and those reasons are $$$$$.

The jackass continues:

Unlike the KRG, the United States endorses military action as part of a broader solution to the conflict. A US embassy official in Ankara told IWPR Washington’s strategy to end the fighting included supporting Turkey “with intelligence sharing and other operations”.

The Washington regime supports a losing strategy because its military-industrial complex benefits from it by the billions and, for this reason alone, the US has no reason to see an end to the fighting.

The US stepped up its engagement in the region in 2007 by classifying the PKK as a terrorist organisation – a move which effectively bars the group from any potential US-backed peace talks.

That's plain bullshit. If the US wanted peace talks, the US would overlook its bogus "List" and start to force the issue of negotiations.

“The PKK has conducted more than enough violent acts to justify being labelled a terrorist organisation,” said the US official, when asked whether the move to proscribe the group may have weakened prospects for an eventual settlement by affirming Turkey’s military strategy.

We should acquiesce to this statement, shouldn't we, since it's uttered by a member of the world's biggest terrorist organization--the Washington regime--whose violent acts make even the Ankara regime's violent acts pale in comparison. Of course, if it had been Americans in the position of Kurds in Turkey there would have been no uprising against repression because Americans are sheep. On the other hand, if they had engaged in uprising, they, too, would be terrorists.

To rise up against severe repression and gross human rights abuses is not terrorism. It's a natural reaction.

More from the jackass:

The US official stressed that military operations alone would not solve the conflict. She said leaders in the region were working towards “a comprehensive solution that includes other aspects of the Kurdish issue”, such as economic and social development.

"Military operations alone would not solve the conflict," but that's the only option either the Washington or the Ankara regime considers. Again: $$$$$$. Let's also note that it was immediately after Obama's visit to Turkey that the Ankara regime engaged in terror operations against the DTP, arresting its members in the same way that it arrested members of every other pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey's atrocious history. Doesn't that make it look very much like the Americans gave the green light for the terror operations?

And I'd like to know which "leaders in the region" are working to solve the Kurdish issue? Does this mean the Turkish security forces who rounded up the DTP politicians and workers? Does this mean the AKP who went all over The Southeast in the days before the 29 March electcion, handing out washing machines, refrigerators and cash?

But Barkey says the US “has not been as energetic as it could have been” in pursuing a resolution of the conflict.

Oh but the US has been very energetic in pursuing a military resolution, particularly when it appointed Lockheed Martin board of directors' member Joseph Ralston as its "special envoy" to coordinate the PKK for Turkey. Again: $$$$$

However, the KRG has kept its forces out of the conflicts, claiming it does not have the means or the grounds to retaliate.

“The KRG can’t attack or oust PJAK and PKK because [Iran and Turkey’s] problem is not with the KRG,” said Jabbar Yawar, a top official in charge of Kurdish forces.

This isn't quite the truth, is it? The fact of the matter is that the pesmerge know they got their asses kicked by PKK when they teamed up with TSK in the 1990s to annihilate the guerrillas and they don't want to do that again. At the time, Turkey itself tucked its tail between its legs and ran back across the border dragging its body bags behind it.

Yawar said Kurdish troops can defend the borders “if there are any ground assaults, but not against bombardments and aerial strikes”.

Well, that's not quite true either. It was PKK who defended the border during TSK's February 2007 land invasion and not the peşmêrge.

The KRG has long ruled out military action against the rebels, as demanded by Turkey and Iran. It has also avoided retaliating against its neighbours, as demanded by the Kurdish street.

The KRG rules out military action because the peşmêrge remembered what happened to them the last time they went to get a piece of PKK. If the Americans are so gung-ho to settle this situation for Ankara, let them go to the mountains and give it a try! A word of warning, however: You have to leave your Bradley's behind. Whatever you need, you'll have to carry on your back. Good luck and thank you for giving your lives for Atatürk's descendents.

There's also mention of the "Kurdish" conference in this piece:

In March, Iraq’s president and the leader of one of its two major Kurdish parties, Jalal Talabani, announced plans for an international peace conference drawing together the region’s Kurdish political groups.

The conference could have seen the triumphant climax of the KRG’s careful diplomacy if, as many had hoped, it yielded a declaration demanding the PKK and PJAK disarm.

But the meeting, due to have been hosted in Iraqi Kurdistan, was postponed. The reasons behind the cancellation are unclear. However, the delay has highlighted the problems the KRG faces as it seeks to promote peace beyond its borders.

TSK's been demanding PKK's disarmament for decades; the KRG will have the same luck as TSK in doing the same. However, the reasons behind the cancellation of the "Kurdish" conference are crystal clear: DTP won massively over AKP on 29 March and that means that the "Kurdish" conference, demanded by AKP and the Americans, would not be the proper vehicle for a joint Turkish-American demand for disarmament if DTP were sitting at the same table wearing their victory laurels.

No, there is nothing at all mysterious about the indefinite postponement of the "Kurdish" conference. Nor is there anything mysterious about this piece in IWPR; it's propaganda for the status quo.

To read more on how the media promotes the status quo, take a look at an analysis by Sibel Edmonds on how Newsweek deliberately screwed up reporting her case, in order to make her look less credible than she actually is. You'll find it at the first in her series on Project Expose MSM.

ASSIMILATION AND SERVITUDE

"The pressure that has been brought to bear upon the native people, since the cessation of armed conflict, in the attempt to force conformity of custom and habit has caused a reaction more destructive than war."
~ Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux.

It's confirmed. The attack against students at Salahaddin University was an operation approved at the highest levels of the KRG. From Nêçîrvan Barzanî:

"We are not going to allow this land to be used against Turkey. Therefore, we stopped the protest held in Erbil [Hewlêr] for the anniversary of Ocalan's capture."

There is nothing here that indicates the students were rioting or otherwise acting in a threatening manner. The only violence came from the regime, something that has been standard operating procedure for protest in South Kurdistan since at least the time of Şîrvan Qaderî's murder by the mullah regime to the east.


More from Nêçîrvan, who responds to the journalist's question about what kind of message the KRG is sending to PKK by allowing the Abant Platform conference to be held in Hewlêr on 15 and 16 February:

"This conference doesn't have anything to do with PKK. Here we are talking about how to solve the problems peacefully. As long as the issue is peace, we accept everything. Besides, we do not care as much about PKK as you think."

If you google Abant Platform, you'll hit a link that directs you to--tah-dah!--Fethullah Gülen's website. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Or maybe not, considering that Hewlêr is also home to one of Fethullah Gülen's colleges. For more on the Fethullahçı invasion of South Kurdistan, check this from a year ago.

Nêçîrvan is also asked if he called any Kurdish artists to "ask" them to appear on TRT 6. Here's what he said:

"Yes. I called Rojîn and told her how important that step was and I encouraged her. I also called some other artists. For instance, Ciwan Haco. I encouraged him as well."

Ciwan Haco did not comply.

