Tag: European Parliament

Armenian “Settled History Syndrome”: An affliction that runs deep in the media

By Ferruh Demirmen

Anyone who tries to see or instill a measure of balance or open mindedness in the Western media on the question of Armenian “genocide” will soon discover he/she is out of luck. For the phenomenon, which I call the “Settled History Syndrome,” is not only palpable, but also widespread. It runs deep in the media across Europe and America. It is not new, but deserves special recognition under a name of its own – hence the term coined here. It is the product of year-in, year-out incessant propaganda perpetrated by the Armenian lobby on the so-called “Armenian genocide.”

The syndrome explains how a group of certain historians or scholars, supposedly open minded, gather to discuss Armenian “genocide,” but colleagues who disagree are kept away as misguided renegades.

It explains why anyone who challenges the Armenian version of history is labeled “Genocide denier,” often citing a self-appointed group called ”The International Association of Genocide Scholars“ as the infallible arbiter.

It explains how minds are frozen, debate is stifled, and freedom of opinion is trampled upon – truth being the ultimate casualty.

It explains how money and influence, fed by prejudice, create a cadre of ill-informed politicians and general public. The media, itself thrown into deep freeze, commonly plays the role of the facilitator.

Turks who want to fight unfounded accusations from the Armenian side must first deal with this mindset affecting the media.

Examples are myriad. I will first relay an anecdote, then continue with a recent example, both from America. No doubt, what goes on in America also goes on in Europe, with some mutations.

The PBS Episode

Time is early 2006. PBS, the national Public Broadcasting Service in America, is planning to air on April 17 a supposed TV documentary called “Armenian Genocide.” The film, directed by Andrew Goldberg and bankrolled by more than 30 largely Armenian foundations in America, will surely be an anti-Turkish diatribe based on distorted history. I and a small group of Turks and Turkish Americans contact the PBS headquarters in Alexandria , Virginia, to protest the screening of a one-sided story. (As it turned out, the film shamelessly started with a macabre scene of human skulls taken from a 1871 painting by a Russian artist. For a fuller account, see F. Demirmen, Turkish Daily News, April 24, 2006). We argued that, if PBS decides to go ahead with the screening, it should also show, as a balancing act, “The Armenian Revolt,” a newly released documentary directed by Marty Callaghan.

The PBS headquarters did not change its mind. And the screening of “The Armenian Revolt” was out of consideration.

I then took my case to the affiliate of PBS in Houston Texas, which was also planning to air “Armenian genocide.” Commenting on the film, the channel’s website carried the statement: “The International Association of Genocide Scholars affirms that the number of Armenian deaths at the hands of Ottoman Turks …” It was a reminder to the viewers that the “genocide” was a shut case.

Nonetheless, I thought I should still try to educate the Houston channel, that what they would be airing was a prejudiced and distorted story. To that end, I contacted the programming director and sent him some archival material. After back-and-forth correspondence, I had my fingers crossed. At the end, the channel didn’t change its plans, but the programming director made an admission, which was revealing. He remarked that until I contacted him, they had assumed that “genocide” was a “settled history.”

It was a Lilliputian victory. But it showed what the Turkish side is against: a mindset more or less frozen on its track.

Pasadena Star Episode

Fast forward 9 years. On January 15, 2015, the Pasadena Star in California published a news article titled: “Ground broken on Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial.” It was an announcement that the monument would be completed on April 18, ahead of the “100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.” Pasadena happens to be next door to Los Angeles, a hotbed of Diaspora activism.

As the Star put it, the monument would take “the form of a 16-foot-tall tripod … with water drops dripping … to represent each of the 1.5 million lives cut short by the Ottoman Turks in the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to 1923.” The droplets would “fall every 21 seconds, so that 1.5 million drops will fall annually.” The tripod would represent “similarly shaped structures which Armenian leaders were hanged from during the Armenian Genocide.” Surrounding the tripod and stonework would be “12 pomegranate trees, representing each of the 12 lost provinces of Armenia.”

Pictures of Armenian clerics solemnly praying at the ground breaking ceremony and an artist’s rendition of the tripod-shaped monument were included in the news.

The description and symbolism were chilling; but infused in all was a prejudiced and distorted history. Particularly notable in the article was the absolutist tone in the language. “Genocide” was treated as a fact, with no hint as to its disputable character.

