Turkish Forum English

Category: USA

Turkey could be America’s most important regional ally, above Iraq, even above Israel, if both sides manage the relationship correctly.

Turkey is again with Erdogan

The Turkish government banned YouTube last week, after Ankara made the same with Twitter. According to the western media  there are more than 10 million Turkish users on Twitter in Turkey. Independent experts said that the crackdown is related with nationwide municipal elections, which was held this Sunday. The lecturer of Turkish Karabuk University, Doctor of Law Ali Asker answered questions for newcafe.ge.

–          Why Government banned Twitter and Youtube? What are the main and real reasons?

–          There are official and unofficial explanations about the banning the access to social networks. Government declares that, they banned the access to Twitter because Twitter had not obeyed Court’s decision. According to the official procedures the implementation of the decision should have taken place within a month. But what about Youtube? Government says it is related to the state security issues. The reason was shown that the content of the discussion about Syria conflict in Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was leaked to the press, the Turkish Telecommunications Communication Presidency decided to ban the access to Youtube. The ban is still continuing.

–          How the society reacted to the banning? What is the reaction of the political parties and media?

–          The opposition declared there is no legal basis for the decisions. They even think it is government’s provocation. People in social networks the government in engaging in corruption. At the same time there is not unanimous opinion among the representatives of ruling party related with the issue. Turkish President openly protested against the case. Media criticizes the government and consider the decision as the pressure on freedom of thought. The number of people who protesting against the Government’s decision gradually increases. But it seems that the Prime Minister Erdogan doesn’t have any plan to recede yet. On the contrary he appealed to the court to begin the criminal case about some media representatives “who offend the authorized person of state” with their “abusive twits”.

–          What do you think, is the Prime Minister Erdogan able to keep his power? What can you say about current political climate in Turkey?

–          I think that Erdogan party (AKP) can pass the election as first party again. But it is very important to balance power in major cities. In Istanbul, opposition candidate Sarigul (from CHP – opposition party) is a strong candidate. However the social base of Istanbul reduces the assumptions that CHP will take victory. The conservative part of the society in Istanbul is as strong as always. But in Ankara we can see different results in this election. In Ankara Mansur Yavash (from CHP) is a strong opponent, at the same time he has nationalist views, therefore his vote potential could be serious in Ankara.

30 March elections are local elections, but the process and the results are extremely important. It is important to pay attention to one issue: In the history of Turkish Republic, traditionally the right and left, secularization and Islamism were against each other in overt or covert way. Same as today. But in recent years we witness some tension decrease. Especially in the conservative election potential. Left side is not as acute secularist as before. Taking into consideration the recent events in Turkey, we cannot claim that the election (in Turkey) is a confrontation between Islamic and secular values. Because, there is a division in conservative side. In the other hand there are serious bribery charges against senior officials from the ruling party who respects primary the Islamic value. According to Islam bribery is one of the serious faults. I mean there is a traditional competition in this election as secularism – Islamism, but it is not as strong as before.

– How Culen Jamaat (one of the main religious movement in Turkey, the leader of this movement Fatullah Gulen lives in US – J.M.) influences Turkey’s policy?

– Gulen Jamaat is the strongest community in Turkey. They have human potential in different positions. They have certain power in media sector and trade. The Government used heavy phrases against Gulen and it caused different reaction both domestically and abroad. In this process there is one subtle point which we should pay attention. There is distance among the Gulen Jamaat and other Islamic communities, even they are competitors. Therefore Gulen’s people have not any serious opportunity to influence the results of these elections. I thing the process which will start after elections will create great interest, so let see.

– What do you think the Turkish Government will do concerning banning social networks?

– Social networks in Turkey will be opened. Ankara Administrative Court already has the decision about the opening the Twitter. I think the Government will change its decision after the social pressure is over.

http://www.newscafe.ge/

April 6, 2014
Daily Press Briefing – March 24, 2014

Daily Press Briefing – March 24, 2014

03/24/2014 06:57 PM EDT

Marie Harf

Deputy Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

March 24, 2014

QUESTION: Do you have a comment on the downing of a Syrian jet apparently —

MS. HARF: Yes.

QUESTION: — in the Syrian airspace yesterday by the Turkish?

MS. HARF: Well, obviously, we’ve been following the issue closely. We have been in close contact with our Turkish counterparts – I would remind you, NATO allies – regarding the incident. We are committed to Turkey’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We note that the Turkish Government has been fully transparent about the rules of engagement it is operating under since the Syrian Government shot down a Turkish aircraft in 2012. The Turkish Government in this case said its forces only fired after the Syrian military aircraft violated Turkish airspace and after repeated warnings from Turkish authorities. Obviously, the Government of Turkey is looking into the incident more, but we are talking to them and will remain in contact with them.

QUESTION: So to the best of your information, do you have any independent information that it was actually shot down over Syrian airspace or Turkish airspace?

MS. HARF: Where it was actually shot down, I don’t have specific information about that, but as I said, the Turkish Government said it only fired on the aircraft after it violated Turkish aircraft – or, excuse me, airspace, and was repeatedly warned by the Turkish Government not to do so.

