Tag: Turkish police

Scottish MP Natalie McGarry arrested by Turkish Police
- Glasgow East MP was arrested in the Diyarbakir region, south east Turkey
- She was released shortly afterwards and said she was ‘absolutely fine’
- McGarry was forced to resign from SNP after links to missing donations
According to Daily Mail Scottish MP Natalie McGarry was today arrested by Turkish special forces less than 80 miles from the Syrian border.

The Glasgow East MP said she was ‘recording the sound of bombs falling across the border in Syria’ when she was detained at a security check point in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, a region in the south east of the country.

She was taken away for questioning and released shortly afterwards, her office said.

Ms McGarry, who was forced to resign from the SNP party whip last year while police investigate missing donations from a pro-independence group she founded, tweeted: ‘Thank you for any concerns, but I am safe and absolutely fine,’ she told her Twitter followers this afternoon.

Explaining the arrest, Ms McGarry’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said: ‘I can confirm that Natalie McGarry MP was questioned earlier on today but was released shortly thereafter and is grateful to everybody for their messages of support.

‘It appears that a member of the Turkish Security Forces became alarmed as Natalie had her mobile phone out near a security check point.

‘She was taken away for questioning and it was subsequently explained that she was simply recording the sound of bombs falling across the border in Syria. There will be no further statement and Natalie will be returning home soon.’

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Suspended: McGarry, pictured centre alongside Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, was forced to resign from the SNP while police investigate ‘missing donations’ from a pro-independence group she co-founded

Confirming reports of her arrest in Turkey, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: ‘A British national was briefly detained and released in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Our embassy staff were in close contact with local authorities.’

Police named her as part of their investigation into allegations that £30,000 of donations had gone missing from the Women for Independence (WFI).

Withdrawing the party whip leads to an automatic suspension from the party.

The suspension came just six months after winning the Glasgow East seat off former Shadow Scotland Secretary Margaret Curran.

McGarry, who co-founded WFI in 2012, denied any wrongdoing.

She was the second SNP MP to leave the party following Edinburgh West MP’s Michelle Thomson suspension over allegations of mortgage fraud involving property deals.

Last month Ms McGarry again hit the headlines when she was threatened with legal action by Harry Potter author JK Rowling after the pair became embroiled in a remarkable Twitter spat.

It started with the MP accusing JK Rowling of defending ‘abusive misogynist trolls’, claiming she had supported an anti-Scottish nationalist Twitter user ‘Brian Spanner,’ who has sent abusive tweets to Ms McGarry and other pro-independence politicians in the past.

The Harry Potter Rowling, who received a string of sexist abuse for opposing nationalists during the Scottish referendum campaign, immediately demanded an explanation.

McGarry responded by sending a screenshot of the author describing Spanner as a ‘good man’ in a Tweet posted in October last year and accused Rowling of ‘bullying’.

The row came to an end after Rowling suggested she would take legal action against Ms McGarry, tweeting: ‘You don’t appear to understand how Twitter or defamation works.

‘I’m going to help you out with the latter,’ adding that any damages she wins will go to her charity.
February 25, 2016
UNDER OCCUPATION: A MANIFESTO

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 relatively recently 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. This anti-Alevite dialogue is fostered by divisive statements made by the Turkish government.

In 2012, a rash of hate crimes broke out in Turkey against members of the Alevite religious sect (20 million in Turkey), an enlightened, modern-thinking branch of Islam. (It is important to note that there is a long, violent history of hate crimes committed against the Alevites in Turkey.) Last year, verbal insults, beatings, and the painting of threats on houses spread throughout the country. Inexplicably, there were no statements of warning, concern or reproach issued by the government. Making matters worse and fanning the flames of violence, the prime minister called the houses of worship of the Alevites “ucube,” a “freak.” Clearly this should have been deemed as “hate speech” and punished as such under the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 20 (as ratified by The Republic of Turkey on 23 September 2003). Interestingly, Turkey, a majority Sunni Islamic country, has no specific hate crimes laws.

And there are many Alevites in Syria. Many innocent Syrian people have been murdered by this assembled-in-Turkey terrorist machine. Moreover, the citizens of Hatay are daily threatened by these terrorist gangs 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. These crimes are well known and now well-documented. 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.

