OCTOBER WAR COUNT

The October War Count from HPG:


Number of Turkish army operations: 57
Number of Turkish-Iranian joint military operations: 1
Total operations: 58

Number of operations that made contact with HPG/YJA-STAR: 43

Number of enemy soldiers killed

Soldiers: 138
Officers: 6
Police: 3

Total enemy killed: 147

Number of POWs taken by HPG: 8

Number of enemy wounded: 86

Number of helicopters hit: 3

Military materiel confiscated

M-16s: 3
G-3s: 6
BKC 7.62 medium machine gun: 1
A-6 heavy weapon: 1
Heavy weapon bomb launcher: 1

Number of HPG gerîla şehîds: 6

In addition, a number of forest fires were started by the Turkish army in the areas of Dersim, Amed, Erzurum, and Botan.

PKK, OIL, AND ERDOĞAN'S PIPE DREAM

"Iraqi Kurds generally sympathize with PKK fighters. It is a force that has been demanding and fighting for the rights of Kurds in Turkey for tens of years now, and the Turks have been very harsh to their Kurdish community by forbidding them from rights."
~ Asso Hardi

There has been a lot of information let loose lately, so I will point out a number of items for your perusal and consideration that I have been collecting over the last few days.

The first item is more those good people based out of Qendil:

Up a winding series of switchbacks lies Mardu village, northeast of Sulaymaniya. Kurdish farmers tend livestock and harvest peaches, apples and grapes. A few houses among dotted oak trees serve as a makeshift headquarters for the PKK. Male and female fighters, dressed in traditional billowing shalwar pants and olive combat tops, walk freely. Local Iraqis openly support them, and some Iraqi Kurds have left city life and their families to become soldiers with the Turkish Kurd rebels and their Iranian sister movement, Party for Free Life In Kurdistan, or PEJAK.

The villagers toast the guerrillas as champions of Kurdish rights. They say they are willing to endure sacrifices as the price of their association with a movement fighting to establish Kurdish self-rule in Turkey and Iran, where they believe their minority's basic privileges are denied.

[ . . . ]

Some describe the PKK as a vital trading partner and protector in a lawless area. Hussein Rashid, 45, regularly hauls gasoline and kerosene from Iran to sell to the guerrillas. He warned, "If the PKK is not here, then this will be a place for terrorism and Iran will send Ansar al Islam," a Sunni extremist group with links to Al Qaeda.

Shereen Sulaiman, 39, a mother of three, worried about what Turkey might do to the PKK. The rebel fighters "respect the people and serve the area. They even supply the area with electricity. I don't want them to be hurt," said Sulaiman, wearing a red dress with her hair covered by a black veil. "They are Kurds like us."

More on that, with a description of a PKK fighter from Silêmanî, at the LA Times.

Whoever thought that PKK was strictly a Kurdish operation, or even a Turkish Kurd operation, will have a shock coming to them in the next item:

BRITONS are among foreigners fighting Turkish troops with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, The Sunday Times can reveal.

According to PKK fighters holed up in one of the natural fortresses of the Qandil mountain range which runs along Iraq’s Turkish and Iranian borders, several Europeans have joined forces with their group.

At least three Britons were in the PKK’s 3,000-strong force, boasted one fighter as he and a group of men huddled in a room discussing the latest clashes with the Turkish army. Others include Russians, Germans, Greeks, Iranians and Arabs. The PKK is labelled by both Europe and America as a terrorist organisation.

As diplomatic efforts to avert war falter, the PKK’s fighters now lie in wait for the mechanised Turkish divisions gathering menacingly along the border. Previous Turkish incursions have failed to deal a mortal blow to the PKK and geography again conspires against them.

This isn't new so I can't call it news, but there's more where that came from at the Times Online.

Sometimes reality can be like a very cold shower:

Welcome to the latest regional war in the Middle East — Turkey's contemplated invasion of northern Iraq. Among other things, this latest Turkish aggression, preceded years ago by the invasion of Cyprus, threatens to:

• Send energy prices through the roof. With oil prices already at a record $90 a barrel, they will easily keep setting new highs as winter arrives in Europe and America.

• Set back American military and political efforts to stabilize an already convulsed Middle East, inviting even more meddling by Iran and Syria.

• Bring doom upon the Turkish invaders, who failed for more than 30 years to subjugate their Kurdish minority of 7 million, or 10% of Turkey's population. Now they would expand the fight to all 25 million Kurds, who share the mountainous border areas of Iraq, Iran, and Syria. These well-armed Kurds live in a contiguous area the size of Germany and Britain combined.

Okay, the author probably shouldn't use 1950's census figures for today's Kurdish population in Turkey, but he does go on to talk about the "pompous Turkish army". Check it out at The NY Sun.

Anonymous left a nice little link in comments. Following the link, I found this:

Current tightness in the oil markets (peak oil?) has presented the PKK, the Kurdish guerrilla group fighting the Turkish government, with an amazing opportunity. It can become responsible for sending oil prices over $100 a barrel and sowing panic in global markets.

How? This objective can be accomplished through a series of attacks on the BTC pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan (in a fashion similar to earlier attacks that PKK has made on less substantial pipelines). With over 750,000 barrels of oil flow a day (1 m a day next year) over 1,092 miles of pipeline, ongoing disruption would result in:

* An immediate price spike that would likely exceed $100 a barrel, an important psychological barrier. This is pricing power in the oil market on par with Saudi Arabia (see the 2004 brief: "A Shadow OPEC" for more).

* A major loss of income for Turkey from pipeline fees, as contractual caveats kick in. Also, substantial disruptions and price hikes for not only Turkish customers, but European customers too. This could put the final nail in coffin for Turkey's EU bid.

* Global recognition of their situation/cause and immediate international pressure on Turkey to resolve the crisis. At a minimum, if Turkey opts for violence, the disruption of the BTC would be a strategic timer on the conflict -- as in the longer it persists, the greater the international pressure to end it.

Okay, actually the PKK hasn't sent the price of oil skyrocketing; the jackasses that run Ankara have done that. But I'm not averse to taking advantage of a situation set up by said jackasses. Don't forget that Turkey has pipelines running natural gas from Iran, too, and PKK sent a warning to the jackasses on that last August. For more on the current speculation, see Global Guerrillas.

Americans love Kurds, right? Think again. Check out the story of Hamid Sayadi:

His story is one of the many that have both nothing and everything to do with 9/11. A witty and eloquent Kurdish-American in his 50s, Sayadi waved the flag of his adopted country and cheered its military for three decades — all to end up stripped to his underwear one day, in the boiler room of his workplace, he says, a ragged and sobbing husk of his former self.

The truth of what happened to him, and why, lies shrouded in the fog of endless war, and in the fog of work as well — that odd space where strangers are forced to co-exist for years on end. In that double blindness, even if the parties involved could agree on facts, who could say for sure what was appropriate and what was cruel, even unlawful?

Find the rest at SFGate.com.

Just in case you don't keep up with R. Tayip Erdoğan's social calendar, he'll be visiting in Washington next week. Word is that he's got ducks in order and plans to present them to Bush. You can read about that from the Fethullacı rag, Zaman. Note a few things, though:

1. Doesn't the list of arms allegedly seized from the PKK resemble some of the stuff found in the train cars HPG derailed back in May? To refresh your memory, check out DozaMe's information--complete with links to the original Turkish media sources. The paşas allowed the contents of one train car to leak briefly into the Turkish media and then the matter was censored, and we never learned what the entire contents was. My money says Erdoğan is bringing the list of all that weaponry and is going to pass it off as "seized from PKK."

What is conspicuously absent from this list of weapons are the American tanks which Erdoğan has insisted are in the PKK arsenal. Obviously the man is a victim of his own media propaganda.

2. The alleged affiliation of the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN), the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI), and the Kurdish National Congress of North America (KNCNA) with the PKK would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. These organizations have no affiliation with PKK.

3. As for Barzanî's alleged small business loans to PKK members, Erdoğan should not confuse the PKK with the Turkish General Staff and OYAK.

