Tag: Ergenekon

  • Letter to The Honorable Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey

    Letter to The Honorable Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey

    9 September 2012

     

    The Honorable Abdullah Gül

    T.C. Cumhurbaşkan

    06689 Çankaya

    Ankara

     

    Dear Mr. President,

    Would you allow me to show my concern about maintaining your well-deserved prestige and to tell you that your star which, until now, has shone so brightly, risks being dimmed by the most shameful and indelible of stains.

    You have passed healthy and safe from the troubles pertaining to your rise to the presidency. You seem to have won over the hearts of the citizens. But what filth this wretched “Syria Affair” has cast on your name and the name of your country. The government of Turkey, in primary collaboration with the government of the United States of America, has dared to attempt to destroy the duly constituted government of Syria. In that process it has funded, encouraged and armed a motley gang of terrorist killers that include numerous members of Al-Qaeda and other recognized terrorist groups. The Hatay region of Turkey is being used as a staging area for attacks on a neighboring country, a country that until recent months had enjoyed great favor with Turkey. Hatay, perhaps the most enlightened, peaceful region in Turkey, now is under occupation by gangs of terrorist killers. The people are regularly accosted on the streets by these ruffians, and asked if they are Alevites. You will be next, they are told. The shops and restaurants are being ripped off by these foreign mercenaries. Send the bill, to Tayyip, they say, He sent for us. And rather than protect the citizens the police turn a blind eye. What is going on, Mr. President? Who is ruling this country?

    Many innocent Syrian people, including my wife’s uncle in Damascus, have been murdered by this assembled-in-Turkey terrorist machine. Moreover, the good citizens of Hatay are daily threatened by this scum that the government of Turkey has organized, of course with the help of the CIA, proven by history to be experts in unspeakably violent subversions. This lawless behavior, indeed a crime against the Syrian people, and a war crime in terms of the Geneva Conventions, is the supreme insult to all truth, all justice, all morality and all religion. Now Turkey is willingly sullied by this filth. History will record that it was under your presidency that this crime against humanity was committed. Something must be done Mr. President.

    As these government and foreign operatives have dared to drag the reputation of Turkey through the filth of deceit, lies and murder, so shall I dare. Dare to tell the truth, as I swear to tell it, since the normal channels of the media and the Turkish justice system have failed so miserably to do so. My duty as a good citizen is to speak, and not become an accomplice to this murderous travesty of justice. My nights would otherwise be haunted by the spectre of innocent men, women and children, not so far away, suffering the most horrible tortures of war.

    And it is to you Mr. President, that I shall proclaim this truth, with all the revulsion that an honest man can summon. Knowing your integrity, I am sure that you do not know the truth. If you did, you would have long ago taken action against this blatant attack on Turkish sovereignty. The ruling power is complicit in this attack. And the opposition is hopelessly divided and incompetent. So to whom if not you, the first magistrate of this country, shall I reveal the vile baseness of those who are truly guilty, the ones steeped in innocent blood up to their elbows.

    As you know, Mr. President, the problem has always been Turkey. Blessed with abundant natural resources, an edenic environment for agriculture, waters teeming with fish, vast olive groves overlooking the sea, a winning warm water climate, the land nexus between east and west, Turkey has always been a target. And being a target is most uncomfortable and always susceptible to treachery.

    Since the death of the founder of modern Turkey, who tossed the imperialist occupying powers into the sea, Turkey has been in a state of decline, particularly regarding its susceptibility and submission to western interests. First it was Communism! Communism! Communism! And a nervous America needed an Islamic green buffer zone against godless Russia. So Turkey said Yes! Yes! Yes! Please forgive us for not joining all you western imperialists in World War II. Please allow us to become a “green zone.” And  please, please, please take some incredibly fertile land from our agricultural heart in Çukurova, eight kilometers east of Adana. And of course build your airbase, said Turkey, but please like us and respect us. So America built its airbase in the fertile heart of Turkey. And that was the beginning of America’s close relationship—meaning CIA involvement—with Turkey. Vital rural education programs were abandoned lest those evil Communists infiltrate. And in the villages, ignorance remained. And the politicians knew it. And the plunder began. And today, Mr. President, the headquarters for this foul deed being done to Syria, the Syrian people, and the Turkish people is at Incirlik Air Base. What goes around, comes around, Mr. President.

    At the root of it all is one man, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the head of the AKP ruling party and the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey. A man of bombast, scowls and ill-humor, he seems not to like anyone. It’s the strangest thing, Mr. President, to observe his grin when visiting the White House in Washington DC. And then the pain that comes to his face when he returns to his native land. He came to power in a landslide election in 2002 that was repeated four years later. Could it have something to do with the lack of education in the provinces, Mr. President? Since he came to power he has relentlessly embarked on a policy to divide and weaken the republic. I am sure you have noticed this, Mr. President. Haven’t you?

    Who is this man? Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he is grown so great?

    I suspect American hamburgers and hotdogs, Mr. President. For he and his ilk are of them. And now, during these days of tragedy, there are no longer any secrets, Mr. President.