Considering their mindset, I hesitated contacting the Star to express my disagreement that Armenian “genocide” is a fact. But the invitation at the end of the article, for readers to engage in “insightful conversations,“ was too good to resist. I also thought that, instead of sending a short blog, I should lay out my arguments in a full article so as to enlighten them. I informed the Star of my intention to submit a dissenting view, and proposed that they publish it as a stand-alone contribution by a guest writer. Their initial reaction was encouraging. They asked me to send in my article.

In the article I took special care to acknowledge Armenian sufferings and losses, but also mentioned sufferings and losses on the Muslim side. I pointed to certain facts, and made corrections to some of the allegations in the article. I also tried to strike a conciliatory note, referring to the calls of Armenian religious leaders in Turkey, and pointed to the poisoning effect such a monument would have on the Armenian-Turkish relations in America. It was an appeal for “peace.” While I did not expect they would agree with my views, my expectations were high that the Star would publish my article – if for no reason than journalistic curiosity and respect for dissenting views.

The response from the Star was an eye opener:

“Yes. We don’t print op-eds by Holocaust deniers, nor articles denying the settled history of the Armenian genocide, recognized now by 23 countries and by the vast majority of scholars and historians not in the pay of the Turkish government.”

So, I was a “Genocide denier,” and Armenian “genocide” was a settled history, the arbiter presumably being the all-knowing International Association of Genocide Scholars. Case shut. Opinions and facts brought forward by others will not change anything.

The response was the embodiment of a frozen mind. Frozen in time, frozen in space. Here was another example of the “Settled History Syndrome.”

February 10, 2015
AMERICAN BOYZ N THE HOOD

Turkish Soldiers Hooded by America
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. 4 July 2003

Istanbul: 13 November 2014

Yesterday, three sailors from the uncontrollably violent neighborhood called America met the true face of Turkey. Poor boys, they don’t even know what they represent. They don’t even know that their so-called leaders have made them punching bags for its criminal enterprise called American imperialism. They don’t even know how America and its treasonous internal agents, in particular the Turkish government, are attempting to destroy the future of the Turkish youth.

Perhaps these American boys got a quick lesson in the true nature of Turkish-American relations yesterday? But, sadly, probably not. The American boys ran back to the false safety of their warship, re-entering their “safe” world of imperialist propaganda, economic excess and hypocrisy. But there is no safety anywhere any longer. That is the gift of America to Turkey, and to the world. As usual, America authorities and its treacherous collaborating Turkish puppets screamed in outrage. And, as usual, the youth of Turkey, the true defenders of the Republic of Turkey, went to jail for exercising their patriotic duty. Nothing has changed, except one thing. Turkish young people, the nation’s true patriotic voice, will not take American crap anymore. And America should understand that. Listen and learn, America. You owe it to your own youth. Think of it this way, think of it as a symbol.

That’s the way the resident American-imposed agent of destruction, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, thought about his hooding of Turkish women into a grotesque series of Middle Age costumes that squeeze feminine brains into numb submission. So what, declared the then prime minister, if the head scarf is a political symbol? So what, indeed! Erdoğan used his compliant covered women to destroy democracy in his own country. He and his collaborators hid behind their women’s headscarves to do America’s dirty work. And now they cannot safely visit any neighborhood in their own land. No “hood” is safe for the hoodlums. And now the new president hides in a billion-dollar illegal palace, his inadvertent monument to treason. So what if he and his ilk cannot appear in public! So what!

So what if in 1980 the American president celebrated the success of his CIA-engineered military coup by proclaiming “Our boys did it!” Yes, then his gangster BOYZ did it. And yesterday, today’s Turkish youth remembered. And yesterday, our Turkish boys did it to America, symbolically, of course, because Turkish youth is civilized. They can be no other way; they are the current-day “soldiers of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.” This is something that the treacherous opposition political polities can neither say nor understand. Yes, Turkish young people are civilized and enlightened by the patriotic principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. That’s why, yesterday, no one, neither American boy nor Turkish boy was hurt. No one was tortured. No one was hung. No one was shot, exploded, beaten, gassed, or otherwise maimed. And that’s a lot more than America can ever say about their overt and covert interventions in Turkey’s affairs.