As these government and foreign operatives have dared to drag the Turkish people through their filth of deceit, lies and murder, so shall I dare. Dare to tell the truth, since the normal channels of the media and the Turkish justice system have failed so miserably to do so. If people fail to speak out they become accomplices to this murderous travesty of justice. But there is more to this, much more.

At the root of it all is one man, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A man of great ambition and great scowls. A perpetrator of epic police violence against the peaceful Gezi Parl protesters, he and his henchmen were also revealed to be epic story tellers. The entire world has witnessed their performance so there is little to add. Since he came to power he has relentlessly embarked on a policy to divide and weaken the republic. Who is this man, Erdoğan? Or as Cassius asked the reluctant assassins of Julius Caesar, “Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he is grown so great?”

In the Turkish case I suspect American hamburgers and hotdogs. For he and his ilk are of them. And now, during these days of tragedy, there are no longer any secrets. The truth is as bare as an eyeball hanging from its socket. Blood and death in the Turkish streets, poisonous pepper gas supplied by valiant allies like America and Brazil. Government street thugs wielding machetes. Beatings, clubbings, mass arrests. Roundups of lawyers, physicians, anyone who provided humanitarian aid to the protesters. Savage reprisals are now in full sway. And threats, threats, threats.

And of late, the finish of the destruction of the Turkish military, for how else to divide and reparcel the once integral Republic of Turkey in order to conform to the dictates of its American master’s pipe dream of regional stability? The ludicrous show trials called Ergenekon and its related fantasies that polluted all concept sof legal jurisprudence. Hundreds falsely imprisoned: military officers, journalists, writers, academicians. Secret witnesses, false testimony admitted without cross-examination. Lawyers jailed for making procedural objections in court. It all boils down to two words, justice raped.

Turkey is a nation held captive by the not-so-secret Obama-Erdoğan cabal. This is aided and abetted by its foreign policy, intelligence and espionage operations, and includes nongovernmental freelance organizations, both financial and mercenary. It is a stunning and deceitful array of destructive operators. The target? To destroy Turkish secularity, replacing it with a post-modern blend of religious fascism and uneducated compliance, a lethal long-term cocktail indeed. But they are adamant to once and for all create a compliant Turkish puppet state. And that’s where Erdoğan comes in. And Mustafa Kemal Atatürk departs. And that’s where Turkey is today, under occupation by a cabal of domestic ruling (AKP) and foreign (USA) powers. The army secular leadership is in jail. The police are feral and rabidly loyal to the ruling power. The situation is dire.

But we in Turkey do live in a wider world though this is rarely obvious in the discourses of the two occupying powers. And, believe it or not, there are indeed laws that are upheld and enforced in this wider world. Below are a few that are being violated by the prime minister of Turkey and the President of the United States and the members of their cabal. The dimensions are of Hitlerian proportions which was the motive force for establishing many of these laws and protocols. We, the real people of the real world, should demand their enforcement. The nightmare is here. It is time.

James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.
Istanbul
14 August 2013

LAWS AND PROTOCOLS BEING VIOLATED

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.
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.”

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Rules of Procedure and Evidence
U.N. Doc. PCNICC/2000/1/Add.1 (2000).
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/iccrulesofprocedure.html

August 14, 2013
A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

28 July 2013

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
USA

Dear Mr. President:

It has been three years since I last wrote to you advising that there was a political force rising in Turkey to throw off the Islamo-Fascist ruling party, the now infamous AKP. Mr. President, you know AKP well, even embracing the malevolent prime minister as a friend. I am sorry for the harm this has done to your reputation and America’s. This damage is irreducible and nothing can be done either for you or the Turkish prime
minister. But plenty can and should be done for the Turkish people.

I was wrong in using the words “political force” in my earlier letter. The force that has arisen transcends politics and politicians. It is sui generis and it is for real. Its name, GEZI PARK RESISTANCE; its success is inevitable. Inevitable, yes, inevitable despite you and your agents destructive and subversive meddling with the democratic, secular Republic of Turkey. The world knows the truth, Mr. President, that the AKP is the main
destructive force in Turkey. And before the Turkish Constitutional Court was destroyed it opined similarly.

After a ten-year on-going coup by the now-radical Islamic AKP, Turkey is fully under occupation. You and your CIA and all your other subversive operators have achieved another great victory over another secular country. For shame, Mr. President, to spout about democratic values the while undermining and destroying all institutions along with the culture essential for democracy. There is no democracy in Turkey. And that’s why the Turkish youth took to the streets. To restore the nation’s embrace of the founding principles of Atatürk. To assure that they, the Turkish young people, would have a viable future, just like young people in America. You wouldn’t gas them, would you, Mr. President? Then why, in the middle of all this unspeakable violence, did you sell the lamentable Erdoğan even more toxic pepper gas? Why? (I have copies of the invoices, Mr. President.)