    Who is this prime minister who so disparages, dismisses, defames and divides, to wit:

    • What head of government would jail the senior officers and the command and general staff of a nation’s armed forces and within months enter a de facto war against its hitherto peaceful neighbor, Syria?
    • What head of government would actively solicit the entry into its country of known terrorists?
    • What head of government would defy the will of the people as expressed by the existence of a parliament by arming known terrorists at the behest of a foreign power, i.e., the United States of America?
    • What head of government would jail many hundreds of students for protesting their desire for a free education? Some are sentenced to as much as an eight year imprisonment for being members of a “terrorist” organization because they wore traditional poşhu headscarves.
    • Who is this prime minister of a secular, democratic, equal rights espousing country who:
    • In Istanbul 2010 International Women’s Day, opined to a conference of representatives of women’s organizations that women are not equal to men. His wife sat stoically on the dais.
    • On International Women’s Day, 2008 encouraged women to have three and even better, five, children each.
    • On 16 August 2008, called martyred (killed in action) Turkish soldiers “kelle”, a derogatory expression likening them to heads of cattle.
    • In 2011 changed the name of the Ministry for Women and Family to the Ministry of Family and Social Policies thus further effacing and disparaging women.
    • In 2011 on International Women’s Day, he was asked why honor killings had increased 14 fold since 2002 under his regime. In bizarre logic, the prime minister said the enormous increase was because more murders were being reported, thus apparently both praising and loathing improved administrative procedures.
    • After the Turkish Air Force with the help of American “intelligence” from drone observation aircraft bombed and killed 34 innocent Kurdish citizens on 28 December 2011 in Uludere, the prime minister announced his opposition to abortion preposterously likening it to rape. He thus deflected attention from the massive loss of life caused by the Turkish military.  No viable explanation has yet been given.
    • In 2011, in a gross demonstration of his Taliban state of mind, the prime minister ordered the destruction of The Statue of Humanity by the acclaimed sculptor Mehmet Aksoy. The statue stood in Kars on the Armenian border. The prime minister called the statue dedicated to Turkish-Armenian peace, “ucube,” a “freak.”
    • And now, in primary collusion with agents of the United States of America, the prime minister and his oh-so-willing underlings have launched an illegal, unconstitutional aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic, a sovereign nation. Can they have so soon forgotten the international crime and human disaster that such illegal recklessness brought to the innocent Iraqi people? Have they so quickly become emboldened to disregard the will of the Turkish people who so courageously chose not to collaborate with the western rape of Iraq in 2003?
    • And now, in primary collusion with agents of the United States of America, the prime minister and his oh-so-willing underlings have launched an illegal, unconstitutional aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic, a sovereign nation. Can they have so soon forgotten the international crime and human disaster that such illegal recklessness brought to the innocent Iraqi people? Have they so quickly become emboldened to disregard the will of the Turkish people who so courageously chose not to collaborate with the western rape of Iraq in 2003?
    • Has he forgotten the many historical foreign connivances of America? Has he forgotten the murderous campaigns of subversion that featured ruthless CIA involvement? Has he forgotten the American CIA killer-puppet Pinochet? Has he forgotten the destabilizing bombings, the tortures, the disappearances of pregnant women who were executed after giving birth, their children re-engineered for the “new” Argentine society? Has he forgotten the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia, a state terrorist training camp? How about the KUBARK program, the CIA how-to-do-it interrogation manual, the book that destroys victims’ minds? Deep, disorienting shocks, day and night jumbled, electroshock, humiliation, silence, noise, sensory deprivation, the slow destruction of brains, has he remembered any of this? And now Turkey has the very same type of organization teaching assassination, sabotage and terror. Mr. President, in times like these we must remember our Nietzsche: “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”
    • Has he forgotten Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Cuba (1959-present), Congo (1960), Cambodia (1961-73), Brazil (1965), Argentina (1976), Indonesia (1965), Vietnam (1961-74), Laos (1961-73), Cambodia (1961-73), Greece (1946-81), Chile (1973), Afghanistan (1979-present), El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua (1980s), Grenada (1983), Turkey (1980-present), Agfhanistan (1979-89) (2001-present) and Iraq (1991-present)? These are all victims of terror American style.
    • Has he forgotten the human wreckage caused by these American assaults? Surely he remembers the horror that America brought to Turkey in 1980, the torture, the mass imprisonment, the executions? Has the prime minister not had his fill of the criminal antics of the USA and its CIA? Most of humanity has, Mr. President? Have you?

    And now Syria, a new horror brought to the Syrian people courtesy of Turkey and America.

    And of course, the not-so-secret planning that turns out to be so terribly fatal. Earlier this year, General Dempsey, David Petraeus, now the CIA capo, and Hillary Clinton came to town, and came to down, and still come to town. A typical American foreign policy team, one civilian and two generals. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Mr. President, American foreign policy has shrunken to its bare essentials: military muscle-flexing and threats. Culturally insensitive and hopelessly hypocritical, it relies on force alone. In between these American visits the Turkish foreign minister feverishly visited Washington. Their cartoonish visits are insulting to Turkey. Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Mu’ammar al-Khaddafi Human Rights Award winner for 2010, soon after the award ceremony ended commenced raining bombs on al-Khaddafi’s head. He then proceeded (like Hillary Clinton) to celebrate his former host’s murder by evisceration via sodomy with various sharp instruments. Then he turned his invective on his former Syrian friend, Bashar al-Assad. How seductive must be the eye-popping smiles of that most incompetent, amoral American secretary of state.

    The deep and treacherous pockets of Saudi Arabia and America’s other military stooge, Qatar, would provide the financing of their fellow Arab neighbor’s demise. In violation of its constitution Turkey now provides a safe haven for the so-called Free Syrian Army, a collection of mercenaries and terrorists dredged up by the collective intelligence services of Turkey, the USA, Israel, and any other western jackals that want some of the action. How does such a safe haven in Hatay differ from the safe haven provided to the PKK in Iraq? Make no mistake, Mr. President, the Free Syrian Army is the equivalent in every way of the America-financed mujadhideen, the “freedom fighters” of the 1980s war in Afghanistan. And venal Turkish businessmen, having been denied projects in Iraq due to governmental blundering, rub their hands together anticipating post-war reconstruction contracts in Syria.