So what if America and its craven ambassador, Francis Ricciardone, aided and abetted the Turkish government in its beating, gassing, maiming and murdering of democratically assembled Gezi Park protestors. “The Turkish government is having a conversation with its people,” said the deceitful ambassador, as he arranged to have more poisonous gas sold to Erdoğan and his hoodlum police. A “conversation?” So what!

So what if the same ambassador conspired with the main opposition party leader to assure the election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the presidency!

So what if yesterday the American boys’ heads momentarily felt the experience of being symbolically hooded! Symbolically hooded, not actually hung like so many patriotic Turkish young people have been. And by their own government! The Turkish people have been strangled and hooded by America, by its CIA meddlers and by its corrupt politicians for decades. And in the past decade of Erdoğan’s treacherous rule, America’s CIA “boys” have done it again. Or tried to.

So what if America has used its youth to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in its deceitful, illegal war of aggression!

So what if America has humiliated the Turkish military by hooding its soldiers in Iraq in July 2003!

So what if America has conspired with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan to kill hundreds of thousands of Syrians in its deceitful pretext of bringing democracy!

So what if America has supported the treasonous, under-educated, Islamic zealot, CIA-asset, Fethullah Gulen for decades in the Pennsylvania countryside!

So what if Gulen and Erdoğan have collaborated for decades in treacherous union to do America’s bidding in the subversion of the Turkish Republic! So what if the Turkish Army has been destroyed! So what if the independence of the Turkish judiciary has collapsed! So what if rivers have been stopped, farmers’ fields uprooted, forests felled, eternal olive trees murdered, lakes polluted, mountains plundered, the air made poisonous, all in pursuit of private profit, all indicative of massive governmental corruption! So what if the government has looted public funds! So what if the Turkish mass media slithers like a reptile on its overstuffed belly doing the bidding of its governmental master! So what if Turkey stinks from America’s subversion like a rotting corpse in the noonday sun!

Yes, SO WHAT?

Yesterday, clearly, directly, in a street-theater performance, Turkish “boyz” encountered American “boyz” in the Turkish “hood.” The US embassy in Turkey called the incident “appalling.” What is appalling is the embassy’s ignorance and arrogance. What is appalling is the criminal behavior of its criminal boss, the president of the United States. It is he and Erdoğan and all their co-conspirators, all the ones who need protection by regiments of armed-to-the-teeth goons, who deserve to be hooded. And now they can never step foot in our hood, ever again. Not ever! That’s the message from yesterday. Take your warships and your political puppets and go!

James C. Ryan

Istanbul

13 November 2014

November 13, 2014
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

The burning questions of these times in Turkey

What to do? A presidential election, the first of its kind, is soon coming to Turkey. There are three candidates. One is the prime minister, about whom the less said the better. Another is Selahattin Demirtaş, the Kurdish parliamentary representative, affiliated with the PKK, a separatist, armed terrorist organization. The third is a life-long, Islamist now tricked out as a secularist. He, Ekmelledin İhsanoğlu, characterized himself politically as a loaf of bread. (“Ekmek için Ekmelledin”) While perhaps appropriate, it was not meant to be funny.

Think of it this way, the presidential race is a Turkish-American trifecta. Usually one must pick the exact order of finish, 1-2-3, to win. But not in Turkey’s three-horse run-for-Çankaya. America wins regardless. Erdoğan, who America tried to dump last December, is the odds-on favorite. Demirtaş is the long-shot Kurdish candidate to uphold Joe Biden’s pipedream of a Kurdistan from his days on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And İhsanoğlu, America’s new boy, a smiling loaf of plain, white bread who will make a race of it for awhile. He will be run into the ground by the Erdoğan machine and opposition party voter apathy (and anger). Unless America pushes some magic election buttons at the finish line.

Nevertheless, all three America-bred candidates will win. Erdoğan gets his last gasp of glory until America figures a way to excuse him permanently. İhsanoğlu, entering his first race, is not likely to win (break his maiden) in this one. But he gains experience and will earn a place in America’s stable in case Erdoğan breaks down in a future outing. And Demirtaş gains credibility and track-time as an American entry for the next political operation in Kurdistan. So you see, America wins! The American-bred candidates win! And as usual, those swindled into believing that the presidential race matters, that is, the Turkish people, lose, again. Such is life at Imperial Downs, the American home of rigged elections, puppet shows and broken dreams.