It doesn't matter if all the Barzanîs and all the Talabanîs lined up on their knees before Erdoğan, Gül, Gülen, or Başbuğ to play the role of servants to the Ankara regime. They will never accept Kurds as Kurds until a very serious scenario plays out in Turkey. No amount of Turkish propaganda in Kurdish will change that either.

However, as long as the Fethullahçı run the show in South Kurdistan, assimilation will be the fate of Kurds there--at least among the Southern Kurdish elites. Clearly this option is already well underway.

NOTE: There's a new link under the blog roll in the right margin. Welcome Serhat Daran, a member of the Swedish crowd. He writes in Swedish, but English users can visit Google's language tools to get a decent translation. Serkeftin!

BLACK OPERATIONS IN IRAQ BY TURKISH CONTRA-GUERRILLAS

"Turkey is working in Iraq with 3 major Sunni radical groups: Ansar al-Sunni Army, Iraq Islamic Army, and the 1920 Revolution Battalion, especially within the last 6 months. Turkey is supplying technical and logistic support to them."
~ Özgür Gündem.

Someone else from the US military comes along and tries to spread propaganda for Washington's puppet government in Ankara. Posted over at the MoJo Blog:

Evidence is piling up that the Turkish government will commit its armed forces against the de facto Kurdish state in Northern Iraq sooner rather than later. . .

[ . . . ]

What most Americans don't know is that the Turkish government has tried to negotiate a settlement with the Kurds through its new Special Envoy for Iraq, Murat Ozcelik. People who know Ozcelik insist he is the best person to negotiate Turkey's peace with the Kurds. Unfortunately, his Kurdish counterpart, Massoud Barzani, has turned out to be a fool who thinks he leads a pan-Kurdish movement inside Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.

What the hell is Murat Özçelik doing "negotiat[ing] Turkey's peace with the Kurds" in South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq)? Turkey needs to negotiate peace with the 20 million Kurds inside Turkey and I've got a news flash for Özçelik and Douglas Macgregor, the author of the piece at the MoJo Blog: Mesûd Barzanî does not speak for the 20 million Kurds of Turkey. There are 20 DTP parliamentarians in the TBMM who were elected by the Kurds of Turkey as their representatives, and they are the ones that Özçelik must begin negotiations with.

Then we have the KCK Executive Council which also represents the Kurds of Turkey. Özçelik must also bring them into negotiations and then we can have a dialog along the lines already proposed by KCK in August 2006 (http://www.kurdish-info.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3467):

The framework for the steps that need to be developed mutually in the second phase for a permanent solution:

1- The acknowledgement of the Kurdish identity and the constitutional guarantee of all identities under the identity of a Citizen of Turkey as the main identity,

2- The lifting of obstacles on the development of the Kurdish language and culture, the acknowledgement of education in the mother tongue and Kurdish acknowledged as the official second language alongside Turkish in the Kurdistan region, and with this to show respect to other minority cultures,

3- The acknowledgement, on the basis of freely practicing politics and organizing, of the right to thought, belief and freedom of expression, the lifting of all social inequalities in the constitution and laws, firstly being those of gender discrimination,

4- A social reconciliation project with the aim of mutual forgiveness of both people’s for the development of a peace and freedom union, on this basis the release of political prisoners including the PKK Leadership, and no obstacles to them participating in politics and social life,

5- The removal of forces in Kurdistan there for the purposes of special war, the abolition of the village guard system and the necessary social and political projects to be developed for the return of displaced villagers,

6- In parallel to the realization of the above articles, the initiation, with a timetable determined by both parties, of the gradual disarmament and legal participation into the democratic social life.

All of this, of course, would take place within the current borders of Turkey:

We would like as a movement to emphasize once again that the right solution is a democratic autonomy within the borders of Turkey. We believe that a solution in the unity of Turkey will be for the benefit of firstly the Kurdish people and all the people of the region.

Contrast that with the propaganda of Macgregor:

. . . the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group that seeks to establish a Kurdish state in the region.

Macgregor actually admits that current tension between Kurds and Sunnis in Iraq is the result of Turkish black operations:

Much of the violence that is picking up between the Kurds and the Sunnis may well be the first sign of a Turkish counter-offensive to punish the Kurds for their continued support of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group that seeks to establish a Kurdish state in the region.

Thanks, pal, for confirming what was reported one year ago by Özgür Gündem and carried on Rastî:

According to Özgür Gündem, a contra-guerrilla base has been founded in Amed (Diyarbakır) by the Ankara regime. These contra-guerrillas not only will operate against Kurds in the region of Amed and North Kurdistan, but also against Kurds in Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

The goal of the contra-guerrillas is to delay the Kerkuk referendum through black operations. Since Turkey cannot conduct a military operation in the South, it's initiating black operations through this contra-guerrilla group, operating in the same way it did in Şemdinli, in the Council of State, and in the Hrant Dink murder. JITEM and the Patriots Movement were behind those operations.

Ostensibly the contra-guerrilla group raised donations from $500,000 per month to $1,000,000 per month for the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF). I say "ostensibly," because it's more likely that the "donations" are coming directly from the Ankara regime. In addition, the contra-guerrillas give rewards for each successful ITF operation.

Turkey is working in Iraq with 3 major Sunni radical groups: Ansar al-Sunni Army, Iraq Islamic Army, and the 1920 Revolution Battalion, especially within the last 6 months. Turkey is supplying technical and logistic support to them.

The contra-guerrillas contacted some Arab tribes in Mosul and promised economic assistance to the tribes if they encourage the Sunnis to attack KDP and PUK offices.

Turkey has also been in contact with Arabs in Kerkuk, who had moved there during Saddam's arabization. Turkey organized these Arabs into death squads and provided them with assassination lists of Kurdish leaders. Attacks against Turkmen leaders, including Iraqi Turkmen Front leaders, would be encouraged in order create chaos.

They have assassination plans for some Arab and Turkmen leaders in order to turn Kurds and other peoples against each other and create a basis for the justification of the assassinations of Kurdish leaders.

The goal is to delay the Kerkuk referendum and not to allow Kerkuk to become part of Kurdistan.

The Ankara regime has invaded South Kurdistan in pursuit of PKK a number of times in the past and the TSK has always left with its tail between its legs. If the Ankara regime thinks it will insert itself in order to save Kerkuk for the ITF, then it had better learn the meaning of the word "quagmire", from Andrew Lee Butters almost one year ago:

So this is going to be a slow motion disaster rather than a spectacular one. Turkey will have to go deeper and deeper into Iraq, committing itself more and more to a course that will at best be ineffectual and at worst drag it and Iraqi Kurdistan into the great sucking sound that is the American project in Iraq. The only way out of this is for the Turkish state to begin political negotiations with the PKK, an internal enemy that it has been unable to defeat for more than 20 years. But the US, which labels the PKK a terrorist group, is hardly in a position to preach to its allies about talking to terrorists.

