"I think it is safe to say there is no single silver bullet here," Ralston said.
And over all..What´s the differences between your media and Taliban propaganda which the U.S. was most part of implementing? What´s the differences between the regime and army in Turkey, presidents and administrations in the U.S., Sri Lanka and people like in the Cohen group, Joseph Ralston, Richard Holbrook, Robert Walter and weapon affairs, Germany´s weapon affairs, FBI, CIA and a couple of more, Turkish-British Chamber of Commerce, American Turkish Council...etc..etc..And yours propaganda in media ever since Sri Lanka was a "struggling democracy" when they committed crimes against the Tamils in 1983, and Turkey´s democracy you want to have people in the world believe it is, in on going, non stop genocides ever since 1914 or before that .......and the Nazi propaganda and Hitler? If we "dig into it", take a good look, see the whole "picture" here that have been going on for decades..the answer is ..NONE!
Some call the Kurds "agents of Israel and America" and some speaks about 40.000 "people" when it´s really about far MORE than 1.5 millions of Kurds in a figure that raises EVERY DAY in your genocide and "silver bullets" people have been busy aiding, abetting and are very active participated in!
It´s kind of striking that a German born Jew making up "plans and projects" while others speaks about "no single silver bullets" if we take a look behind the propaganda and into reality..Isn´t it..
Sunday, May 31, 2009
So..Yeah..Why have not Turkey as U.S. allie been a part in the "war against terror" in Iraq, while being busy with terror in Iraq and in Turkey?
Some are trading with the Kurds gains after have stood steadfast in the "war on terror" beside the U.S.. And even trading with their rights to defend themselves..One can guess..While Turkey can be "friends with the region" after refuse to respond on calls from the whole Kurdish people and keep kills Kurds as they DENY THEM THEIR EXISTENCE and bombed the whole Kurdish areas to become unrecognized from what it was. And still refuse people their existence as another tool to become "friends of the region"..
We assume the "old guard" and Ralston don´t give a damn..And are obvious occupied with hassling with North Korea as they didn´t have had time to pick up the negotiations and work that was worked rather intense on before..After the #¤## repeat transmissions and crimes against the Kurdish people! That´s the thanks! Isn´t it!
Yeah..It´s good friends that denies people´s existence..Isn´t it..
We assume the "old guard" and Ralston don´t give a damn..And are obvious occupied with hassling with North Korea as they didn´t have had time to pick up the negotiations and work that was worked rather intense on before..After the #¤## repeat transmissions and crimes against the Kurdish people! That´s the thanks! Isn´t it!
Yeah..It´s good friends that denies people´s existence..Isn´t it..
Well.."Defusing tensions"..
Where is Kurdish diplomacy and the strength derived from the Kurdish-American relationship, ask critics.
Amnesty ýnternational 28.05.2009-In its annual report, Amnesty International cites many cases of human rights violations. Amnesty International (AI) has published its 2009 Report on "The State of the World's Human Rights". Organised by region and also by country, its comments on Turkey show that human rights have not seen improvements in the country. Human rights suffered in the context of political instability and military violance. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment increased, while dissenting views were met with prosecution and intimidation. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly was denied, and law enforcement officials used excessive force to disperse demonstrations.
Anti-terrorism legislation was also used to restrict freedom of expression. Unfair trials persisted especially for those prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation, while barriers remained in bringing law enforcement officials to justice for human rights abuses. No progress was made in allowing the right to conscientious objection to military service. Forcible returns of refugees increased. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persisted. Implementation of laws aimed at preventing violence against women and girls remained slow.
Political tension and instability were heightened by polarizing legal battles, including at the Constitutional Court, and armed clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish armed forces. In legal cases that threatened the right to freedom of association, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) faced closure on the grounds that it was a focal point for anti-secular activities, as did the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on the grounds that it engaged in activities against the unity and integrity of the country. The Constitutional Court rejected the closure of the AKP in July; the case against the DTP was continuing at the end of the year.
Armed clashes between the Turkish army and PKK continued and the use of temporary security zones in eastern and south-eastern provinces increased. Bomb attacks, often by unknown individuals or groups, killed and injured civilians. The army carried out military incursions into northern Iraq targeting PKK bases. In October, parliament authorized the armed forces to make further military interventions in northern Iraq.
In the context of the conflict, Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin faced increased hostility, including harassment, assaults and attacks on their property perpetrated by unknown individuals or groups. In September, such attacks took place over several days in Altýnova province, western Turkey.
Human rights defenders, writers, journalists and others were unjustly prosecuted under unfair laws and subjected to arbitrary decisions by judges and prosecutors. Article 301 of the Penal Code was amended by parliament in April but remained an unfair limitation to freedom of expression. Investigations under Article 301 continued, authorized by the Justice Minister as required by the amendments. Other articles and laws continued to be used to limit freedom of expression. Courts also acted disproportionately when shutting down websites on the basis of posted items. People expressing dissenting views remained at risk, with individuals threatened with violence by unknown individuals or groups. Police bodyguards were provided in a number of cases.
* In August, Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Þahin gave permission for the prosecution of writer Temel Demirer under Article 301 for statements he made claiming state responsibility in the murder of journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink in 2007.
* Nine children, all members of the Diyarbakýr Yeniþehir Municipality Children's Choir, were prosecuted under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law for singing a Kurdish anthem among other songs at a cultural festival. They were acquitted at the first hearing, but an arrest warrant remained in force for the choir leader, Duygu Özge Bayar.
The work of human rights defenders was hampered by unjustified prosecutions, and some high-profile human rights defenders were subjected to regular criminal investigations. Human rights NGOs faced excessive administrative scrutiny of their work. Human rights defenders were threatened by unknown individuals or groups as a result of their work.
* Orhan Kemal Cengiz received threats because of his legal work on behalf of the families of three men murdered in an attack on a Christian publishing house in Malatya in 2007. The authorities provided him with a bodyguard and investigated the threats.
* In January, Ethem Açýkalýn, head of the Adana branch of the Human Rights Association (ÝHD), was prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation after attending a press conference about an alleged extrajudicial execution. In August, he and another ÝHD member, Hüseyin Beyaz, said that they were ill-treated by police while investigating the arrest of DTP members. Hüseyin Beyaz' arm was broken. An investigation was opened against Ethem Açýkalýn and Hüseyin Beyaz for "resisting police officers".
Some demonstrations were banned without legitimate reason and those held without permission, particularly in the Kurdish-populated south-eastern region, were dispersed with excessive force, often before peaceful methods had been tried. During clashes, police used plastic bullets and live ammunition, resulting in deaths and injuries. Demonstrators were arrested and ill-treated. In some cases, children were held in adult detention facilities. Allegations of ill-treatment by security forces during past demonstrations were not adequately investigated.
* Traditional Newroz/Nevruz festivals after the 21 March equinox, which are celebrated especially by the Kurdish community, were refused authorization in south-eastern Turkey. Television footage showed law enforcement officials beating people after demonstrations went ahead without permission.
* Law enforcement officials were filmed ill-treating 15-year-old C.E. during his arrest at a demonstration in Hakkari, but a prosecutor subsequently dismissed the complaint. C.E. was, however, prosecuted for his participation in the demonstration.
* Permission for Labour Day demonstrations in Taksim square, Istanbul, was again refused on the unsubstantiated grounds that they would present a threat to security. Some 530 people were arrested for demonstrating without authorization on 1 May in Istanbul.
* In October, demonstrations were held across southern and eastern provinces of Turkey to protest against the alleged ill-treatment of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Reportedly, more than a hundred children were charged with offences carrying prison sentences of more than 20 years in relation to the demonstrations. In addition, the Governor of the southern province of Adana threatened to withdraw benefits that allow access to health care and treatment from the families of children who participated in the demonstrations. The move, a form of collective punishment, threatened to violate the right of everyone to health and to an adequate standard of living, without discrimination. Adults and children involved in the sometimes violent confrontations with police were prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws.
Excessive use of force
Reports increased of police shooting people who allegedly failed to obey warnings to stop. In many cases it could not be established that a threat of death or serious injury necessitated the use of lethal force.
* In November, 14-year-old Ahmet Yýldýrým was shot by police officers at close range and paralysed from the waist down. Police stated that they had suspected Ahmet Yýldýrým of stealing the motorcycle he was riding and fired at the tyres when he refused to stop. Eyewitnesses stated that no warning to stop was given.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Reports of torture and other ill-treatment rose during 2008, especially outside official places of detention but also in police stations and prisons. People accused of ordinary as well as politically motivated offences were vulnerable to ill-treatment. Counter-charges were often brought against individuals who said they had been ill-treated by law enforcement officials.
* In October, Engin Çeber died in hospital after being detained in Ýstinye police station and Metris prison in Istanbul. An autopsy found that death was due to cerebral bleeding as a result of blunt trauma injuries consistent with those caused by blows to the head. Nineteen law enforcement officials were suspended from duty and an indictment was drawn up against 60 state officials, some facing torture charges. In the first such statement of its kind, the Justice Minister apologized to Engin Çeber's family and acknowledged that the death may have been due to torture.
Prison conditions
No progress was made in the implementation of a 2007 government circular aimed at improving the association time allowed to prisoners in high-security "F-type" prisons. Persistent allegations were made of ill-treatment in prisons and during transfer. Punishments, including solitary confinement, were arbitrarily imposed on prisoners. Small-group isolation remained a problem across the prison system for people accused or convicted of politically motivated offences.
* In March, the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture was published on the conditions of imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan recommending that he receive certain medical tests, that the material conditions of his detention be improved, and that the Turkish authorities take steps to increase his contact with the outside world.
Unfair trials
Protracted and unfair trials persisted, especially for those prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation. Convictions under anti-terrorism laws were often based on insubstantial or unreliable evidence.
* In June, Murat Iþýkýrýk was sentenced to seven years in prison for "membership of a terrorist organization" on the basis of evidence that he participated in the funeral of a PKK member and was pictured giving a "V for victory" sign.
* In September, Selahattin Ökten was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking part in armed activities for the PKK. He was convicted on the basis of an insubstantial witness statement allegedly obtained under torture.
Impunity
Investigations into human rights violations by law enforcement officials remained flawed and prosecutions remained insufficient. Official human rights mechanisms were ineffective.
* The trial continued of people accused of involvement with the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink. In a separate prosecution, eight members of the gendarmerie were charged with negligence based on their alleged failure to act on information that could have prevented the murder. A report published in July by the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission found that other state officials had been negligent in failing to prevent the murder.
* In November, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of eight police officers for the death in custody of Alpaslan Yelden in 1999 in Izmir. The court found there was insufficient evidence that the officers participated in the torture.
* In December prosecutors dismissed a case against police officers lodged by Mustafa Kükçe's family after his death in custody in June 2007. The prosecutor concluded that the death from cerebral bleeding could have been caused by a fall before he was taken into custody despite the last medical report while he was in detention finding injuries consistent with those inflicted by ill-treatment. The investigation also found that no record was made of Mustafa Kükçe's detention and that camera footage from the police station was not available due to the cameras being out of order.
Abuses by armed groups
Bomb attacks targeting civilians by unknown groups or individuals continued.
* In July, for example, 17 people died after a bomb exploded in the Güngören district of Istanbul.
* In January, nine civilians died as a result of an apparent PKK attack targeting military personnel in Diyarbakýr.
Prisoners of conscience - conscientious objectors
No civilian alternative to compulsory military service exists and promised legal reforms to prevent the repeated prosecution of conscientious objectors for evading military service were not introduced. Conscientious objectors were prosecuted and their supporters were also prosecuted under Article 318 of the Penal Code for "alienating the public from military service".
* Halil Savda was re-imprisoned in March for his conscientious objection to military service. In June, he was additionally sentenced to five months in prison under Article 318 of the Penal Code after participating in a press conference held in support of Israeli conscientious objectors in 2006.
* In June, conscientious objector Mehmet Bal was detained for evading military service. He said that he was repeatedly beaten in military custody.
Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
Laws continued to be interpreted in ways that discriminated against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Allegations persisted of violence by law enforcement officials against transgender people.
* In May a local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of Lambda Istanbul, an organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, after the Istanbul Governor's Office complained that the organization's objectives were "against moral values and family structure".
* A transgender person told Amnesty International that in February she was picked up on the street, taken to the Ankara Security Directorate and then insulted and beaten by police. She was released six hours later after paying a fine.
* In July, Ahmet Yýldýz was shot dead outside his apartment in Istanbul in what was suspected to be a gay "honour" crime. He had previously made a criminal complaint to prosecutors about threats made against him by relatives.