    And lately, again the CIA visited Turkey in the form of its boss, the military man, the general, David Petraeus, a man who as an honorable West Point cadet swore to not lie, cheat or steal, all of which he now does with wanton abandon for his country. Who would not say that this man has not become a monster? And the day after Petraeus left, the prime minister suddenly became a latter-day Mehmet the Conqueror shouting that “In a short time we will go to Damascus and God willing pray in the Emevi mosque.” And a day later 25 soldiers were exploded into very small pieces carrying ammunition in an armory in the middle of the night in Afyonkarahisar. A minister blamed God. The commanding general blamed the media. As usual, all explanations were garbled. As usual, the circumstances are highly suspicious. As usual, an investigation is pending. Chaos, chaos, always the chaos.

    Isn’t this all this a disgusting business, Mr. President?

    Of course, Mr. President, all the posturing about meetings and speeches are hoaxes. This rape of Syria was cooked long ago in Washington. How so? On 20 August 2012 a car bomb exploded in downtown Gaziantep. Warnings had been issued weeks ago that this would. But despite this “intelligence,” the car bomb was carried by a flat-bed truck and offloaded in front of the police station. So much for being alert. Nine people were killed, scores injured. But suddenly something spilled out of a blacker-than-black bag. It seems that three American neo-con think tanks (the Brookings Institute, the America Enterprise Institute and the War Studies Institute) had figured it out in advance months ago at a Washington DC conference. It was attended by representatives from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. First it was called a “scenario,” later a “plan,” then, amazingly, it wasn’t called anything. It just disappeared, never to be mentioned again.

    What’s the difference? Well, hundreds of generals and other senior staff officers remain jailed because of a laughable military coup “scenario” called “Sledgehammer” (Balyoz). This cartoon involved bombing mosques and shooting down Turkish planes. The so-called evidence was slathered across on the front page of so-called newspapers like Taraf, Mr. President. Hundreds of senior officers were arrested, Mr. President! A mammoth investigation and round-up ensued. The army’s command and general staff was purged. But about the American bomb “scenario?” Nothing! The story ran in the press for one day. After that a great silence has prevailed. Why, Mr. President? No arrests. No investigation. No questions. And soon thereafter the CIA’s David Petraeus came to town again, this time peddling another deceitful scheme. How disgusting, Mr. President.

    And guess what familiar names surround the think-tank bomb fiasco? Richard Perle of the 1980 Turkish military coup infamy, Eric Edelman and Douglas Feith, neo-con diplomatic thugs from the recent Bush regime. It all smells to the highest of heavens, Mr. President.

    This is the plain truth, Mr. President, and it is terrifying. It will leave an indelible stain on your presidency. I realize that you may have no direct power over this issue, that you may be limited by the Constitution and your entourage. You have, nonetheless, your duty as a man, which you will recognize and fulfill. As for myself, I have not despaired in the least of the triumph of the right and justice. I say with the most vehement of conviction: truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it. Today is only the beginning, for it is only today that the positions have become clear: on one side, those who are guilty, who do not want the light to shine forth, who crave war and power, on the other hand, those who seek justice and peace and eschew the disgusting laws of the jungle.

    Yes, Mr. President, truth is on the march. The full deception is apparent. And now the Turkish government stands alone in the eyes of the world as a deceiver par excellence. A conniver for the base interests of its American boss. A subversive conspirer who illegally arms, quarters and trains secret terror forces, and by doing so subverts its own constitution. How can this not be treason, Mr. President?

    Mr. President, when the truth is buried underground by lies and deceptions and subterfuges, it grows and builds up so much force that the day it explodes it blasts everything with it. We shall see whether we have been setting ourselves up for the most resounding of disasters. Sadly, it seems clear that Turkey is well along its own road to perdition.

    Today, the endgame now rages inside and outside Turkey. The dangers to the nation and its citizens are clear and present and deadly. And all these dangers lay bare the full deceit of the plan. All is now in plain sight, particularly the vastness of the crimes.

    Herein follows some of the international laws and agreements possibly broken by this violent, criminal cabal organized and directed by the United States of America and the Republic of Turkey, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and The State of Qatar, among others. These are the laws and statutes possibly breached by this vile bunch, headquartered in Istanbul and Incirlik Air Base in Adana. And whose international terrorist militants who are trained and staged in the Hatay region in southeastern Turkey. Of course, there are other higher level operators far distant from Turkey that can easily be traced through the nefarious deeds of their hired henchmen. We know who they are, and where they are, Mr. President. Their list of offenses is long and grievous, Mr. President, particularly for a nation whose government takes great pride in its religious piety.

    I accuse this monstrous cabal of possible crimes against the following standards of civilized behavior.

     

    CRIMES AGAINST MANKIND

    Realizing that the Republic of Turkey is the sole operator within your jurisdiction, I nevertheless accuse all the above mentioned parties and their agents of committing the crime of naked, treacherous aggression, of committing crimes against peace, of committing crimes against humanity, and of committing war crimes against the Syrian people of catastrophic proportions. These grave offenses are described in greater particularity as follows:

    The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey

    Declaration of State of War and Authorization to Deploy the Armed Forces

    Article 92.