QUESTION: Are you concerned that any escalation might involve all other NATO allies, considering that you have some sort of a pact with Turkey?

MS. HARF: Well, I think it’s a little soon to sort of take this more broadly. I would note that I don’t think Turkey has asked for anything yet in terms of NATO. Obviously, we’re talking to them about how to move forward here, but again, I think it’s too soon to sort of draw broader characterizations about what might happen next.

QUESTION: And finally, Brahimi said that he doesn’t see Geneva II reconvening anytime soon. Do you have any comment on that?

MS. HARF: Well, we have obviously been working with the special representative quite closely. We want – all want Geneva – the Geneva process, I would say, to reconvene when we can make progress. And up until this point, we’ve seen the Syrian regime not come to the table as a party that wants to make progress here. So I know he’s working on it to see if and when we can reconvene this and how, to see if we can move this diplomatic process forward.

QUESTION: So you said that Turkey has been fully transparent about the rules of engagement? What does that mean, exactly?

MS. HARF: That it has operated under since the Syrian Government shot down a Turkish aircraft in 2012.

QUESTION: Right, but —

MS. HARF: So I think what it means, without knowing all the specifics here, is that, for example, it repeatedly warned —

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS. HARF: — the Syrian aircraft not to violate its airspace. It only then took action. That’s what I think rules of engagement refers to here.

QUESTION: Right. Right. But the rules of engagement, are they public? You don’t have —

MS. HARF: I can check.

QUESTION: Is that what that means in terms of —

MS. HARF: Or do we mean transparent with the United States? I don’t know.

QUESTION: Well, transparent – I mean, maybe you’d like to see —

MS. HARF: I’ll check.

QUESTION: — the Turkish Government tweet the rules of engagement or perhaps put them on Facebook or YouTube or something like that.

MS. HARF: I would note here that there have been more tweets from Turkey since the government blocked it than there were before.

QUESTION: So can we just —

MS. HARF: Which is an interesting, I think, signal to people that try to clamp down on freedom of expression that it doesn’t work and isn’t the right thing to do.

QUESTION: Are you helping in this?

QUESTION: So —

MS. HARF: Hold on. We’ll – let me finish Matt.

QUESTION: So do you have any additional comment on the Twitter ban? When Erdogan announced that he was going to do this, he said now every – he didn’t care about international reaction and now the world would see the power of the Turkish Republic.

MS. HARF: Well, I think what the world saw was the number of people inside Turkey tweeting about what they thought about it being blocked there.

QUESTION: Well, could I ask you what you think —

MS. HARF: Yes.

QUESTION: — about the power of the Turkish Republic since they have failed so dramatically to enforce this ban?

MS. HARF: We have conveyed our serious concerns over this action directly to Turkish authorities, both from here and on the ground. Obviously, we support freedom of expression in Turkey and everywhere else. We oppose any action to encroach on the right to free speech, and continue to urge directly the Turkish Government to unblock its citizens’ access to Twitter and ensure free access to all social media platforms —

QUESTION: Right, but —

MS. HARF: — so they can see what you and everyone else tweets.

QUESTION: Right, but what does it say to you, if anything, about the power of the Turkish Republic?

MS. HARF: In what respect?

QUESTION: The fact that they’ve tried to ban it and it hasn’t worked. I mean, is this the kind of thing that you want to see a NATO ally doing or boasting about —

MS. HARF: No.

QUESTION: — beforehand, and then —

MS. HARF: No.

QUESTION: — failing miserably at it?

MS. HARF: Well, the second part – clearly, we think it’s good that people inside Turkey are still able to express themselves, but that doesn’t mean that it should be blocked. I wasn’t trying to give that statistic —

QUESTION: Okay.

MS. HARF: — in terms of saying that it’s an acceptable action.

QUESTION: So you’re —

MS. HARF: No, clearly this is not an action we think the Turkish Government should take. We’ve told them that directly. We will continue to tell them that directly. There’s no place in a democracy for this kind of clamping down on people’s right to free speech. There’s just not.

QUESTION: Okay. And so you would encourage people in Turkey to defy – to continue to defy the prime minister’s ban. Is that —

MS. HARF: I’m not going to go that far, but I – what I will say is it’s important for people all over the world to hear what the Turkish people have to say.

QUESTION: Do you see any connection between the Twitter issue and the downing of the plane, the Syrian plane, perhaps that Mr. Erdogan is trying to export his —

MS. HARF: Not at all.

QUESTION: — local issues? You don’t see that?

MS. HARF: Not at all. No, not at all.

QUESTION: Are you helping the Turks in breaking the blockade?

MS. HARF: Is the United States Government?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS. HARF: No, not to my knowledge. We’ve been in contact with Twitter and with the Government of Turkey about this, but to my knowledge, no, we are not. But we’ve said very clearly to the Turkish Government that this is not acceptable and that we do not think they should be able to block their citizens’ access to these kind of social media platforms.

QUESTION: Mm-hmm. And —

QUESTION: Just to clarify, Marie, you – I asked this question last week, that whether United States Government is involved with this case in the —

MS. HARF: With Twitter?