Such are the dire electoral conditions in Turkey today. After a decade of Islamic fascist rule, and opposition party collaboration, its secular democracy is in ruins. This hapless trio of candidates puts the final nail in the coffin of Atatürk’s secular, anti-imperialist republic. This slate was selected by the political parties seated in parliament not the people. The domineering Erdoğan, finishing his third and final term, wants to move into the presidential chair. He will also change the power structure so that his steel-handed, brutish reign will continue. He should win easily. The Kurdish candidate is there to keep his separatist constituency happily dreaming of autonomy and oil revenues. The third candidate, the political opposition’s answer to the religious fascist government, is Ekmelledin İhsanoğlu. He is running because… because… well, because… perhaps because he was born and educated in Egypt, is a career Islamist, has been mute for years about the continuing dangers of shariah being imposed on secular Turkey and has an unconvincing commitment to the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. All this irrelevance somehow fused into a bewildering symbol of a loaf of bread. And, accordingly, his equally bewildering sponsors concluded that he will surely defeat the undefeated and undefeatable Erdoğan. This so-called thinking is called the “Alice-in-Nightmareland Syndrome.”

So how did a loaf of bread come to represent the adherents of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? The two major opposition parties, cooperating for the first time, swept the countryside seeking a suitable secular, democratic, Atatürk-loving candidate to face the imperialist-puppet Erdoğan. Amazingly, they could find none. Why? Because the opposition parties are deficient in their knowledge of secularity, democracy and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The truth is that they have both collaborated in the destruction of Atatürk’s republic. They have enabled the religious fascists to come to power and remain in power. One need not be a genius to see this. Being marginally alive in Turkey is enough. And Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu’s secretive selection, even to his own party members, of an Islamist bread loaf is first-hand evidence of his treachery.

IF ONLY…

So what is to be done? Oh, if only Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were here to save us. He’d know what to do. Yes, he would. Falih Rıfkı Atay, Atatürk’s close friend, biographer and confidant, told us in 1968. “What would Atatürk do if he were alive today? Shall I tell you? He would curse the lot of us.”

On Sunday 13 July 2014, Ümit Zileli wrote a compelling column in Aydınlık entitled “To Think Like Atatürk” (Mustafa Kemal gibi düşünmek!). It is well worth reading. Briefly put, Zileli says it is now fight time! I agree. So fight. Here’s why.

First, the coming election. American self-interest, ignorance and criminal negligence prevails. And their puppet government loves to see elections. It validates their crimes. Winning recent local elections allowed Erdoğan to feel vindicated of massive theft and bribery allegations. It allows them to lie to their ignorant constituency, shower them with bribes and become more beloved. And America claps hands and showers their pet fascists with praise and good wishes.

Remember the elation a few years ago when the Iraqis “embraced democracy” and voted for candidates they didn’t even know, a puppet slate installed by the occupying power? Suddenly, thanks to America’s brave men and women, Iraq had become democratic. All it took was purple ink for the index fingers. Some democracy. A deception. Examine Iraq today.

The coming election in Turkey is another deception. It is, as Atatürk said in earlier, similar times, “the work emanating from the brains of traitors.” Turkey is now a totalitarian, de facto one-party police state. And the Turkish people are worrying about whether to vote in a phony election? Vote for what? To be a loaf of bread or not to be a loaf of bread? Hardly a burning question, it’s an empty and insulting exercise.

DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS REQUIRE A DEMOCRACY

Democracy requires a sovereign nation not controlled by outside imperialist powers and its agents, be it CIA or, as the prime minister claims, Fethullah Gülen Gang operators. It would also be nice to not have a criminal government, one that lies, cheats, steals, maims, gasses and murders its own people. Citizens of a democracy have certain specific human rights not to be abused. Vibrant, aggressive, honest opposition parties are also essential. The Turkish nation lacks sovereignty, its borders eroded by its own government. Its destiny is controlled by the needs of foreign powers as implemented by its puppet government. By the prime minister’s own admission, a foreign gang, CIA-supported, operated with impunity to deceitfully destroy the nation’s security forces, that is, the Turkish Army. This same government conspires with various terrorist groups to overthrow the governments of neighboring countries, acting under orders from imperialist powers. It is clear that Turkish democracy is a deception and dysfunctional.