    1. The power to authorize the declaration of a state of war in cases deemed legitimate by international law and except where required by international treaties to which Turkey is a party or by the rules of international courtesy to send Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries and to allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey, is vested in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
    2. If the country is subjected, while the Turkish Grand National Assembly is adjourned or in recess, to sudden armed aggression and it thus becomes imperative to decide immediately on the deployment of the armed forces, the President of the Republic can decide on the mobilization of the Turkish Armed Forces.

     

    United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314: Definition of Aggression

    Aggression is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.

     

    Charter of the United Nations

    Chapter VII: Action with respect to threats to peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression

    Article 40.

    In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the Security Council may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with such provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The Security Council shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.

     

    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

    Article 20.

    1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
    2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

     

    Nuremberg Tribunal Charter
    The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes.

    The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

    (a) Crimes Against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

    (b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity;

    (c)Crimes Against Humanity: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.

    Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.

    Note: the above provisions were codified as legal principles by the International Law Commission of the United Nations.

     

    Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1) (2nd part)

    Article 50. Definition of civilians and civilian population

    1. A civilian is any person who does not belong to one of the categories of persons referred to in Article 4 A (1), (2), (3) and (6) of the Third Convention and in Article 43 of this Protocol. In case of doubt whether a person is a civilian, that person shall be considered to be a civilian.

    2. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians.

    3. The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character.

     

    Article 51. Protection of the civilian population

    1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

    2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

    3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this Section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.

    4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

       (a) Those which are not directed at a specific military objective;

       (b) Those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective;

       (c)  Those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

    5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

    (a) An attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and

       (b) An attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

    6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

    7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

    8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.

     

    Article 52. General protection of civilian objects

    1. Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives as defined in paragraph 2.

    2. Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives. In so far as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military of advantage.

    3. In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.

     

    Article 57. Precautions in attack

    1. In the conduct of military operations, constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects.

    2. With respect to attacks, the following precautions shall be taken:

    (a) Those who plan or decide upon an attack shall:

    (i) Do everything feasible to verify that the objectives to be attacked are neither civilians nor civilian objects and are not subject to special protection but are military objectives within the meaning of paragraph 2 of Article 52 and that it is not prohibited by the provisions of this Protocol to attack them;

         (ii) Take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects;

     

    The Nuremberg Principles

    These principles define a crime against peace as the “planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for accomplishment of any of the forgoing.”

    Mr. President, these are grievous, heavy offenses. I well realize that some, in particular the government of the United States, may consider them to have become “quaintly” obsolete. But that is not the opinion of the overwhelming majority of mankind and its nations. I have hitherto considered the Republic of Turkey to be among those nations advocating the primacy of the rule of law. Unfortunately, given the current situation, I am no longer so sure.

    Finally, I must turn to another aspect of morality, the concept of divine justice. Because of the outrageous hypocrisy of the accused parties these are the most disgusting and egregious of charges, Mr. President.

     

    CRIMES AGAINST GOD

    I accuse these Turkish ringleaders and their murderous operators, these so-called Muslims who take such great public pride in proclaiming their faith while reviling the faith of others, in particular, the Alevites, I accuse these blatant hypocrites of sinning against the word of God as revealed by his esteemed prophet, Muhammad, as proscribed by the following verses of the Holy Koran:

    Sura 4:92 that says “It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer.”

    Sura 4:93 that says “He that kills a believer by design shall burn in Hell forever. He shall incur the wrath of God, who will lay his curse upon him and prepare for him a mighty scourge.”

    Sura 5:60 that says “Shall I tell you who will receive a worse reward from God? Those whom God has cursed and with whom He has been angry, transforming them into apes and swine, and those who serve the devil. Worse is the plight of these, and they have strayed farther from the right path.”

    Sura 49:11 that says “Do not defame one another…”

    Only God can judge them. And God will do it in God’s good time. But in the meantime, while these so-called Muslims and their non-Muslim supporters, advisors, financers and protectors still live in this world so should they be compelled to adhere to the laws of this world else we all become like them, demons and monsters.

    I realize that this letter is long. But so is the list of transgressions against humanity by the current Turkish government and its enablers. I have but one passion, Mr. President, the search for light, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My protest is simply the cry of my very soul.

    With my deepest respect, Mr. President,

     

    James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.

    Founder, West Point Graduates Against the War

     

     

     

    PS. With apologies and thanks to Emile Zola who would surely understand.

     

    Cc.  International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor, The Hague, The Netherlands

     

  • AS HE LAY DYING by Cem Ryan

    AS HE LAY DYING by Cem Ryan

    AS HE LAY DYING

    By Cem Ryan

    As he lay dying in those autumn afternoons of 1938, Atatürk had one abiding desire. He longed for those distant days on horseback, just one more afternoon riding in the hills above the Bosphorus. He would go again with his military academy classmate, Ali Fuat, to the sultan’s hunting lodge in Alemdağ. They would once more picnic in that nearby meadow. Oh those cadet days, those days of youth. To be twenty-one again, rejuvenated. But by then the lodge was in ruins and Ataturk could barely walk.

    Such is Turkey today. The nation of Atatürk is in ruins, his legacy near death. Think otherwise? Go see the ruination that today is Alemdağ. Go see where once grew the forests on the hills above the Bosphorus.

    An emasculated army, a captive media, a politically compromised judiciary, and incompetent political opposition have sealed the fate of secular Turkey. These are the hammer blows to Atatürk’s dream.