At the same time, Murat Karayılan confirmed the potential "quagmire":

Speaking to The Associated Press deep in the Qandil mountains straddling the Iraq-Turkish border, some 150 kilometers (94 miles) from the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, Karayilan warned an incursion would "make Turkey experience a Vietnam war."

[ . . . ]

"Iraq's Kurds will not support the Turkish army," he said. "If Turkey starts its attack, we will swing the Turkish public opinion by political, civil and military struggle."

[ . . . ]

Karayilan said the PKK was only defending itself against attacks by the Turks.

"This was not the first time. It happened many times before and no one talked about it, so why this time," he said, adding the clashes took place at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the border, within Turkey, not Iraq.

He said he believes the Turkish attacks are meant to destabilize Iraq, not remove the rebels.

"Turkey is only making pretexts to enter the Kurdistan region in Iraq," he added.

For those hard of understanding: Quagmire = Vietnam.

Not only should we expect meddling by the Ankara regime in the refusal to allow elections in Kerkuk, but we should also consider the recent turmoil in Xanaqîn as the result of Turkish contra-guerrillas, including recent roadside bomb attacks that resulted in the deaths of six peşmêrge.

Furthermore, let's not expect much from the KRG, Barzanî, or Talabanî. They have too much money tied up in business interests with Ankara for them to take a stand against Turkish black operations aimed against Kurdistan.

PJAK PRESS RELEASE AND PROPAGANDA FROM THE LA TIMES

"While Turkey shouldered the role of the actual attacker, the assaults were the result of an agreement between Iran, Turkey and Iraq and of American intelligence sharing."
~ PJAK press statement, 7 May 2008.

PJAK has issued a press release on the bombing at Qendil and a recent AP report:

Press release

7 May, 2008

To the Press and Public Opinion

On Thursday, 1 May 2008, Turkish military warplanes heavily bombed the Qendil region in Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq. The attacks carried out by 30 to 40 Turkish warplanes for three hours, from 11:00 pm on the first of May, to 2:00 am on the second of May.

They bombed the Press Central Unit of PJAK as well the villages of Rezge, Marado, Shnawe, Zergelêsh and Qelatukan. These attacks caused major physical and economic damage to the Kurdish civilian and their properties. In the bomb attacks six members of PJAK, four of them journalists from the Press Central Unit have become martyrs. They are: Diyako Bakhtiyari known as Herish Amed From Mahabad, Kardo Eliyali known as Argesh Bawer From Piranshahr, Behjat Takin Alp known as Firat Chele, Jamal Rasuli known as Armanj Mariwan From Mariwan, Memed Guren known as Wedad Amed From Amed, Rahim Borna known as Raman Cawid From Mahabad

Hundreds of families who live under difficult circumstances have been intimidated by the air raids. A school has been destroyed and the teachers have left the villages, thus the children are now without school and teachers. Hundreds of livestock have been killed, causing serious economical damage to the villages. On top of this, the regional government and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have imposed an embargo on the region and closed it off to journalists.

The attacks occurred shortly after a high level Iranian delegation visited Turkey in April and signed a security and economic agreement between the two countries to cooperate against PJAK and the Kurdish people in both countries.

While Turkey shouldered the role of the actual attacker, the assaults were the result of an agreement between Iran, Turkey and Iraq and of American intelligence sharing. It is important to mention that on the day of the attacks a Turkish delegation, led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Chief Adviser Ahmet Davutoglu was in Iraq and at the same time the deputy president of Iraq, Tariq Al-Hashimi, was in Turkey for diplomatic talks. This means that a new phase of attacks against the Kurdish people has started, which will lead to more turmoil in the region. The role of the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government is submissive to the Turkish policies against the Kurds.

It is necessary to find out why the headquarter of PJAK has been bombed. Why the intelligence provided by the United States used in favour of the Iranian state? And why does the Turkish regime militarily targets Kurdish organisations of another part of Kurdistan? We ask the United States and the Kurdistan Regional Government to give an explanation for this, or they shall lose all credibility in our eyes. The USA tells the world that it has a strategic conflict with the theocratic regime in Iran. But when the Kurdish people in Iran wages a sacrificing, modern struggle for the democratisation of the country, they provide the means for an attack on them!

Meanwhile 25 bombs that did not explode have been found. The writings on the bombs suggest that they contain chemical weapons. They are being examined; the results from independent scientific laboratories will be published soon.

In addition to these Turkish barbaric attacks the Associated Press, hired journalists and other press agencies are publishing misinformation about PJAK. These media news articles which claim that PJAK will carry out suicide attacks against Iraq and the USA interests in the region are untrue and fabricated, they are against PJAK principles, policies and democratic values. We ask the AP and other press agencies to clarify and correct their wrong information about PJAK and the Kurdish people.

Clarification:

1. PJAK is based mainly inside Eastern Kurdistan and Iran, not in Iraq. It depends on the support of the Kurdish and Iranian people. It is a democratic national movement for the Kurds in Iran. Its aim's are to unite the Kurdish and Iranian opposition, to change the oppressive Islamic regime in Iran and to establish a free democratic con-federal system for the Kurds and the Iranian peoples. "Changing of the regime to a democratic system in which all citizens; Iranians, Kurds, Azaries, Baluchs, Turkomans and Arabs and all other ethnic groups within the framework of the democratic system, can govern themselves."

2. PJAK is against any suicide or terrorists attacks. It adheres to the roles of the United Nations human rights declaration. It is in self defense and does not launch any military cross border attacks from Iraq. All of the operations inside Iran are in self defense and to protect our people from the Iranian security and revolutionary Guards forces continues atrocities and forced assimilation.

3. PJAK is not a rebels organization. PJAK is a political massive national democratic movement of the Kurds in Iran. PJAK strategy is to use all form of struggle; political, social, economic, nonviolence civil disobedience, human rights, NGOS and to carry arms in self defense etc,. "PJAK is always continuing the work and struggle needed to achieve an increase in the level of intelligence, a democratic organization of people as well as practice of the democratic values, to achieve a radical type of democracy and to be able to launch a system of democratic confederacy in eastern Kurdistan."

4. PJAK is a self sufficient and independent organization. It depends on the Kurds and Iranian people support, contrary to the Iranian dictatorial regime misinformation campaign that PJAK getting help from the USA and the west. We again declare to the public opinion that PJAK did not receive any help from any country including the USA. We depend on the support of our people and on our organization.

The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) calls upon the United States of America, Iraq, the European Union and the European states to realize that the path to security and democracy in the Middle East leads through a change of the Iranian theocratic regime. Therefore a positive approach to the Kurdish question and the demands and views of Iran's peoples and the peoples of the Middle East is necessary. Oligarchic, theocratic and reactionary states cannot be force of stability and cannot meet the demands of the peoples. At the same time these states undermine global security by setting up and funding fundamentalist groups.

It is time to put stop to the atrocities and human rights violations of the Turkish and Iranian Islamic oppressive regimes.

We call upon the international community to help the Kurds and the peoples of Iran in their struggle for democracy, freedom and peace.

Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)
Coordination Committee

Much of this information was presented in Özgür Gündem in the last few days. As for the AP article, in it, PJAK spokesperson Peritan Dersim clearly stated, "some rebels want to join suicide squads to avenge the deaths of their comrades but that 'combatants are under the control of the organization,' which [ ] is against such attacks." Of course, individual combatants have gone outside of both PJAK and PKK and have carried out suicide attacks in the past, but these incidents have not had the approval of the organizations.

From the LATimes, we have another piece of propaganda. Some of it is old news rehashed, however, such as this from Osman Öcalan:

"Since the beginning, we thought we would get the American help," said Ocalan, who left the group two years ago. "And it's a good relationship now. . . . They are in talks with each other, and there is some military assistance."

Ocalan and others say U.S. help has included foodstuffs, economic assistance, medical supplies and Russian military equipment, some of it funneled through nonprofit groups. Every two or three months, U.S. military vehicles can be seen entering PKK and PEJAK strongholds, Ocalan said.

"There's no systematic relationship, no number to call," he said. "Americans do not intend to have an official relationship. Whenever there's any kind of question by the Turks, they can say we don't have a relationship."

How does that square with the joint US-Turkish-Iranian bombing of Qendil? Or how is that reconciled with Cemil Bayık's very clear statement on the matter in November 2006?

Both PEJAK and the Mujahedin Khalq operate like cults, barring members from having sexual relations and discouraging personal lives. Each touts a strict Marxist ideology.

Why is PJAK in the mountains, to fight or have sex? But the Western--and particularly the American--willfull misunderstanding on PJAK's restrictions on sexual relations stems from a flaw that lies deep in the Western character. How else to explain the epidemic of rape within the US military or rampant rape among American contractors like KBR?

As for Marxism, how could PJAK "tout a strict Marxist ideology" when PKK dropped its "strict Marxist ideology" in 1995? PJAK was formed at the end of 2003, almost 10 years after PKK dropped the hammer and sickle from its flag.

Then there's the Ansar excuse:

The Ansar al Islam fighters have been used as a "pressure card" by the Iranians, said Jafar Barzinji, the minister of affairs for peshmerga, or Kurdish security forces, who oversees military issues in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Iraqi Kurds say they have asked Iranian authorities to rein in Ansar. "They never deny that they're supporting them," Barzinji said. "They always promise a solution in the near future." Sometimes, he said, they bring up PEJAK.

Fareed Asasard, head of the Kurdish Strategic Studies Center, a think tank in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniya, recently visited Tehran to meet with analysts at a research institution close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The reason for their support of Ansar is PEJAK," he said. "They're 100% worried about PEJAK's actions."

Really? Then how do they explain that Iran supported Ansar within South Kurdistan long before PJAK ever materialized? Iran's support of Ansar has absolutely nothing to do with PJAK, except that PJAK stands in the way of Ansar re-taking the region:

“The Turkish plan to attack Qandil mountain [in northern-eastern Iraq] is an action to help Iran eliminate the PJAK forces and replace them with Ansar Al Islam-al-Qaida forces, trained and supported by Iran, to launch attacks against the Kurdistan regional government in Iraq in order to destabilize Kurdistan and Iraq . . . "

And this is exactly what the US is helping Iran to do.

THE OPENING OF A NEW CHAPTER

". . . [T]o say that the United States is supporting the PJAK is not right. PJAK is until now continuing their struggle just with the support of the Kurdish people and the PKK."
~ Cemil Bayık, founding member of the PKK.

A new chapter is opening in the history of the Kurdish freedom struggle and it may get ugly. It began with a meeting between Turkey and Iran, with the collusion of the US and Iraq, including the KRG. PJAK expects statements from those sources in coming days.

For reference, review KNK's statement on the recent Turkish bombing and the MGK meeting by which the Paşas gave permission for "coordination" with Iraq and the KRG. More backgrounder here, here, and here. All of this is according to the wishes of what may be one of the world's most corrupt organizations--the US State Department--which has been pressing for cooperation between Turkey, Iraq (including the Iraqi Kurdish leadership), and the US ever since the corporate tools in the State Department appointed Lockheed Martin's phony Joseph Ralston to "coordinate the PKK" for Turkey.

Now take a look at an item that appeared on the AP:

Kurdish rebels could launch suicide attacks against American interests to punish the U.S. for sharing intelligence with Turkey after Turkey bombed rebel bases, a spokeswoman for a wing of a rebel group warned.

Turkey's military said more than 150 Kurdish rebels were killed in Friday's air strikes against bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, on Mount Qandil on the border of Iran and Iraq. Peritan Derseem, a senior official of the rebel group's Iranian wing, PEJAK, claimed that only six people were killed in latest Turkish strikes.

The PKK fights for autonomy in Turkey's southeast and also has a wing fighting for Kurdish rights in Iran.

Derseem blamed the United States for helping Turkey in an interview late Sunday.

She said some rebels want to join suicide squads to avenge the deaths of their comrades but that "combatants are under the control of the organization," which she said is against such attacks. That may change, Derseem hinted.

"We have changed our stand toward the United States government and we are standing against them now," she said. "Maybe some day ... individual combatants might launch suicide attacks inside Iraq and Turkey, and even against American interests."

Okay, now this was the group that was supposed to be getting support from the US, according to paid Turkish propagandists like Seymour Hersh and all of those so-called journalists who follow him as if he were god. Of course, Cemil Bayık denied Hersh & Co. lies back in November 2006.

"We have common goals with the PKK and the two parties follow the principles of Chairman Abdullah Ocalan," who is imprisoned on a prison island near Istanbul, Turkey. "But we have our own decision making."

[ . . . ]

Until the most recent air raid, the military had not announced an operation that penetrated into Iraq as far as Mount Qandil.

"They want to annihilate us. But we will not surrender," said Derseem. "We have been hiding in caves and nearby mountains."

The rebels said the Turkish jets fired more than 50 missiles at the site and demolished some buildings, including a meeting hall, a library and a media center.

It's not true that "the [Turkish] military had not announced an operation that penetrated into Iraq as far as Mount Qandil"; this claim was plastered all over the Turkish press during the failed 8-day land invasion in February. Note that the destruction of the media center is associated with the six PJAK şehîds.

As I mentioned, a new chapter is beginning and more info is on the way which is in the process of translation. Stay tuned.

KURDISTAN NATIONAL CONGRESS STATEMENT ON TURKISH BOMBING

Kurdistan National Congress issues a statement on recent Turkish bombings of Qendil.

To the public opinion:

The Turkish state does not cease carrying out military operations passing through the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turkish army yesterday night held an air raid against the positions of PJAK’s (Kurdish Iranian Party for a Free Life) militants on the mounts of Qandil. During this attack where chemical gas was used, 6 journalist members of the PJAK press service lost their lives. Thus, Turkey does not recognize any right regarding to the international war rules.

According to the information that we have obtained, a meeting was held on 30th April 2008 between Turks and Iranians right on the Iranian border where they planned identifying the PJAK targets to be attacked.