Turkish political representation is a deception and dysfunctional. The party leaders select the candidates that we, the people, vote for. The party that professes to be “revolutionary,” the CHP, as of now the largest opposition party, failed miserably to support the Gezi Park movement. It perceived the movement, mostly consisting of young people, to be against the party’s interests. For once the party was correct. The CHP is primarily a fossilized bunch of status quo parliamentary seat-warmers, completely unrepresentative of Turkish young people. Hence came Ekmelledin İhsanoğlu to yet again prove that point. How insulting is CHP to the youth of Turkey!

The Turkish judiciary system is a deception and dysfunctional. Enormous fascist-style justice buildings everywhere, justice nowhere. The courts are in the hands of the ruling party fascists.

The Turkish media slavishly serves the interests of the political ruling party. Freedom of the press is nonexistent. The wolf-pack media fails to understand its democratic rights and responsibilities.

The Turkish people lack constitutionally guaranteed rights to freely assemble and protest. They live under the constant fear of reprisals, both physical and judicial.

The Turkish police, aided by organized street thugs, assault the Turkish population with fiendish brutality. This is applauded by the prime minister. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and other government-supported terrorists have a free pass into and out of Turkey. There is no personal security in the Turkish police state.

Democracy is dead in Turkey. If you vote, you will be voting for a rotting corpse.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

The enemy is the system imposed on the Turkish people by insiders and outsiders, the same people Atatürk identified in Nutuk (The Great Speech) over one hundred years ago. They are the “fools and traitors” of the government who “identify their personal interests with the enemy’s political goals.” The enemy is clearly identified. It is the state and the government. It is the treacherous opposition parties. It is America, its ambassadors, its agents and its CIA and NSA operators, here and abroad. The enemy is imperialism and its operators. We all know this. There are no longer any mysteries.

Examine what passes for Turkish foreign policy and weep for the nation. “Peace at home peace in the world?” Atatürk’s motto and Atatürk’s republic are in the hands of criminals and collaborators. And the same tired experts fill the already polluted airwaves with their stale ideas about the responsibility of citizens to vote. Citizens of what? A puppet state of America? Vote for whom? Another imperialistic puppet? Vote for what? More of the same? Or worse?

GETTING STARTED

First, remember that the true objective is often not the field in plain sight but the sea beyond the mountains.

Second, say NO to this false election. If you feel you must vote, carry a pen with you and write the name, MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK, on your ballot. Sure, it invalidates your vote. But the election itself is invalid.

Third, say NO to these fraudulent and deceitful opposition parties. Surely they will collapse after this fiasco. This is good news and a first step towards solution.

Fourth, say NO to this state that so severely mistreats and insults over half the nation.

Fifth, immediately prepare to fight to save Atatürk’s republic, that is, prepare the field of engagement. Please note that there should be no violence nor will it be necessary to engage the enemy, that is, the imperialist powers and their agents, in any physical manner. We, like Atatürk, should choose where and how we fight.

ACTION PLAN

No religious designations on public documents, particularly identification cards. Immediately demonstrate to the enemy that religious designations will no longer be used for political purposes. Accordingly, and in conformance with European Union standards, immediately apply to have the religious designation removed from all Turkish ID cards. This is easily done. One visit to the population (Nüfus) office starts the process. The objective? To neutralize the enemy’s ability to divide Turkey into religious sects. To tell the wider world that the removal of religious designations by millions of Turks is a profound and dramatic step in the people’s battle against internal religious fascism and external imperialist ambitions. Suddenly, Turkey goes from being 99% Islamic in the eyes of the CIA to something dramatically less. Thus, notice is served that we want no part in a government or its supportive agencies and collaborators that use religion to support its own criminal behavior or the criminal behavior of foreign powers.

No military service in support of imperialism or sectarian war crimes.Immediately file a petition with the European Commission of Human Rights that claims conscientious objection (C.O.) status for all young people of age for conscription into military service. The fact that conscientious objection is not legally recognized in Turkey is irrelevant to our purpose. Resistance to the imperialist powers and their puppets will be on all fronts and at all depths. A government that conspires with the Gülen Gang to destroy the Turkish military and then claims that a parallel state, that is, the same Gülen Gang, did it alone is not competent to claim the lives of Turkish young people to serve its dark designs. A government that allows, either wittingly or unwittingly, the catastrophic destruction of the state’s primary security force is either treasonous or incompetent. In either case, Turkish youth should not be cannon fodder for use by a government that has proven to be an enemy of the Turkish people.