To maim the young, patriotic Turkish democrats who chose to fight for their freedom? Over ten thousand injured. Eleven have lost eyes from gas capsules directly aimed at their faces by the fascist police. 106 people suffered severe head trauma damage. Five dead. And blindings, poisonings, deaths, beatings by the police, and pursuits by AKP “civilian” police with scimitars… And now eleven thousand more imprisoned in an AKP nazi-style round-up. And still you sell this criminal government more deadly chemicals for the desperate Erdoğan to injure, blind and kill his fellow Turkish citizens. History will not be kind to you for this, Mr. President. Nor will it be kind to your mouse of an ambassador, one Francis Ricciardone, who described the AKP government’s apalling violence against Atatürk’s Turkish Youth as its having a “conversation about your future.” Such a conversation! Such disgusting words! What benumbed diplomatic brain would utter such stupidity? He has further encouraged the fascist criminals in the AKP government with additional platitudes about the USA sharing democratic values with these AKP gangsters. How could you tolerate such tripe from such a high-level representative of our country, Mr. President? How?

President Obama at Anıtkabir

You, on your first visit to Turkey, stood misty-eyed at Atatürk’s grave on April 6, 2009. There and then, you wrote in the guest book that you looked forward to “supporting Ataturk’s vision of Turkey” and “providing ‘peace at home, peace in the world.’” Were these remarks sincere, Mr. President? Perhaps. Or were you lying through your crocodile tears? Perhaps. But the real truth is that your words have indeed proved hollow. You unashamedly embraced and continue to support the repulsive policies of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, policies that have brought disasters at home and chaos in the world. Do you still stand behind your ambassador’s lamentable support for one of the greatest ongoing human rights violations since America’s murderous antics with Pinochet in Chile forty years ago? Would you dare return to Turkey and repeat your past words about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk? I doubt it. The roof at Anıkabir would crash on your head. Do you still believe that a violent government like AKP, rotten to its core with human rights violations, shares America’s values? Given America’s “values” over the past ten years as applied to Turkey and the world you probably do. But do you know what you are supporting?

In less than a decade, the ruling party has imposed the shadow of the dark cloud of sharia over the land. The largest budget item is for the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Mosques and mini-mosques (mescit) are everywhere. Sounds spiritual doesn’t it? Well imagine what would happen in one of the occupying power’s land, say in America, if every theater, ballpark, shopping mall and school had a prayer chapel? That’s a bit much for a secular country like America to deal with, isn’t it? Sure it is. But that’s what the government of Turkey imposes on it’s own soon-to-collapse secular nation.

Moreover, early morning knocks-on-the-door have imprisoned thousands opposed to this government. All opposition are called terrorists and bounced into jail by Erdoğan’s kangaroo courts. University rectors have been defamed and deposed, replaced by government-friendly yes-men and yes-women. Same for the faculty members. Oh, and freedom of speech on campus or anywhere else? None!

You, a constitutional lawyer by training, know well that every democracy requires an independent judiciary. Not so in Turkey. Evidence is ill-gotten and completely tainted. Witnesses give secret, unsworn testimony. Those accused spend years and years in prison while “evidence” is gathered and contaminated. There is no effective, or even ineffective, law of habeas corpus. Judges and prosecutors are clients of the ruling party, in effect, the prime minister. Defense counsels are routinely punished and even arrested for making procedural objections in court.

You also know that a free press provides a vital protection against an abusive government. But not here, Mr. President. Except for a few minor and heroic exceptions, Turkey’s press and media is completely government-controlled. The prime minister tells the corrupt media bosses who to fire and who to hire. It is a sick joke, another travesty of justice. Yet most of the Turks read and watch the government’s puppet media. This speaks to the other requirement for democracy—the necessity to have an informed electorate. Forget that too in Turkey. More journalists are in jail in Turkey than anywhere in the world, including China and Iran.