    Like Alemdağ, Turkey is a ruined landscape. Political corruption and environmental plunder have risen to the level of popular culture. Hundreds of those opposed to the ruling power are in jail. Listening devices and wire taps abound. Comments and demonstrations are stifled. The tone of public political discourse remains rancid. Insults, sex tape disclosures, threats and arrogant boasts are the fare fed to the passive Turkish public. The prime minister and his business cronies propose vast and bizarre infrastructure plans. They will dam all the rivers in order to generate electricity. They will dig a ridiculous canal from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. And they will do it, the Turkish public being what it is. Money. Money. Money. Capitalism on amphetamines.

    Meanwhile the needs of the vast armies of the unemployed and the impoverished go unaddressed. The ruling party presents outlandish schemes as fait accompli, so confident is it of an election landslide. Imagine a canal that circumvents the Bosphorus. Imagine two new cities built to extend the already polluted and seething Istanbul. Why? To make Istanbul safer from earthquakes, they say. Such is what passes for logical thinking. Bizarre? Yes, well then consider the prime minister’s plan to build a nuclear reactor along a fault line. Dangerous? Not to worry. It’s no more dangerous than the cooking gas container in your kitchen assures the prime minister at the top of his lungs. So much for the land that Atatürk started on the path to science and knowledge. Turkey lies dying, its natural resources plundered, its brain lobotomized.

    Even Atatürk’s Address to Turkish Youth is attacked by the media jackals. Undemocratic, intolerant, authoritarian mentality, illiberal, paranoiac, racist, fascist, are some of the labels that these hacks use to describe Atatürk’s words. How sensitive these petty scribblers are to his cautions about internal enemies, and those in power collaborating with foreign governments. They throw their words, these so-called journalists without being aware of time, history or treacherous religious underbelly that has always prevailed in Turkey. It is no mystery why the Turkish society has been so violent. Just observe the way they drive their cars, cheer on their favorite football teams, conduct their political discussions. It is really ludicrous.

    Among many other things—military leader, tactician, strategist, political scientist, social philosopher, educator—Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a revolutionary thinker. He placed his trust in education and science. He trusted the future. For him, the future resided in the nation’s youth, not only in age but in mind. Such “youth” saw the way to a better world through the enlightened, founding principles that Atatürk embraced and applied to the new, revolutionary Turkey. That Turkey is dead.

    The Turkish War of Independence was a great struggle for survival. The improbable victory was against all odds. The occupying great and not-so-great powers were sent away as they came. The backward, repressive five-century rule by religious dictators called sultans was consigned to the garbage dump of history. Youth was served. Instead of dark-minded ignorance there was the promise of education and enlightenment. Turkey was a young, revolutionary country, rid at last of the exclusive claims of religion, structured and heading towards a democratic future. But guess what? Turkey has a new sultan now, one with a sour face and an attitude to match. And the likes of him and his army of business jackals and covered women have the field to themselves. The treacherous political opposition works for its archaic itself. Turkey heads headfirst into the abyss, sleeping all the way.

    A parting word on the political opposition. On Election Day, 12 June 2011, twenty-three separate parties stand in opposition to one party, the ruling party, the AKP. Representation in parliament requires gaining at least 10 percent of the total vote. The leading opposition party, the CHP, the party of Atatürk was the only opposition party sure of gaining some representation. It takes a special brand of ineptitude to be unable to find common ground to unify the opposition, an opposition that represents the majority of the total vote. The CHP, like Nero, fiddles around in nonsensical internal fights and petty arguments. But take a bold, active stand?  Never! Rally the people? Impossible! It has been the best friend AKP. Who could imagine, a political weakling bearing the name “Ataturk’s Party.” Shameful!

    Atatürk’s Turkey is in an existential struggle against the forces of fascist Islam. The Turkish army, the guarantor of Atatürk’s legacy, licks its wounds in silence. It’s generals run to America for help and instructions. The political opposition is doomed by its smug, selfish arrogance. The Turkish people, Atatürk’s beloved people, stand paralyzed, like the sheep on the eve of Kurban Bayram. Whither Turkey? Don’t ask.

    Atatürk’s close friend, biographer and confidant, Falih Rıfkı Atay, wrote in 1968: “What would Atatürk do if he were alive today? Shall I tell you? He would curse the lot of us.” *

    Cem Ryan

    Istanbul

    15 May 2012.

     

    *Atay, Falih Rıfkı. The Atatürk I Knew, Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi, Istanbul, 1973, p. 252.

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  • Who will guard the “guardians” in today’s Turkey?

    Who will guard the “guardians” in today’s Turkey?

    In his famous question “who will guard the guardians?” Plato places a rather challenging and provocative question mark in everybody’s mind. Throughout the course of history, political corruption and the tendency of elites to oppress the masses have been witnessed by countless examples. As Lord Acton stated “power corrupts.” In sort, the limitless and unchecked (political) power puts a considerable amount of pressure upon people.

    Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (c) Wikipedia

    In the case of Turkey, the state-building process and the nature of Turkish political culture gives important signs in analysing the political processes and nature of the relationship between the ruler and ruled. In this context, despite having free and fair elections, Turkey does not have a fully-consolidated democracy. Some argue that the Turkish political system is a procedural democracy.

    In recent years, Turkey has been undergoing an enormous transformation process. The civil-military relations have started to normalise whilst separation of powers has been strengthened. In previous decades some political parties, (just like the Republican People’s Party, namely the CHP that is the main opposition party today) abused the Constitutional Court in line with their own ideologies. In addition to that, the Turkish Armed Forces in Turkey used to have an important degree of political autonomy[1] which has been challenged by the Justice and Development Party (the AKP) government in recent years.

    Let’s now take a look at today’s Turkey. What has changed and why do I need to ask the famous question propounded by Plato “who will guard the guardians”? In order to answer this question a general framework regarding Turkish political history, political culture and state tradition must be explicated.