THE PKK WAY

"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria."
~ Article 3, Geneva Convention of 1949.

From Özgür Gündem:

KCK Executive Council Chairman Murat Karayılan remarked that the Turkish military shelled the region where 8 Turkish prisoners of war, captured by HPG, were located.

Karayılan also noted that,thus far,the Turkish government did not have any demand for the prisoners to be returned.

Regarding the situation of the prisoners, Karayilan said, "May the prisoners' families not worry. If the prisoners are in the hands of HPG, which they are, they are in good hands."

Saying that they will treat the prisoners in a proper way, according to international laws, Karayılan said, "They will not receive any mistreatment. Our people know how the Turkish government treats captive guerrillas. The situation of a guerrilla captured alive is never known." Mentioning that Turkey does not currently have any demand for the release of the prisoners, Karayılan said, "The Turkish army takes the issue of its soldiers' captivity very seriously, but even now it does not admit that they are captives."

However, stating that they are receiving calls from other organizations for the release of the soldiers, Karayılan stated the following: "As you know, several calls are being made for the release of the soldiers from different quarters, including DTP. Now we are evaluating these demands."

"I believe this problem will be solved and will not last long. For this end, the proper methods and channels must be formed. Besides, we cannot just release them right away, because they were on the battlefield. We have to think about everything through this perspective. We are open to talks for any delegation that may come. We also agree that the issue is supposed to be considered as a humanitarian situation. Therefore, we are calling the prisoners' families, civil society institutions, and people who value peace and brotherhood to take a stand against the Turkish government's so-called rescue operation, which directly targets the prisoners themselves. They are shelling the places where the prisoners are located. If an effort is made to stop this shelling, the pre-conditions for release would be well established."

STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE BE DAMNED!

"I'm a US citizen, I did not commit any crime, and they issued all these gag orders and they said I don't have my First Amendment right, I don't have my Fourth Amendment right, Fifth Amendment right. They had the Federal court here in DC going along with it... I went to Congress, they didn't do anything. I went to the Mainstream Media, they couldn't care less, really. Sure, it was a 'sensational' story - a whistleblower was fired and gagged, but nobody within the Mainstream Media ever asked 'Why the State Secrets Privilege? You know, she was a language specialist, it's not as if she was an undercover agent, or an informant... Why would they go to such an length to gag her?'"
~ Sibel Edmonds.

It looks like Sibel Edmonds is ready to go public with everything she knows and State Secrets Privilege be damned!

Luke Ryland has a thread up on the matter at Daily Kos. It would be excellent for Kurds in the US to go to that thread and post their support for Sibel because a full public disclosure of her information will significantly tear open the vortex of evil that is the Deep State.

From Luke's post there's a link of tidbits from The BRAD BLOG on the information Sibel is prepared to expose, including:

9/11 Related:

* Information omitted and covered-up regarding documented and confirmed case of a long-term FBI Informant & Asset who provided the FBI with specific information and warnings in April & June 2001 regarding 9/11 terrorist attacks.

* Information omitted & covered up regarding documented information in the procession of the FBI in July 2001 regarding blue prints and building composite information of Sky Scrapers being sent to certain groups in the Middle East by certain Middle-Eastern suspects in the State of Nevada.

* Information omitted & covered up regarding arrangements made between the State Department and certain countries to deport certain Middle-Eastern and Central Asian detainees from jails in New Jersey & New York off the record and without having them interrogated in November 2001. (Documents related to these suspects were forged at the FBI).

* Information omitted & covered up regarding nuclear related information illegally obtained by certain foreign entities and US persons (government officials) from several US labs being sold to a certain Middle-Eastern group in the United States in 1998-2000. The operation involved individuals with Diplomatic cover, foreign Ph.D. students, and US employees.

* Information omitted & covered up regarding money laundering & narcotics operations, some of which involved entities from the Middle East and the Balkans, in several US cities.

* Information omitted & covered up regarding certain Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)-related activities linked to the 9/11 attacks between August & October 2001.

* Certain terrorist related Counterintelligence/FISA information & investigations were prevented from being transferred to counterterrorism & criminal division by the Department of State and the Pentagon; "preserving sensitive diplomatic relations" and "protecting certain US foreign business relations (mainly involving weapons procurement)" were cited as reasons.

* Intentional mistranslation & blocking of foreign language intelligence of FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

Penetration of FBI, Department of State and Department of Defense:

* Melek Can Dickerson: FBI; formerly employed by the American Turkish Council (ATC) and American Turkish Association (ATA).

* Major Douglas Dickerson: Air Force, DIA; formerly worked with the American Turkish Council (ATC), had on going relationship with International Advisors Inc (IAI) principles who worked as lobbying arms for certain foreign nations and foreign non-state entities (some of whom were engaged in illegal activities in the United States and against US interests and national Security.)

* Cases reported by John M. Cole, Veteran FBI Counterintelligence Operations Manager, to the DOJ-IG & Congress involving Hadiya Roberts (ISI-Pakistan), and several other individuals.

* Documented cases under FBI counterintelligence surveillance between 1997 and 2002, involving US government officials from the Department of State, DOD, and certain elected officials who were recipients of regular payments made by state and non-state foreign entities, some involved in criminal operations against US interests & national security. These cases were prevented from being transferred to actionable criminal and/or counterterrorism divisions/investigations.

* A reported case of penetration of FBI New York Field Office by an Iranian rouge agent.

Corruption & illegal activities involving US persons:

* Illegal payments to several elected officials in Congress; on going (1997-2002).

* Joint illegal activities between certain foreign agents (state & non-state) and US lobbying firms, government officials (Pentagon and the Department of State) and several elected officials. These activities include obtaining and passing highly classified and sensitive DOD documents & bribery and/or coercion of US individuals.

* Nuclear black market related activities carried out by certain foreign groups/lobbying firms/businesses/individuals & US persons (former & current US government employees and officials).

FBI: incompetence: (Refer to DOJ-IG report confirming all & more)

* Hiring unqualified translators based on nepotism & cronyism, some of these translators did not even pass elementary English proficiency tests; some were granted Top Secret Clearance despite their highly questionable background.

* Language specialists charging the United States government for hours not worked and/or services not rendered (Fraudulent invoices, etc.)

* ...much more; please refer to the DOJ-IG Report.

You GO, Sibel!

SO MANY TOOLS, SO LITTLE TIME

The Saker has something up at his blog--Justin Raimondo's latest nonsense on the PKK. Here's my reply, posted also at VS's place:

Serial numbers of weapons allegedly "captured from PKK fighters" come from US weapons shipments? Really?? Does anyone, including Raimondo have any proof that the weapons in question were actually taken from "captured" PKK fighters? If this were so, why hasn't Turkey launched a huge photo-op of the facts? Why hasn't there been anything in the Turkish media? Because, believe me, it would have been all over the Turkish media if there were even a shred of truth to the accusation.

I have no doubt that the Ankara regime did get its hands on US weapons because it's very easy to purchase such weapons on the international weapons market and even on the black market in Iraq. What better place to gather those weapons than in Mûsil? How convenient that Turkey has a consulate in Mûsil. How convenient that the "diplomatic" staff of the Mûsil consulate can walk around Mûsil freely, with no one to hassle them. I mean, even residents of Mûsil can't do that without becoming targets.

Ignore the fact that Turkish consulates and embassies are fronts for MIT/JITEM activities, tell me how it is that Turkish "diplomats" can pull off such a feat as to walk around in safety in a place like Mûsil? Is it possible that MIT/JITEM "diplomats" are purchasing US weapons from places like that? Or what about offices of US-based Black Hawk Security, Inc., a Turkish mercenary company--like their brothers at Blackwater--that are based in Silopî, Zaxo, Kerkuk and Baghdad? This company is run by a former MIT under-secretary, the TSK general who was in charge of the special team in Kerkuk when it got bagged by US forces for attempting to conduct black operations in Iraq, and a couple of former Turkish "diplomats." Is it possible that these guys are running black ops and psyops for the regime, including the purchase of black market weapons?

Oh, you betcha.