Refugees and asylum-seekers
There was an increase in forcible returns of refugees and asylum-seekers to countries where they were at risk of serious human rights violations. There were also reports of irregular deportations resulting in the death or injury of asylum-seekers.
* A group of Uzbekistani refugees was twice forcibly returned to Iran, first in September and then in October. During the first forcible return, members of the group were said to have been beaten and threatened with rape unless they crossed back into Iran.
* Four people drowned in April, according to UNHCR, when Turkish police forced a group of 18 refugees and asylum-seekers to cross a fast-flowing river on the Turkey-Iraq border.
Violence against women and girls
Laws and regulations designed to protect women and girls from violence were inadequately implemented. Insufficient funds and inaction by government departments undermined a 2006 circular from the Prime Minister aimed at combating domestic violence and preventing "honour" crimes. Limited progress was made in providing shelters for women survivors of violence to the extent stipulated by the 2004 Law on Municipalities - at least one shelter per settlement with a population of over 50,000. (AI/AG)
Amnesty ýnternational 28.05.2009-In its annual report, Amnesty International cites many cases of human rights violations. Amnesty International (AI) has published its 2009 Report on "The State of the World's Human Rights". Organised by region and also by country, its comments on Turkey show that human rights have not seen improvements in the country. Human rights suffered in the context of political instability and military violance. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment increased, while dissenting views were met with prosecution and intimidation. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly was denied, and law enforcement officials used excessive force to disperse demonstrations.
Anti-terrorism legislation was also used to restrict freedom of expression. Unfair trials persisted especially for those prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation, while barriers remained in bringing law enforcement officials to justice for human rights abuses. No progress was made in allowing the right to conscientious objection to military service. Forcible returns of refugees increased. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persisted. Implementation of laws aimed at preventing violence against women and girls remained slow.
Political tension and instability were heightened by polarizing legal battles, including at the Constitutional Court, and armed clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish armed forces. In legal cases that threatened the right to freedom of association, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) faced closure on the grounds that it was a focal point for anti-secular activities, as did the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on the grounds that it engaged in activities against the unity and integrity of the country. The Constitutional Court rejected the closure of the AKP in July; the case against the DTP was continuing at the end of the year.
Armed clashes between the Turkish army and PKK continued and the use of temporary security zones in eastern and south-eastern provinces increased. Bomb attacks, often by unknown individuals or groups, killed and injured civilians. The army carried out military incursions into northern Iraq targeting PKK bases. In October, parliament authorized the armed forces to make further military interventions in northern Iraq.
In the context of the conflict, Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin faced increased hostility, including harassment, assaults and attacks on their property perpetrated by unknown individuals or groups. In September, such attacks took place over several days in Altýnova province, western Turkey.
Human rights defenders, writers, journalists and others were unjustly prosecuted under unfair laws and subjected to arbitrary decisions by judges and prosecutors. Article 301 of the Penal Code was amended by parliament in April but remained an unfair limitation to freedom of expression. Investigations under Article 301 continued, authorized by the Justice Minister as required by the amendments. Other articles and laws continued to be used to limit freedom of expression. Courts also acted disproportionately when shutting down websites on the basis of posted items. People expressing dissenting views remained at risk, with individuals threatened with violence by unknown individuals or groups. Police bodyguards were provided in a number of cases.
* In August, Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Þahin gave permission for the prosecution of writer Temel Demirer under Article 301 for statements he made claiming state responsibility in the murder of journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink in 2007.
* Nine children, all members of the Diyarbakýr Yeniþehir Municipality Children's Choir, were prosecuted under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law for singing a Kurdish anthem among other songs at a cultural festival. They were acquitted at the first hearing, but an arrest warrant remained in force for the choir leader, Duygu Özge Bayar.
The work of human rights defenders was hampered by unjustified prosecutions, and some high-profile human rights defenders were subjected to regular criminal investigations. Human rights NGOs faced excessive administrative scrutiny of their work. Human rights defenders were threatened by unknown individuals or groups as a result of their work.
* Orhan Kemal Cengiz received threats because of his legal work on behalf of the families of three men murdered in an attack on a Christian publishing house in Malatya in 2007. The authorities provided him with a bodyguard and investigated the threats.
* In January, Ethem Açýkalýn, head of the Adana branch of the Human Rights Association (ÝHD), was prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation after attending a press conference about an alleged extrajudicial execution. In August, he and another ÝHD member, Hüseyin Beyaz, said that they were ill-treated by police while investigating the arrest of DTP members. Hüseyin Beyaz' arm was broken. An investigation was opened against Ethem Açýkalýn and Hüseyin Beyaz for "resisting police officers".
Some demonstrations were banned without legitimate reason and those held without permission, particularly in the Kurdish-populated south-eastern region, were dispersed with excessive force, often before peaceful methods had been tried. During clashes, police used plastic bullets and live ammunition, resulting in deaths and injuries. Demonstrators were arrested and ill-treated. In some cases, children were held in adult detention facilities. Allegations of ill-treatment by security forces during past demonstrations were not adequately investigated.
* Traditional Newroz/Nevruz festivals after the 21 March equinox, which are celebrated especially by the Kurdish community, were refused authorization in south-eastern Turkey. Television footage showed law enforcement officials beating people after demonstrations went ahead without permission.
* Law enforcement officials were filmed ill-treating 15-year-old C.E. during his arrest at a demonstration in Hakkari, but a prosecutor subsequently dismissed the complaint. C.E. was, however, prosecuted for his participation in the demonstration.
* Permission for Labour Day demonstrations in Taksim square, Istanbul, was again refused on the unsubstantiated grounds that they would present a threat to security. Some 530 people were arrested for demonstrating without authorization on 1 May in Istanbul.
* In October, demonstrations were held across southern and eastern provinces of Turkey to protest against the alleged ill-treatment of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Reportedly, more than a hundred children were charged with offences carrying prison sentences of more than 20 years in relation to the demonstrations. In addition, the Governor of the southern province of Adana threatened to withdraw benefits that allow access to health care and treatment from the families of children who participated in the demonstrations. The move, a form of collective punishment, threatened to violate the right of everyone to health and to an adequate standard of living, without discrimination. Adults and children involved in the sometimes violent confrontations with police were prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws.
Excessive use of force
Reports increased of police shooting people who allegedly failed to obey warnings to stop. In many cases it could not be established that a threat of death or serious injury necessitated the use of lethal force.
* In November, 14-year-old Ahmet Yýldýrým was shot by police officers at close range and paralysed from the waist down. Police stated that they had suspected Ahmet Yýldýrým of stealing the motorcycle he was riding and fired at the tyres when he refused to stop. Eyewitnesses stated that no warning to stop was given.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Reports of torture and other ill-treatment rose during 2008, especially outside official places of detention but also in police stations and prisons. People accused of ordinary as well as politically motivated offences were vulnerable to ill-treatment. Counter-charges were often brought against individuals who said they had been ill-treated by law enforcement officials.
* In October, Engin Çeber died in hospital after being detained in Ýstinye police station and Metris prison in Istanbul. An autopsy found that death was due to cerebral bleeding as a result of blunt trauma injuries consistent with those caused by blows to the head. Nineteen law enforcement officials were suspended from duty and an indictment was drawn up against 60 state officials, some facing torture charges. In the first such statement of its kind, the Justice Minister apologized to Engin Çeber's family and acknowledged that the death may have been due to torture.
Prison conditions
No progress was made in the implementation of a 2007 government circular aimed at improving the association time allowed to prisoners in high-security "F-type" prisons. Persistent allegations were made of ill-treatment in prisons and during transfer. Punishments, including solitary confinement, were arbitrarily imposed on prisoners. Small-group isolation remained a problem across the prison system for people accused or convicted of politically motivated offences.
* In March, the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture was published on the conditions of imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan recommending that he receive certain medical tests, that the material conditions of his detention be improved, and that the Turkish authorities take steps to increase his contact with the outside world.
Unfair trials
Protracted and unfair trials persisted, especially for those prosecuted under anti-terrorism legislation. Convictions under anti-terrorism laws were often based on insubstantial or unreliable evidence.
* In June, Murat Iþýkýrýk was sentenced to seven years in prison for "membership of a terrorist organization" on the basis of evidence that he participated in the funeral of a PKK member and was pictured giving a "V for victory" sign.
* In September, Selahattin Ökten was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking part in armed activities for the PKK. He was convicted on the basis of an insubstantial witness statement allegedly obtained under torture.
Impunity
Investigations into human rights violations by law enforcement officials remained flawed and prosecutions remained insufficient. Official human rights mechanisms were ineffective.
* The trial continued of people accused of involvement with the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink. In a separate prosecution, eight members of the gendarmerie were charged with negligence based on their alleged failure to act on information that could have prevented the murder. A report published in July by the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission found that other state officials had been negligent in failing to prevent the murder.
* In November, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of eight police officers for the death in custody of Alpaslan Yelden in 1999 in Izmir. The court found there was insufficient evidence that the officers participated in the torture.
* In December prosecutors dismissed a case against police officers lodged by Mustafa Kükçe's family after his death in custody in June 2007. The prosecutor concluded that the death from cerebral bleeding could have been caused by a fall before he was taken into custody despite the last medical report while he was in detention finding injuries consistent with those inflicted by ill-treatment. The investigation also found that no record was made of Mustafa Kükçe's detention and that camera footage from the police station was not available due to the cameras being out of order.
Abuses by armed groups
Bomb attacks targeting civilians by unknown groups or individuals continued.
* In July, for example, 17 people died after a bomb exploded in the Güngören district of Istanbul.
* In January, nine civilians died as a result of an apparent PKK attack targeting military personnel in Diyarbakýr.
Prisoners of conscience - conscientious objectors
No civilian alternative to compulsory military service exists and promised legal reforms to prevent the repeated prosecution of conscientious objectors for evading military service were not introduced. Conscientious objectors were prosecuted and their supporters were also prosecuted under Article 318 of the Penal Code for "alienating the public from military service".
* Halil Savda was re-imprisoned in March for his conscientious objection to military service. In June, he was additionally sentenced to five months in prison under Article 318 of the Penal Code after participating in a press conference held in support of Israeli conscientious objectors in 2006.
* In June, conscientious objector Mehmet Bal was detained for evading military service. He said that he was repeatedly beaten in military custody.
Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
Laws continued to be interpreted in ways that discriminated against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Allegations persisted of violence by law enforcement officials against transgender people.
* In May a local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of Lambda Istanbul, an organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, after the Istanbul Governor's Office complained that the organization's objectives were "against moral values and family structure".
* A transgender person told Amnesty International that in February she was picked up on the street, taken to the Ankara Security Directorate and then insulted and beaten by police. She was released six hours later after paying a fine.
* In July, Ahmet Yýldýz was shot dead outside his apartment in Istanbul in what was suspected to be a gay "honour" crime. He had previously made a criminal complaint to prosecutors about threats made against him by relatives.
Refugees and asylum-seekers
There was an increase in forcible returns of refugees and asylum-seekers to countries where they were at risk of serious human rights violations. There were also reports of irregular deportations resulting in the death or injury of asylum-seekers.
* A group of Uzbekistani refugees was twice forcibly returned to Iran, first in September and then in October. During the first forcible return, members of the group were said to have been beaten and threatened with rape unless they crossed back into Iran.
* Four people drowned in April, according to UNHCR, when Turkish police forced a group of 18 refugees and asylum-seekers to cross a fast-flowing river on the Turkey-Iraq border.
Violence against women and girls
Laws and regulations designed to protect women and girls from violence were inadequately implemented. Insufficient funds and inaction by government departments undermined a 2006 circular from the Prime Minister aimed at combating domestic violence and preventing "honour" crimes. Limited progress was made in providing shelters for women survivors of violence to the extent stipulated by the 2004 Law on Municipalities - at least one shelter per settlement with a population of over 50,000. (AI/AG)
Some actually believe people in this world do not see what´s going on..
2009-04-22
The Chairman of Kurdish Kongra-Gel, Zubeyir Aydar told that, despite the heavy Turkish operations against the Kurdish legal political party DTP, Kurds are willing to stick to their decision of non-violence. But they ask for active help from USA and EU for a permanent peace in Turkey. Now Kurds are asking for active involvement from the USA and the European Union, to use their good relations with Turkey for a permanent peace and solution of the Kurdish question in Turkey. More then 300 members of DTP have been arrested, at the same time the Turkish army began intense violations against Kurds in the Hakkari, Sirnak, Diyarbakir and Dersim regions in Kurdistan. Despite the calm, non-violent period of March, we have been shocked by the attacks by the Turkish army and police. Right after the elections, DTP supporters have been badly treated and beaten by the police in the Kurdish city of Agri. Later on many thousand peaceful Kurdish demonstrators in Urfa faced armed Turkish security forces. Two Kurds were killed and many tens of them were injured.