    The Emergence of Modern Turkey: A Brief Summary

    Turkey came into-being after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. With the collapse of the multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic empire, the military with the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk played a primary role in the establishment of modern Turkey. In the state-formation process, secularism[2] and Turkish nationalism along with Republicanism have been the most important pillars of the Kemalist ideology. It can be said that, the state formation process in Turkey like the other state-formation experiences aimed to eliminate the differences and standardise the people no matter how different they were in terms of ideology, ethnicity or faith.

    The modernisation/Westernisation project which was initiated by Ataturk soon changed the institutional and legal forms and procedures in Turkey. Women’s rights were equalised and the Arabic letters were replaced by the Latin Alphabet. In short, Turkey modernised. However, with regard to universal human rights[3], rule of law and democratic ideals, Turkey’s modernisation process was not so successful.

    Political Culture and State Tradition in Turkey

    Political culture plays a major role in determining political phenomena. In this context, decision-making processes, political institutions and procedures are also heavily dependent on political culture. Thus, Turkish political culture has a lot to say in order to help us understand its impact upon Turkish political life in general and policy-making processes in particular.

    The process through which the bureaucratic tradition was constituted and developed has always been an obstacle against the strengthening of democracy in Turkey. From its genesis, the bureaucratic tradition has had an authoritarian character. That bureaucratic structure has been one of the leading factors that paved the way for the production of elitist and tutelary political tendencies in Ottoman-Turkish political history.

    Another important dimension of Turkish political culture is the political position that the Army has been holding since the establishment of the Republic. Unlike its counterparts, the Turkish Army has a considerable amount of political and institutional autonomy which ultimately emphasises its role in guarding the state from “internal enemies”, or better known as strains of political Islam and Kurdish movement. From time to time the military elites exercise direct and/or indirect political authority to a variety of extents.

    On the other hand, ultra-secularist understanding in Turkey constitutes another factor that is important in shaping political culture.  An important style of secularism is Inonu-style secularism (named after the second president of the Republic, (İsmet Inonu). This is more about the elitist protection of Kemalism.

    It must also be underlined that the historical background of Turkey from the very beginning of the Republic experienced an evident antagonism between the state and society. In addition, until the advent of multi-party politics, the high bureaucracy of Turkey along with the military revealed a certain amount of distrust towards society.

    On the other hand, the bureaucratic tradition inherited from the Ottoman times has so far played a major role in the production of elitist procedures. Since 1999, with the official European Union candidacy, these elitist and tutelary tendencies have been eroded considerably.

    Who Will Guard The Guardians Today?

    Since 1999, the Turkish political system has democratised further, whilst a free-market economy has been flourishing at the same time. All these developments also pave the way for the questioning of the state establishment in Turkey.  For so many years, the military, the bureaucracy and the judiciary have held undisputedly hegemonic roles in ruling the country. However, in contemporary Turkey, things have changed.

    As Nicole Pope says:

                “The latest row that has developed between the ruling party and the state and municipal theaters demonstrates once more how entrenched the notion of “us” versus “them” has become in Turkey. For many decades, a small elite was the dominant influence in Turkey. Today, however, the tide has turned and the conservatives are firmly in power, yet they feel the need to demonstrate their dominance in all areas…”

    Apart from that, the legal processes regarding terrorist organizations like Ergenekon and KCK have been playing a significant role in undermining the supreme roles of the “guardians” in Turkey. Some of the suspects and criminals in these cases consist of top generals whom I put in the category of the “guardians”.

    Turkey has made a considerable amount of progress in consolidating her democracy and empowering rule of law. All these developments tell us that the “guardians” such as the military whose political role used to threaten democracy so far are today not as strong as they used to be.

    —————————————————


    [1] Umit Cizre Sakallioğlu, “The Anatomy of the Turkish Military’s Political Autonomy” Comparative Politics, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Jan., 1997), pp. 151-166

    [2] Secularism in Turkey is called assertive secularism. It does not respect religions as seen in the case of Anglo-Saxon model of secularism.

    [3] In the early Republican times, the traumas that came into being as a result of the Kemalist state-building process show how tough measures were taken in an attempt to make the society a monolithic entity. The Independence Tribunals paved the way for the deaths of lots of people who just refused to wear hats or refused other dress codes that the state dictated.

    —————————————————

    Editor’s Note: Begüm Burak has a BA degree in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University, Turkey. She completed her MA degree at Istanbul University, Turkey (majoring in Turkish political life) in 2010. She is currently working as a Research Assistant at Fatih University, Turkey, where she is a PhD candidate.

  • General Asymmetrica Rhymes With America

    General Asymmetrica Rhymes With America

    “Probes are ‘asymmetric, psychological,’ says ex-army chief” shouted the headline in the Hurriyet Daily News, another media mouthpiece of the Turkish government, this one for consumption by English speakers. It seems that former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ claims his recent jailing was designed to dishonor the Turkish Armed forces. “Freedom is not only about being outside,” said the general, “I feel just as free in here.” Surely Başbuğ is joking. There are hundreds of others in jail on trumped up charges, some for almost five years. And the general feels free? Free from what? Responsibility? You, sir, continue to delude yourself. You and your military predecessors and successors are responsible for the demise of Atatürk’s secular republic. You all comprise a long line of general officers who seem to have forgotten what motivated you to the noble endeavor of defending your secular, democratic country.