If Murat Karayılan says (and he has) that weapons can be purchased anywhere by anyone in the region, then Turkish MIT and JITEM can do exactly the same thing--no matter what the American puppets in Ankara say.

The funny thing about Raimondo is that in reading his propaganda one would get the impression that PKK just popped out of thin air as a result of American involvement in Iraq in 2003. Like 99.99% of all Americans, Raimondo has no context. He knows nothing of the US role in the 12 September coup. He knows nothing of US gifts of billions of dollars worth of military hardware, most of it given to Turkey during the Clinton regime. Oh, yes, that hardware was GIFTS because it was all subsidized by the US taxpayer or given outright. Has Raimondo ever mentioned this fact? Has Raimondo ever mentioned who was on the receiving end of these very expensive GIFTS? Has Raimondo ever mentioned all the lovely events that took place in Diyarbakir Military Prison? Has Raimondo ever delved into the crimes committed by America's puppet regime in Ankara in the wake of the US-backed 12 September coup?

And the crimes continue.

No. You see, that's why Raimondo has no clue about what he's writing about. For him, it's a crime for the Kurdish people to fight back against the regimes that have engaged in gross human rights abuses for decades. Like Americans in general, it's irrelevant that tens of thousands of Kurds have been murdered since 12 September 1980 by the Ankara regime with the full support of the US. It's irrelevant for Americans that 3 to 4 million Kurds have been forcibly displaced from their homes or that 5,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed by America's puppet regime in Ankara. It was irrelevant to Americans that Saddam destroyed 5,000 Kurdish villages in South Kurdistan--until plans for the invasion of Iraq began to solidify. Then Saddam's destruction of Kurdish life suddenly became a talking point.

When is the destruction of Kurdish life by America's regime in Ankara going to become a talking point for propagandists like Raimondo?

Or when will US backing of Turkish Islamists, especially the Turkish Islamist caliph, Fethullah Gülen going to get equal time by propagandists like Raimondo? Erdoğan, Gül, all the AKP, are followers of Fethullah Gülen . . . just as Turgut Özal was. You all remember him, right? Certainly Raimondo must remember him. He was the guy who established Turkish-Islamist synthesis with the American-backed Paşas, a move that led to the creation of Turkish Hezbollah so that America's puppet regime in Ankara could turn fight PKK on the cheap. Too bad it got so out of hand. Too bad the Ankara regime now has to export these guys to Chechnya.

Since we're talking about all this filth, let's bring Seymour Hersh into the conversation. Now here's a guy who goes to Turkey all the time, has a lot of Turkish sources, and gets all his information from them. So Hersh is basically the American mouthpiece of MIT/JITEM. Think I'm bullshitting? Go dig up anything that Hersh has ever written that's critical of the TC and give me the link. The guy's a pimp for the Turkish military. He's never heard of the filth America's puppet regime in Ankara has dumped on Kurds and continues to dump. He's never heard of the filth the mullah's regime has dumped on Kurds and continues to dump. In these respects, he's exactly like Raimondo.

Now, neither Hersh nor Raimondo has been to Qendil or around any PKK or PJAK guerrillas, but journalists from the Guardian have, and they have reported no American-made weapons in PJAK camps. This is consistent with the statement of Cemil Bayık last November. Nothing has changed.

It's ridiculous to think, as Hersh has asserted, that Israelis can teach any Kurd, particularly PKK Kurds, how to fight anyone. Go check Jonathan Randall, who writes that even in the 1960s, Israelis didn't have anything much to teach Kurds when it came to fighting Baghdad. They tweaked a little, but that was about it. Given the fact that PKK fought against Israelis as part of their initial training with the PLO in Lebanon, and given the fact that the Israelis were involved in Öcalan's betrayal, and you are unlikely to find any reason for PKK to come out of the mountains to be trained by amateurs. To suggest this idea, as Hersh has, and to propagate it, as Raimondo does, is an exercise in racism--"Golly, guys, those primitives in the mountains couldn't figure out anything if we didn't show them!"

Well, come on up into the mountains, Americans, with all your special friends from Turkey, and we'll see who teaches whom. Bring your body bags and cold-weather gear and watch out for those avalanches.

As for Raimondo's assertion of "separatism"--in his little dig about Greater Kurdistan--let's all have a reality check:

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

Like Hersh, Raimondo has absolutely no concern for either truth or the Kurdish people. Like Hersh, he's the pawn of America's puppets in Ankara and that's why he's furthering his "War Party's agenda".

THE AMERICAN WAY

"The people who engaged in abuses will be brought to justice. The world will see how a free system, a democratic system, functions and operates, transparently, with no cover-ups."
~ Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, on Abu Ghraib.

It's the American way, the NATO way!

Torture claim is filed against Rumsfeld in France.

Rumsfeld flees France fearing arrest.

Stupid French! Don't they have a no-fly list?

Rumsfeld, Cheney, John Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez . . . the entire American administration should be tried for war crimes and receive their proper punishment.

The entire French administration should be tried for assisting the flight of a war criminal.

VERY GOOD PEOPLE

"I like the PKK. They are very good people. They look after people here. The PKK are fighters but they are not dangerous people like other people, like Islamic people. Like Osama bin Laden."
~ Resident of Ranya, South Kurdistan.

The interest of the Progressive Historians has been piqued by YJA-STAR şehîd Devrim Siirt. Take a peek at the commentary by Gordon Taylor at the following links:

Moonlight in the Mountains

More Moonlight

Oramar

The Friends of Aynur

Turkish Army Captives

The Edge of Catastrophe


Okay, I confess that I have absolutely no idea what makes mainstream journalists tick--except the possibility of their getting a regular paycheck--and I'm suspicious when the old reactionary news services report accurately anything in the Kurdish world. The BBC must have someone running all over North and South Kurdistan, though, because they have another piece out, this time on PKK's neighbors in South Kurdistan:

In Ranya, local people have got used to their neighbours in the PKK.

"I like the PKK. They are very good people," one man said.

"They look after people here. The PKK are fighters but they are not dangerous people like other people, like Islamic people. Like Osama bin Laden," he added.

The recent shelling by the Turkish military in northern Iraq took place some distance from Ranya and residents in the town did not seem worried about the prospect of a Turkish military invasion.

(Photo: Warzer Jaff for The New York Times)

However, they did question the motives behind the army's plans.

"The Turkish government wants to attack all the Kurdish people and not just the PKK," said one middle-aged man.

"Turkey just wants to make things complicated here in the Kurdish region of Iraq," he said

[ . . . ]

In Ranya an elderly man in the market caught the mood of the town.

"The PKK are human beings like us," he said. "They just want to stay in their country.

"The Turkish government is like Saddam Hussein's regime. In the south of Turkey they cannot even study their own language. The situation is getting worse. We just want it to improve and for there to be peace," he added.

If you haven't figured out yet why DTP refuses to label PKK as "terrorists," another report from the BBC will explain it to you:

. . . [T]here is another dynamic at play in this region, where most people are ethnic Kurds.

Unlike in western Turkey, many here do not condemn what the PKK did. To them, the PKK remains the group that fought for their rights in the days when even saying you were a Kurd was seen as separatism.

The situation today has improved enormously. Even the most militant Kurdish nationalists admit that.

But ties to the PKK remain strong and there are plenty here who describe the violence as "self defence" against a military that has been targeting them for years.

"It's an instinct. People still feel the PKK is fighting for them," Mesrut explained.

A tiny man - dwarfed even further by his huge wooden desk - he runs a daily news-sheet in a town close to the Iraqi border.

That brings its own hazards. If he calls the PKK "terrorists" using official terminology, he gets threatened by locals.

With tension now so high, he uses news agency reports instead to avoid responsibility.

"People here still don't feel like equals in Turkey," Mesrut explains.

"And their children are still with the fighters in the mountains, so how can they condemn the PKK?"

Does everyone get it now?

In the meantime, there a couple of little snags that have developed against the international temper tantrum that the Ankara regime's been throwing. First, the US military is not going to go to Qendil and do anything . . . or so says the ranking US military officer in South Kurdistan:

Major General Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North, said Iraq's three northern provinces were under the control of the Kurdish provincial government and that he had no instructions to take action in the border area.