QUESTION: In this dispute between the Twitter and the Turkish Government in terms of the legal process, and you said no. Still the case? Still —

MS. HARF: Well, I don’t think I said no; I think Jen said no. But we saw over the weekend, I think, some more actions being taken, right? So I’m not sure exactly how you asked the question last week, but what I can say is that we have been in contact with Twitter and separately with the Government of Turkey to talk about the fact that people should not have their access blocked to Twitter.

QUESTION: So it is a legal dispute right now, and that maybe – I mean, Turkish Government is pursuing this ban, and they took several additional measures during the weekend to stop the people to use Twitter, like DNS ban, et cetera.

MS. HARF: Which we think is an encroachment on their citizens’ freedom of expression, and we don’t think that it should be continued.

QUESTION: You are in contact with the Twitter in terms of legal dispute or —

MS. HARF: I’m not say in terms of any – I don’t know the legal – the specific legal aspect you’re referring to. We are in touch with Twitter, yes, broadly speaking. I don’t know exactly what that contact is like, but I don’t know if the legal – if that’s an internal Turkish matter, I’m not exactly sure, but we’ve been in contact with both Twitter and the Turkish Government.

QUESTION: I mean, because Twitter is represented by the lawyers right now in Turkey, and there will be maybe case against —

MS. HARF: I don’t have more details on any legal action that may or may not be happening in Turkey. I just don’t have those details. What we’ve said is separate and apart from that. People should be able to express themselves freely, whether it’s on Facebook or Twitter or whatever – Flickr, Tumblr, whatever people want to use – and that governments should not encroach on their – they shouldn’t block access for their citizens to do so. I don’t have a lot more information.

QUESTION: Yeah, but —

QUESTION: What about Instagram?

MS. HARF: And Instagram too.

QUESTION: Yeah, the problem —

QUESTION: Not Instagram.

QUESTION: Not – (laughter). Don’t play favorites now, Marie.

MS. HARF: I am not. I am not on Instagram, but —

QUESTION: The problem, the Turkish Government is trying to get some information about some users, specific users who are tweeting against the government and —

MS. HARF: What I’m saying is that we oppose the Turkish —

QUESTION: And the Twitter – and my question – okay. My question is —

MS. HARF: Yes.

QUESTION: — Twitter assured to Turkish Twitter accounts users that they will not disclose any private information.

MS. HARF: That would be a question for Twitter, not for me.

QUESTION: Yeah. But are you supporting this stand of Twitter against Turkish Government?

MS. HARF: That’s not something that I should take a stand on. I don’t think that’s something that the company, Twitter, can decide on its own.

QUESTION: Because —

MS. HARF: What we have said is that governments should not block access for their citizens.

QUESTION: Yes. But at the same time it’s a privacy question – not only freedom of expression, but the people are also trying to protect their privacy —

MS. HARF: Again, that a question that’s —

QUESTION: — and the Turkish Government is trying to get the information of all of the users.

MS. HARF: That’s a question, I think, is better addressed to Twitter, who controls that issue. What I am saying is people’s freedom of expression should not be blocked by their own government.

QUESTION: So no comment about the privacy?

MS. HARF: I don’t have more for you than this – for you on this case than that.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS. HARF: I’m happy to check with our folks and see if there’s more.

QUESTION: Right.

MS. HARF: I just don’t think I’ll have more.

QUESTION: Okay. Thank you. Please.

And another question about the jet incident.

MS. HARF: Yeah.

QUESTION: Are you concerned that this confrontation between Turkey and Syria can turn into a more broader confrontation just before the elections, because —

MS. HARF: Well, I think that’s the question Said just asked, and what I said was it’s a little too early to make sweeping characterizations about what may come from this. Obviously, we know there was a situation here where the Turks repeatedly warned the Syrians before taking action. I don’t think I want to probably draw broader conclusions about what will happen going forward.

QUESTION: No, I’m – my question wasn’t related NATO that Said asked in terms of the NATO involvement. Beyond the NATO involvement, are you encouraging the parties to deescalate the tension?

MS. HARF: I mean, we’re certainly in contact with the Turkish Government here on this issue. I’m not – I mean, in terms of the parties, you’re talking about the Assad regime?

QUESTION: No, the parties – NATO ally, Turkey. Because there will be an election this week —

MS. HARF: Right.

QUESTION: — and the main —

MS. HARF: I’m not seeing the connection here.

QUESTION: The main opposition party urged to not do any military intervention, military – I mean, unilateral military action against Syria just before the election, to use a populist tool just before the election. So this is the concern of the main opposition party and other parties in Turkey.

MS. HARF: I think I probably don’t have much comment on internal Turkish politics or how they may or may not respond —

QUESTION: It stirs an international crisis.

QUESTION: Well, are you encouraging the Turks to kind of remain calm and not escalate the situation?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS. HARF: I’m not sure how they – I mean I’m not sure there’s even talk of escalation here. I’m happy to check with our folks and see. To my understanding, it was a limited situation. I haven’t heard that there is escalation here.

QUESTION: Is —

MS. HARF: I’m happy to check with our team. We’re still talking to the Turks to get the facts about what happened here, but I, quite frankly, haven’t heard talk that people are worried about that.