Boycott all mainstream propagandizing media. Avoid viewing all television programs and films that support the enemy. Avoid purchasing newspapers or journals that support the enemy.

Boycott enemy products. Boycott all American product. Its role in the destruction of Turkish democracy and security is profound. Boycott the products of all manufacturers and distributors that deny advertising to media opposed to the government. This is prejudicial and undemocratic marketing behavior, driven solely to gain political favor. It has nothing to do with economics and is purely punitive.

Do not engage in mass public protest. Are we angry? Yes! Are we at war? Yes! Are we stupid? No. So we don’t go into the streets. There is a better way. Let the enemy buy more TOMA monsters from that treacherous Turkish enterprise, Nurol Holding. And let imperialist America and cowardly Brazil sell more and more pepper gas to the Turkish police. Let it all rot in their bloody hands.

Watch the political opposition parties collapse. Revealed by this phony presidential election to be non-representative and fraudulent to the people it claims to represent, the opposition parties will again try to re-invent themselves. This, too, will be a disaster. They have proven, once again, that they no longer represent a huge segment of the population, that is, the young people. And for that failure they will proceed, at last, to destroy themselves. From this collapse comes hope.

Watch a new system emerge. The world is heading there whether the current ruling class likes it or not. Representational democracy represents one thing, money. Wealth is politics. Poverty, local and global, can never be solved by a political system that is a slave of business. In a period of economic crisis, that is, 2008 to today, both the number and net worth of billionaires rose by almost 50%. At whose expense? Everyone else, in particular the poor. People are driven from their land. Resources are controlled by a small group of political and corporate elite. Politics is not representative of real people. How many people determined that Ekmelledin İhsanoğlu would be the candidate to represent the interests of those supporting the secular, democratic republic founded by Atatürk? One. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. He knew best. A new system must come. But first the old one must self-destruct.

Join hands.Who knows when this will happen? But we see the cracks appearing everywhere. The overwhelming arrogance that presented the Turkish people with a rigged, phony election should be the inciting incident that leads on to victory over the imperial powers now besieging Turkey. And remember, the enemy remains without a clue about the origin of and reasons for the Gezi Park movement, as do the opposition parties. A new generation of Turks must lead. Help them!

CONCLUSION

We are passing from the sphere of that historical time of Atatürk’s revolution against the forces of backwardness and imperialism. It’s youthful vigor while he lived gave great hope to the people. But it’s long-term, continuing debilitation after his death left the revolution incomplete and vulnerable. Dangerous flirtations with imperialist powers led to disastrous military coups. Hence now the current state of siege by imperial powers, aided by a treasonous government that has destroyed most aspects of secular democracy. This counter revolution will culminate with the rise to full presidential power of an obvious enemy of secular democracy, aided by the naïve treachery of the incompetent political opposition.

All of the democratic institutions of government have been spoiled by the religious-fascist meddling of the ruling party. The Turkish Army appears lost. Its generals bow their heads to political hacks. There are no longer secure borders. Vast regions in the east operate independently and with impunity. The government actively supports terrorist organizations inside and outside Turkey. The Turkish government lacks independent sovereignty. Foreign imperialist powers control the destiny of the Turkish people. All seems lost.

Still, there is a chance that this catastrophe will lead to the consolidation of a massive source of intelligent, patriotic political power long-ignored and long-suppressed. In a word, the relentless power of YOUTH. Impatient, honest, courageous, vigorous, this is the genuine vanguard of the fight to save secular Turkey. It is the future. The full flower of young manhood and young womanhood will sweep aside the political debris that so contaminated the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. We have seen the young people in action. And they were splendid.

Now is the time to show again how a great people, whose national course was considered finished, regained its independence. Now is the time to show how it recreated a national and modern State founded on the latest results of science. Now is the time to rid the land of imperialists and their agents.

Now is the time to engage the enemy on all fronts, domestic and foreign.

Enough is enough! Now is the time to fight!

Let it begin!

Cem Ryan

Istanbul

18 July 2014

REFERENCES:

Atatürk, The Great Speech (Nutuk), Atatürk Research Center, Ankara, 2005.