    Generals like Işık Koşaner, who succeeded Başbuğ, and a year later suddenly resigned along with the leaders of the army, navy and air force with the feeble excuse that they could no longer protect their subordinates. This spineless, unexplained act was the final blow that destroyed the Turkish army, and the hope and security of the Turkish people. It was a self-inflicted wound.

    Like Yaşar Büyükanıt who asked for a sign of support from the people. Millions of Turks responded. They filled the streets for a series of wildly enthusiastic demonstrations to preserve the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Soon thereafter Büyükanıt had a secret meeting with the prime minister. He retired and promptly disappeared. Enter Başbuğ.

    Like Hilmi Özkök, Büyükanıt’s predecessor, who spent a good deal of his energy redesigning the buttons on the military uniforms, that is, removing Atatürk’s image. He has since specialized in saying very little of relevance. Consulting his profile in Wikipedia reveals the telling remark that he “opposed his peers’ plans to stage a coup.” So much for his leadership skills. Supposedly he now writes poetry.

    Like Kenan Evren, a torturer and executioner, a Turkish Pinochet, he was one of America’s “guys” who “did it” for Jimmy Carter with the 1980 US-backed military coup. A professed believer in the enlightened principles of Atatürk, he and his fascist regime instead destroyed them along with many people. He also took up the ‘leftist arts’ in retirement and became a painter.

    The tragic fiasco continues. Forget the AKP. It does as its told and is irrelevant in this situation. Ex-army chief Başbuğ, himself, is ASYMMETRIC. He’s in jail. He and his successor and predecessor generals have betrayed the founding principles of the nation. They have dawdled, temporized, rationalized, and collaborated. When the public begged for details and reliable information, the generals spoke in vague generalities. They have tortured. They have executed. And finally they have collapsed in a shameful surrender. Secular Turkey was founded by the military, freeing the Turkish people from hundreds of years of Ottoman incompetence and ignorance. Haven’t any of these senior officers understood Nutuk? It is they, the generals, who have dishonored the Turkish Army. Not the ruling power and certainly not the government’s tragically laughable Alice-in-Wonderland judicial system.

    Now these generals can watch the destruction of the Republic in their retirement villas or from their jail cells. Now General Asymmetrica knows how all the leftists felt that his predecessors jailed during the disgraceful USA-inspired coups. Now General Asymmetrica knows that all the secret collaboration with America has yielded bitter fruit indeed. And that all the recent talk about military coup plots has been simply palaver. The real blow delivered to the Turkish nation was the civilian coup, engineered by America’s new “guys,” the AKP. Through the years, the generals collaborated with everyone except their one true ally…the heirs and children of Atatürk. They thought that the secular state could coexist with religion. They failed to protect their troops and failed to know their enemy, the two cardinal principles for an army at war. And for all this they were destroyed. That’s asymmetry. Think about what Atatürk would have done to them all. They would be begging for the days of their youth. That’s the ultimate asymmetry, and it is terrible.

    Cem Ryan
    Istanbul
    12 March 2012

    Below is the full text of news article:

    Former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ has described the recent probes that landed him in jail as a “asymmetric, psychological movement to dishonor the Turkish armed forces” in a recent interview. Speaking through his lawyer, the jailed former general told Toygun Atilla of daily Hürriyet that “freedom is not only about being outside.” “I feel just as free in here,” Başbuğ said.
    “I fought against unjust slander in the public eyes of the Turkish Armed Forces personnel. And yes, I fought with all my strength against any negative impact that the unity and discipline of the Armed Forces may go through. And yes, I told relative authorities about all the problems we faced, and I, from time to time, told the public about my views. This is what I’ve done, and what I’ve tried to do,” he said.
    “Now I see I was jailed, and retired, simply for talking,” Başbuğ said. “This cannot be seen simply as personal. To call the head of the Turkish Armed Forces a terrorist is a heavy charge against the whole of the Armed Forces.”
    Başbuğ also said the recent probes were causing the public to have a negative view of the Turkish justice system. It is impossible to avoid seeing that the public conscience is uncomfortable with all this,” he said.

    Hurriyet Daily News 11 March 2012

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    İlker Başbuğ
  • Breaking stereotypes in Brussels

    Breaking stereotypes in Brussels

    At the end of March the Friends of Turkey, a group of 76 MEPs, together with TUSKON, a Turkish business confederation, held a seminar in the European Parliament with the aim of breaking stereotypes and building bridges between Turkey and the EU.

    Turkish protesters shout slogans against the government as they wave Turkish flags during a protest against the Ergenekon trial in front of the heavily guarded Silivri prison in Silivri, west of Istanbul, Turkey, on 23 August 2010. 86 people, including retired army officers, the head of a small nationalist party and journalists will be faced with charges in the 2,500-page indictment include armed insurrection, aiding a terror group and possession of explosives, according to Turkish and international news sources. |EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU
    Turkish protesters shout slogans against the government as they wave Turkish flags during a protest against the Ergenekon trial in front of the heavily guarded Silivri prison in Silivri, west of Istanbul, Turkey, on 23 August 2010. 86 people, including retired army officers, the head of a small nationalist party and journalists will be faced with charges in the 2,500-page indictment include armed insurrection, aiding a terror group and possession of explosives, according to Turkish and international news sources. |EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU

    Earlier the same afternoon, the Turkey Assessment Group, an open forum for MEPs and their assistants, held its fifth meeting, addressed by Professor Binnaz Toprak on “Being different in Turkey”. Oddly enough, both meetings confirmed the stereotypes and demolished the bridges that the Friends of Turkey intended to build.