QUESTION: So – because my question is related to another religious site within Syria belonging to Turkey. This is a Turkish territory, 35 kilometers from Turkish broader within Syria, and it’s under threat some groups, ISIS and other radical al-Qaida-affiliated groups. And some cabinet members, Turkish cabinet members, even urged not to do anything to provoke Turkey for any unilateral military action, for example. This is another concern for Turkey to be part of the unilateral military action within Syria. So only – not only the jet, but this is another risk for Turkey to involve with Syria in terms of this kind of military action.

MS. HARF: Well, I don’t have any, in terms of that specific question, any details for you on that. Again, I think I’ll let the Turkish Government speak for what their response will or won’t be here. As I said, we’ve talked to them, we’ve gotten the facts of what’s happened here, and if there’s more to share tomorrow, I’m happy to.

QUESTION: Marie, a question that is on Syria.

MS. HARF: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: There are report that 600,000 Syrians have applied for asylum in Europe and the United States. Could you tell us the portion of that that is being sought with the United States?

MS. HARF: I don’t know the answer, Said. Let me check with our folks and see. I don’t have the numbers.

QUESTION: Just one more question on the Syrian jet.

MS. HARF: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: You said we’ve established the facts and multiple warning were issued, I guess.

MS. HARF: Mm-hmm. By the Turkish Government.

QUESTION: How – yeah. How did you establish that? Did they share any information with the State Department?

MS. HARF: The Turkish Government?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS. HARF: With the United States Government they did. I don’t know if it was us or with the Defense Department, but —

QUESTION: Yeah. But they shared, like, intelligence information about the incident?

MS. HARF: I don’t know if it’s intelligence they told us. They warned the Syrians multiple times. I don’t know the details of exactly what that —

QUESTION: Yeah. But how did you verify what they actually conveyed to you?

MS. HARF: I can check with our folks and see.

QUESTION: Were you in touch with them in real time during the incident?

MS. HARF: I don’t know. I’m happy to check. It might be – and it might be the Department of Defense, but I’m happy to check with them.

QUESTION: So did you —

MS. HARF: I just don’t know.

QUESTION: Did you say that these pieces of information were verified, or you’re not sure?

MS. HARF: We have no reason to believe that it’s not accurate, correct. Yes.

QUESTION: Okay. But —

MS. HARF: And I’m happy to see if there are more details about how we verified it, correct.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask one more.

QUESTION: No, no. One more on Syria.

MS. HARF: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: News reports said that the U.S. Administration has finished its review on its policy towards Syria and decided not to intervene militarily and not to provide the opposition with sophisticated arms and not to allow Saudi Arabia to provide this kind of arms.

MS. HARF: I’m not sure those reports are true. I haven’t seen them, but I haven’t heard those reports. In terms of the first, we’ve always said all options except for boots on the ground are on the table. Happy to check with our team, but it’s my understanding, as we’ve talked about in here, that this is an ongoing discussion of what policies we should undertake in Syria. I’m happy to check and see if there’s been some decisions made, but to my knowledge there haven’t been.

QUESTION: Is there any review?

MS. HARF: As I said – we went over this, I think, ad nauseam one day, but there’s constantly a review of our policy in Syria. We are constantly looking at options, what we could do, what more we could do, how we could influence the situation. That’s ongoing, yes. But to my knowledge, there hasn’t been some sort of major decision on what we will or won’t do.

QUESTION: Can you check on this, please?

MS. HARF: I’m happy to.

QUESTION: Thank you.

March 26, 2014
ELECTION DAY: TURKEY’S RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH

I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air–
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

Alan Seeger, (22 June 1888 – 4 July 1916)

I have a rendezvous with death…John F. Kennedy’s favorite poem. From war hero to “Cold-War warrior,” then on to late-life enlightenment as president of the United States. He saw the lunacy of war and the chance for “peace in all time.” And so did his “enemy” embodied by Nikita Krushchev. And for that, on 22 November 1963, John F. Kennedy was murdered by agents of his own country. And Krushchev would later spend his forced retirement-years weeping in desolation.

That horrific day, in that blinding sun, in that criminal Dallas street. At a half-hour past high-noon, Kennedy was trapped in the assassins’ hellacious cross-fire. And that head that had conjured peace exploded all over the world in a spray of blood and brain tissue. Mobster government. Mobster American gore. And his murderers, these felons, gaped and grinned, mumbling to each other, “Served the bastard right. Next time, don’t mess with peace!” And no one has since, not even the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“I speak of peace,” said Kennedy, “as the necessary, rational end of rational men.” For that, these forces of darkness, these enterprises of war, these lowlife patriotic charlatans gunned him down. I was twenty-three, a new army lieutenant. I loved Kennedy, his youth, our youth together, his hopefulness, his intelligence. They killed me too, that dark day. They killed many rational men and women, that infamous day. They killed rationality that murderous day.

America? Peace? West Point? War? Big business? Guns? Politicians? Truth? Missiles? Poverty? They killed the world that day! And like some grotesque cancer, “they” live still.