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

Zileli, Ümit. Mustafa Kemal gibi düşünmek! )

“There was never a man like Ataturk. He was a mighty torrent that flowed over barren soil and was lost.”

Falih Rıfkı Atay, The Atatürk I Knew, p. 252

But the Turk is both dignified and proud: he is also capable and talented. Such a nation would prefer to perish rather than subject itself to the life of a slave.

Therefore, Independence or Death!

This was the rallying cry of all those who honestly desired to save their country.

Let us suppose for a moment that in trying to accomplish this we had failed. What would have been the result?—why, slavery!

In that case, would not the consequence have been the same if we had submitted to the other proposals? Undoubtedly, it would; but with this difference, that a nation that defies death in its struggle for independence derives comfort from the thought that it had resolved to make every sacrifice compatible with human dignity. There is no doubt its position is more respected than would be that of a craven and degraded nation capable of surrendering itself to the yoke of slavery.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, The Great Speech (Nutuk) p. 10

July 18, 2014
TREASON TIME WITH TRAVIS

I’m standin’ here. You make the move. You make the move. It’s your move. Huh?
You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?
Well, then who the hell else are you talkin’ to?
You talkin’ to me? Well, I’m the only one here.

Travis Bickle, TAXI DRIVER

TREASON TIME WITH TRAVIS

TREASON: The betrayal of one’s own country by waging war against it or by consciously or purposely acting to aid its enemies.

MISPRISION OF TREASON:The deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony.

Hey Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu! Hey you! I’m talkin’ to you! I’m talkin’ to you, Mister Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The leader of the that sissy-boy “opposition” party! What are you doing? All the time backin’ off, backin’ off, talkin’ away at the parliament like it all means somethin’. It don’t mean nothin’ to me and people like me, that’s for sure. Takin’ it, takin’ it for years you’ve been takin’ it from that religious mob that lies, cheats and steals like a plague of cancer. And you, playin’ word games with them while they destroy your country. Not smart, Kılıçdaroğlu, not smart at all. Them guys stole everything…everything, even the mosques and the police and the army for God’s sake. And where the hell were you, Mr. Opposition Party Big Shot? They even stole the mountains and the forests and the trees and the streets and the air and they even got the big ships. And you? You got the baby carriage and the garbage pail. And you’re the only one there, you’re the boss. So pay attention, understand? I’m talkin’ to you…man-to-man, I’m talkin’ to you! You got that? Good, because here’s a man who won’t take it anymore. Not from these government criminals destroyin’ our country while you and your rabbits sit on your collective duffs. They embarrass me, these people, so stupid they are. They think we’re stupid too and that’s the worst part. That, and lookin’ at you and your boys hangin’ around all day in them big red chairs waitin’ for the word to come from their big boss. Then you all jump up like hungry dogs at chicken bones. You try to be clever in your retorts but you don’t say nothin’ and you embarrass us a second time. So do somethin’, Kılıçdaroğlu, somethin’ with courage. I drive a taxi all day and all night. And that takes courage. So you do likewise, be brave and earn some respect. Walk out of that cesspool of a parliament. Leave shoe boxes on your desks as complementary mementos to the thieves-in-charge. Then all of you take a hike over to the criminal court and file those treason and misprision of treason cases against the gangster government. And throw in the American ambassador and his fellow agents for good luck. And we the people will hail you in the streets.

We’ll show them, won’t we Kemal? You’re the main opposition man! You can be the big dude prime minister even without kissin’ America’s feet. And I’m gonna get you in shape right now. Too much sittin’ is ruinin’ your body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on, it will be fifty push-ups each morning, fifty pull-ups. There’ll be no more pills, there’ll be no more bad food, no more destroyers of your body. From now on, it will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight. I’m one of your biggest supporters, you know. I tell everybody that comes in this taxi that they have to vote for you. You understand? Are you still lookin’ at me? Good, because I’m lookin’ at you…hard!

Mr. Travis Bickle
Somewhere in traffic in Istanbul
25 December 2013

http://www.brighteningglance.org/

December 25, 2013
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
September 9, 2012
It will not happen to me. Guess What? It Will !!!

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It will not happen to Me. Guess What? It will!

Money Market Funds – The root of our problems.