As most people know, except perhaps Americans, Turkey occupies a dangerous spot in the world. For centuries, religious extremists have been imposing sharia governments on the citizens. Since Turkey became a secular state in 1923, it has been beset by these destructive religious elements. Hence the historic need for a strong army to protect itself from these dark external and internal forces. But now, since the dark forces have taken over the government, there is no longer a need for such an army. Why? Because the Islamo-Fascist conspired to destroy the staunchly secular Turkish military. In a series of ridiculously implausible conspiracies worthy of an Adolph Hitler, the army’s generals have been jailed and replaced by government-friendly hacks. And since the nation is already under occupation by religious extremists, the historical internal security responsibilities for the military have been eliminated by the parliament. Amazingly, the major opposition party voted in agreement. And who now has the responsibility for internal security? The thoroughly violent, completely nazified police. Turkey is indeed a nation under occupation. The dark forces are consolidating their power. And the young people stand alone facing the oppressive, treasonous government. And to the extent that you and your ambassador continue to provide deadly weapons to its police force, the young people face you too. Believe me, Mr. President, all of you should be worried and careful about this.

Having widely, and illegally, ignored the Turkish Constitution, the fascist government is writing a new one which will dramatically change Turkey to the presidential system (like America’s) and give even more power to the head of government. This is the hope and dream of the current prime minister. He will continue to do what he knows best: demeaning, dividing, lying, scheming, repressing, hating and revenging.

Civilian” Police and Police

Meanwhile murderous cops go free. Thousands of protestors (now known as terrorists) are in jail under unspeakably disgusting conditions. Every public assembly is considered a terrorist gathering. So-called “civilian police,” more accurately described as Hitler-Brownshirts, roam the streets with scimitars, meat cleavers, clubs and knives. This unspeakable, genuine terror has the full support of the prime minister. In fact, they are “his people,” AKP street thugs. And, in case you are wondering, the actual police are just as bad. The police force is under the de facto control of one of your CIA assets living under protection in rural Pennsylvania. Violence. Violence. Violence. None of this is mentioned by your representative in Ankara either. Nor you for that matter. The world knows, but you don’t? You need much better advisors, Mr. President.

Sadly for humanity, the Erdoğan of Turkey is also sui generis. Stubborn, arrogant, always straight ahead at full speed, the first ten days of the Gezi Park Resistance revealed his true essence in all its ignominy. And so it continues with rants about conspiracies, plots, name-callings, arrests, an overall disgraceful show of bad government and criminality. Erdoğan may have destroyed everything: the constitutional court, the media, the judicial system, rules of evidence, university independence, social life, the arts, the army and virtually all aspects of what had been the, as you yourself so movingly called it, “Ataturk’s vision of Turkey.” All these things may have been destroyed. But then Erdoğan called Atatürk a drunk. And that will finish him.

These kids have Erdoğan’s number. There is no way he can stand against their dazzling intelligence and creativity. I wish you had been with me in the streets to meet some of them. Then you would fully understand all that I have written. History tells us that fascists are like bulls, going forward ever forward, punishing and restricting and arresting. And at their end, they blabber into the wind and get their ravings blown back into their faces twice as hard. Turkey is now at that point. You may have noticed this, Mr. President. That’s why when the end comes for fascists, they fold up like cheap suits, their distorted world and their faults reeking of their doom. They, the fascists, are few, and the people, in Turkey’s case, the UNIFIED young people, who chant proudly that they are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers, are many. And remember, Mr. President, both in the arena and out, the bull never wins.

Sincerely yours,

James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.

28 July 2013

Istanbul, Turkey

ATATÜRK’S TURKISH YOUTH
“We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal!”

BRIEF BIO:
James (Cem) Ryan was born and raised in The Bronx, New York City. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he holds
advanced degrees in economics and English literature, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in literature. He is a proponent for peace and founder of West Point Graduates Against the War: http://www.wpgaw.org/ and Service Academy Graduates Against the War:

PREVIOUS
LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:

July 31, 2013
IN OUR STARS

     They are singing that old sweet song in Turkey again, the big, black lie song. Play it again, Tayyip. Except no one listens to you anymore. You, the nation’s prime prevaricator, cannot fool any of the people any more of the time with your nonsensical flights of fancy. The last one did you in, the vintage Jewish-conspiracy alibi last played by your fellow fascist-moustache up north in Turkish Diaspora-land. You have nothing left. Your thugs have taken over. None of us can escape our past. And you cannot escape your future.