And now it is today, fifty years later. And today we see Turkey at its disputed barricades embroiled in a life and death struggle against these same forces of darkness. It is called AMERICA. And in a few days Turkey will vote. For whom? Why, of course, for America! Who else? Aren’t Americans clever? Of course they are.

Turkey is, I mean, was, a revolutionary nation founded on these words by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, “Peace at home, peace in the world.” This same Turkey now sponsors and exports terrorism and death. What gives it the right? It’s puppet-certificate issued by that great puppet master, America. Turkey, its banana republic puppet government knows no depth too deep and stinking to satisfy America’s imperial ambitions. And the money and the license to steal is convenient, too.

Brave Turkey! It obeys American orders to trump up incidents for war. It shoots down a Syrian fighter that is attacking, not Turkey, but terrorists forces in Syria that are supported and supplied by Turkey and America. Terrorists that eat the organs of their mutilated enemy. The Turkish prime minister and the Turkish president cheer the dropping of the Syrian jet. Isn’t war grand sitting on your fat backsides in your plush chairs? Sure it is. How brave they are.

The main opposition party (CHP), having a few days before shouted that Assad is a dictator that kills his own people, supports the downing of the plane. Hell, don’t they know that killing your own people is no big deal anymore. Look at Erdoğan!

But the CHP could care less about young lives lost. It proved that in its disregarding the youth of Gezi Park. That Turkey and America and the other backers of the Syrian mayhem are committing war crimes also escapes the main opposition party. So a vote for either AKP or CHP is a vote for American criminality and aggression. Yes, Turkish elections are a marvel of democracy. Yes, they are indeed. And the fact that southern Turkey is now crawling with religious terrorists escapes the CHP, too. Some main opposition party! But who cares about that when one can crawl in the sewer looking for votes?

Poor Syria, so close to Turkey. It had thought that the Turks were their friends. Well, too bad for them. When it comes to matters Turkish, DO NOT THINK! And so close to the religious bigot Erdoğan who is out to genocide the Alawites of Syria. They are his fellow Muslims. But who gives a damn about religion when the sewer of American money is involved? Erdoğan the Conqueror has helped destroy all the secular states across North Africa and the Middle East. Hooray for America! Hooray for Allah! Hooray for Erdoğan! Vote for AKP! Vote for CHP! Vote for America! Vote for DEATH!

The claim that the Syrian plane, which in its straight-down death spiral landed well inside Syria, violated sacred Turkish air space is absurd. First, there are no longer southern borders in Turkey. Terrorists come and go with ease. But such ignorant arrogance is the trademarked response in what passes for Turkish foreign policy. Go to southern Turkey. The borders do not exist. Turkey has been completely corrupted by American needs. And speaking of corruption…

The prime minister and his ruling party have plundered every aspect of the once secular Turkish republic. There is no law, no security, no morality, not a shred of democracy remains. They have for years collaborated with the Fethullah Gülen movement to destroy the Turkish nation.

First, they cooperated to destroy the Turkish military.
Mission accomplished!

Second, they turned the Turkish justice system into a slaughterhouse of illegality.
Mission accomplished!

Now the disgraced prime minister, adored by his many rationality-challenged admirers, claims that all the bad things have been caused by big, bad Fethullah Gülen, the CIA frontman holed up in rural splendor just outside Philadelphia.

“Hey, Pennsylvania!” Erdoğan shouts derisively, demonstrating the third English word he knows. It is all such a sick, stupid joke, a bad three act CIA-play that I described in my writing Final Curtain last November. I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. And Erdoğan’s ranting has driven me and most other Turks mad. A conniver and a deceiver, he is in his “Eagle’s Nest,” shouting at the moon.

But the CHP has gone one better. Even Erdoğan wouldn’t dare this nifty maneuver. It has made a pseudo-alliance (in Turkey, all alliances are pseudo) with the “Hey Pennsylvania” movement. Hard to believe? Not in Turkey. Dismissively called “Feto,” Gülen’s movement has been out to destroy secular Turkey for decades. That’s why Feto raced to America and into the loving embrace of the CIA and green card happiness in Pennsylvania. The cute swindles called Ergonekon and Balyoz were inspired by Feto as frontman for the CIA. Tayyip Erdoğan is a creature of the CIA. And now the main opposition party is a creature of the CIA. The entire voting process is a creature of the CIA. What worked for the juntas in South America is alive and well in Turkey. Viva la CIA!

So by all means, Vote!
Erdoğan’s AKP has brought you America’s version of Turkey.

Yes, Vote!
The CHP has brought you yet another American version of Turkey.

Surely, you should do your democratic duty…
VOTE!

Feto, having slimed his way through the arteries of the secular Republic of Turkey for years, gives you the super-duper American version of Turkey. But either way you get him.

Of course, you could vote your conscience. But that never mattered much.

But be thankful for one thing. Unlike for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the “new” American government doesn’t blow peoples’ brains out in broad daylight any more. Unless you happen to get in the sights of a drone or attend a wedding in an open field. Or are wandering around southern Turkey.