Asked what his forces planned to do against the Kurdish Workers Party or PKK rebels, Maj Gen Mixon said: "Absolutely nothing."

Pressed by reporters via a video link-up from Iraq whether there was anything US forces could do to head off a Turkish cross-border incursion, Maj Gen Mixon said, "I have not been given any requirements or any responsibility for that."

He said he had been given no instructions "that would even vaguely resemble" sending US forces into the Kurdish areas to reassure the Turks.

"Let me put it to you very clearly: the three northern provinces are under KRG [Kurdish regional government] provincial Iraqi control," he said.

"They have a security force, which you are all familiar with known as the pesh-merga. It's their responsibility to ensure the integrity of their particular provinces."

Translation: Screw you, Büyükanıt.

This tells me that the US is very aware of the geography, the climate, and the nature of guerrilla warfare, and they have no intention of getting involved with any kind of hunt on the ground for PKK fighters. They probably figure, "Better to let the Turks go in there,get the crap knocked out of them, and let them leave with their tails between their legs once more." And that's smart thinking.

The second snag came from another skunk at Turkey's garden party, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament:

The speaker of Iraq's parliament warned Turkey on Thursday that his government would cut off the flow of oil from northern Iraq if Ankara followed through on its threat to level economic sanctions against the country.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's comments came a day after Turkey's top leadership agreed to recommend the government take economic measures to force cooperation by Iraqis against Kurdish rebels who have been staging cross-border attacks against Turkish troops.

"Northern Iraq cannot be pressured," al-Mashhadani told reporters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. "Iraq is a rich country, and if there are economic pressures, we will cut off the Ceyhan pipeline," he said, referring to two oil pipelines that run from northern Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan oil terminal on the Mediterranean Sea.

The US will not commit fighters, Baghdad's going to turn off the spigot, no one supports a Turkish invasion, the Kurdish people overwhelmingly support PKK, and everyone--except the Ankara regime and the American Corporate State--wants a peaceful, political solution for the Kurdish situation in Turkey.

Every once in a while in this last week, I've had the suspicion that this current situation has been provoked by Ankara and stoked by the corporate media for the sole purpose of raising the price of a barrel of oil to over $90. It's just a matter of time before it reaches $100 a barrel, right?

Who benefits from this? Is it a coincidence that most of the Bush administration is composed of Big Oil pimps and that they were the ones who planned the invasion of Iraq well before September 11?

THE PKK, A GRAY WOLF RAMPAGE, AND ILISU UPDATE

"I didn't cry when I heard he'd been killed in fighting with Turkish troops. I'm proud of him, he is a martyr. He died honourably. He was fighting for Kurdish freedom, for Kurdish rights."
~ Amine Yiğit, mother of PKK şehîd.

Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. From the BBC:

On the little wooden table in front of us was a photograph of Sincan Yigit.

He was wearing makeshift army fatigues with a rifle slung across his back.

He was smiling, he looked happy.

The photo was taken shortly after Sincan left his village, family and old life behind, to start a new life as a guerrilla fighting for the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.

"I didn't cry," she told me "when I heard he'd been killed in fighting with Turkish troops. I'm proud of him, he is a martyr."

"He died honourably. He was fighting for Kurdish freedom, for Kurdish rights."

In this part of Turkey Amine Yigit is not alone in losing a loved one to the PKK.

The south-eastern flank of the country is a Kurdish heartland where most of the nation's 20 million Kurds live.

Kurdish political leaders will tell you (in private) that at least 80% of their people support the rebels and are proud if a family member is "living in the mountains."

The the BBC goes on to screw the whole thing up with one line:

The PKK is fighting for a separate homeland in south-eastern Turkey for the Kurds.

Wrongo! Here's a newsflash for the BBC:

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

I would have thought that someone at the BBC would have figured out how to operate the Google search engine by now.

Hevallo has a little comparison between contemporary Turkey and Fascist Germany because of the recent lynching attempt in Bursa and other acts of violence against Kurds in Turkey. Not only are the fascists acting up there, but they've also been acting up in Belgium this week. More on that from The Brussels Journal:

Tonight (Wednesday evening) heavy rioting erupted in Turkish quarters of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Buses and trams were attacked. Several cars were torched and shops destroyed. Police forces were unable to restore law and order in the boroughs of Sint-Joost-ten-Node and Schaarbeek where since last Sunday the animosity among Turks is running high. Turkish flags are omnipresent. In some streets the Turkish crescent and star adorns almost every house.

The Turks’ anger was provoked by rising tension with Kurds along the Iraqi-Turkish border and by the debate in the American Congress about the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915. On Sunday night Turkish youths in Sint-Joost destroyed the pub of Peter Petrossian, an ethnic Armenian who had to flee for his life. Apparently, some Turks think that by attacking the Armenians in Brussels they can convince the world that the Turks never committed a genocide of the Armenians.

Tonight the youths attacked Kurdish shops. They also set fire to several cars.

Belgium’s Muslim population consists mainly of Moroccans and Turks. In the past rioting Muslim youths were mostly Moroccans. The Turkish community is controlled by the Turkish embassy. The latter used to restrain the Turkish population so as not to upset the Belgian authorities and thwart Turkey’s chances of EU admission. This policy seems to have changed recently. In Antwerp, too, Turkish youths demonstrated tonight.

And from Expatica:

The unauthorised protests came after Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets along the Iraqi border on Wednesday as the National Security Council in Ankara urged economic sanctions against Iraqi Kurds accused of backing the insurgents.

Hundreds of youths began rallying in the high-immigration Brussels districts in small groups after 5:00 pm after receiving text messages.

Receiving text messages from whom? The Turkish embassy? Enquiring minds wanna know.

And while no one was looking, Turkey began to ethnically cleanse the region to make way for the Ilisu Dam:

The European Ilisu campaign has learned during a site visit, that without the knowledge of responsible authorities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Turkish government has begun to expropriate the first affected villages at the controversial Ilisu dam site on the Tigris river in a move that violates conditions imposed by European export credit agencies.

Expropriated people are extremely angry at this development and the affected population’s overall indignation at the Ilisu dam project is growing. Christine Eberlein of the Swiss organisation "Berne Declaration" and member of the European Ilisu campaign observed this when she visited the villages of Ilisu and Karabayir in mid-October. Her report reveals the miserable compensation packages offered and the unfair processes by which the Turkish authorities are forcing the affected families to resettle. A Kurdish Human Rights Project delegation made similar observations in September during a visit to the affected areas.

By attaching 150 conditions to their approval of export credit guarantees, the governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland intended to ensure that those facing resettlement receive fair compensations and new income possibilities. Although the final guarantee contracts have not yet been signed, the Turkish government has started the expropriations - completely ignoring these conditions.

Good try, guys, but you know what? I don't believe that crap about "responsible authorities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland" not knowing a damned thing about these forced displacements. The historical record simply is not there. The Germans and the Austrians forcibly displaced certain of their populations back in the 1930s and 1940s, and the people later claimed they didn't know a damned thing about it. Switzerland tried to claim that it didn't know a damned thing about how all that stolen gold was deposited in Swiss accounts and they certainly did not know the gold came from forcibly displaced populations.

They knew very well what they were doing sixty years ago and they know very well now. On top of that, there has never existed a capitalist anywhere who's paid anyone "fair compensations and new income possibilities" for anything. That just is not how capitalism works; it works by screwing your neighbor to make a profit. In this case, the neighbors were just a little further removed from the European neighborhood. As the article states, no signatures have been put to anything yet, so I'm certain that these filthy vultures have done it on purpose, in collusion with their fascist Turkish partners.

Goran from Zanetî has an excellent article on the situation at ZNet:

Today, the international community and in particular, the U.S., seems to be coming together to urge against a Turkish invasion only after it has ironically empowered the same groups involved to continue with their conflict for the past decades. Only minimal research of the seemingly everlasting conflict is required in order for anyone to see the assistance provided by foreign powers to Turkey that have instigated the conflict to the level it has reached today. While the president of the United States has recently made some requests to Turkey to find a political, rather than military, solution to the problem with the PKK, the same president was taking an opposite stance on this issue just a little more than one year ago; a stance of unconditional support for the Turkish government in their military campaign to pursue what they deem is a terrorist organization.