We expected that the Turkish state would respond positively and give us all a chance for better dialogue and a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question. We still hope that we can turn the non-violent situation to a permanent peace. Just before the Turkish attacks on DTP, President Obama visited Turkey. He also met the Chairman of DTP, Mr. Ahmet Turk. It has been rumours that Mr. Turk gave a file to President Obama on the road to a Turkish-Kurdish peace. We welcomed the visit of President Obama to Turkey, especially his meeting with the Chairman of the Kurdish DTP Ahmet Turk. We know that President Obama received from Mr. Ahmet Turk a file concerning a solution to the Kurdish question. We support this policy of DTP..
But did the Kurds get any reaction from the West ? Or any Western suggestion for peace and dialogue to resolve the Kurdish-Turkish conflict which has already cost the lives of nearly 40.000 people ?
We expect the active involvement of President Obama and the EU to use their good relations with Ankara for dialogue and permanent peace to solve the Kurdish question in Turkey. We believe that the democratization of Turkey is in the common interest of all of us and in the interest of stability in the Middle East.
We have to fight together with USA and EU to not let DTP to be pushed off the political scene. Our aim should to be to transform the situation – to bring the forces down from the mountains, to give them the democratic possibility to participate in the political struggle. But not to push more Kurds in the mountains .¨
If the aim is to keep DTP in the political scene, not push more Kurds to the mountains, then why USA and EU did not react against arrest of DTP members ?
Unfortunately, the EU`s reactions to the arrests of DTP members are very weak when Kurdish people are expecting strong message from the EU and the USA. But speaking generally, to take part in conflict will not solve any questions.
Up to now, did the EU ask the Kurdish and Turkish sides for a concrete peace process?
Of course, we read and follow carefully all the decisions of the EU about the developments in Turkey, but sadly until now we have not received any concrete peace proposal from the EU. If the EU and the USA have an active policy towards Turkey, it will strengthen our hands to move forward and to prepare and mobilise the Kurdish Movement and people all over the world of supporters for peace. The EU can play an especially important role since they already have experience from the Irish and Basque peace processes. The EU should encourage both Kurds and Turks in this direction and we are ready to welcome any such proposal.
Well...Neither the EU or the U.S. with their Lockheed Martin board of director and Turkish lobby group which would "defuse tensions" with denying people democracy, peace and their very existence, and destroying the whole north of Iraq/south of Kurdistan reacts other than with death and destruction. While Turkey threatens Kurdish progress in Kurdistan and the U.S. works against a solution to transfer oil or gas through Georgia and Russia which is "on the other side of their geopolitics" and aiding a massacre and genocide in Sri Lanka together with the rest and their weapon business they have been busy with there for decades, do not give a damn really about what happens to others or what others say..As they are on "two sides" denying any crimes.
As Turkey is a "gate to Europe" and the Kurdistan government dependent on that "gate", they do not really give a damn about genocides or the most gross violations, crimes against humanity or democracy. All of them just expect people shall buy that #¤## oil and gas through call it the "Turkish gate to Europe" or the Turkish road to Hell..They don´t give a damn. And they have never really done any different when it comes to Tamils or Kurds..In fact..The opposite..They have stood against democracy, peace and human rights for decades and have a prisoner on a isolated island as one more tool to be able to violate people all over, and used people to get their own #¤## income whether it´s through a denial of existences, genocide or what ever. If people not react with violence and a "civil war" they "#¤## instigate it as it serves their agendas! They just expect people to buy that oil as they as they assume consumers have no conditions or are aware of a #¤## thing.. It´s has been done so for decades...or centuries, while Turkey takes the opportunity to deny Kurdish people both political rights or any rights and keep on with their genocide, threatens progress in Kurdistan and the conditions of living on the whole Iraqi nation as they have deprived them of water. Being a "Gate to Hell" that´s is nothing new either as they have BEEN THAT ALL THE #¤## TIME and the U.S. have been there ALL THE #¤## TIME, just as Britain in Cyprus and Sri Lanka, and Russia and every one else using ethnic polarizations to play out people against each other in their own interests, while people are massacred, mass slaughtered and raped by Neanderthals with clubs or by reptiles!
There have never been any responses on this calls other than opportunity´s to sell weapons, while having a person isolated on a island!
And now the insanity all way back from the Armenian genocide, the Kurdish genocide and every other #¤## genocides is galloping into the Security council and which ever on the way from the "Turkish gate" on the high way to hell wether it´s Europe or where ever can be next!
The Chairman of Kurdish Kongra-Gel, Zubeyir Aydar told that, despite the heavy Turkish operations against the Kurdish legal political party DTP, Kurds are willing to stick to their decision of non-violence. But they ask for active help from USA and EU for a permanent peace in Turkey. Now Kurds are asking for active involvement from the USA and the European Union, to use their good relations with Turkey for a permanent peace and solution of the Kurdish question in Turkey. More then 300 members of DTP have been arrested, at the same time the Turkish army began intense violations against Kurds in the Hakkari, Sirnak, Diyarbakir and Dersim regions in Kurdistan. Despite the calm, non-violent period of March, we have been shocked by the attacks by the Turkish army and police. Right after the elections, DTP supporters have been badly treated and beaten by the police in the Kurdish city of Agri. Later on many thousand peaceful Kurdish demonstrators in Urfa faced armed Turkish security forces. Two Kurds were killed and many tens of them were injured.
We expected that the Turkish state would respond positively and give us all a chance for better dialogue and a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question. We still hope that we can turn the non-violent situation to a permanent peace. Just before the Turkish attacks on DTP, President Obama visited Turkey. He also met the Chairman of DTP, Mr. Ahmet Turk. It has been rumours that Mr. Turk gave a file to President Obama on the road to a Turkish-Kurdish peace. We welcomed the visit of President Obama to Turkey, especially his meeting with the Chairman of the Kurdish DTP Ahmet Turk. We know that President Obama received from Mr. Ahmet Turk a file concerning a solution to the Kurdish question. We support this policy of DTP..
But did the Kurds get any reaction from the West ? Or any Western suggestion for peace and dialogue to resolve the Kurdish-Turkish conflict which has already cost the lives of nearly 40.000 people ?
We expect the active involvement of President Obama and the EU to use their good relations with Ankara for dialogue and permanent peace to solve the Kurdish question in Turkey. We believe that the democratization of Turkey is in the common interest of all of us and in the interest of stability in the Middle East.
We have to fight together with USA and EU to not let DTP to be pushed off the political scene. Our aim should to be to transform the situation – to bring the forces down from the mountains, to give them the democratic possibility to participate in the political struggle. But not to push more Kurds in the mountains .¨
If the aim is to keep DTP in the political scene, not push more Kurds to the mountains, then why USA and EU did not react against arrest of DTP members ?
Unfortunately, the EU`s reactions to the arrests of DTP members are very weak when Kurdish people are expecting strong message from the EU and the USA. But speaking generally, to take part in conflict will not solve any questions.
Up to now, did the EU ask the Kurdish and Turkish sides for a concrete peace process?
Of course, we read and follow carefully all the decisions of the EU about the developments in Turkey, but sadly until now we have not received any concrete peace proposal from the EU. If the EU and the USA have an active policy towards Turkey, it will strengthen our hands to move forward and to prepare and mobilise the Kurdish Movement and people all over the world of supporters for peace. The EU can play an especially important role since they already have experience from the Irish and Basque peace processes. The EU should encourage both Kurds and Turks in this direction and we are ready to welcome any such proposal.
Well...Neither the EU or the U.S. with their Lockheed Martin board of director and Turkish lobby group which would "defuse tensions" with denying people democracy, peace and their very existence, and destroying the whole north of Iraq/south of Kurdistan reacts other than with death and destruction. While Turkey threatens Kurdish progress in Kurdistan and the U.S. works against a solution to transfer oil or gas through Georgia and Russia which is "on the other side of their geopolitics" and aiding a massacre and genocide in Sri Lanka together with the rest and their weapon business they have been busy with there for decades, do not give a damn really about what happens to others or what others say..As they are on "two sides" denying any crimes.
As Turkey is a "gate to Europe" and the Kurdistan government dependent on that "gate", they do not really give a damn about genocides or the most gross violations, crimes against humanity or democracy. All of them just expect people shall buy that #¤## oil and gas through call it the "Turkish gate to Europe" or the Turkish road to Hell..They don´t give a damn. And they have never really done any different when it comes to Tamils or Kurds..In fact..The opposite..They have stood against democracy, peace and human rights for decades and have a prisoner on a isolated island as one more tool to be able to violate people all over, and used people to get their own #¤## income whether it´s through a denial of existences, genocide or what ever. If people not react with violence and a "civil war" they "#¤## instigate it as it serves their agendas! They just expect people to buy that oil as they as they assume consumers have no conditions or are aware of a #¤## thing.. It´s has been done so for decades...or centuries, while Turkey takes the opportunity to deny Kurdish people both political rights or any rights and keep on with their genocide, threatens progress in Kurdistan and the conditions of living on the whole Iraqi nation as they have deprived them of water. Being a "Gate to Hell" that´s is nothing new either as they have BEEN THAT ALL THE #¤## TIME and the U.S. have been there ALL THE #¤## TIME, just as Britain in Cyprus and Sri Lanka, and Russia and every one else using ethnic polarizations to play out people against each other in their own interests, while people are massacred, mass slaughtered and raped by Neanderthals with clubs or by reptiles!
There have never been any responses on this calls other than opportunity´s to sell weapons, while having a person isolated on a island!
And now the insanity all way back from the Armenian genocide, the Kurdish genocide and every other #¤## genocides is galloping into the Security council and which ever on the way from the "Turkish gate" on the high way to hell wether it´s Europe or where ever can be next!
"Geopolitics" ..Just as toward Turkey....
Pointing out that not only the United Nations but several Western governments knew of the ongoing slaughter of 20,000 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Army, but kept silent for fear of upsetting the Colombo Government, The Times newspaper Saturday demanded international action to prevent further atrocities. “Such a monstrous collusion in covering up an atrocity must not go unchallenged. If the UN Human Rights Council refuses to investigate what has happened, the West must do so forthwith,” the paper said. “The silence of those who were warned of civilian deaths in Sri Lanka is shameful. They must speak out now to prevent future atrocities,” the editorial’s subtitle charged.
Sri Lankan government prepares broad attack on democratic rights. And they are doing it simultaneously with Turkey under the "wings of NATO"!
Sri Lankan government prepares broad attack on democratic rights
Having declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan authorities are intensifying their attacks on fundamental democratic rights. The government has flatly ruled out any lifting of the country’s state of emergency and the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which allows security forces to continue their arbitrary detention without trial of “LTTE suspects”. The continued persecution of Tamil civilians, political opponents and the media gives the lie to the Sri Lankan-sponsored resolution passed in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week that whitewashed the Colombo government’s war crimes and abuses of basic rights. The resolution welcomed “the continued commitment of Sri Lanka to the promotion and protection of all human rights”.
The UNHRC resolution ignored the fact that nearly 300,000 Tamil refugees have been herded into detention centres, guarded by troops and not permitted to leave. It also turned a blind eye to the record over the past three years of murders and “disappearances” by pro-government death squads and the torture of detainees. The World Socialist Web Site warned yesterday (see “UN body covers up Sri Lankan government’s war crimes”) that the resolution would only encourage the government and military to make further inroads into the legal and democratic rights of working people.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva declared that the state of emergency and PTA would remain in force for “some months” as the security forces continued to conduct “mopping up operations, clearing operations”. He added: “We’ll have to arrest some more persons who had aided and abetted the LTTE.”
The emergency laws give sweeping powers to the army and police to make arbitrary arrests and detain people indefinitely without charge or trial. The president can declare any strike or industrial action illegal by proclaiming the workplace as an essential service. He can block class actions against the government and state bureaucracy, and censor the media. The PTA extends the powers of detention without charge and is used to convict detainees solely on the basis of their confessions, in some cases extracted by torture.
De Silva told parliament that 9,100 persons had “surrendered” to the security forces in the detention camps. Even the limited reports filtering out from these centres paint an entirely different picture. Hundreds of people, particularly young men and women, are being dragged away by the security forces working with military intelligence, para-militaries and hooded informers. While the minister claimed 7,500 would be “rehabilitated,” their fate, along with the remaining 1,600 detainees, is in the hands of the security forces, which operate with impunity.
Over the past three years, thousands of people, mainly Tamils, have been detained under the emergency regulations and PTA. Many have been held for months, even years, without trial. Sunday Times columnist J.S. Tissanayagam, for instance, is still in detention after he was arrested in March 2007 along with the owners of E-quality Printing Press, V. Jesiharan and his wife V. Valarmathi.