Yes, this Sunday, 30 March 2014, Turkey will have a rendezvous with death when spring brings back blue days and fair.
But will the air be filled with apple blossoms?

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
25 March 2014

ALLAH’S BOYS

TURKEY’S POOR PLAYER

FINAL CURTAIN

I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows ’twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear…
But I’ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger, uncle of Pete Seeger
1888-1916
Killed in action at Belloy-en-Santerre, France, during the Battle of the Somme.

March 25, 2014
PEA-BRAINS ON PARADE

Harp Okulu Öğrencisi, Mustafa Kemal. (1899-1902)

17 March 2014

Today, the Black Sea rages red.
Today, the missiles of the west tremble in anticipation.
And today, the Turkish navy sends a task force on a three-month circumnavigation around Africa.
How nice.
In the face of great strategic uncertainty and dangerous border vulnerability, such is what passes for a strategic maneuver.
Such is the condition of military thinking in the demolished Turkish military.
How sad.
The Turkish military, the true founder of modern Turkey.
It had hurled the western occupying imperialist powers into the sea.
The Turkish military, the pride of Atatürk.
But that was then. And today is today. And the general staff now bow their collective heads to the politicians. Bow their heads!

“Don’t fall into the temptation of trying to please pea-brains,” said Mustafa Kemal to his fellow officer, Ahmet Cemal, in 1910. “If you condescend to gain strength from the favor of this or that man, you may get it at present, but you’ll have a rotten future.”

Today, Turkey is already experiencing such a rotten future. And we already know the pea-brains.

Today, I learned that one of the pea-brains decreed that Turkish military cadets may no longer apply to West Point. Extremely competitive, acceptance there requires sponsorship by the government. Instead they will be applying to the Chinese and Korean academies. This is a major shift in Turkish foreign policy. This is a de-westernization of its best and brightest youth.
And then I thought of my first meeting with Mustafa Kemal.

My senior year at West Point, the winter of 1962.
I am fully absorbed in a course entitled The History of the Military Art.
We are now studying World War I. Except for its first few weeks of brilliant German maneuvers, it’s a blood-ridden, boring stalemate, a slaughterhouse in the trenches.

One day after class, I visit the Cadet Bookstore.

I see Gallipoli, by Alan Moorehead, an Australian by birth.
I purchase it, outside reading never hurts.
Moorehead introduces Kemal to me on page nine:

“There was one name, more important than all the rest, that is missing from the list of guests at Harold Nicholson’s dinner party.” (Nicholson was junior secretary in the British Embassy)

“He waited in resentful claustrophobia for the opportunity that never came.”

“Through all these chaotic years it was Kemal’s galling fate to take orders from this man.” (Enver)

“No one in his wildest dreams would have imagined that half a century later Kemal’s name would be reverenced all over Turkey, that every child at school would know by heart the gaunt lines of his face, the grim mouth and the washed eyes, while his spectacular rival would be all but forgotten.”

Who was this Kemal? My professors had never mentioned him, nor had our textbooks. We had studied Napoleon and Lee and Stonewall Jackson and Grant and Eisenhower and Guderian and Rommel and MacArthur. But about this Kemal, not a word.

I could not stop reading my new book, Page 129: “It was at this point that Mustafa Kemal arrived.” (It was at Chanuk Bair.)
“Kemal’s astonishing career as a commanding officer dates from this moment.”
And from this point, the book “belongs” to Mustafa Kemal.

His “air of inspired desperation.”

His “fanatical attack on the Anzac beachhead all afternoon.”

His reconnaissance during the cease fire: “It was even said that Kemal had disguised himself as a sergeant and had spent the whole nine hours with various burial parties close to the Anzac trenches.”

His detailed journal: “He always sees the battle from a fresh point of view.”

His prophecy of the landing at Suvla: “From the 6th August onwards the enemy’s plans turned out just as I expected. I could not imagine the feelings of those who, two months before, had insisted on not accepting my explanations….They had allowed the whole situation to become critical and the nation to be exposed to very great danger.”

Mustafa Kemal, the savior, the father, the inspiration of the Turkish people, or at least those who are able to comprehend his genius.

And so I graduated from West Point and did my duty.
And so went the years and the decades and by a quirk of fate I came to Turkey.
And then I read another book: Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey by Andrew Mango.

And after that I read more and more books about this splendid man and I read his writings too. And I realized how my earlier education at West Point had been severely flawed.
Why?
Because Atatürk was the exemplar of the soldier-statesman we all should have studied and emulated. My god, he had won and built a nation. He had defeated the dark-minded forces that had enslaved the minds of Turkish men and women for centuries. He was a liberator beyond compare. Military, political, social, economical, educational, philosophical, cultural…he had mastered and implemented all the arts of modernization. He had given to all an explosive burst of genuine freedom. Indeed, he had set the way to an incomparable secular, democratic, republic of Turkey. And we, in the greatest military academy in the world, failed to know anything about him!

How I wish now that sixty years ago I had a Turkish cadet classmate at West Point. How he could have inspired us all with the full story of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. And how enlightening it would have been for West Point and the “West.”