    Contrary to Brussels opinion, the Turkey Assessment Group is not anti-Turkey, xenophobic and Islamophobe, but as the chairman, Morten Messerschmidt stated at the beginning of the meeting, “We are also friends of Turkey”. Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that criticism can be constructive and need not be branded as hostile. To correct another misconception: the Turkey Assessment Group’s meetings are hosted by the EFD Group in the European Parliament, which otherwise exercises no control over the content of the meetings or the selection of speakers. In fact, the aim of the Turkey Assessment Group is to act as an antidote to the views of the AKP government which have for a number of years predominated in Brussels.

    Now the tide is turning. According to Barçın Yinanç, associate editor of Hürriyet Daily News, there are signs of an axis shift in the EU’s trust in Turkey’s ruling party. As Demir Murat Seyrek, a senior policy adviser for the European Foundation for Democracy, has pointed out: “There is an erosion of confidence in the AKP’s democratic rhetoric.” This was not evident at the Friends of Turkey seminar, which had more the character of a revival meeting than a sober analysis of the situation. However, a note of realism was struck by Andrew Duff, who called for a refoundation of the Turkey-European relationship and warned that if Prime Minister Erdogan put Cyprus before the European Union, he would be making a profound and historic strategic mistake.

    The only criticism came from Binnaz Toprak, who as a guest complained that the term ‘Kemalist’ was now equated with that of ‘fascist’ in AKP Turkey. The next day Mrs Toprak got her comeuppance in the Islamist daily Zaman, which accused her of being delusional. Her offence consisted of heading a research group, which in December 2008 produced a report on “Being different in Turkey”. The purpose of their research was to examine the relationship between religion and conservatism in Anatolia but their most significant findings concerned the Gülen movement and its activities in connection with the increasing Islamization of Turkey. The Gülen movement, headed by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish imam resident in Pennsylvania, is a $25 billion transnational organization with 1,000 schools in 115 countries around the world. According to STRATFOR it “provides the AKP with a social base, while the AKP provides the Gulenists with a political platform to push their agenda”. Its followers are entrenched in the government, public administration, education, the police, the judiciary, the media, business and even the military. TUSKON, which co-hosted the seminar together with the Friends of Turkey, is part of this movement.

    As such, since the AKP government came to power in Turkey in 2002, it has become a force to reckon with. As journalist Ahmet Şık, who when he was arrested last month in connection with his unpublished book, “The Imam’s Army”, shouted: “Anybody who touches (Gülen) burns.”

    Consequently, Fethullah Gülen has issued a statement that he has never been engaged in efforts to prevent the publication of a book, and that “Freedom of thought, expression and the press is a sine qua non for democracy.”

    Nevertheless, it is widely perceived that the Ergenekon case, which was launched

    in 2007 as a showdown with “the deep state”, has developed into a witch hunt against critics of the government and the Gülen movement. Take, for example, the arrest of İlhan Cihaner, Erzincan’s chief public prosecutor, after he began to investigate the activities of religious communities, and the arrest of former police chief Hanefi Avcı after he exposed the activities of Gulenists inside the police force.

    Not to forget investigative journalist, Nedim Şener, a member of Binnaz Toprak’s team, who was arrested together with Ahmet Şık and also charged with being a member of the Ergenekon organization. Last year Nedim Şener was given the PEN Freedom of Expression Award and named World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute.

    Therefore it is not surprising that Prime Minister Erdoğan, who is averse to criticism and awkward questions, cancelled his visit to Brussels on 1 April.

    The Turkey Assessment Group, which shares the European Parliament’s concern about the deterioration in freedom of the press in Turkey, has invited Haluk Şahin, Professor of Communications at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, to present the latest developments at its next meeting on 4 May. Accordingly, we hope that MEPs and their assistants from across the political spectrum will support our endeavours to throw light on this problem and attend the meeting.

    Morten Messerschmidt, MEP, chairman, and Robert Ellis, advisor to the Turkey Assessment Group

    via Breaking stereotypes in Brussels – New Europe.

  • Clinton curious about Turkish military, government, Ergenekon triangle

    Clinton curious about Turkish military, government, Ergenekon triangle

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requested information from the Istanbul Consulate and Ankara Embassy in August 2009 regarding where the military and government stand on Ergenekon.

    According to two cables WikiLeaks’ Turkey partner daily Taraf published Friday, Clinton asked whether each side was trying to support or block the investigation and the judiciary’s angle on the issue. The response was not present in the leaked cables.

    Clinton asked a total of 19 questions. She asked how involved the General Staff was in the alleged Ergenekon gang, what its status toward the investigation was and how much they feared it might exceed their authority. Whether the General Staff was making back-channel negations with the ruling administration, was it probable that they may intervene and if so, how. Then-top Gen. İlker Başbuğ’s personal agenda regarding whether he would use the process for “housecleaning” in the high command was queried, as was whether he would try to prevent the investigation at some point. Başbuğ’s views on embezzlement were queried, as was how worried the General Staff was about Başbuğ’s predecessors cooperating with prosecutors.

    Regarding Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Clinton asked how solid the evidence on a coup attempt against them was and whether there were signs they were using the investigation to eliminate their political rivals. How much Erdoğan could intervene in the process, if there were signs he would halt it at some point or whether he’d “go until the end” were also among the questions.

    Opinions of jurists, both pro-AKP and Kemalist, on the process were also asked. Clinton was curious about whether the Ergenekon prosecutors and judges were trustworthy and if they could be intimidated or bribed.

    Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist, shadowy gang accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup initially by spreading chaos and mayhem.

    via Clinton curious about Turkish military, government, Ergenekon triangle – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.