     Now your primary objective seems to be maiming, and, if appropriate, killing the nation’s youth. It is no secret. We see the cops whose inhuman behavior seems to be from another planet, perhaps Pennsylvania. We see the street gangs that dress like you. These are your thug-people, presumably doing their bloody work in the name of your bizarre hallucination of what Allah would like. Hitler had his Sturmabteilung, the SA Brownshirts, who also specialized in street violence. And they didn’t like Jews either. You and yours are definitely of their ilk.

     You call it self-defense—against terrorists, or against foreign powers, or against alcoholics, or against Europe, or against doctors, or against the European Union, or against the Divan Hotel or against, why not?, the Jewish Diaspora. But your nose is much too long now, growing and getting bloodier by the day. It is all so unsightly. Your idiot puppets like the so-called media, and outright jerks Mutlu, Guler, and Atalay and assorted other boobs you’ve scraped up from obscurity still chirp in your choir. You might be so deluded to call it loyalty. But they are nitwits—you know it, we know it, the world knows it. And that’s what nitwits do, chirp nonsense, your nonsense. This is some poor excuse of a government.

     Lies, beatings, gassings, shootings, stabbings, slashings, ooof, it’s disgusting and it’s enough! Isn’t it enough? Yet you and your goons persist. For hoodlums like your thugs, even funeral processions are targets. Surely you are joking about being a prime minister. Crime minister maybe, but leading a nation’s people, never. In the great tradition of tragic figures, you will end alone. And you will become comic. That is inevitable. It’s already happening. America is laughing at you on evening TV. Don’t worry, your reaction is normal. Bullies hate humor. Laughs threaten them. So it’s quite alright that you might feel oddly out of sorts. When someone laughs at a bully, the game is over. Turkey is alone too, at least your Turkey. Thanks to you and yours Turkey is a rogue state. Inhuman, conscienceless police violence. A craven army that allows the government to destroy it every time it beats a kid in the street. Rampaging violence on the order of Pinochet. Mayhem in the streets on a Hitlerian scale. Mass arrests to intimidate. It’s all part of the endgame. The increasing chaos only hastens your end. History says so. Your government is drowning in blood while grasping at straws.

     And it’s all coming home to roost on your well-protected roof top. The world has seen the pictures of the machine gunners dressed in black that protect you. You will need ten million more of them. The end is nearing. You will begin to hear helicopters in the night. This is how you will leave. Under cover of darkness. And no one will care. You will vanish like the night.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Cem Ryan

12 July 2013

The Fall of Saigon, 29 April 1975.

Evacuation of CIA station personnel from roof of US embassy.

July 15, 2013
In the past Turkey was a gendarmerie state: Now it is a police state

Gulenists and the AKP will close the BDP, the main Kurdish party

By Dr Aland Mizell:

While most of the world is busy focusing on the Arab Spring, a possible war on Iran, the US and Europeans debts, world financial markets, and the price of oil, Turkey and Gulenists’ police are busy jailing all the Kurdish intellectuals, journalists, elected leaders, students, and writers. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is strongly backed by the Gulenists, and their media is conducting a dirty campaign against the Kurdish political party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), with a clear motive. It is part of the strategy of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Gulenists against the Kurds’ only representative party, the BDP, with its 36 democratically elected MPs.

The government aims at tarnishing the image and values of the Kurdish political party in the eyes of the Turkish and Kurdish people. These Kurdish elected political leaders are behind bars, and hundreds of others have been in jail for months or in some cases years without convictions. Illegal wiretappings also breach the citizens’ right to privacy. In Turkey’s operations against the Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), many Kurdish journalists have been imprisoned. It is unusual for a democratic country’s police to launch operations against civil society’s organizations and use excessive force against its citizenry. The question must be asked– is Turkey really a democratic country? What has changed since Gulenists and the AKP took over Turkey?

In the past Turkey was a gendarmerie state; the military would do all kinds of illegal activities because no one dared to question them. That is why we saw ‘deep states’ come about in Turkey. So what has changed since the military is essentially gone? Nothing has changed except that Turkey has transformed from a gendarmerie state unquestionably to a police state. Police now exist to defend the Gulenists’ ideology. Today the AKP and Gulenist groups know that closing a party detracts from their good image and yet they want to get rid of the BDP, the only party that represents Kurdish interests and one that has been elected by the more than two million Kurds.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the BDP as an extension of the PKK thereby demonstrating that he does not respect the will of the millions of Kurdish voters. If the BDP is an extension of the terrorist organization, then more than two million people who voted for BDP candidates are terrorists as well. Would Prime Minister put all the Kurds in prison? No.