One night soon after I had arrived in Turkey, I went to a concert at the AKM. AKM stands for the Atatürk Cultural Center. It was a splendid concert auditorium with a vast stage for theater and ballet. It has since been left to ruin by the abominable government that now rules this fast-fading country. Outside were parked numerous buses. Inside was a contingent of cadets from a local military high school. I struck up a conversation. They all spoke perfect English.

“So what’s next for you guys?” I asked.
“I’m going to West Point next year,” one answered with a confident pride.
“Really?” I said, “I went there.”
He was as surprised as I was.
He was a solid kid, like all of them, facing an uncertain future. And I thought of myself, so unknowing, so long ago.
“You will have a great advantage at West Point, you know, with your military preparation,” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I hope so, sir.”
“You will,” I said, “More than any of them there now.”
“Why is that, sir?”
“You have Atatürk,” I said. “And make sure you tell all of them all you know about him. Share him!”
And then the bell sounded softly three times. Last call. We said goodbye and scattered to our seats.

I wonder now about those splendid boys… By now they are officers. Army? Navy? Air Force? Are any in jail due to the ongoing criminal and nonsensical conspiracy of the CIA, Fethullah Gülen, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to destroy the Turkish military and Mustafa Kemal?

The decision to abandon West Point training, made by someone somewhere in the Turkish chain of command, is a particularly harmful one. It insults the wise heritage of Mustafa Kemal. It severs the alliance of American and Turkish military academy-trained officers. And it stinks of political opportunism and ignorance. But those details can be debated some other day, hopefully by the young Turkish cadets who will easily see the profoundly catastrophic effects of a military turning its back on the world’s preeminent military institution. It’s a decision that penalizes both West Point and the Turkish Military Academy. It’s a decision made by those pea-brains, domestic and foreign, who today cause such havoc in Turkey.

If we don’t wise up now, when will we?

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
17 March 2014

Brightening Glance, http://www.brighteningglance.org

March 18, 2014
RECEP DECEIT ERDOĞAN

RECEP DECEIT ERDOĞAN

15 March 2014

The ides of March, beware the ides of March!

Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me, when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,

Making the green one red.

MACBETH, William Shakespeare

In your repetition, in your ranting, you bore me immensely and to tears.
Yet in your supernatural excess, you never fail to astonish.
Now a hunted man, who curses stars for giving light to darkness,
you cannot control your rotting tongue.
There must surely be some divine disgust coming.
You should be pitied, such an inhuman piece of wreckage.
But in your deceit you transcend pity.
The condition of your end surpasses words, except perhaps one–
UNSPEAKABLE

Nine months ago you murdered a fifteen year-old boy.
It took Berkin Elvan nine months to be born.
And nine months to die by your hand.
Nine months in a coma, tubed and hosed, draining away in a hospital.
A hospital where, the day he died, you gassed and beat his mourners.
And that night, you gassed and beat his mourners all over the nation.
And that night I wrote about rage and outrage.
“HEY YOU!” I shouted… “HEY ERDOĞAN!”

That night I asked you, “Tomorrow, will you attack the boy’s corpse?”
I felt so strange asking that question. Who would do such blasphemy?
But true to your deceitful form, you would.
And did.
And without qualms, so cool, so cold, so devastating your style.
Every religion, one way or another says, never speak ill of the dead.
But you…unspeakable you…What in hell is your religion?
And the next day you continued to defile the boy’s corpse.
You went to Siirt.

Your wife’s hometown.
And how courageous you were imitating the home-grown liar and thief Jet Fadil whose parliamentary seat you occupy in historically perfect irony.

Imposter! Charlatan! Infidel!

The boy was a “terrorist, you yelled to your mob of bootlickers in the plaza at Siirt.
Clap-clap-clap went your mob.
He was carrying a slingshot, steel marbles and wearing a scarf, you lied.
Clap-clap-clap went your mob.

Yes,true to your form, you lied.
The picture was photoshopped by one of your corrupt cops.
Everyone knows this.
Everyone except your Allah-dazzled mobs.
Clap-clappity-clap went your bedazzled bootlickers.
Clap-clappity-clap…

Then you insulted the boy’s mother.
“I couldn’t understand why you threw steel marbles and carnations into your son’s grave,” you yelled.
Booooooooo! yelled your mob in avid, oblivious agreement. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Who? What? When? Where? Why? …..
I mean words fail…a head of state talking such abominable trash, such profanity…
Booing a dead child’s mother?
Your mob, your perverted followers.
Your mobs in plazas where no light ever shines. YOUR “people.”
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

What idiot advises you to say and do such things?
The guy with the pig-greased hair?
That peddler of slime and subterfuge?
The one who is ready to die for you?
Hadi!
Go!
Die!
Lead by example!
Do the right thing!

Or do you advise yourself?

Or was it Egemen Bağış, your thieving ex-minister?
The pervert who called Berkin’s mourners “necrophiles.”

Or was it Mehmet Ali Şahin, Turkey’s greatest verbal defecator.
In Ergenekon, as he had so vividly explained,
“Turkey is defecating. Turkey will continue cleansing its intestines.”
About Berkin, he was even less sensitive.
If Berkin had died after the election, he blathered, the funeral crowd would not have been so large.