Far from “ensuring no discrimination against ethnic minorities” as the UNHRC resolution declared, the security forces treat all Tamils as potential “terrorists”. The arrests are part of a broader campaign of harassment and intimidation that includes police sweeps, house raids and constant identity checks at roadblocks and on the streets. The 26-year "civil war" was a direct product of decades of official anti-Tamil discrimination that was exploited by successive Colombo governments to divide working people and shore up their own rule.
The opposition United National Party (UNP), which called for the end of the state of emergency this week, did not press the issue after the government ministers condemned the move as “very untimely”. UNP leaders have enthusiastically joined in the jingoistic “victory” celebrations. The UNP was responsible for launching the war in 1983 and employed the same anti-democratic methods when it conducted military operations.
The army and police intend to step up their vendetta against anyone critical of the "war", particularly in the media. In an interview with the state-owned ITN television channel on Monday, army commander General Sarath Fonseka branded journalists who have supported basic democratic rights as LTTE supporters and declared that the government planned to take action against them. They would not be allowed to leave the country, he added. Fonseka alleged that “certain security analysts and other media experts, who were often demonstrating at Lipton Circus [in Colombo] for press freedom, have been constantly on the LTTE’s payroll to the tune of hundreds of thousand of rupees a month”. He accused them of “obstructing the legitimate activities of the army” and declared they “should be prosecuted for treason”.
On Thursday, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jayantha Wickremeratne told ITN that the police had identified some of the “Sinhalese journalists” on the LTTE’s payroll. He claimed many of them had been connected with international organisations and had been always clamouring for media freedom. He accused them of “misreporting at the behest of the LTTE” that the army was shelling civilians while the LTTE was shooting at the fleeing civilians in order to “prosecute Sri Lankan leaders for war crimes”. Wickremeratne declared that the “police know more details of this treason, but I do not like to reveal all of them since it might obstruct further investigations”. These threats to prosecute journalists for treason are more broadly aimed at “international organisations” that in recent weeks have, at least in a limited way, exposed the government lies surrounding the army’s killing of Tamil civilians as it closed in on the last pocket of LTTE resistance.
The government, the military and Sinhala chauvinist groups have been bitterly hostile to the efforts of the European powers to instigate an investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka—a move that was blocked in the UNHRC on Wednesday. On the same day, hundreds of Sinhala extremists gathered outside the Canadian High Commission, pelted it with stones, hoisted an LTTE flag and spray painted “LTTE headquarters in Colombo” on its wall. Canada, along with the European powers, had backed the call for a war crimes inquiry, not out of any concern for human rights in Sri Lanka, but to advance Western economic and strategic interests in Colombo.
However, the communal vitriol hurled at the Canadian High Commission is part of a broader campaign aimed at stamping out any criticism of the government and the army, and silencing any exposure of their crimes. These efforts are not limited to small groups of Sinhala extremists. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, a South African of Indian descent, became the target of communal innuendo in the Colombo press, implying she was an LTTE sympathiser when she mildly criticised the government’s record. In her address to the UNHRC calling for an inquiry, Pillay declared: “There are strong reasons to believe that both sides [the army and the LTTE] grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians.”
The extent of the Sri Lankan government’s crimes is still coming to light. Previously leaked UN reports estimated that at least 7,000 civilians had been killed in the war zone in the period from January 20 to May 7. Thousands more died in the final days of fighting. A report this week in the London-based Times, based on UN sources, has created an uproar in Colombo ruling circles by putting the figure at more than 20,000.
The decision by the security forces to target journalists for “treason” is an indication that a broad offensive is being prepared against human rights bodies and non-government organisations, which are often accused in Colombo of being “terrorist sympathisers”. Arrest and prosecution will not be the only methods used. Government critic Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, was gunned down in broad daylight in January on his way to work. As in numerous other cases involving pro-government death squads, the police have made no arrests.
More broadly, the government is maintaining the police-state apparatus built up in the course of the war out of fear of rising social and political discontent. After 26 years of devastating "civil war", most ordinary Sri Lankans are not joining in the victory clamour that the political and media establishment are attempting to whip up. As President Mahinda Rajapakse attempts to impose the economic burdens of the war and deepening global crisis on the working class, there will inevitably be resistance. The government is keeping the state of emergency in place to deal with the new “traitors”—protesting workers, farmers and students seeking to defend their living standards and basic rights.
By S. Jayanth 30 May 2009
Sri Lankan government prepares broad attack on democratic rights. And they are doing it simultaneously with Turkey between the "wings of NATO" AND Russia, with China denying it! And it´s nothing new. It has been going on for decades depriving people their democratic rights in both Turkey and Sri Lanka ever since remote controls and IDE´s in 1983, with juridical murders, genocidal "war-fares" and the most disgusting violations, massacres and crimes against humanity where people are denied their very existence, democracy and peace, while others have their #¤## weapon affairs!
Who is being "rescued"?
It´s just make sure to violate people, commit crimes and then make sure those people being violated and massacred have enough of weaponry to defend themselves in a genocidal "war-fare", to get justifications to label them as terrorists and by that have weapon sales earning in some money and keep the military machinery industry going while those like Turkey and Sri Lanka can deny people democratic rights, human rights, soltions, peace and deny them their very exictence and can have their genocide, while states like China and Russia denying any crimes. And every one are happy!
Having declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan authorities are intensifying their attacks on fundamental democratic rights. The government has flatly ruled out any lifting of the country’s state of emergency and the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which allows security forces to continue their arbitrary detention without trial of “LTTE suspects”. The continued persecution of Tamil civilians, political opponents and the media gives the lie to the Sri Lankan-sponsored resolution passed in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week that whitewashed the Colombo government’s war crimes and abuses of basic rights. The resolution welcomed “the continued commitment of Sri Lanka to the promotion and protection of all human rights”.
The UNHRC resolution ignored the fact that nearly 300,000 Tamil refugees have been herded into detention centres, guarded by troops and not permitted to leave. It also turned a blind eye to the record over the past three years of murders and “disappearances” by pro-government death squads and the torture of detainees. The World Socialist Web Site warned yesterday (see “UN body covers up Sri Lankan government’s war crimes”) that the resolution would only encourage the government and military to make further inroads into the legal and democratic rights of working people.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva declared that the state of emergency and PTA would remain in force for “some months” as the security forces continued to conduct “mopping up operations, clearing operations”. He added: “We’ll have to arrest some more persons who had aided and abetted the LTTE.”
The emergency laws give sweeping powers to the army and police to make arbitrary arrests and detain people indefinitely without charge or trial. The president can declare any strike or industrial action illegal by proclaiming the workplace as an essential service. He can block class actions against the government and state bureaucracy, and censor the media. The PTA extends the powers of detention without charge and is used to convict detainees solely on the basis of their confessions, in some cases extracted by torture.
De Silva told parliament that 9,100 persons had “surrendered” to the security forces in the detention camps. Even the limited reports filtering out from these centres paint an entirely different picture. Hundreds of people, particularly young men and women, are being dragged away by the security forces working with military intelligence, para-militaries and hooded informers. While the minister claimed 7,500 would be “rehabilitated,” their fate, along with the remaining 1,600 detainees, is in the hands of the security forces, which operate with impunity.
Over the past three years, thousands of people, mainly Tamils, have been detained under the emergency regulations and PTA. Many have been held for months, even years, without trial. Sunday Times columnist J.S. Tissanayagam, for instance, is still in detention after he was arrested in March 2007 along with the owners of E-quality Printing Press, V. Jesiharan and his wife V. Valarmathi.
Far from “ensuring no discrimination against ethnic minorities” as the UNHRC resolution declared, the security forces treat all Tamils as potential “terrorists”. The arrests are part of a broader campaign of harassment and intimidation that includes police sweeps, house raids and constant identity checks at roadblocks and on the streets. The 26-year "civil war" was a direct product of decades of official anti-Tamil discrimination that was exploited by successive Colombo governments to divide working people and shore up their own rule.
The opposition United National Party (UNP), which called for the end of the state of emergency this week, did not press the issue after the government ministers condemned the move as “very untimely”. UNP leaders have enthusiastically joined in the jingoistic “victory” celebrations. The UNP was responsible for launching the war in 1983 and employed the same anti-democratic methods when it conducted military operations.
The army and police intend to step up their vendetta against anyone critical of the "war", particularly in the media. In an interview with the state-owned ITN television channel on Monday, army commander General Sarath Fonseka branded journalists who have supported basic democratic rights as LTTE supporters and declared that the government planned to take action against them. They would not be allowed to leave the country, he added. Fonseka alleged that “certain security analysts and other media experts, who were often demonstrating at Lipton Circus [in Colombo] for press freedom, have been constantly on the LTTE’s payroll to the tune of hundreds of thousand of rupees a month”. He accused them of “obstructing the legitimate activities of the army” and declared they “should be prosecuted for treason”.
On Thursday, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jayantha Wickremeratne told ITN that the police had identified some of the “Sinhalese journalists” on the LTTE’s payroll. He claimed many of them had been connected with international organisations and had been always clamouring for media freedom. He accused them of “misreporting at the behest of the LTTE” that the army was shelling civilians while the LTTE was shooting at the fleeing civilians in order to “prosecute Sri Lankan leaders for war crimes”. Wickremeratne declared that the “police know more details of this treason, but I do not like to reveal all of them since it might obstruct further investigations”. These threats to prosecute journalists for treason are more broadly aimed at “international organisations” that in recent weeks have, at least in a limited way, exposed the government lies surrounding the army’s killing of Tamil civilians as it closed in on the last pocket of LTTE resistance.
The government, the military and Sinhala chauvinist groups have been bitterly hostile to the efforts of the European powers to instigate an investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka—a move that was blocked in the UNHRC on Wednesday. On the same day, hundreds of Sinhala extremists gathered outside the Canadian High Commission, pelted it with stones, hoisted an LTTE flag and spray painted “LTTE headquarters in Colombo” on its wall. Canada, along with the European powers, had backed the call for a war crimes inquiry, not out of any concern for human rights in Sri Lanka, but to advance Western economic and strategic interests in Colombo.
However, the communal vitriol hurled at the Canadian High Commission is part of a broader campaign aimed at stamping out any criticism of the government and the army, and silencing any exposure of their crimes. These efforts are not limited to small groups of Sinhala extremists. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, a South African of Indian descent, became the target of communal innuendo in the Colombo press, implying she was an LTTE sympathiser when she mildly criticised the government’s record. In her address to the UNHRC calling for an inquiry, Pillay declared: “There are strong reasons to believe that both sides [the army and the LTTE] grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians.”
The extent of the Sri Lankan government’s crimes is still coming to light. Previously leaked UN reports estimated that at least 7,000 civilians had been killed in the war zone in the period from January 20 to May 7. Thousands more died in the final days of fighting. A report this week in the London-based Times, based on UN sources, has created an uproar in Colombo ruling circles by putting the figure at more than 20,000.
The decision by the security forces to target journalists for “treason” is an indication that a broad offensive is being prepared against human rights bodies and non-government organisations, which are often accused in Colombo of being “terrorist sympathisers”. Arrest and prosecution will not be the only methods used. Government critic Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, was gunned down in broad daylight in January on his way to work. As in numerous other cases involving pro-government death squads, the police have made no arrests.
More broadly, the government is maintaining the police-state apparatus built up in the course of the war out of fear of rising social and political discontent. After 26 years of devastating "civil war", most ordinary Sri Lankans are not joining in the victory clamour that the political and media establishment are attempting to whip up. As President Mahinda Rajapakse attempts to impose the economic burdens of the war and deepening global crisis on the working class, there will inevitably be resistance. The government is keeping the state of emergency in place to deal with the new “traitors”—protesting workers, farmers and students seeking to defend their living standards and basic rights.
By S. Jayanth 30 May 2009
Sri Lankan government prepares broad attack on democratic rights. And they are doing it simultaneously with Turkey between the "wings of NATO" AND Russia, with China denying it! And it´s nothing new. It has been going on for decades depriving people their democratic rights in both Turkey and Sri Lanka ever since remote controls and IDE´s in 1983, with juridical murders, genocidal "war-fares" and the most disgusting violations, massacres and crimes against humanity where people are denied their very existence, democracy and peace, while others have their #¤## weapon affairs!
Who is being "rescued"?
It´s just make sure to violate people, commit crimes and then make sure those people being violated and massacred have enough of weaponry to defend themselves in a genocidal "war-fare", to get justifications to label them as terrorists and by that have weapon sales earning in some money and keep the military machinery industry going while those like Turkey and Sri Lanka can deny people democratic rights, human rights, soltions, peace and deny them their very exictence and can have their genocide, while states like China and Russia denying any crimes. And every one are happy!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Turkey have committed politicied on the Kurdish people for decades!