We would like to draw the attention of the international public opinion to the fact that the decision of an air raid was made due to this meeting held between Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi forces, yet in relation with Iraqi Kurdish authorities as well. It clearly means that these states agreed on annihilating the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom.

It should be known that the Turkish government has only a one-year authorization given by its Parliament and which expires in October 2008 for carrying out military operations against the Kurds through its borders. Since, the United States, alliance of Turkey within NATO, assists Turkish authorities by providing some real-time information about Kurdish military movements on Iraqi territory.

The Kurdistan National Congress condemns Turkish army’s barbaric attack. We call on the international public opinion, especially the European institutions and the NGOs to not remain silent against Turkish barbarism which aims to tear down Kurdish people’s fight for freedom.

Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
04th May 2008

PKK WAR BALANCE

To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
~ Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3.

HPG's war balance from the February invasion:

125 dead from the TSK, with hundreds wounded.
1 Cobra helicopter destroyed.
6 individual hybrid weapons.
2 MP5 9mm machine guns
Numerous night and day vision devices.
3 telephones.
Much military ammunition and materials.

HPG also lists nine guerrilla şehîds:

Baran Urfa
Mahmut Manap
78/Hilvan-Urfa
Bedriye
Halil
2002

Cahit Kobani
İbrahim Ahmet
1972 Kobani
Leyla
Muhammed
1993

Gorse Ayhan
Ali Işık
1978/Pervari-Siirt
Tenzire
Ferman
1993

Tofan Botan
Ali Abbas
1985 Kobani
Zeliha
Mahmut
2002

Erdal Amed
Yılmaz Aydın
1980/Çermik-Amed

Agit Caf
Sirvan Ali
1983/Süleymaniye
Fatma
Ali
2006

Zindan Şiyar
Secat Miroyimilan
1985/Maku
Pervane
Ali
2005

Artêş
Faik Aslan
1974/Urfa-Bozova
İmhar
Mustafa
1999

Özkan Garisa
Aydın Işık
1975/Pervari-Siirt
Perihan
Cafer
1995

Şehîd Namirin!

Cries of "Murderer Erdoğan," "Hypocrite Erdoğan," "Long live Serok Apo," "PKK is the people; the people is here" filled the air throughout Turkish-occupied Kurdistan as tens of thousands of Kurds rallied and protested recent TSK operations-turned-fiasco. Protests were held in Nusaybin, Derik, Siirt, Amed, Bingöl, Çukurca, Şemdinli, Tatvan, and Adana. Many clashes occured between protestors and police, including in Istanbul. Roj TV's Sunday evening news reported victory celebrations of the Bakûrî Kurds in Mexmur refugee camp.

Büyükanıt told an interviewer to let those who question TSK's retreat go and spend 24 hours in the mountains of Kurdistan. Apparently, the TSK could only take a week's worth of fighting Kurdish guerrillas.

Of course, since the Turkish general staff insists that it fulfilled all of its objectives (one of which included the annihilation of every last guerrilla), there is no further reason for the Ankara regime to engage in any more military operations in either South Kurdistan or North Kurdistan, and time will never be more ripe for taking Kerkuk.

In this last week it has become clear to the entire world exactly who it is that defends Kurdistan. Nêçîrvan Barzanî talks out of one side of his mouth, saying that civilians were not at all affected by the Turkish invasion. Later, from the other side of his mouth, he says, "The actions of the Turkish military in attacking bridges in the border areas, which are important to people there, makes us anxious."

With the exception of two groups of former peşmêrge, who went on their own to join HPG guerrillas in the fighting, the KRG sent not a single peşmêrge to defend the people of the South. Oil deals must be far too lucrative for the KRG to think about facing death, but the ones facing death in the future will be the children of South Kurdistan, as Hawlati reports several thousand land mines left behind by the TSK.

That's it--the kids will become the peşmêrge!

Kurdish imams in Amed (Diyarbakır) are arrested for speaking out against the attacks on PKK, and the Kurdistan Islamic Council sends greetings of congratulations to PKK, so that support for PKK spreads into the more conservative parts of Kurdish society. We may expect, at this point, to see an even greater increase in support for PKK throughout all of Kurdistan--and an increase in support will mean an increase in recruits.

The Ankara regime's stupidity in conducting operations against the PKK has backfired. US support for Turkish aggression has backfired. Israeli support for Turkish aggression has earned it another enemy in the Middle East . . . an enemy that has not yet been defeated by NATO's second largest army.

The worm is turning.

PUPPET MASTER AND PUPPET

"Fie, fie, you counterfeit. You puppet, you!"
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has something on the recent arrest of journalists who had visited Qendil to check on the people who'd been forced out of their destroyed homes by joint US-Israel-Turkish bombing of the northern region of South Kurdistan:

Security forces arrested five journalists on 1st February near the Sengeser control post, in Suleimaniyah province, as they returned from the Kandil mountains on the Iraqi-Turkish border. Rahman Gharib was mistreated after he tried to resist the police.

“We went there the evening before to meet people who are suffering from Turkish bombing. We saw that much of the infrastructure - including schools and hospitals - has been destroyed. We interviewed the residents of isolated villages and took photos of the damage”, the journalist told Reporters Without Borders.

They were arrested as they tried to rejoin several colleagues who were waiting for them. Rahman Gharib, Bayez Mohammed, of Hawlati, Salam Abdallah, of the website Kurdistan Post, and freelance journalists Kerwan Salar and Mohammed Çawsin were questioned briefly. Surwan Omar, of the news agency Kurdistan News, was beaten by police when he tried to approach the group.

Earlier, in November 2007, IFEX and RSF had called on the KRG to lift the ban on journalists going to Qendil:

"Kurdistan is one of the few regions in Iraq where local and foreign journalists can move about freely without constant risk to their lives," RSF said. "This ban is a serious violation of their ability to report on the clashes in Iraq between the PKK's fighters and the Turkish army. The regional government in Erbil and the national government in Baghdad must stop blaming journalists for crises."

On 19 November, the Kurdish regional government prohibited journalists from going to meet PKK combatants who have found refuge in the Qandil mountains on the border between Iraq and Turkey. Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Jamal Abdullah said "media reports have led to an acceleration of the crisis with Turkey."

The Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said several journalists were arrested near the Turkish border as a result of the regional government's decision.

Jamal Abdullah is wrong, of course. Erdoğan's November 5 meeting with Bush is what really led to an acceleration of the so-called crisis with Turkey. It's been that way all along.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane. In November 2002, the AKP came to power in Turkey. Since Erdoğan, the chairman of the AKP, had been tried and convicted of inciting religious hatred for modifying and reading, in public, a poem by Ziya Gökalp. As a result of his conviction, Erdoğan was forbidden by law from holding any political office, including the office of prime minister.