One year prior to the Turkish parliament's approval for an invasion of Iraq, Kurdish rebel leaders in coordination with the president of Iraq attempted to negotiate the PKK’s fifth unilateral ceasefire on several key conditions. The conditions were based on a political settlement of the Kurdish issue in Turkey, which included democratic reform as well as amnesty for the rebels. Despite public support for the ceasefire by members of the Iraqi government, and even certain officials in the European Union, as a possible solution to the decades-long conflict, the Turkish and United States governments rejected the ceasefire on all its terms.

Further provoking the conflict, the Bush Administration appointed former USAF General Joseph Ralston to assist Turkey with their military campaign. Not surprisingly, Ralston who is also a board member of the corporate arms-giant Lockheed Martin and a member of the most powerful Turkish lobby group in the United States, did not do much to try to solve the issue. Instead, Ralston overlooked one of the largest sales of American weaponry between Lockheed and the Turkish military. Lockheed and its stockholders would in turn become a primary beneficiary of the continued conflict between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish military.

[ . . . ]

Despite these realities, consecutive American administrations have refused to acknowledge that the continuous violations carried out against Turkey's Kurdish minority have any correlation with the American weaponry used to carry out these violations. Hence, weapon sales continue further arming a deadly conflict.

[ . . . ]

The mainstream American media has become gravely concerned and many statements, and even headlines, bare the phrase that the "Kurdish problem" has now become an "American problem". However, the United States' complicity in the conflict has made it an "American problem" all along; an American problem that needs U.S. pressure on Turkey for a peaceful solution very quickly.

The Ankara regime has not changed and it will not seek a peaceful political solution unless extreme pressure is brought to bear by the international community, the same community that helped Turkey and the US avoid any discussion of the Kurdish reality in 1999 with the betrayal of Öcalan.

There has also been a bit of a discussion at Kurdish Aspect about what HPG should do with the Turkish prisoners-of-war, here, here, and here, the gist of all being that HPG should hand the POW's over to international NGO's.

And if Turkey pressures the suggested NGO's not to "cooperate with terrorists," just as they have pressured American politicians to deny the Armenian Genocide, then what? And where were all these people when HPG handed Hakan Açil and Coşkun Kırandi back to the Ankara regime? Did they praise HPG for sticking to the laws of land warfare and Geneva Conventions at that time? Did they point out how humanitarian HPG was or did they notice how un-"terroristic" such hand-overs were?

No, but this news was ignored by everyone. Now is not the time to think about handing over any POW's. Snow is coming and everyone will be tucked away in the mountains for the winter. It'll be better to think about all of this next spring and then decide what to do after tempers have settled down and all.

Finally, there are some things you just can't make up. From TDN:

A group of fishermen in the Black Sea city of Zonguldak yesterday first condemned the escalating terrorist acts carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and then protested the fine imposed on them for fishing in a restricted zone by the coast guard. The local fishermen boarded 15 fishing boats and sailed around the harbor shouting slogans against the PKK in what is reportedly a restricted zone.

Later in the day they proceeded to the Black Sea Regional Command port to protest the fines that ranged from YTL 5,000 - 15,000. A coast guard vessel tried to prevent the men from entering the military zone. Fisherman Muharrem Ali Köse said: “We want what is right. You needlessly fined us. Fishing feeds 1,000 mouths so give us back our licenses and cancel the fines.” The men then tied their boats together, left them in the military zone and returned home on a single boat.

Köse said a camera had recorded them fishing in a restricted zone and added that the coast guard forced them to abandon their profession by imposing exorbitant fines and canceling their licenses.

Laz. They can only be Laz.

A CLEAR-EYED VIEW OF PKK

"It's a delicate situation, and one that requires a clear-eyed view of what's actually happening. But both American press coverage, and America's official response to the problem have been misleading. I've seen a series of errors in fact and judgment that if uncorrected, could drag the United States into yet another regional conflict."
~ Andrew Lee Butters.

I have read so much garbage about the situation with Northern Kurds and PKK in the last couple of weeks that there is no point in even responding to it all. Take a browse through Technorati or Google Blog search with the terms "Kurds," "Kurdistan," or "PKK," and you'll see exactly what I mean. What is most striking about posts on the situation is the extremely high level of ignorance displayed by most who write on the subject. None of these writers has any context; they know nothing about the Dirty War; they don't even know that there are 20 million Kurds in Southeast Turkey.

Most of these are blowing their opinions out of their asses, and are totally bereft of any knowledge of the Kurdish reality in The Southeast--except, of course, for one particular blogger from The Netherlands, who admits he has a Turkish girlfriend, in which case we know from what part of his anatomy he opines. Then we have the propagandists for the extreme Right, neocon elements (like the freaks at Pajamas Media), or the nutcases on what passes for the Left (like the lemmings at Daily Kos).

The most pathetic thing about all of this garbage is that, in the West, it is nothing to access information published by fairly neutral parties, such as human rights organizations, in order to learn context. There is little censorship of this kind of information on the Internet so there is no excuse for all the stupidity.

Having said all that, there has been one voice from Western journalism that has written two short analyses of the situation that have been on target. One was published last week and one has been published today. Both are from a journalist who's been to Qendil and, thus, understands the geography as well as the implications of "official" reportage (read: Propaganda).

From Andrew Lee Butters at TIME:

1) The press keeps repeating that the PKK are a separatist group. The PKK was indeed a separatist group in the 1970's and 1980's, a time when the Turkish state practiced widespread discrimination against its Kurdish citizens, including banning the use of the Kurdish language. But the PKK has given up its demands that an independent Kurdish state be carved out of Turkey, and moderates in the organization have called for a peaceful, democratic solution to the Kurdish question.

Why does this matter? Because the PKK's new platform is a basis upon which Turkey could start political negotiations. But instead of dealing with the demands, Turkey either tries to ignore the PKK or destroy them. Neither has worked.

2) I keep seeing things written about the PKK staging "cross-border raids" and I myself once made that mistake, writing back in June. But in fact most of the fighting that is taking place is well inside Turkey. There are PKK guerillas scattered all over Turkey, perhaps twice as many as there are inside Iraq. And although the most recent attack on Sunday did take place in the border area near Iraq, that doesn't necessarily mean these fighters were coming from Iraq.

Why does this matter? Because it gives the impression that Turkish miltary operations in Iraq, or the "hot pursuit" of PKK fighters might stop clashes with the PKK and help the Turks dismantle the PKK. But they won't. The main PKK bases in Iraq are far away from the Turkish border. They are in fact near the border with Iran and would be extremely difficult to reach except by air-strikes, which are of little use aginst guerilla forces. They will do nothing to stop fighting with the PKK inside Turkey.

Likewise, in a few places I've also seen statements about how the PKK bases in northern Iraq are key to sustaining the PKK's armed struggle. Perhaps, but perhaps not. The PKK has significant fund-rasing and political activities in Europe, including satellite television stations. But Turkey isn't threatening Europe. Just Iraq and America.

3) When Turkish soldiers are killed by the PKK, the press calls them "PKK attacks." But is the PKK attacking or is the Turkish army attacking the PKK and sustaining casualties? The Turkish army is engaged in large-scale operations in PKK areas. A PKK spokesman told me today that these fights are taking place when Turkish search-and-destroy missions stumble upon PKK fighters or are ambushed. We don't really know the truth one way or another, because the Turkish army has sealed off the areas where it is operating.

Again, this matters because the Turkish army's version of events makes it sound like the PKK is hell-bent on provoking the Turkish army. And very possibly hard-liners within the PKK are determined to goad the Turkish military into invading northern Iraq, which would be a disaster for Turkey in the long-run. But it is also possible that hard-line elements in the Turkish military are trying to provoke clashes with the PKK and use that as an excuse to threaten the Kurds of northern Iraq, and gain leverage over its civilian adversaries in the Turkish government. It's no secret that there's no love lost between the former Islamists of the ruling AK party, and Turkey's secular generals. And Turks have been long implacably hostile to the whole idea of a Kurdish mini-state in northern Iraq, and refuse to recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government there.