“The PKK had to stop fighting anyway because of the winter, but the PKK, backed by Iraqi Kurds, are acting as if this were a major political decision, not a move dictated by a practical necessity. Of course, we don’t take it seriously.”
And lawyers were getting to prosecute DTP members already when the staged attacks and the genocidal "war-fare" was instigated. And today there are over 300 members of DTP detained!
"As if this were a major political decision"
If there are no political decisions is because there are no #¤¤ major political decisions, since Turkey have committed both politicied and genocide against the Kurdish people for decades. And is using the staged attacks and inciting the genocidal "war-fare" to "maintain" a politicide and use a juridical murder and the politicied to "maintain" a genocide!
This refusals from both Turkey and others is a denial of human rights and most basic human rights which the whole Kurdish people and PKK demands and HAVE THE RIGHT TO, is a GROSS violation against everything the internationally community, the U.N. and humanity stands for. And those claiming to stand for it have been lying for decades while denying people it! This refusals to recognize the Kurdish people their political rights is no "#¤# "war on terror" it´s a violation that have been going on for decades and is a politicied!
Just as a refusal to respond on calls for solutions and peace and instead keep a maintaining a genocidal "war-fare" and have the stomach to accuse people defending themselves for being terrorists to be able to DENY THEM THEIR VERY EXISTENCE - IS GENOCIDE, THAT THOSE BEING A PART OF MAINTAINING IT IS CASHING IN MONEY ON!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TAKE US FOR? ONLY COMPLETE INSANE IDIOTS TAKES US FOR IDIOTS! And now you want this into the Security council! So which are next when some ones want to earn some money on the weapon industry, all with the green light from the U.N. Security council? VA?
This is a system that have been practise against other people as well for decades, while others are cashing in money on it! It´s just violate their human rights, do some massacres, commit a politiced and then call a resistance or a defence for terrorism, and use this label as a tool to maintain a politiced. And when have achieved those terrorist labels the propaganda machinery keeps working to label a whole people as terrorists to be able to maintain that politicide and use it as a justification for a dictatorship with gross violations and to be able to commit GENOCIDE and during the whole #¤## "process" people are getting in money on the weapon industry against this people!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TAKE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD FOR?
UN Officials complicit in aiding, abetting GoSL's Nazi-type crimes - Prof. Boyle
TamilNet- Pointing to a report in the French paper Le Monde, which quoted Vijay Nambiar, chief of Staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as telling UN representatives in Sri Lanka that the UN should “keep a low profile” and play a “sustaining role" that was "compatible with the government," Francis Boyle, professor of International Law said Saturday that both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka, in violation of international law.
GOSL inflicted genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing upon the Tamils in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Two Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as the principles of Customary International Criminal Law set forth in the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946) and the United Nation's own codification of the Nuremberg Principles (1950) for the trial and prosecution of the Nazis--all of which are now incorporated into the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, Boyle said.
"In other words, both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the GOSL. "The United Nations Organization and its Highest Level Officials did the exact same thing to the Bosnians at Srebrenica in July of 1995--Days that have lived in Infamy and Shame for the United Nations ever since then. "By comparison, today the GOSL's genocidal massacre of the Tamils in Vanni could be about four times Serbia's genocidal massacre of the Bosnians at Srebrenica.
Satish Nambiar, paid military consultant to Colombo
Adding further complicity to Vijay Nambiar's role as a special UN envoy to Sri Lanka is the involvement of his brother Satish Nambiar, a former Indian general as a consultant to the Sri Lankan government. Satish Nambiar "was quoted on the Sri Lankan military's web page praising the Army's and its commander's conduct of the "war" in the north, despite all the civilians killed. It is, the [unnamed Security Council] diplomat said bitterly, all a family affair," a report of 11th May in the Inner City Press, said.
"History is repeating itself with a Vengeance for the United Nations. Unless this Momentum is reversed and all these U.N. Officials fired, the United Nations Organization shall follow the League of Nations into the "ashcan" of History!" Boyle said.
It´s hardly something new! Turkey and Sri Lanka have been busy simultaneously with their genocidal "war-fares" while others cashing in money on it for decades! Turkey have committed politicied on the Kurdish people for decades! Just as Myanmar have done, just as Sri Lanka, just as Syria against the Palestinians, just as China against the Tibetans. And while most are complaining about the Iranian regime, their dictatorship and genocide against their own people, we hear not a #¤%¤¤ word about Turkey´s violations! And we have not heard a damn word about violations against the Kurdish people other than from Amnesty International and human rights organization. The UN have been silent for decades like the rest and people are working hard all over to have the whole Kurdish people labeled as terrorists in their own #¤## interests to earn some money, just as in Sri Lanka! It´s the same #¤## people and countries that sits in the U.N.´s councils as those having weapon affairs and they obvious don´t give a damn about reacting in anything else than their own ¤%¤ interests!
Olof Palme was going to work for weapon sales regulations into U.N. when he was assassinated. Which Turkey claim was some Kurd that confessed have done from their jails and torture cells!
"As if this were a major political decision"
While now having over 300 DTP members in jail and denying the Kurdish people to have any political rights as it´s have been done the whole #¤¤ time! PEOPLE GO TO JAIL JUST FOR MENTIONING THE WORD GUERRILLAS AND PEACE CALLS, WHICH THE VERY SAME WORD TURKEY AND OTHERS USE FOR JUSTIFICATIONS FOR THEIR WEAPON AFFAIRS AND GENOCIDE!
Turkey and others with their own "#¤## interests have committed a politicide on the Kurdish people for decades! With a juridical murder and a person isolated on a island violating every #¤## law on this planet to have him there to maintain a politiced, while denying people that demand their basic "#¤## human rights the internationally community and the very same people committing this crimes and being a part of implement a politicide on the Kurdish people, depriving them their country from the beginning and then DENY THEM THEIR VERY EXISTENCE with refusing to respond and start work on solutions and peace, all while Turkey using this politicide to have the green light for their genocide!
Ralston holds various senior positions in defense and security-related corporations, simultaneously with his diplomatic role as "anti PKK coordinator". Ralston as special envoy have indeed secure large governmental weapons contracts for the corporations he has directorship over. He IS indeed "an arms merchant in diplomat's clothing."
On 26 October 2006, the Kurdish National Congress of North America issued a press release demanding “the immediate resignation” of General Joseph Ralston:
Ralston’s appointment came at a time when Turkey was finalizing the sale of 30 new Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft (approx. $3 billion) and as Turkey was due to make a decision on the $10 billion purchase of the new Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF aircraft. The sale for the F-16’s was approved by the United States Congress in mid-October and Turkey’s decision in favor of the F-35 JSF was announced on October 25, shortly after Ralston’s recent stay in Ankara, ostensibly to counter the PKK. On October 1, 2006, the PKK announced a unilateral cease-fire in south-east Turkey, a move that both the Turkish government and Ralston has rejected.
"It´s a family affair"..
Well..yeah..Since Ralston not just sits in the boards of directors in Lockheed Martin in the U.S., but also in a Turkish lobby group. Also other NATO members like Britain have aiding and abetting to have PKK on terrorists lists while having weapon affairs at the same time. And after the European court annulled the decision to have PKK which demand the Kurdish people their human rights, the staged attacks and genocidal "war-fare" was instigated ones again and the attacks raised sky high in Iraq. While Turkey have their "terrorists commandos" inside Iraq!
This denial of solutions and peace is a DENIAL OF EXISTENCE AND A ON GOING GENOCIDE! AND THE INSANITY DOES NOT RUN IN THE "FAMILY" IT GALLOPS! AND IT´S GALLOPING INTO THE SECURITY COUNCIL, WHERE PEOPLE GO TO JAIL FOR EVEN MENTION PEACE!
And lawyers were getting to prosecute DTP members already when the staged attacks and the genocidal "war-fare" was instigated. And today there are over 300 members of DTP detained!
"As if this were a major political decision"
If there are no political decisions is because there are no #¤¤ major political decisions, since Turkey have committed both politicied and genocide against the Kurdish people for decades. And is using the staged attacks and inciting the genocidal "war-fare" to "maintain" a politicide and use a juridical murder and the politicied to "maintain" a genocide!
This refusals from both Turkey and others is a denial of human rights and most basic human rights which the whole Kurdish people and PKK demands and HAVE THE RIGHT TO, is a GROSS violation against everything the internationally community, the U.N. and humanity stands for. And those claiming to stand for it have been lying for decades while denying people it! This refusals to recognize the Kurdish people their political rights is no "#¤# "war on terror" it´s a violation that have been going on for decades and is a politicied!
Just as a refusal to respond on calls for solutions and peace and instead keep a maintaining a genocidal "war-fare" and have the stomach to accuse people defending themselves for being terrorists to be able to DENY THEM THEIR VERY EXISTENCE - IS GENOCIDE, THAT THOSE BEING A PART OF MAINTAINING IT IS CASHING IN MONEY ON!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TAKE US FOR? ONLY COMPLETE INSANE IDIOTS TAKES US FOR IDIOTS! And now you want this into the Security council! So which are next when some ones want to earn some money on the weapon industry, all with the green light from the U.N. Security council? VA?
This is a system that have been practise against other people as well for decades, while others are cashing in money on it! It´s just violate their human rights, do some massacres, commit a politiced and then call a resistance or a defence for terrorism, and use this label as a tool to maintain a politiced. And when have achieved those terrorist labels the propaganda machinery keeps working to label a whole people as terrorists to be able to maintain that politicide and use it as a justification for a dictatorship with gross violations and to be able to commit GENOCIDE and during the whole #¤## "process" people are getting in money on the weapon industry against this people!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TAKE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD FOR?
UN Officials complicit in aiding, abetting GoSL's Nazi-type crimes - Prof. Boyle
TamilNet- Pointing to a report in the French paper Le Monde, which quoted Vijay Nambiar, chief of Staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as telling UN representatives in Sri Lanka that the UN should “keep a low profile” and play a “sustaining role" that was "compatible with the government," Francis Boyle, professor of International Law said Saturday that both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka, in violation of international law.
GOSL inflicted genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing upon the Tamils in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Two Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as the principles of Customary International Criminal Law set forth in the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946) and the United Nation's own codification of the Nuremberg Principles (1950) for the trial and prosecution of the Nazis--all of which are now incorporated into the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, Boyle said.
"In other words, both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the GOSL. "The United Nations Organization and its Highest Level Officials did the exact same thing to the Bosnians at Srebrenica in July of 1995--Days that have lived in Infamy and Shame for the United Nations ever since then. "By comparison, today the GOSL's genocidal massacre of the Tamils in Vanni could be about four times Serbia's genocidal massacre of the Bosnians at Srebrenica.
Satish Nambiar, paid military consultant to Colombo
Adding further complicity to Vijay Nambiar's role as a special UN envoy to Sri Lanka is the involvement of his brother Satish Nambiar, a former Indian general as a consultant to the Sri Lankan government. Satish Nambiar "was quoted on the Sri Lankan military's web page praising the Army's and its commander's conduct of the "war" in the north, despite all the civilians killed. It is, the [unnamed Security Council] diplomat said bitterly, all a family affair," a report of 11th May in the Inner City Press, said.
"History is repeating itself with a Vengeance for the United Nations. Unless this Momentum is reversed and all these U.N. Officials fired, the United Nations Organization shall follow the League of Nations into the "ashcan" of History!" Boyle said.
It´s hardly something new! Turkey and Sri Lanka have been busy simultaneously with their genocidal "war-fares" while others cashing in money on it for decades! Turkey have committed politicied on the Kurdish people for decades! Just as Myanmar have done, just as Sri Lanka, just as Syria against the Palestinians, just as China against the Tibetans. And while most are complaining about the Iranian regime, their dictatorship and genocide against their own people, we hear not a #¤%¤¤ word about Turkey´s violations! And we have not heard a damn word about violations against the Kurdish people other than from Amnesty International and human rights organization. The UN have been silent for decades like the rest and people are working hard all over to have the whole Kurdish people labeled as terrorists in their own #¤## interests to earn some money, just as in Sri Lanka! It´s the same #¤## people and countries that sits in the U.N.´s councils as those having weapon affairs and they obvious don´t give a damn about reacting in anything else than their own ¤%¤ interests!
Olof Palme was going to work for weapon sales regulations into U.N. when he was assassinated. Which Turkey claim was some Kurd that confessed have done from their jails and torture cells!