Naturally, once in power, the AKP government set about immediately changing the law specifically so Erdoğan could take over as prime minister. But who gave the okay for any of that to happen? Think it was the Paşas? Think again:

In December 2002, US President George W. Bush stunned the Turkish political establishment in Ankara by inviting Erdogan to the White House. "You believe in the Almighty, and I believe in the Almighty. That's why we'll be great partners," the American president is said to have told his counterpart.[6] Proceeding on to Europe, Erdogan received assurances that the EU would commence accession negotiations with Ankara in December 2004 if Turkey undertook sufficient political and economic reforms.

In part because of American and European de facto recognition of Erdogan's authority, the Turkish military accepted the new administration's amendment of the constitution to lift the ban on Erdogan's political activity and holding of a by-election to allow for his entry into parliament (a requirement to be prime minister).

Now you know why the neocons went rabid over the TBMM's refusal to allow an American troop deployment from Turkey: The puppets failed to deliver to their masters.

Ironically, it was "a freshly vacated [parliamentary] seat in the province of Siirt" that facilitated Erdoğan's entry into the TBMM, which then catapulted him into the prime minister's office, which was, in turn, dutifully vacated by Abdullah Gül.

In the final analysis, it was the Bush Administration that put Erdoğan into office. What role did Fethullah Gülen, who is sheltered by the US, play in this bit of politics?

It's too bad officials of the KRG, like Jamal Abdullah, don't know much about Turkish history. Or maybe they just look the other way.

Since the Paşas have been broadcasting new airstrikes against PKK in South Kurdistan--according to totally unconfirmed statements on the Paşas' website--and since the KRG assists Ankara in its psychological warfare and Western propaganda operations by forbidding journalists to report from the region . . . and since the Ankara regime uses the US and Israeli examples to justify its aggression . . . and since everyone is preparing for a Turkish land force invasion in the next few months, you might want to check out a guide to US use of aerial warfare to get an idea of what to expect from the Ankara regime. From TomDispatch.com:

One hundred thousand pounds of explosives delivered from the air is now, historically speaking, a relatively modest figure. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a single air wing from the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf, did that sort of damage in less than a day and it was a figure that, as again last week, the military was proud to publicize without fear of international outrage or the possibility that "barbarism" might come to mind:

"From Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday the air wing flew 69 dedicated strike missions in Basra and in and around Baghdad, involving 27 F/A-18 Hornets and 12 Tomcats. They dropped nearly 100,000 pounds of ordnance, said Lt. Brook DeWalt, Kitty Hawk public affairs officer."

As far as we know, there were no reporters, Iraqi or Western, in Arab Jabour when the bombs fell and, Iraq being Iraq, no American reporters rushed there -- in person or by satellite phone -- to check out the damage. In Iraq and Afghanistan, when it comes to the mainstream media, bombing is generally only significant if it's of the roadside or suicide variety; if, that is, the "bombs" can be produced at approximately "the cost of a pizza" (as IEDs sometimes are), or if the vehicles delivering them are cars or simply fiendishly well-rigged human bodies. From the air, even 100,000 pounds of bombs just doesn't have the ring of something that matters.

[ . . . ]

Who could forget all the attention that went into the President's surge strategy on the ground in the first half of last year? But which media outlet even noticed, until recently, what Bob Deans of Cox News Service has termed the "air surge" that accompanied those 30,000 surging troops into the Iraqi capital and environs? In that same period, air units were increasingly concentrated in and around Iraq. By mid-2007, for instance, the Associated Press was already reporting:

"[S]quadrons of attack planes have been added to the in-country fleet. The air reconnaissance arm has almost doubled since last year. The powerful B1-B bomber has been recalled to action over Iraq… Early this year, with little fanfare, the Air Force sent a squadron of A-10 ‘Warthog' attack planes -- a dozen or more aircraft -- to be based at Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. At the same time it added a squadron of F-16C Fighting Falcons… at Balad."

[ . . . ]

American military spokespeople and administration officials have, over the years, decried Iraqi and Afghan insurgents for "hiding" behind civilian populations -- in essence, accusing them of both immorality and cowardice. When such spokespeople do admit to inflicting "collateral damage" on civilian populations, they regularly blame the guerrillas for turning civilians into "shields." And all of this is regularly, dutifully reported in our press. On the other hand, no one in our world considers drone warfare in a similar context, though armed UAVs like the Predators and the newer, even more heavily armed Reapers are generally "flown" by pilots stationed at computer consoles in places like Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas. It is from there that they release their missiles against "anti-Iraqi forces" or the Taliban, causing civilian deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

We know there have already been civilian deaths from the Ankara regime's air war in South Kurdistan. We know that there has been US and Israeli assistance to the Ankara regime. We should, therefore, expect to see the Ankara regime assimilate US tactics to a greater extent in the future.

Remember:

The Real News transcript.

Don't forget what the results of negotiations, between the puppets and the puppet masters in the months before the Iraq war, were supposed to be:

A veteran diplomat who led a Turkish delegation through tough negotiations with the US over military cooperation on the war in Iraq has revealed details of the talks in a book, which is expected to be published in the upcoming days.

[ . . . ]

If the government motion had been adopted by Parliament at the time, Turkey would have the opportunity to send its troops into the entire area where the PKK members are located; thus it would be able to contain the PKK threat, Bölükbaşı has suggested in his book, excerpts from which were published yesterday in the daily Milliyet.

If the motion had been approved, Turkey's de facto border with Iraq, which is called the "Rain Line," would extend from the south of Habur to the border between Iran and Iraq, Bölükbaşı explained in his book, which contains a map simulating the line on which Turkish troops would be deployed.

According to the map, Turkey's border with Iraq would extend 40 kilometers inside Iraqi soil and would contain the entire zone in northern Iraq which has been used by the PKK.

In other words, the results were invasion and annexation.

Who recognizes his failure and is pushing for these very results right now? Washington's puppet, R. Tayyip Erdoğan.

CORRUPTION AND BLOWBACK

"Corruption never has been compulsory."
~ Anthony Eden.

The BBC has discovered something that some of us--like Hîwa and I--have complained about for some time: corruption in South Kurdistan and how difficult it is for the ordinary Kurd to get by.

As I said, from the BBC:

Flying into the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Irbil and its glitteringly new international airport, it is difficult to believe you are entering Iraq.

[ . . . ]

Irbil looks like a boom town. Cranes and new multi-storey buildings litter the skyline.

There are shopping malls, luxurious gated communities, conference centres and grandiose headquarters for the factions who once fought Saddam and now rule Kurdistan - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

[ . . . ]

Meanwhile, ordinary Kurds are struggling to get by. People described rampant inflation, high unemployment and erratic water and electricity supplies.

In Sulaimaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan's second city, people said they got running water for four hours every three days and electricity for three-to-four hours a day.

Contaminated water supplies have led to cholera outbreaks.

"Too many times, we have asked the government to help us,"said one woman who had lost her father-in-law and a baby to cholera said. "But it is in vain. They promise and do nothing."

She described the fear of living through an outbreak last September, knowing her water supply was contaminated, but not having the electricity to boil the water.