4) I've seen a few things written about Iraqi Kurds allowing the PKK to use northern Iraq as a safe haven, and US Undersecretary of State David Satterfield today accused the Iraqi Kurds of not doing enough to control the PKK. But the Iraqi Kurds don't have very many options. Their pershmerga soldiers are busy in Baghdad and Mosul and along the Kurdistan's borders with Arab Iraq, trying to keep the lid on Iraq's raging insurgency. How are they supposed to also defeat a hardened-guerilla group in mountain terrain -- a job that the huge Turkish army hasn't been able to do in 30 years?

The reality is that the PKK's presence in Iraq is the result of an unresolved Turkish civil war spreading into the failing state next door. There needs to be a political solution: peace talks, amnesty for the PKK, reforms to how Turkey deals with its Kurdish population, PKK disarmament with international monitors, security coordination between Iraq and Turkey, and Turkish recognition of the Kurdistan region in Iraq.

Gelek sipas, Andrew. Dest xweş.

KCK ANNOUNCES PEACE INITIATIVE

To the Press and Public-Opinion

Kurdish question which awaits its resolution is the reality of the Middle East. It is well known that various social incidents occur due to this question in Turkey, Iran and Syria. We, as the Kurdish side, want to resolve this question -one of the fundamental questions of our region- through dialog and peaceful means and without any changes to the present borders. The Kurdish people only want their natural rights which stem from being a nation. Rights such as political freedom, identity and cultural rights are embedded within the fundamental rights excepted by the modern world and expressed in Universal Human Rights Declaration. Resolution to this question can only be possible through the reply of the relative states in relation to these humane requests. A solution developed along these lines will play an important role in the democratization process of and stability in the region

Our leader Abdullah Ocalan has repeatedly proposed solution projects through peaceful-democratic means and has called for many cease-fires. The last of those cease-fires was called in mid-2006 upon calls from national and international powers call. Hence a unilateral cease-fire for an independent period thereby creating suitable conditions for a democratic solution.

However the Turkish government did not utilize these opportunities while the Turkish Army evaluated the cease-fire adversely to the affect that it is a scenario to dismember Turkey and hence has doubled-tripled its military operations in order to put an end to the cease-fire and no-clash atmosphere. Within this period a total of 485 operations with the aim of annihilation have occurred, some jointly carried out with the Iranian state. As a result of these operations heavy casualties have been suffered by both sides. Commander for Ground Forces of the Turkish Army, Ilker Basbug, did not deny that such operations were taking place and in a press conference on 5 October 2007 in Diyarbakir stated that they have put the PKK under serious pressure through the operations during the year and that “this pressure shall increasingly continue during autumn and winter of this year””. He added that “until there are armed cadres of the PKK such operations shall continue”. As can be acknowledged Turkish state authorities have admitted not to have recognized the cease-fire declared and that they would do everything within their power to remove the existence of the cease-fire.

The level of clashes that continue today is a direct result of this mentality and policy of denial. We have not officially ended the cease-fire. However the conditions for a cease-fire is not present due to one-sided attacks of the Turkish state. Instead of taking up our movements efforts to solve the question through peaceful methods and the atmosphere it has created to resolve the question through democratic means the Turkish state has violently imposed to eliminate all dynamics of Kurdish freedom. On the one hand regions like Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari have been declared to be military zones and on the other hand civilians have been executed and the suppression, arrests and blackmailing of the Kurdish people’’s legal institutions has reached a level where even the martial law administration was not. The Turkish state has also worsened the already bad isolation on the Kurdish people’s leader held at the Imrali Sole-inmate Closed Prison and has developed inhuman practices and despite the poisoning and the serious health problems he still has not had medical treatment. Hence all methods have been employed to break the will of the Kurdish peoples and their demands.

During the general elections held in Turkey on 22 July 2007 all methods have been employed once again to disable the Kurdish representatives to enter the parliament including new regulations. Despite these attempts a group of parliamentarians have entered the parliament of Turkey with their Kurdish identity giving an important chance for dialog and a democratic solution. However the AKP government and the Turkish state instead of utilizing this chance positively has put these parliamentarians under serious pressure and developed methods to give themselves up. Despite immunity of the parliamentarians decisions are being taken for their trial and the oppression and threats are becoming chronic. In parallel, court cases opened against the Kurdish Mayors are ending with some being removed from office where others being arrested thereby increasing threats on all.

In reply to the cease-fire announced by our movement the Turkish state has moved to annihilate the Kurdish Freedom Movement in Turkish Kurdistan. The loss of lives of soldiers in clashes with the guerrilla forces, who are at their defence positions due to attacks by the Turkish army, have been shown to be the reason behind the development of racism and militarism within the Turkish society and the decision from the Turkish parliamentary for an incursion inot Iraqi Kurdistan.

One of the aims of this decision by the parliament is two fold; one is to eliminate our movement and the other is to eliminate the Kurdish Federal structure. In order to achieve this aim it has sought to create conflict between Kurds and to destroy stability. However at a time when both the Federal government of the Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish MPs within the parliament can play a role to create the right conditions for dialog and peaceful solution of the question both are being targeted and left out. Therefore it is quite clear that the Turkish state does not want the Kurdish people both in North and South Kurdistan to have a will-power and hence this is the reason behind the increase of attacks. The other aim of the decision is to retaliate against the Armenian genocide draft bill on the agenda of US Congress by destroying stability in Iraqi Kurdistan hence putting Iraq into further turmoil. In this context, the main aim of the anti-Kurdish, anti-PKK pact of Turkey, Iran and Syria is to strengthen the statute that has no benefit to the people of the region and to put pressure on the USA.

The Turkish state not only is the one that attacks our forces but also exaggerates its casualties and keeps them on the agenda to show a false image of itself being under attack. This is not the reality. The Turkish state is not the aggrieved party not the party that is being attacked, they are the party actively attacking. Kurdish freedom forces have been loyal to the cease-fire that they have declared. However they have been forced to self-defense in the face of developing attacks. We unreservedly state that in the event of Turkish state ending its attacks the atmosphere of increased tension shall leave itself to a non-clash atmosphere. Our movement and people have reached a level of organization, power and might to defend itself under all conditions. However we want to resolve our problems through peaceful-democratic and civilized methods not through armed clashes hence we prefer the path of peace and dialog.

Therefore we would like to once again state that we are ready to discuss a political solution project and that we will act with the responsibility that falls on our shoulders in order to create a peaceful period. However in face of operations developed, like today, to break the will for freedom of the Kurdish people and their gains shall be most naturally met with the self-defense of our people both in the North and in the South. There will be no hesitations to meet the annihilation operations of the Turkish state.

We invite all our people in four parts of Kurdistan and overseas to show more solidarity , to stand up with national-democratic unity spirit and to abort these unjust attacks. The important historical period which we are in requires that our people shows its popular power and by raising its voice of insistence on democratic solution plays its role.

We call on the Turkish state to discontinue with the dangerous adventure it has taken up with the decision of the Turkish parliament which in effect means war mobilization against the Kurdish people and to recognize that this would harm both the peoples of Turkey and the Kurdish people and to respond positively to our movement’s calls and efforts to resolve the question through democratic and peaceful means.

This mobilizations against the Kurdish people both in the North and the South has the characteristics to end a thousand year friendship between the Kurds and the Turks and lead to damages that can not be restituted. We invite all democratic forces in Turkey in favor of peace and fraternity to shoulder their responsibilities and to make efforts for long-lasting peace and stability in the region in the light of rational solution of our leader’s projects.

We call on all international forces, the USA and the EU, to make an effort to resolve the Kurdish question through peaceful-democratic means and not through violence and to stand against the unjust attacks and state terror of the Turkish state against the Kurdish people by playing their roles in the development of peaceful period.