And for all this, and for so much more, you will all soon go forever.

The door is knocking.
Can you hear it?
Your advisors won’t tell.
Only the knock tells.
The knock that appalls.
A knock, and you disappear.
Somewhere, beyond the sun, beyond the touch of humanity,
Beyond the light. Beyond thought.
And all that remains, all those “things” of yours,
will be razed, destroyed, plowed over.
And the land will be calm.
And your hands?
Your bloody, thieving, deceiving, murderous hands?
They too will be food for worms.

Listen well, for it has already been written:

Your worm is your only emperor for diet.
We fat all creatures else to fat us, and
we fat ourselves for maggots.

HAMLET, William Shakespeare

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
15 March 2014

March 16, 2014
THE SICK JOKE

“Hegel observes somewhere that all great incidents and individuals of world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.”

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1851)

Oh fabulous farce, the art of the improbable, the exaggerated, the ludicrous, the bizarre, the brazen and often the stupid, the essence of what Turks once called democracy, a word they dare not now pronounce. Still, aren’t we all so lucky to be living in Turkey? Sure we are. Turkey, the land of politicians that plunder while they pray, ludicrously lie without blushing and murder and maim the nation’s youth. Turkey, once brimming with hope, now the land of hopelessness. Still…aren’t we happy, happy, happy? Of course we are. Therefore aren’t we stupid? Of course we…. next question, please.

Forget your troubles! Get happy! Allah, Yahweh and Jesus all love you! Why the other night the commanding general of the world’s largest, best trained and best armed terrorist group was released from jail. He was lucky. Hundreds of his fellow officers, jailed years before him, are still inside. Strange isn’t to have a nation’s army called a terrorist group? Who would dare call it so? The name, their name, is treason. Their names are the names of founders of the ruling religious fascist party. Meet Abdullah Gül, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Bülent Arınç, the three stars of that fast fading, soon to close farce called Ergenekon. And this dynamic trio, this merry band, the Harpo Marx, Groucho Marx and Chico Marx of their shameless Turkish times, they cooked up this entire treacherous deal. Really, these guys are too much, a real riot of laughs. So get this, after the general was released, all three sent him congratulations messages. So funny they are… HA-HA-HA. They couldn’t be any funnier if they had hit him in the face with cream pies. These three comics canned the general for 26 months and then they celebrate his release. HA-HA-HA! Then they sent for the real clown and in comes the major opposition party leader to join in the celebration. HA-HA-HA! Too much, wouldn’t you agree? Don’t you love farce?

Well, Ergenekon has been legally stinking for years. It’s all based on fabricated evidence and secret, false witnesses. Who wrote this joke? Well start with the CIA and assorted traitorous dopes in Turkey. Who produced it? Harpo, Groucho and Chico, with a supporting cast of sold-out journalists, police, prosecutors and judges. Who’s the evil genius? Every farce needs an evil genius. Why he’s an old friend of Harpo, Groucho, and Chico. His name? Feto. Who’s he? He’s an under-educated imam who peddles a line of religious snake-oil blather that appeals to people who are too busy to read and think. But not too busy to be sneaky, violent and suborn treason. He has a big following in Turkey. He makes loads of money so bankrolling the Ergenekon farce was not even a slight problem. And, of course, to further darken the melodrama enter the CIA. Color me green as in a green card for Feto. Color me green as in an Islamic green tie for Groucho. Color me green as in massive bribes and kickbacks and secret bank accounts in the Alps. So far, so bad. Yes, Uncle Feto has been very good to these destroyers of Turkey. And he has been true to his word. He promised to destroy democracy years ago before he escaped into the welcoming arms of the CIA in America, Pennsylvania to be precise. But now pity poor Feto. His old subversive comrades have turned on him. It seems they need a patsy, like Lee Harvey Oswald was fifty years ago. Why? Well, it seems that Groucho and his bit-player ministers and assorted cronies have been stealing everything. Hoses are everywhere sucking, sucking, sucking. Their houses are collapsing from the zillions of shoeboxes stuffed with dollars and euros and whatever else flies in. So Groucho needs a cover, something to take him from being a pious thief to a savior of the nation. Hmmm….

So what does he do? He blames Feto for the whole disaster. The new game is called Fingering Feto. And that’s why the Turkish Marx brothers, now little angels, are congratulating the general. I wonder if they will send congratulations to all the hundreds of soon-to-be-released prisoners whose lives they have stolen? Do they really think that the Turkish people will believe that they are clean, that they too have been made patsies by the patsy, Feto? Remember, farces are brazen and bizarre.

Groucho says he’s saving the nation from Feto’s horrible assault on privacy and the military and everything else. Groucho is, as usual, lying, since he said he was the lead prosecutor in all these cases. Farces are ludicrous too. And so the leading opposition has made an alliance of sorts with Feto. The result? Voters in the coming election can vote for the treasonous ruling party or the treasonous major opposition party. This is pretty funny isn’t it? HA-HA-HA.

Or is this the stupid part? HA-HA-HA!

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
8 March 2014

Brightening Glance,

March 9, 2014