"When I think of the budget and the millions and see my situation," she said, "I feel like I am dead."

Kurdistan's budget is large - more than $6bn last year - the region's share of Iraq's oil revenues. But there is a growing gap between ordinary Kurds and the political elite.

"I see some of the officials who, 20 years ago, were with us in the mountains," said Ari Harsin, another former peshmerga, who is now the Irbil bureau editor of the independent Awene newspaper.

"They used to be purists, partisans. Now they are driving land cruisers with dark windows and a lot of body guards. They see how ordinary people are living. They have no shame."

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

There's also a podcast of the BBC's Crossing Continents radio program on which this story aired. It's got a 28-minute run time, and I recommend a listen. Young people from Helebçe who helped destroy the memorial in protest against the PUK are spoken to, as are people in government, Kurdish journalists, and contractors who are building exclusive, gated, residential areas for the elites. You can download the mp3 file here. The program was originally aired on 10 January.

If you had been planning to see the new flick with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, called Charlie Wilson's War, you'd better read something from Chalmers Johnson before you get propagandized yet again by Hollywood. From TomDispatch:

Which brings us back to the movie and its reception here. (It has been banned in Afghanistan.) One of the severe side effects of imperialism in its advanced stages seems to be that it rots the brains of the imperialists. They start believing that they are the bearers of civilization, the bringers of light to "primitives" and "savages" (largely so identified because of their resistance to being "liberated" by us), the carriers of science and modernity to backward peoples, beacons and guides for citizens of the "underdeveloped world."

[ . . . ]

When imperialist activities produce unmentionable outcomes, such as those well known to anyone paying attention to Afghanistan since about 1990, then ideological thinking kicks in. The horror story is suppressed, or reinterpreted as something benign or ridiculous (a "comedy"), or simply curtailed before the denouement becomes obvious. Thus, for example, Melissa Roddy, a Los Angeles film-maker with inside information from the Charlie Wilson production team, notes that the film's happy ending came about because Tom Hanks, a co-producer as well as the leading actor, "just can't deal with this 9/11 thing."

[ . . . ]

Today there is ample evidence that, when it comes to the freedom of women, education levels, governmental services, relations among different ethnic groups, and quality of life -- all were infinitely better under the Afghan communists than under the Taliban or the present government of President Hamid Karzai, which evidently controls little beyond the country's capital, Kabul. But Americans don't want to know that -- and certainly they get no indication of it from Charlie Wilson's War, either the book or the film.

Read the rest, especially if you're going to see the movie. Actually, read the rest anyway, because Chalmers Johnson knows what he's talking about--and get his Blowback trilogy, if you can--and you might actually learn something about how the CIA works, how American policy works, how the media works, and how Hollywood works.

CHOLERA, "FRIENDLY FIRE", ATHEISM

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
~ James Madison.

It looks like there have been outbreaks of cholera in Silêmanî and Kerkuk. Özgür Gündem first had some news on the matter over the weekend. ÖG reported that 700 people were showing symptoms of cholera. It also reported that five people had died of the disease which caused the populations of the cities to become fearful. The KRG issued information on the sanitization of water and how to properly handle food.

Kerkuk poses a different problem with regard to any outbreak of disease because it falls under the control of the central Baghdad government. So far, Baghdad has done nothing with regard to the cholera outbreak in Kerkuk, which prompted the KRG to take over public health duties in the city with regard to the outbreak.

Today, news of the cholera outbreaks appeared in English-language media through Arab media, with one report at Uruknet, another at Informed Comment--in which KTV was cited--and another from Alsumaria.

Note the discrepancy between the number of infected persons mentioned at Alsumari and ÖG: 2,000 to 700. According to both Alsumaria and ÖG, investigations into the source of the infections continue. Since Kerkuk is approaching the date of the referendum, it's not out of the question that the outbreak may be the result of sabotage by the usual suspects.

There's more background information on cholera at the WHO, but cholera generally occurs as a result of a contaminated water supply. Given that the infrastructure of South Kurdistan is dated, and that cities like Silêmanî have undergone population booms since 2003--of village Kurds as well as refugees from Arab Iraq--this is an example of the critical attention that a clean, secure public water system should receive.

US forces have killed more Kurdish security forces in another so-called "friendly fire" incident, this time in Diyala province. Naturally, the Americans claim they don't have any idea what anyone is talking about nor do they know which unit of their courageous armed forces have committed this crime. The last "friendly fire" incident was in February.

Actually, I just think that these trigger-happy cowboys don't know what in the hell they're supposed to be doing. There's probably a big streak of cowardice involved, too.

Finally, here's something different to think about. . .The top ten least religious countries and the social implications thereof:

1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia (up to 49% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)

[ . . . ]

The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism. In some societies, particularly Europe , atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world – particularly nations with high birth rates – atheism is barely discernable."

A study by the University of Michigan showed the US to be one of the most religious countries in the world, with researchers there hypothesizing that American religionism may derive from the fact that the US "has a less comprehensive social welfare safety net than most other economically developed countries, leading many Americans to experience the kind of existential insecurity and economic uncertainty characteristic of highly religious populations."


Interesting. Very interesting.

A PLEA FROM THE KRG

"Having leveled my palace, don't erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home."
~ Emily Bronte.

Nineteen years ago, the world stood by uselessly while Saddam murdered Kurds with chemical weapons, most infamously at Helebçe. For eighty-four years, the world has stood by uselessly while the Ankara regime has genocided Kurds in North Kurdistan. Since at least 1979, the world stood by uselessly while the dirty mullah regime in Teheran lined up Kurds for imprisonment or execution.

But for some, hope springs eternal and I guess that's why the Minister of Health for the Kurdistan Regional Government has published a plea to the world for medical assistance. Stolen from IraqSlogger:

To: International Community

From: Dr. A.O. Yones, MBChB, IMD, MRCP (UK)
Minister of Health
Kurdistan Regional Government
Erbil, Iraq

Subj: Request for Help

As the Minister of Health for the Kurdistan Region it is my responsibility to ensure that my people have the best health care possible. With the current situations in the South of Iraq, and particularly in Baghdad, it is very hard for us to get the materials, equipment, and pharmaceuticals that we need. For this I am putting out a request to the International Populace for help in our situation.

Kurdistan is a bright spot in the present and future of Iraq. We have our own government and we are at peace with our neighbors. Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldian, Turkmen, and Persians live inside of our borders and are all given equal treatment under our laws. Foreign investors are flooding to Kurdistan to invest in our developing infrastructure and help us build a vibrant society. Yet with all of these advancements our medical institutions need a lot of work.

Currently we have 48 hospitals and 672 PHCs in Kurdistan. Many of our hospitals lack the basic medicines and supplies needed to treat wounds or provide basic urgent care. Our children suffer from one of the world's highest rates of heart disease or childhood leukemia and we lack the facilities to treat them here in Kurdistan. Our doctors and nurses do what they can bua a lack of educational services for nursing staff, medical technicians, and specialty training for our doctors is of paramount concern.