When the money market funds started in the 1970’s they were greeted with great joy. One did not have to wait for a whole quarter to get interest. This was a neat deal. One could earn their monies on a daily basis, with no commissions either.

Brokerage firms loved them because they were able to keep all their customer funds in one firm.

All the funds sold for $1.00 there were some minimums, but when a large institution decided to withdraw their funds at one time everyone held their breath. The Partners of the firm put up the cash and the fund “never broke a buck”- until Lehman Brothers in 2008.

There was euphoria everywhere except at your local savings bank. Depositors were rushing to withdraw their monies from the banks to the new modern investment. This spelled the death knell for the savings bank industry.

The repercussions would be felt for decades to come. The savings banks were tightly regulated by archaic laws, which were passed thirty years before “for the common good”. The savings bank lobby was not as strong as the brokers’ lobby. Particularly, the congress did not think long term.

As the Savings Bank Industry started to fade, the government stepped forward with their socialist program of Fannie and Freddie Mae. So our local banks would file the paperwork to the government standards and dump it on the Washington GSE’s (GSE stands for Government Secured Enterprises- Implying they were protected by the US Government.)

As time went by, officers decided to go public and then they decided to issue stock options to themselves. Mind you, this is a government enterprise. The greed factor was working overtime at Fannie and Freddie Mae.

That was just one problem with the money market funds. In theory they would go out every day and buy 90-day commercial paper. 90 days from now that debt instrument would become due and would be rolled over so the funds were always liquid.

Here is the problem; there are more money market funds today than there is sand on a beach. So now everyone started buying any kind of short-term paper (debt). Consequently everyone started lending short and not long term. Banks would issue short-term debt (remember banks were supposed to be solvent and not borrow.) Governments would buy the debt to shore up the banks and then they would turn around and offer it to the money market funds.

Money market funds were delighted with the high rates and their high ratings. What could go wrong with a country? Everyone would have to back up the credit. Right? Wrong!

So here is the bottom line as I see it. Banks, world wide, saw easy money in selling their debt to the money market funds. As the situation became dire, different governments bought their debt in order to prop up their banks. They found it easier to resell the debt to the money market funds since these funds were clamoring for quality.

Now everyone was borrowing short, and the figures did not warrant long term lending despite the US Federal Reserve’s Operation Twist. That was an attempt to buy long-term bonds (20 to 30 year maturity).

So now we face a major test of the socialist state. When a nation announces a huge debt deal to liquefy their country and we wake up in the morning to discover no one bid on the bonds. Not even a throw away bid that could be thrown out as too high.

The possible solution is to bring back the usury laws and while those laws are in the process of being enacted worldwide, forgive interest payments.

If you had lent your neighbor money and he was in dire straits; wouldn’t you be delighted to receive your principal back? This would cut the enormous salaries that today’s bankers are making at our expense.

“Too big to fail?” If that is the case break them up. Socialism is when you are at the counter and the counterman tells the fellow ahead of you to order anything he likes because the guy behind you is going to pay. Or when NASA stopped the space shuttle and within two months a Dragon Spacecraft from California Exploration Technologies Corp, a private corporation, successfully docks at the International Space Station with supplies. That is American know how can-do spirit! Only the governments of Japan, China and Russia along with the United States have put vehicles into outer space. This is the first corporation using government seed money to get started. We now have a new private industry. Let us hope that the Congress enacts legislature that will encourage investment, but protect and encourage true investments and review the statues every nine years to insure honest competition. Our corporations can compete with foreign governments because we are free and not a bureaucracy. Our Congress should set the rules and then hire the “umpires” to enforce them. Just like pro sports. You hit the referee – you are banned for life!

When an industry like the money market funds have overstepped the boundaries of common sense the government must step in and run some and close some. When an industry fails at self-regulation it is time for our representatives to step in to protect public funds. We must limit funds to only quality and fee structure in competition for the common good for the general public. We as a country tend to overdo a good deal and in the long run bastardize it for all. When it comes to the almighty dollar greed will triumph over common sense unless we restrict their numbers.

There are too many market funds and not enough savings banks. We should simplify laws that will solve these problems without the aid of lobbyists. When tested in the court of law we will find out who passes muster.

These solutions might seem too drastic, but our backs are at the wall. Soon we will not have a choice.

May 31, 2012