We would also like to underline that the Kurdish people will be insistent on being a power of their own will and stability and hence are determined to respond to efforts of resolving the Kurdish question in accordance with universal law norms by playing their role in the democratization, peace and stability of the region.


22.10.2007

KCK Execution Council Presidency

************

PKK announced its Peaceful Initiative


In a statement published in the Firat News Agency, in response to the plea of Mr. Jalal Talabani, President of the Republic of Iraq, and Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan region, PKK, today announced its willingness to cease-fire and move toward political working to resolve problems through diplomatic channels.

A statement by the Kurdistani Community Organization (a political wing of PKK) announced that Kurdistan Workers Party is ready to discuss a political settlement for the Kurdish issue far away from the violence, through peace and dialogue ,and within the existing boundaries of the States in which Kurdish people live.

The statement added: "We call for the simplest human rights of the Kurdish people, such as recognition of its Kurdish identity and allow it to enjoy exercising cultural and political work freely. Finding a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in the region will be an important step towards the development of democracy and stability in the region. As an initiative from as to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey, we frequently declared unilateral cease-fires, but the response of successive Turkish governments and the Turkish army was by iron and fire ,operations , large and intense military campaigns in Kurdistan, involving thousands of military troops backed by all types of conventional weapons."

As stated in the statement: "What is taking place now of clashes in the area are the result of Turkish policies and thinking of denying Kurdish people issue in Turkey, and we believe the entry of some representatives to the Turkish Parliament is a great opportunity for the Turkish government to develop the dialogue and find a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue, but unfortunately, we have not seen so far by the government of the Justice and Development Party only indictments , threats to these representatives ,the arrest of some Kurdish mayors and putting them in jail only because they spoke in the Kurdish language. They have not been content with that, but merely issued a note to attack on the Iraqi Kurdistan region, while the Kurdistan region of Iraq has its official existence at the Iraqi and international levels, while the leaders of the region are only demanding political and peaceful solutions to the Kurdish issue."

The statement issued by the Kurdistani Community Organization on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers Party says: "At the time, we declare our readiness to defend our people and its issue we stress that we always prefer a peaceful and democratic solution, through civilized methods, so we extend the hand of peace once again, we are ready to discuss the issue and to negotiate with others to solve this issue. Besides, we are asking the Turkish side to stop its military operations and do not interference in Kurdistan region of Iraq, if Turkey persisted in its hostility against the Kurdish people we will have to defend ourselves and our people."

Source: Firat News Agency, 2007-10-22.

GROTESQUE SELF-DECEPTION

"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."
~ Mark Twain.

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) denies the existence of 20 million Kurds in Turkey. This makes it very easy for them because by denying the existence of 20 million Kurds in Turkey, they don't have to get involved in the mess of Turkey's brutality and racist policies toward those very same 20 million. They refuse to admit that a people that endures such brutality will rise up against it in a legitimate armed defense. They don't have to jeopardize their precious relationship with a regime that invites HAMAS to Ankara. They don't have to acknowledge the modern Turkish state's genocide of Kurds.

Hell, they refuse to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.

Everyone should remember these things the next time they bring up the Holocaust.

Turkey's Islamist Foreign Minister, Ali Babacan, is giving the same old excuses to reject continue to reject the 1 October 2006 unilateral ceasefire as Büyükanıt, Başer, and Ralston did a year ago:

Cease-fires are "possible between states and regular forces," a stern-faced Babacan said. "The problem here is that we're dealing with a terrorist organization."

The US deals with terrorists in Iraq and did a lot of arms sales to Iran--known as the Iran-Contra scandal. The UK has finally come to terms with the terrorists that it created for itself in Northern Ireland. The Ankara regime, as previously mentioned, invites HAMAS leaders to Ankara for talks and everyone knows HAMAS is on The List®.

The Americans finally admit they're terrified of having to think about guarding the Turkish-Iraqi border, so they blame the KRG. It's really pretty funny to hear criticism about how the KRG has been lax in securing any border when it comes from the very same people who've utterly ruined Iraq and Afghanistan. It really takes a lot of guts to say something that hypocritical in public.

In another example of a total lack of shame, the leading US ragsheet, the NYTimes has published a glowing report of PKK's sister organization, PJAK.

Zaman has published a list of names of the Turkish soldiers captured by HPG. Funny, but that's the same list of names that HPG posted on its website the other day. Is it a good idea for Zaman to be copying-and-pasting information from the big, bad PKK? Sources close to Rastî indicate that the captured soldiers are doing well.

It will be interesting to see if the Ankara regime wants their soldiers back badly enough to officially negotiate a release. If not, IHD and other NGOs will end up arranging the release as they did with Hakan Açil and Coşkun Kırandi.

Some photos from HPG via Akşam:









And a link to more photos from Milliyet.

I guess that since these photos are published in Turkish media, and since Zaman is copying the names of the captured from HPG's website, then HPG must have really captured these guys, eh?

AN INVITATION

There's a new Bakûrî Kurdish blog called Rastbêj and it looks like the author has posted an invitation to the TSK.

Let's hope Büyükanıt takes up the invitation.

PKK: BALL'S IN ANKARA'S COURT

"It is obvious that the Turkish Government and its army cannot solve the problem by the violence as it already tried this so many times. Politics of “surrender or destroy” have inflicted only harm to our people and caused the destabilization of our region. A democratic solution by means of dialogue will in contrast clear the way for a democratic development that can only be positive for Turkey, if only Turkey responds positively towards the ceasefire."
~ PKK Ceasefire Statement, 1 October 2006,

Western media, including Turkish media, have been reporting on the killing of Turkish soldiers over the weekend as a result of clashes the TSK initiated against the HPG in the area of Culemêrg (Hakkari), Yüksekova. Their body counts vary between nine to sixteen kills. HPG's website reports a body count of 35 and lists the names of the eight captives. The TSK has confirmed that eight of its troops are missing.

By the way, anyone who makes the claim that these operations are the result of "rebels" crossing the Iraq border, has no clue as to the geography of the region. These operations are not "cross-border" operations.

The IHT reports the TSK's confirmation of the captives and also reports that thirty-four HPG gerîlas have become şehîds but, on Sunday, HPG dismissed the count of thirty-four HPG şehîds as another example of Turkey's psychological warfare efforts.

More from the IHT:

A senior rebel commander, Bahoz Erdal, said the soldiers were in rebel hands, the Firat News Agency reported.

"Right now, these soldiers are hostages in the hands of our forces," Firat quoted Erdal as saying.

"Their health condition is good. One of them was slightly injured but was being taken care of by our medics."

Erdal said the families of soldiers should not worry about the fate of their sons. "We have not harmed them and we will not," Erdal said.

There is no reason to doubt that the captives are being well-cared for since Turkish security forces have been captured in the past and released in good condition, as was the case with Hakan Açil and Coşkun Kırandi.

The IHT goes on to mention a ceasefire that Celal Talabanî claimed would be announced by KCK today:

The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said Monday that Kurdish rebels would announce a cease-fire later in the day, according to his office.

Kurdish rebels last declared a cease-fire in June [Wrong--Mizgîn] and the rebel group said Monday that the cease-fire was still in place, the Firat News Agency reported. The cease-fire announcement in June [Wrong again--Mizgîn] did not halt fighting.

"We have not officially ended the cease-fire," the group said in a statement in response to Talabani, Firat reported.

"We're stating clearly that if the Turkish state stops its attacks, then increased tensions will be replaced with a clash-free environment."

But the rebel group said it was determined to defend itself against Turkish attacks. "We are calling on Turkey to give up a risky adventure and give a positive response to our peaceful and democratic initiatives for the solution of the problem," it said.

There was no ceasefire in June.

The ceasefire was called on 1 October 2006. When the Turkish military ends its attacks, there will be no fighting and this has been the stand of KCK for over a year. Nothing has changed in this regard. The information quoted from Firat News accurately reflects the KCK's position since last October but IHT's version doesn't mention that when the Ankara regime makes the offer of a democratic solution, KCK will be happy to consider it.