I am asking for help from the international community to assist us with our needs. We already work with several NGO's to assist us but our needs are greater than we can currently supply.

Your help is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Signed

Dr. A.O. Yones, MBChB, IMD, MRCP (UK)
Minister of Health
Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq

Read more at IraqSlogger.

Lest anyone think that Kurds are doing nothing for themselves--only because we know that the smarmy right-wing überfascist crowd will imply such a thing about majority-Muslim Kurdish untermenschen--let's remember that back in February I posted another plea, that time for medical textbooks for Kurdistan. The textbook project is one started by a young Kurd in Diaspora, another example of a Kurd working for Kurds.

The situation must be dire for the KRG health minister to beg for such assistance, and I remember two years ago friends had to take a family member from South Kurdistan to Baghdad for medical treatment. Although the trip was dangerous and the family had to disguise themselves as Arabs for the duration of the trip, travel then through Arab Iraq was not as bad as it is now.

As deep as I am in my own black cynicism, I doubt very much that the compassion of the international community will extend to Dr. Yones and the Kurdish people, but you never know. It's possible to beat the house odds if you're playing the right game. However, a more certain means of acquiring the necessary medical supplies would be to shake down some of the Kurdish billionaires about whom certain quarters are so fond of bragging.

And while we're at it, all of those foreign "investors" who are enjoying enormous tax breaks from now until the next ice age should be forced to cough up, too. They should be taught the joys of charity.

Whoever doesn't want to fork it over, make their lives miserable so that they do pay . . . one way or another.

IRANIANS, IRAQ, ILISU, AND A UN REPORT

"I am deeply concerned about the devastating impact the controversial Ilisu dam would have on the lives of tens of thousands of people and about the irreversible loss of an invaluable cultural heritage in the Tigris valley. Allowing the Ilisu dam to go ahead will be a crime against the fundamental human rights of the people in this region and against our common cultural heritage."
~ Bianca Jagger.

Last Monday, I mentioned the following:

Hey, do you think if the US coughed up those Iranians it kidnapped in Hewlêr that Iran might cough up the American ex-FBI guy that went missing from Kish Island?

Surprise, surprise, surprise! There was an interesting development today, from McClatchy Newspapers:

The United States has quietly increased its back-channel diplomatic contacts with Iran, a sign that those who favor engagement have strengthened their hand in the administration, U.S. officials say.

Using Switzerland as an intermediary, American and Iranian officials have exchanged diplomatic messages on a variety of nuts-and-bolts subjects, including the fate of an American citizen missing in Iran, the future of five Iranian operatives whom American forces seized in Iraq, and old financial and property disputes.

I wonder . . . given the administration's rhetoric, could this exchange of diplomatic messages be construed as negotiating with terrorists? As we all know, the US never negotiates with terrorists, right?

I don't suppose that point about "property disputes" has anything to do with offshore boundaries that the UK may have been in violation of?

There was something else on this, on Tuesday:

Diplomats fear the case could mark a new twist in apparent tit-for-tat detentions involving the US, Britain and Iran, which began with the detention by US forces in Iraq of five Iranians in January and the capture of 15 British sailors by Iran who were freed earlier this month.

The US had to realize that when it seized those Iranians in Hewlêr in January, that it was provoking a reaction because there was no other purpose for the seizure. Additionally, the seizure created a difficult climate between Iraq and Iran, as if Iraq had no other problems to deal with right now. Bottom line? It was a stupid thing to do.

Speaking of Iraq, there's a new press release on Ilisu from KHRP:

Iraq's Minister of Water, Dr Latif Rashid, has strenuously denied giving Iraq's blessing to the controversial Ilisu Dam, which Turkey plans to build on the Tigris River [1].

The Minister's denial contradicts previous assurances by Turkey and the Governments of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, whose Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) approved funding for the dam in March 2007 [2], on the basis that Iraq had no objections to the dam.

If built, the dam could severely impact on downstream flows of the Tigris, which could be reduced to a trickle in summer months [3]. Turkey has failed to guarantee a minimum downstream flow to Iraq and Syria [4].

Although the ECAs made funding conditional on Turkey first supplying Iraq with the information it sought on the project, the Minister told a joint Kurdish Human Rights Project - Corner House fact-finding mission [5] that key information had still to be provided.

"The ECAs have breached their own conditions", says Nicholas Hildyard, who interviewed Iraq's Minister of Water. "Iraq made known its objections at the highest level. The ECAs appear to have ignored them."

How typical of greedmongers.

Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have lied about the conditions required to move forward on the Ilisu Dam project, which is nothing more than an exploitation scheme that will result in further state-sponsored destruction of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan and the indigenous culture of the region. Moreover, this is another indication of the regard with which the EU holds the Kurdish people, Kurdish culture, and Kurdish rights, as well as those of the other ethnic groups of the area and those in Iraq.

The entire KHRP-Corner House report on this latest development and its downstream impact on Iraq can be accessed in this .pdf document.

More backgrounder on the Ilisu issue can be read on Rastî from last August and October.

In other news, the UN has released a report today which criticizes the KRG for lack of public services, government corruption, honor murders, detention of prisoners, and arrests and harassment against journalists.

I have no idea what Dindar Zebarî means when he says that "legal procedures are followed against some who overstep the standards of the journalism profession." How did the journalists in question "overstep the standards of the journalism profession?" Did they publish "state secrets?" Or is Zebarî more likely referring to the fact that the journalists simply wrote articles critical of the problems in South Kurdistan? Or maybe the KRG subscribes to the argument that since journalists are not elected, they have no business speaking at all, such as what happened in Sweden recently:

A Kurdistan Democratic Party official attacked a speaker of CHAK in the Swedish city of The Gothenburg, reported Awene, a Kurdish online Monday.

While Rafat Halabajayy, according to Awene, was giving his speech on behalf of the organisation on the anniversary of gassing Kurdish population of Halaja, the representative of KDP, led by Massud Barzani, interfered and disturbed the meeting, telling Mr Halabjayy that he does not represent the people; hence he has no right to talk.

Attacks on Kurdish intellectuals and scholars aboard by the PUK and KDP are not unusual. Two years ago Dr Burhan Yasin, a Kurdish scholar and thinker, was verbally abused by a number of KDP representatives in Germany while he was giving his assessment of the situation of Kurdistan. He was told by the KDP members that he is not allowed to talk. Dr Yasin is a well-respected scholar and he was invited by the organiser to give a paper in the conference.

CHAK is very critical of the corruption of the Kurdish administration of the PUK and KDP. CHAK is an international Kurdish organisation pursing the rights of victims of Anfal and fights corruption in Kurdistan.

While the KDP and PUK can control independent organisations in Kurdistan, diaspora organisations have become a challenged for them.

It's time for the KRG to grow up and get over the fascist inclination. Otherwise, the only thing we'll have in South Kurdistan is Turkey v.2.