"As if this were a major political decision"
While now having over 300 DTP members in jail and denying the Kurdish people to have any political rights as it´s have been done the whole #¤¤ time! PEOPLE GO TO JAIL JUST FOR MENTIONING THE WORD GUERRILLAS AND PEACE CALLS, WHICH THE VERY SAME WORD TURKEY AND OTHERS USE FOR JUSTIFICATIONS FOR THEIR WEAPON AFFAIRS AND GENOCIDE!
Turkey and others with their own "#¤## interests have committed a politicide on the Kurdish people for decades! With a juridical murder and a person isolated on a island violating every #¤## law on this planet to have him there to maintain a politiced, while denying people that demand their basic "#¤## human rights the internationally community and the very same people committing this crimes and being a part of implement a politicide on the Kurdish people, depriving them their country from the beginning and then DENY THEM THEIR VERY EXISTENCE with refusing to respond and start work on solutions and peace, all while Turkey using this politicide to have the green light for their genocide!
Ralston holds various senior positions in defense and security-related corporations, simultaneously with his diplomatic role as "anti PKK coordinator". Ralston as special envoy have indeed secure large governmental weapons contracts for the corporations he has directorship over. He IS indeed "an arms merchant in diplomat's clothing."
On 26 October 2006, the Kurdish National Congress of North America issued a press release demanding “the immediate resignation” of General Joseph Ralston:
Ralston’s appointment came at a time when Turkey was finalizing the sale of 30 new Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft (approx. $3 billion) and as Turkey was due to make a decision on the $10 billion purchase of the new Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF aircraft. The sale for the F-16’s was approved by the United States Congress in mid-October and Turkey’s decision in favor of the F-35 JSF was announced on October 25, shortly after Ralston’s recent stay in Ankara, ostensibly to counter the PKK. On October 1, 2006, the PKK announced a unilateral cease-fire in south-east Turkey, a move that both the Turkish government and Ralston has rejected.
"It´s a family affair"..
Well..yeah..Since Ralston not just sits in the boards of directors in Lockheed Martin in the U.S., but also in a Turkish lobby group. Also other NATO members like Britain have aiding and abetting to have PKK on terrorists lists while having weapon affairs at the same time. And after the European court annulled the decision to have PKK which demand the Kurdish people their human rights, the staged attacks and genocidal "war-fare" was instigated ones again and the attacks raised sky high in Iraq. While Turkey have their "terrorists commandos" inside Iraq!
This denial of solutions and peace is a DENIAL OF EXISTENCE AND A ON GOING GENOCIDE! AND THE INSANITY DOES NOT RUN IN THE "FAMILY" IT GALLOPS! AND IT´S GALLOPING INTO THE SECURITY COUNCIL, WHERE PEOPLE GO TO JAIL FOR EVEN MENTION PEACE!
Well..
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Fighting between rival Arab tribes in western Sudan's oil-rich Kordofan region killed almost 250 people over two days earlier this week, including 75 policemen, Sudan's interior minister said.
After all Sudanese have killed each other we bet there are people more than willing to take care of the oil..
After all Sudanese have killed each other we bet there are people more than willing to take care of the oil..
Does NATO’s strategic framework and the image of NATO in the world fit into the Security Council?
On Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 May, the Netherlands Atlantic Association, in cooperation with the Atlantic Treaty Association, organised a conference on NATO’s New Strategic Concept. The conference which was attended by many politicians, diplomats and academics was held with the aim to formulating a framework for a new Strategy for NATO.
The conference was also attended by the Head of Kurdistan Region’s Missin to the EU , Mr. Burhan Jaf. During the first day sessions, Jaf contributed to the panel by raising the issue of Turkey’s interventions in the Kurdistan region of Iraq which he described as violations of international law. Furthermore, he talked about the violations of Human Rights during these military operations. In this context, he put forward the questions if these military operations fit into NATO’s strategic framework and whether they contribute to the credibility and the image of NATO in the world.
The executive council of the Kurdistan Democratic Society (KCK), says that 22 PKK members were killed during their ceasefire - 29 March till 1 June. According to the HPG there were twenty ‘black’ violations, seven Turkish air strikes and twelve artillery attacks against the HPG by the Turkish military.
The KCK also says there were ‘provocations’. Including the arrest of DTP members, the massacre in Mardin and the killing of Kurdish civilians by the Turkish police in April during demonstrations. On Monday a sergeant was killed. According to the PKK the killing of Turkish soldiers are 'defence' actions. Murat Karayilan was interviewed by Milliyet, CNN, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and recently by Times Online. Times Online reported that Karayilan ordered his fighters ‘into “passive defence” to give Turkey time to consider his proposition.’
Insanity doesn´t run in NATO..it gallops!
30.09.2006
To the press and the public opinion
Our region, the Middle East, is going through an important change. Day after day the events unfolding show us that nationalism and anti-democratic positions are the main actors behind the confrontations, leaving us in an impasse without any hope for a solution to the problem. The only correct position to adopt in the region is the one that follows the principles of dialogue and democracy with respect for all the religious and national differences that form a part of the modern democracy.
We know that the main problem, that has a major effect on all the other problems in the region, is the Kurdish question. In the countries where problem exists, the politics of oppression of the Kurdish population significantly reinforces the anti-democratic forces of the region. Otherwise, the solution of the Kurdish issue can function as a catalyst for the further democratisation of the region.
As a movement we have demonstrated many important efforts and achieved much in the search for a democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. To obtain this objective, our Leader issued proposals and appeals on several occasions. Despite the fact that our efforts have never received an adequate response, they didn’t fall without result. On the contrary, our efforts created important developments in the understanding of the Kurdish question and its importance within the regional situation.
Since the resistance of the Kurdish population against the attacks by the Turkish government in 2003 in particular, our Movement for Freedom made important progress in relation to maturing of democratic outlook within the organizations and in the position of the guerrilla forces. The movement has reached the point where we are able to resist strongly the politics of denial and oppression of Turkey. In addition, the struggles for freedom against the regimes of Iran and Syria have grown stronger. This development in the four parts of Kurdistan enables the Kurds to be in a strong position to have an important influence on regional stability and international politics.
Within this framework the relation between the Kurds and the Turks became a major issue in the region. As a result of this evolution, the solution of the Kurdish question will have its impact on the international situation. It is within this context that different forces made declarations and appeals on several occasions for a ceasefire. Among these are the recent written declaration of the US on 15th August, the Federal Republic of Iraq and the Regional Government of South Kurdistan. In Turkey several appeals have been made by different organizations, first of all by the DPT, also by intellectuals, writers, Mothers for Peace, religious leaders of Kurdistan and musicians. Some of these appeals have been made through the press, others by different diplomatic means. In contribution to these moves, our Leader made a new declaration concerning the political progress and our movement issued on 23rd August a declaration to announce the beginning of a process for a democratic solution. Following these declarations, several meetings have taken place and appeals were made with the same aim; they accelerated the possibility of entering a new successful period of peace. In order to support this development, our Leader made an appeal for a ceasefire on behalf of our movement. It was made public the 7th September 2006.
After the suspension of the military actions carried out by the HPG (Movement for the Defence of the People) 15 September 2006 and in line with the demand of the Executive Presidential Board of Koma Komalen Kurdistan (Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan), the first meeting of the 2nd assembly took place between the 24-25th of September. At this were gathered the President of Kongra Gel, the permanent commissions, the Executive Board of Koma Komalen Kurdistan, the committee of the Movement for the Defence of the People and the board of command of the HPG. During this meeting the appeal of Leader Abdullah Ocalan has been discussed after which we arrived at the following decisions:
1.The declaration of the ceasefire has been decided to start on 1st of October 2006. According the steps that will be taken and how events will develop, the period of the ceasefire will continue.
2.There will be no use of arms as long as our forces are not attacked, but in case of an attack in order to annihilate our forces, they will defend themselves by all means.
3.During the whole period, there will be no military activity with the exception of the activities that fulfil our logistical needs and to safeguard our natural security.
4.According this decision, the board of command of the HPG, the position of our forces, their movement and their programme will be reorganised in relation to the reality of ceasefire.
5.All the officials, organizations and institutions within the movement for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan will at every level (ideological, political, practical) contribute to the success of this ceasefire. In addition, all the tasks and programmes will be re-arranged in accordance with the decision of this declaration.
6.This decision concerns all the forces of the Koma Komalen Kurdistan. Nobody will take an opposite position; everyone will strive with utmost efforts to contribute to the success of this period.
On the 28th September 2006, following the decisions of the assembly, the Leader of Koma Komalen Kurdistan, Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), declared once again to the public and the movement the decision of a ceasefire. “I am prepared to do all that is necessary and call on the HPG to announce a ceasefire. This period of ceasefire is hugely important. In reality, once this step is taken we have a lot to do.”
As clarified and supported by all our national organizations, the decision can now take official effect. The decision of our Leader Abdullah Ocalan and our movement is a decision of all our national democratic organizations. The decision concerns them all. This means that those who are not within our movement but claim to act in the name of the Kurdish people and especially those who claim to be affiliated with Abdullah Ocalan should act accordingly and demonstrate an attitude according to the appeal of our Leader. The same applies to the armed forces not active within our system. They, who do not respond to our appeal and cause damage to the cause of freedom of our people, must know that our movement will take a position on a national level.
Our people, having assessed our struggle for freedom successfully, paid many efforts and achieved much, has act in a decisive way for the ceasefire. They have to do what has to be done to obtain a democratic solution and a free union. The work for a democratic solution has to be pursued in the strongest terms; our people have to show their clear determination for peace.
We will carry out our work for this aim of a positive outcome in order to create the conditions for a life within a democratic and free union and to solve the problem within the borders of Turkey. Our people will more than ever in their history refuse to bow to the politics of denial and violence; if necessary they will defend themselves. The step towards a ceasefire that we have made is of historical importance for the union and its continuation between two nations. Now that we have a chance for peace, we will make use of it fully. By contrast they who want to provoke feelings of hostility between the nations, who are at the side of war, that is the nationalists and chauvinists, can be the cause of dangerous relations. That’s why all the democratic organizations, the press, the intellectuals, artists, in fact all who desire peace, should take the path that we have chosen. Nobody should remain on the sidelines; everybody has his task to perform.
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.
The success of the ceasefire that we have developed will benefit our people living in the four parts of Kurdistan. It should be obvious that as long the Kurdish issue in Turkey is not resolved, it will not be resolved in the other parts either and the gains already obtained will not last. For this reason the PUK and the PDK, indeed all the Kurdish forces, should contribute to this period and make the necessary efforts to enable it to succeed. The governments of the region, such as Iran and Syria, have to abandon their current position and should realize that a democratic solution is not possible as long as there is no peace with the Kurds. As it should become clear that the process of a ceasefire will benefit these countries as well, it will have a positive influence on the whole region.
It should be recognised that achieving peace and stability in the Middle East is the biggest guarantee for peace and stability in the whole world. Neither the US, nor the other international forces, should adopt the methods of violence to resolve the Kurdish problem. They have to approach the problem within the framework of a democratic solution. This will create a peaceful result in the region and the world. The positive indications that we received and the process of ceasefire that we started will develop a democratic process and stability in the region.
Despite the adoption of democratic means and dialogue to achieve a solution, it is simply unjust that the Turkish Government considers our movement to be terrorist and insists on means of violence. This political decision for violence adopted by successive Turkish Governments resulted over the decades in many massacres and a massive exodus of our people. This violence never obtained any result, but simply left the region in a state of conflict. It is for this reason that the governments that engaged themselves in the “alliance of three” in “coordination against the PKK” should not consider our movement as a terrorist one and should abandon all plans for liquidation. It is obvious that the problem cannot be resolved by means of violence, as events in the past have already repeatedly shown on many occasions.
The leading powers have to reconsider their approach to the problem by considering our project for a democratic solution; this is the best way forward. The US and especially the Iraqi Government, that knows as no other the Kurdish problem, should play a constructive role in the process of a ceasefire that we have launched.
From our side, we have done and will do all that is necessary to make this ceasefire work. As the party that stands for the development of a democratic period and for stability, we appeal to all the concerned governments to take responsibility in the interests of all the people, including the Kurdish population, within the framework of this democratic project.
Koma Komalen Kurdistan
Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan
Presidential Board
The conference was also attended by the Head of Kurdistan Region’s Missin to the EU , Mr. Burhan Jaf. During the first day sessions, Jaf contributed to the panel by raising the issue of Turkey’s interventions in the Kurdistan region of Iraq which he described as violations of international law. Furthermore, he talked about the violations of Human Rights during these military operations. In this context, he put forward the questions if these military operations fit into NATO’s strategic framework and whether they contribute to the credibility and the image of NATO in the world.
The executive council of the Kurdistan Democratic Society (KCK), says that 22 PKK members were killed during their ceasefire - 29 March till 1 June. According to the HPG there were twenty ‘black’ violations, seven Turkish air strikes and twelve artillery attacks against the HPG by the Turkish military.