Here is the contrived rationale behind the Gulenists and the AKP’s dirty game against the Kurds. They know that there is only one party that really represents the Kurdish interests. Further, they know that there is only one party that rejects Gülen’s ideology in southeastern Turkey, and that it is the biggest obstacle to the Gulenists’ ideology being successful. Mr. Gülen himself addressed his followers acknowledging that they failed to assimilate the Kurds and explaining that that’s why they have problems today. Since they cannot close the party, because this punitive action would not be good for Turkey‘s image, they are trying to link the BDP with the KCK and the KCK to the PKK, since the PKK is considered a terror organization. Consequently they can put all the elected Kurdish leaders in prison and pass legislation for them not to run for office again, so that the ruling party can gain time to establish a new Kurdish political party that will agree with the interests of Gülen and then will be loyal to Gülen and his ideology, but will not necessarily defend Kurdish interests.

They probably will endorse Kemal Burkay, a Kurd, but one who agrees with the AKP and the Gulenists’ policies. Remember in Turkey when you say, “I’m a Turk,” you don’t have problems, but when you say, “I’m a Kurd, and I want to have basic rights,” then you become the problem. Mister Burkay understands this.

There is another trap waiting for the Kurds– the Islamic card. Gülen is already using it to recruit many Kurds to his movement. The Islamic regime’s treatment of the Kurds will not be any different from previous regimes’ treatment of them. As mentioned, under them Kurds did not have problems so long as they denied that they were Kurds, and this factor will be the same under the Islamic regime. As long as you do not say, “I am Kurd,” you are welcomed with no problems. Today in Turkey the Kurdish Parliamentarians were democratically elected by the Kurdish people and given a victory, but the Muslim administration is not happy and is using intimidation to attack and put the Kurds in jail one by one, charging them in court, and financially and spiritually harassing them in an attempt to lower their morale, so that they will give up. They are using many kinds of tactics to justify their means.

Purposefully working on a plan to bring in the Kurds, Gülen wants his circles to discuss Kurdish issues rather than Europeans or other scholars. If today Kurds are somewhat known in the international arena, is it because Kurdish lobbyists have carried out many important activities concerning Kurdish issues. Because many Kurds who moved to the West were already older and had a hard time integrating into Western culture, it is important to bring the younger generation into the political arena. The Kurdish government should fund the lobbyists, so that they can focus on lobbying. The Kurds should work together, not just as individuals. For example, the Kurdish problem in Syria should be the same problem as that of the Kurds in Turkey or Iraqi Kurds. I believe nothing is impossible for the Kurdish people to accomplish; if Kurds have enough will, they should always find sufficient means, not excuses.

Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:[email protected]

January 27, 2012
Turkish police catch sex attacker

A Plymouth landlord who went on the run after he sexually assaulted two vulnerable teenage tenants has been arrested in Turkey.

Alfred Palmer, 52, owner of letting agency Palmer and Co, was first arrested in 2005 for a number of sexual offences dating back to the mid 1980s.

In 2006 he fled abroad with partner Daniel Tapper, 53.

Palmer was jailed for five years and Tapper, a director of the agency, for three years, in their absence in 2007.

The arrests follow an appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme which led to sightings of the pair in Turkey.

Sold houses

Palmer will now appear in court in Turkey to face an extradition ordering bringing him back to the UK to start his jail sentence.

The first trial in 2006 heard how Palmer abused two teenage boys just out of social services care.

Palmer even threw one out of his flat and threatened to have him beaten up after he repeatedly refused Palmer’s sexual advances.

The trial was halted when police admitted both men had “left the force area to evade arrest and prosecution”.

At the trial in the absence of the pair in 2007, Palmer was convicted of four counts of indecent assault and Tapper of one indecent assault.

In February 2009 an appeal on Crimewatch led to sightings of the pair among the expat community in Turkey.

Investigators found the pair had taken £300,000 with them after selling two houses and their cars.

An arrest warrant was issued in September 2009.

Investigating officer Det Con Sarah Lovatt told BBC News she was “thrilled” at the arrest of Palmer by Turkish police and predicted that the arrest of Tapper was “only a matter of time”.

She said: “It will bring closure to the victims.

“They are still struggling with what happened to them all those years ago.”

BBC

November 19, 2009