Recall that Yaşar Büyükanıt, Edip Başer, and Joseph Ralston were the three that refused to recognize the PKK's fifth unilateral ceasefire. They also refused to recognize PKK's democratic solution. Here's how Kevin McKiernan put it last year:

Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, who is a Kurd, recently played a key role in behind-the-scenes negotiations to disarm the guerrillas. The result was a cease-fire announcement on Oct. 1 by the rebels, who also declared they might hand over weapons to US forces in Iraq in exchange for Turkish concessions that include human rights reforms and amnesty for rebels. In a speech in Istanbul last month Ralston opposed amnesty and dismissed the cease-fire, declaring he would never "negotiate with terrorists."

Büyükanıt, Başer, and Ralston--those three, along with Lockheed Martin and their puppets in the American government, really screwed Turkey good.

In one last item, since the Ankara regime gained a lot of attention from its psychological operations in Beytüşşebap, it decided to do a similar operation in Culemêrg, Yüksekova--the same area where the 35 Turkish soldiers were whacked. This time the Ankara regime attempted to massacre a wedding convoy, but their efforts only resulted in injuries instead of deaths.

Interesting, isn't it, that the Ankara regime always targets civilians in those parts of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan in which major TSK operations are ongoing? Just as three weeks ago there were major operations in Beytüşşebap and the regime massacred a dozen people, so this last weekend, during major operations in Culemêrg, Yüksekova, the regime tried to massacre civilians in a wedding convoy.

Ah, well, that's NATO's law of land warfare for you.

THE DEEP STATE'S CANDIDATE

"We should work more to both protect the Kurds and make sure they will not provide shelter to terrorists in their territory."
~ Hillary Clinton.

A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for the war industry, according to Britain's Independent. The military-industrial complex (MIC) realizes that the Republicans stand a proverbial snowball's chance of winning the White House in the next election, so the employees of the MIC have chosen Hillary with their campaign bucks:

Mrs Clinton's wooing of the defence industry is all the more remarkable given the frosty relations between Bill Clinton and the military during his presidency [Bullshit--Mizgîn]. An analysis of campaign contributions shows senior defence industry employees are pouring money into her war chest in the belief that their generosity will be repaid many times over with future defence contracts.

Employees of the top five US arms manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon – gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to the Republicans. "The contributions clearly suggest the arms industry has reached the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed," said Thomas Edsall, an academic at Columbia University in New York.

In spite of what the article says about Bill Clinton's relationship with the military itself--certainly not as cozy a relationship as he had with any number of women--Bill Clinton was the MIC's dream come true. From Multinational Monitor, 1995:

Arms industry lobbyists say they are delighted with the Clinton administration’s record. “Clinton has been very helpful through [Commerce Secretary] Ron Brown,” says Ana Stout, executive vice president of the American League for Export Assistance, Inc., an industry association that promotes unimpeded defense sales to U.S. “friends and allies.”

“We’re quite satisfied with what we see the thrust of the policy to be,” adds Joel Johnson, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association. “It’s 180 degrees different from Carter. They won’t throw up obstacles to every arms sale to every country. The Clinton people are very supportive of specific sales. They are more dynamic than any administration we’ve seen.”

Under the sidebar:

A fellow NATO ally, the United States is Turkey’s closest military partner. Between 1987 and 1991, 77 percent of all arms deliveries to Turkey came from the United States, according to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

For fiscal years 1986-1995, Congress has appropriated $5.1 billion in military aid for Turkey, making it the third-largest recipient after Israel and Egypt. In terms of commercial sales, Turkey is the fifth-largest consumer of U.S. arms after Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan and Egypt. Turkey bought $9.4 billion in U.S. arms during fiscal years 1984-1993. In 1994 alone, Turkey’s counterinsurgency campaign cost an estimated $6.5 billion.

The Clinton administration helped Turkey acquire more cluster bombs, which were used on the Kurdish people:

Human Rights Watch’s Arms Project revealed in December 1994 that the U.S. government is weighing a Turkish request to buy almost 500 U.S.-made CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions (CEMs), or cluster bombs.

[ . . . ]

One type of bomb the Turkish air force dropped on Zaleh in January of 1994 was the U.S.-made, Vietnam-era Mk20 Rockeye cluster bomb. This is the only cluster bomb now thought to be in the Turkish arsenal. “Turkey already has [cluster bombs] in its inventory,” says an arms lobbyist, who asks not to be identified. “Human rights shouldn’t be involved. What does [blocking new cluster bombs exports] accomplish?”

We know that Turkey is using cluster bombs against the civilian population in South Kurdistan yet again.

And there's more on Bill Clinton's illegal arms transfers to Turkey, from Human Rights Watch and at the Federation of American Scientists.

Let us also remember that our friends at The Cohen Group all worked for the Clinton administration, with William Cohen as Defense Secretary, Marc Grossman in a number of State Department jobs including ambassador to Turkey, and Joseph Ralston as military head of NATO.

Deep State Hillary will not be any better than her husband when it comes to the situation in North Kurdistan? The situation there is a return to the Dirty War, complete with the state's black operations, a new OHAL, and greater efforts at enforcing a media blackout on the area.

In fact, she may be worse; females are always the more deadly of the species.

POETIC JUSTICE, PRIVACY, AND A PUPPY

"Linux was made by foreign terrorists to take money from true US companies like Microsoft."
~ Anonymous.

Ah! Poetic justice.

Now, on to more important things . . .

I posted something yesterday about how the NSA is inside your Windows box and how you could fix that problem. Today there's something on computer security at the Stress blog, but you really only need to read it if you insist upon using windows. As stated there: "These rules only apply to Windows users. Mac users are too rich to care, and Linux is immune."

Earlier in the day, CNET published an excellent post on security for instant messaging:

The major IM networks, which include AOL IM/iChat, MSN, and Google Talk (when using the gmail embedded chat function) all send data over the clear. Using IM over an unencrypted wireless network (such as at a coffee shop or hotel lobby) is an open invitation for nasty folks to read your conversations. Those people using the downloadable Google Talk client will at least have their conversations encrypted between their own computers and Google's servers - but that doesn't solve the problem of the NSA forcing/paying Google to hand over your data. Likewise, AOL confirmed in 2005 that if presented with a court order, it would let the government eavesdrop on IM conversations between customers.

The solution then, is to use an encrypted instant-messaging program--one made by a third party and not one of the major IM networks. That is, a software client with which the conversation is encrypted from one user's computer all the way to the recipient--and not just to the central servers of the IM network. While the popular Trillian multinetwork client does offer encryption, its design is flawed, and is subject to a number of attacks. The tool of choice for privacy-conscious geeks everwhere is a protocol known as Off The Record (OTR). This scheme, designed by a team of security researchers including professors Ian Goldberg and Nikita Borisov, provides a number of really cool features. The benefits of OTR include:

* Encryption: No one else can read your instant messages.

* Authentication: You are assured the correspondent is who you think it is.

* Deniability: The messages you send do not have digital signatures that are checkable by a third party. Anyone can forge messages after a conversation to make them look like they came from you. However, during a conversation, your correspondent is assured the messages he sees are authentic and unmodified.

* Perfect forward secrecy: If you lose control of your private keys (such as if your computer is hacked, for example), no previous conversation is compromised.

Do I have to mention that OTR is a standard plug-in, not only for Linux's Pidgin, but also for Linux's Gaim? Well, now you know.

If you'd like to carry your OS around in your pocket, on a 1GB flashdrive, you should check out Puppy Linux. Why would you want to do that? Here are a couple of good reasons:

The two main uses for Puppy Linux (or any Linux live CD) are to:

* Rescue files from the host PC's hosed hard drive or perform various maintenance tasks (like imaging that drive)

* Compute on a machine without leaving a trace—like browser history, cookies, documents or any other files—behind on the internal hard drive

While there's a wide range of Linux live distro's available, Puppy Linux is a fantastic option which offers a full computing environment with rich graphical apps like the Mozilla Seamonkey suite, Word and Excel equivalents, calendar, chat and photo editors, too.

See Puppy Linux screenshots or visit the Puppy Linux site.

I think Puppy Linux will be my next project.