The KCK also says there were ‘provocations’. Including the arrest of DTP members, the massacre in Mardin and the killing of Kurdish civilians by the Turkish police in April during demonstrations. On Monday a sergeant was killed. According to the PKK the killing of Turkish soldiers are 'defence' actions. Murat Karayilan was interviewed by Milliyet, CNN, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and recently by Times Online. Times Online reported that Karayilan ordered his fighters ‘into “passive defence” to give Turkey time to consider his proposition.’
Insanity doesn´t run in NATO..it gallops!
30.09.2006
To the press and the public opinion
Our region, the Middle East, is going through an important change. Day after day the events unfolding show us that nationalism and anti-democratic positions are the main actors behind the confrontations, leaving us in an impasse without any hope for a solution to the problem. The only correct position to adopt in the region is the one that follows the principles of dialogue and democracy with respect for all the religious and national differences that form a part of the modern democracy.
We know that the main problem, that has a major effect on all the other problems in the region, is the Kurdish question. In the countries where problem exists, the politics of oppression of the Kurdish population significantly reinforces the anti-democratic forces of the region. Otherwise, the solution of the Kurdish issue can function as a catalyst for the further democratisation of the region.
As a movement we have demonstrated many important efforts and achieved much in the search for a democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. To obtain this objective, our Leader issued proposals and appeals on several occasions. Despite the fact that our efforts have never received an adequate response, they didn’t fall without result. On the contrary, our efforts created important developments in the understanding of the Kurdish question and its importance within the regional situation.
Since the resistance of the Kurdish population against the attacks by the Turkish government in 2003 in particular, our Movement for Freedom made important progress in relation to maturing of democratic outlook within the organizations and in the position of the guerrilla forces. The movement has reached the point where we are able to resist strongly the politics of denial and oppression of Turkey. In addition, the struggles for freedom against the regimes of Iran and Syria have grown stronger. This development in the four parts of Kurdistan enables the Kurds to be in a strong position to have an important influence on regional stability and international politics.
Within this framework the relation between the Kurds and the Turks became a major issue in the region. As a result of this evolution, the solution of the Kurdish question will have its impact on the international situation. It is within this context that different forces made declarations and appeals on several occasions for a ceasefire. Among these are the recent written declaration of the US on 15th August, the Federal Republic of Iraq and the Regional Government of South Kurdistan. In Turkey several appeals have been made by different organizations, first of all by the DPT, also by intellectuals, writers, Mothers for Peace, religious leaders of Kurdistan and musicians. Some of these appeals have been made through the press, others by different diplomatic means. In contribution to these moves, our Leader made a new declaration concerning the political progress and our movement issued on 23rd August a declaration to announce the beginning of a process for a democratic solution. Following these declarations, several meetings have taken place and appeals were made with the same aim; they accelerated the possibility of entering a new successful period of peace. In order to support this development, our Leader made an appeal for a ceasefire on behalf of our movement. It was made public the 7th September 2006.
After the suspension of the military actions carried out by the HPG (Movement for the Defence of the People) 15 September 2006 and in line with the demand of the Executive Presidential Board of Koma Komalen Kurdistan (Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan), the first meeting of the 2nd assembly took place between the 24-25th of September. At this were gathered the President of Kongra Gel, the permanent commissions, the Executive Board of Koma Komalen Kurdistan, the committee of the Movement for the Defence of the People and the board of command of the HPG. During this meeting the appeal of Leader Abdullah Ocalan has been discussed after which we arrived at the following decisions:
1.The declaration of the ceasefire has been decided to start on 1st of October 2006. According the steps that will be taken and how events will develop, the period of the ceasefire will continue.
2.There will be no use of arms as long as our forces are not attacked, but in case of an attack in order to annihilate our forces, they will defend themselves by all means.
3.During the whole period, there will be no military activity with the exception of the activities that fulfil our logistical needs and to safeguard our natural security.
4.According this decision, the board of command of the HPG, the position of our forces, their movement and their programme will be reorganised in relation to the reality of ceasefire.
5.All the officials, organizations and institutions within the movement for Democracy and Freedom in Kurdistan will at every level (ideological, political, practical) contribute to the success of this ceasefire. In addition, all the tasks and programmes will be re-arranged in accordance with the decision of this declaration.
6.This decision concerns all the forces of the Koma Komalen Kurdistan. Nobody will take an opposite position; everyone will strive with utmost efforts to contribute to the success of this period.
On the 28th September 2006, following the decisions of the assembly, the Leader of Koma Komalen Kurdistan, Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), declared once again to the public and the movement the decision of a ceasefire. “I am prepared to do all that is necessary and call on the HPG to announce a ceasefire. This period of ceasefire is hugely important. In reality, once this step is taken we have a lot to do.”
As clarified and supported by all our national organizations, the decision can now take official effect. The decision of our Leader Abdullah Ocalan and our movement is a decision of all our national democratic organizations. The decision concerns them all. This means that those who are not within our movement but claim to act in the name of the Kurdish people and especially those who claim to be affiliated with Abdullah Ocalan should act accordingly and demonstrate an attitude according to the appeal of our Leader. The same applies to the armed forces not active within our system. They, who do not respond to our appeal and cause damage to the cause of freedom of our people, must know that our movement will take a position on a national level.
Our people, having assessed our struggle for freedom successfully, paid many efforts and achieved much, has act in a decisive way for the ceasefire. They have to do what has to be done to obtain a democratic solution and a free union. The work for a democratic solution has to be pursued in the strongest terms; our people have to show their clear determination for peace.
We will carry out our work for this aim of a positive outcome in order to create the conditions for a life within a democratic and free union and to solve the problem within the borders of Turkey. Our people will more than ever in their history refuse to bow to the politics of denial and violence; if necessary they will defend themselves. The step towards a ceasefire that we have made is of historical importance for the union and its continuation between two nations. Now that we have a chance for peace, we will make use of it fully. By contrast they who want to provoke feelings of hostility between the nations, who are at the side of war, that is the nationalists and chauvinists, can be the cause of dangerous relations. That’s why all the democratic organizations, the press, the intellectuals, artists, in fact all who desire peace, should take the path that we have chosen. Nobody should remain on the sidelines; everybody has his task to perform.
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.
The success of the ceasefire that we have developed will benefit our people living in the four parts of Kurdistan. It should be obvious that as long the Kurdish issue in Turkey is not resolved, it will not be resolved in the other parts either and the gains already obtained will not last. For this reason the PUK and the PDK, indeed all the Kurdish forces, should contribute to this period and make the necessary efforts to enable it to succeed. The governments of the region, such as Iran and Syria, have to abandon their current position and should realize that a democratic solution is not possible as long as there is no peace with the Kurds. As it should become clear that the process of a ceasefire will benefit these countries as well, it will have a positive influence on the whole region.
It should be recognised that achieving peace and stability in the Middle East is the biggest guarantee for peace and stability in the whole world. Neither the US, nor the other international forces, should adopt the methods of violence to resolve the Kurdish problem. They have to approach the problem within the framework of a democratic solution. This will create a peaceful result in the region and the world. The positive indications that we received and the process of ceasefire that we started will develop a democratic process and stability in the region.
Despite the adoption of democratic means and dialogue to achieve a solution, it is simply unjust that the Turkish Government considers our movement to be terrorist and insists on means of violence. This political decision for violence adopted by successive Turkish Governments resulted over the decades in many massacres and a massive exodus of our people. This violence never obtained any result, but simply left the region in a state of conflict. It is for this reason that the governments that engaged themselves in the “alliance of three” in “coordination against the PKK” should not consider our movement as a terrorist one and should abandon all plans for liquidation. It is obvious that the problem cannot be resolved by means of violence, as events in the past have already repeatedly shown on many occasions.
The leading powers have to reconsider their approach to the problem by considering our project for a democratic solution; this is the best way forward. The US and especially the Iraqi Government, that knows as no other the Kurdish problem, should play a constructive role in the process of a ceasefire that we have launched.
From our side, we have done and will do all that is necessary to make this ceasefire work. As the party that stands for the development of a democratic period and for stability, we appeal to all the concerned governments to take responsibility in the interests of all the people, including the Kurdish population, within the framework of this democratic project.
Koma Komalen Kurdistan
Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan
Presidential Board
Death to the dictator, Death to Khatami, Death to Velayat-e Faqih
Yasuj-southwestern Iran: More than 800 students from the University of Yasuj staged a sit-in at the university in protest to the Iranian regime’s policy of suppression and terror. The act of protest, which began on May 20, lasted until Thursday night, with many students remaining on the campus. The students carried placards, reading, “Students die, but will not surrender.
Tabriz-northwestern Iran: On Sunday, the people of Tabriz staged a gathering in Shahgoli Park, chanting “Death to Khatami,” referring to the mullahs’ former president. They were expressing outrage over the use of an ethnic slur by Khatami insulting Azeri Iranians. The protestors clashed with the regime’s suppressive State Security Force (SSF). A number of them were arrested, according to obtained reports.
Zanjan province-northwestern Iran: Students at the University of Zanjan carried out a protest gathering on Monday, May 25. Some of the placards students carried said, “Every Iranian calls for freedom,” and “Shame on Khatami.”
Arak-central Iran: Students at the University of Arak, disrupted a speech by Zaidabadi, a member of the regime faction tied to former mullahs’ president, Mohammad Khatami. The students carried placards calling for the release of detained student activists. They protested that none of the regime’s factions are true to their words. The regime’s candidates, they said, go as far as supporting women’s rights conventions and calling for the release of detained students, but as soon as getting into power, they forget about their hollow pledges.
Political prisoner in dire physical condition on 22nd day of hunger strike. A political prisoner in Iran, Behrouz Javid Tehrani, finished the 22nd day of his hunger strike, according to obtained reports on Tuesday, May 26. Tehrani’s physical condition has been deteriorating rapidly as a result. He is imprisoned in solitary confinement at Ward 1 of the Gohardasht prison in the Tehran suburb of Karaj. Tehrani is the only remaining prisoner who was arrested during the July 1999 university uprisings in Iran. To voice protest over the suppressive actions of the Gohardasht prison’s torturers, Tehrani began a hunger strike on May 4, 2009. The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on May 23 calling for attempts to save Tehrani’s life. The statement said in part: The Iranian regime is reportedly planning to repeat a scenario concerning Tehrani which it has already implemented with regards to two other political prisoners, Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi and Akbar Mohammadi, who died under suspicious circumstances after carrying out similar hunger strikes.
An inmate at the central prison in Isfahan committed suicide on Monday in protest to strains imposed by prison torturers. Explaining the reasons for his action in a suicide note, Islmayil Ayoubi, 23, cited inhumane pressure tactics by the clerical regime’s henchmen, in particular the criminal judge Hosseini, according to the state-run Javan daily on Tuesday. The regime’s media outlets also reported on several execution sentences issued by the regime’s courts in Khorasan Razavi province (northeastern Iran) and Tehran. In the Khorasan Razavi province, the clerical regime’s judiciary sentenced a prisoner identified as Hassan to death. In Tehran, the regime’s Supreme Court upheld a hanging sentence for a prisoner identified only as Mahmoud. Also in Tehran, a 19 year old, identified as Mojtaba, was sentenced to be hanged, the state-run daily Aftab Yazd reported on Monday.
Tabriz-northwestern Iran: On Sunday, the people of Tabriz staged a gathering in Shahgoli Park, chanting “Death to Khatami,” referring to the mullahs’ former president. They were expressing outrage over the use of an ethnic slur by Khatami insulting Azeri Iranians. The protestors clashed with the regime’s suppressive State Security Force (SSF). A number of them were arrested, according to obtained reports.
Zanjan province-northwestern Iran: Students at the University of Zanjan carried out a protest gathering on Monday, May 25. Some of the placards students carried said, “Every Iranian calls for freedom,” and “Shame on Khatami.”
Arak-central Iran: Students at the University of Arak, disrupted a speech by Zaidabadi, a member of the regime faction tied to former mullahs’ president, Mohammad Khatami. The students carried placards calling for the release of detained student activists. They protested that none of the regime’s factions are true to their words. The regime’s candidates, they said, go as far as supporting women’s rights conventions and calling for the release of detained students, but as soon as getting into power, they forget about their hollow pledges.
Political prisoner in dire physical condition on 22nd day of hunger strike. A political prisoner in Iran, Behrouz Javid Tehrani, finished the 22nd day of his hunger strike, according to obtained reports on Tuesday, May 26. Tehrani’s physical condition has been deteriorating rapidly as a result. He is imprisoned in solitary confinement at Ward 1 of the Gohardasht prison in the Tehran suburb of Karaj. Tehrani is the only remaining prisoner who was arrested during the July 1999 university uprisings in Iran. To voice protest over the suppressive actions of the Gohardasht prison’s torturers, Tehrani began a hunger strike on May 4, 2009. The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on May 23 calling for attempts to save Tehrani’s life. The statement said in part: The Iranian regime is reportedly planning to repeat a scenario concerning Tehrani which it has already implemented with regards to two other political prisoners, Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi and Akbar Mohammadi, who died under suspicious circumstances after carrying out similar hunger strikes.
An inmate at the central prison in Isfahan committed suicide on Monday in protest to strains imposed by prison torturers. Explaining the reasons for his action in a suicide note, Islmayil Ayoubi, 23, cited inhumane pressure tactics by the clerical regime’s henchmen, in particular the criminal judge Hosseini, according to the state-run Javan daily on Tuesday. The regime’s media outlets also reported on several execution sentences issued by the regime’s courts in Khorasan Razavi province (northeastern Iran) and Tehran. In the Khorasan Razavi province, the clerical regime’s judiciary sentenced a prisoner identified as Hassan to death. In Tehran, the regime’s Supreme Court upheld a hanging sentence for a prisoner identified only as Mahmoud. Also in Tehran, a 19 year old, identified as Mojtaba, was sentenced to be hanged, the state-run daily Aftab Yazd reported on Monday.
Turkey made to pay Iran $704 million for unused natural gas
Turkey has paid Iran some $704 million for natural gas it failed to buy from the country in 2008, Today's Zaman has learned from sources close to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Having increased the price of natural gas by 73 percent in the first part of 2008, the Turkish government proceeded to increase prices by another 23 percent in November, a move seen as the straw that broke the camel's back. Following the hefty price hikes, the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) saw a noticeable decline in natural gas revenue as consumers, both household and industrial, cut natural gas expenses and switched to alternative energy sources such as coal. The steep decline in natural gas consumption led to a decline in Turkey's natural gas imports.
Turkey meets a considerable deal of its natural gas needs from Iran. As sought in the natural gas purchase contract between the two countries in July 2003, BOTAŞ has to buy at least 6.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran annually, meaning Turkey has to pay Iran a specified amount of money whether or not it buys the natural gas. However, in 2008 Turkey bought 2.6 billion cubic meters less of natural gas than the contract stipulates.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had originally asked BOTAŞ to pay for the gas Turkey failed to buy in 2008, some $848 million, by March 2009. BOTAŞ won a case at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Arbitration which ruled that Iran must pay $750 million in compensation to Turkey for turning down Turkey's demand to cut prices as sought in the natural gas purchase contract between the two countries in July 2003. The commission's verdict, released on Feb. 17, said Turkey was within its rights to ask Iran for a price revision. Turkey asked Iran to reduce gas prices on grounds that Iran had failed to abide by the contract when it sent less natural gas than agreed upon, interrupted gas flow frequently and sent lower quality gas than what was sought in the agreement. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities recently said the case was not yet finalized and that the court's final verdict has yet to come, a claim the Energy Ministry has rejected. After assessing new natural gas prices in the global market, Turkey paid Iran some $704 million. An Energy Ministry official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Today's Zaman that Turkey might have to pay Iran another $1 billion without buying any gas this year unless prices go down and gas consumption rises. Natural gas prices in Turkey are defined each month in line with developments in global markets and oil prices. The Supreme Planning Board (YPK) implemented an automatic pricing system that went into effect in July 2008 to adjust prices in accordance with inflation and changes in oil prices, the stock exchange and interest rates. The decision to implement automatic price adjustment, made in June 2008, resulted in large increases in natural gas prices for both household and industrial use.
İSMAIL ALTUNSOY ANKARA
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=176725
Well..Yeah..That´s what we say: Consumers-asset-supply and demands. That´s whats rules this world! Not Turkey, Russia, the U.S. or any one else! So..It´s really about time to start think about actions and consequences!
Turkey meets a considerable deal of its natural gas needs from Iran. As sought in the natural gas purchase contract between the two countries in July 2003, BOTAŞ has to buy at least 6.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran annually, meaning Turkey has to pay Iran a specified amount of money whether or not it buys the natural gas. However, in 2008 Turkey bought 2.6 billion cubic meters less of natural gas than the contract stipulates.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had originally asked BOTAŞ to pay for the gas Turkey failed to buy in 2008, some $848 million, by March 2009. BOTAŞ won a case at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Arbitration which ruled that Iran must pay $750 million in compensation to Turkey for turning down Turkey's demand to cut prices as sought in the natural gas purchase contract between the two countries in July 2003. The commission's verdict, released on Feb. 17, said Turkey was within its rights to ask Iran for a price revision. Turkey asked Iran to reduce gas prices on grounds that Iran had failed to abide by the contract when it sent less natural gas than agreed upon, interrupted gas flow frequently and sent lower quality gas than what was sought in the agreement. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities recently said the case was not yet finalized and that the court's final verdict has yet to come, a claim the Energy Ministry has rejected. After assessing new natural gas prices in the global market, Turkey paid Iran some $704 million. An Energy Ministry official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Today's Zaman that Turkey might have to pay Iran another $1 billion without buying any gas this year unless prices go down and gas consumption rises. Natural gas prices in Turkey are defined each month in line with developments in global markets and oil prices. The Supreme Planning Board (YPK) implemented an automatic pricing system that went into effect in July 2008 to adjust prices in accordance with inflation and changes in oil prices, the stock exchange and interest rates. The decision to implement automatic price adjustment, made in June 2008, resulted in large increases in natural gas prices for both household and industrial use.
İSMAIL ALTUNSOY ANKARA
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=176725
Well..Yeah..That´s what we say: Consumers-asset-supply and demands. That´s whats rules this world! Not Turkey, Russia, the U.S. or any one else! So..It´s really about time to start think about actions and consequences!
Politicides violating the Kurdish and the Palestinian people from Syria. The "road to peace"?
Detention of Kurdish political activists in Syria
Message to the people in Germany who are demonstrating against the detention of Kurdish political activists in Syria: I send you greetings and support from myself and from the Support Kurds in Syria Association for your activity which is bringing the detention of Kurdish activists in Syria to the attention of the world. We know that many Kurds are being detained in Syria merely for their political activity, that some are released in a short time, some are detained for long periods of time without a trial and that others are formally convicted by the Courts to years in prison. We recognise that Kurds are persecuted in Syria because of their race, and we join you in calling for an end to the abuse and the right to freedom of speech for those who speak out against this persecution.
We know that this is happening at a time when Syria is being welcomed back into the international community, and we are concerned that Governments are so interested in what they can gain from Syria’s co-operation that they will avoid confronting the issue of the abuse of the Kurdish population. We need to keep the Kurdish issue in front of their eyes. We support your aims, and If your actions could be repeated all over Europe that would be a strong message.
Support Kurds in Syria
Sheila Mosley
http://www.kurdmedia.com/
Message to the people in Germany who are demonstrating against the detention of Kurdish political activists in Syria: I send you greetings and support from myself and from the Support Kurds in Syria Association for your activity which is bringing the detention of Kurdish activists in Syria to the attention of the world. We know that many Kurds are being detained in Syria merely for their political activity, that some are released in a short time, some are detained for long periods of time without a trial and that others are formally convicted by the Courts to years in prison. We recognise that Kurds are persecuted in Syria because of their race, and we join you in calling for an end to the abuse and the right to freedom of speech for those who speak out against this persecution.
We know that this is happening at a time when Syria is being welcomed back into the international community, and we are concerned that Governments are so interested in what they can gain from Syria’s co-operation that they will avoid confronting the issue of the abuse of the Kurdish population. We need to keep the Kurdish issue in front of their eyes. We support your aims, and If your actions could be repeated all over Europe that would be a strong message.
Support Kurds in Syria
Sheila Mosley
http://www.kurdmedia.com/
Well..
GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators will travel to the Middle East this weekend to examine the three-week offensive Israel launched in Gaza last December, the group said Friday.
It can´t be worse than for the Tamil people..Or maybe one shouldn´t compare..We assume it´s not much differences for those that have been wounded. While you are already there you should investigate Hamas extra juridical executions and death sentences that are related to the "Hamas-Fatah rivalry and confrontations", restrictions on public freedoms, freedom of movement and travel in Gaza as well as political activities. That would be issues that falls "upon your table"..one think..
It can´t be worse than for the Tamil people..Or maybe one shouldn´t compare..We assume it´s not much differences for those that have been wounded. While you are already there you should investigate Hamas extra juridical executions and death sentences that are related to the "Hamas-Fatah rivalry and confrontations", restrictions on public freedoms, freedom of movement and travel in Gaza as well as political activities. That would be issues that falls "upon your table"..one think..
Tsvangirai: shunning Zimbabwe bolsters hardliners
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Friday the international community should fully engage his country as shunning it would only bolster hardline elements opposed to a new unity government. Tsvangirai formed the new coalition administration with long-time rival President Robert Mugabe in February but Western countries, which can unlock much-needed financial aid, remain cautious and are demanding widespread reforms.
"My advice is for the international community to engage Zimbabwe as the opposite of this will only benefit hardliners," Tsvangirai told a visiting French minister. Tsvangirai repeatedly has said there are a few "residual" elements from Mugabe's past government who want to see the unity government fail and return to the old order. Anne-Marie Idrac, France's Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said her country had been impressed by the unity government but pressed for more reforms and respect for human rights. Police have arrested journalists, lawyers and members of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change legislators in recent weeks, heightening tensions in the unity government. "We are very impressed by the progress you have made during the first hundred days," Idrac said. Idrac, making the first visit by a French minister since 1996, said a French business team would visit Zimbabwe next week to explore opportunities especially in the power sector. Tsvangirai will visit France on June 25, his first trip abroad since becoming prime minister, and will also travel to Britain and United States where he will meet government officials.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Michael Roddy
"My advice is for the international community to engage Zimbabwe as the opposite of this will only benefit hardliners," Tsvangirai told a visiting French minister. Tsvangirai repeatedly has said there are a few "residual" elements from Mugabe's past government who want to see the unity government fail and return to the old order. Anne-Marie Idrac, France's Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said her country had been impressed by the unity government but pressed for more reforms and respect for human rights. Police have arrested journalists, lawyers and members of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change legislators in recent weeks, heightening tensions in the unity government. "We are very impressed by the progress you have made during the first hundred days," Idrac said. Idrac, making the first visit by a French minister since 1996, said a French business team would visit Zimbabwe next week to explore opportunities especially in the power sector. Tsvangirai will visit France on June 25, his first trip abroad since becoming prime minister, and will also travel to Britain and United States where he will meet government officials.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Michael Roddy
So...To Pakistan..
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani forces cleared a Taliban stronghold in Swat and drove militants out of a town in the northwest valley, the military said on Friday, amid worries over the return of more than 2 million displaced people. Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told state-run television that more than 1,200 militants had been killed and 42 captured since the conflict broke out after the militants moved south from Swat into Buner. Abbas said 90 soldiers had been killed and 60 wounded. There were no independent casualty estimates available.
Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said that an appeal launched a week ago for $543 million was only 21 per cent funded. Around 90 percent of the people who have fled Swat and Buner have been provided shelter by families outside the conflict zone, and aid workers fear the burden will become to great for the host communities' meager resources.The military had sealed off most routes into Swat, choking off supplies and reinforcements for the militants, and the offensive had already targeted the militant's logistics bases. During the past 24 hours a cordon-and-search operation had finally cleared Peochar village of militants, according to a military statement. The search operation destroyed militant hideouts, including a madrasa, or religious school, and recovered 12 stolen United Nations' vehicles. Troops also uncovered a network of tunnels and found "a huge arms cache including 12.7 mm guns." The military statement also said troops had secured Bahrain, a town in upper Swat, and killed nine militants. The army says troops have almost secured Mingora, the main town in Swat with a population of 300,000 before most of the inhabitants fled. There were still clashes as troops searched buildings in and around Mingora. Militants ambushed a convoy ferrying rations to people who had stayed behind, and four soldiers were killed.
After have secured those areas..make sure there are people there. Coordinate with police and communication, networking, workers to get the place in order such as with electric and other services, get in people there so people can feel secure to return. There shall not be a wasteland.. but filled with people.
PESHAWAR: Fruit dealers and farmers have called for relaxation in curfew as the forces-militants clashes in Swat district are causing million of rupees loss to farmers and dealers, besides rendering thousands of labourers jobless. Fruit like peaches have already matured and ready for marketing while apricots and plums would be ready for marketing in a couple of days. But the ongoing operation and militant attacks have been badly affecting the transportation, packing and marketing of the fruits, causing multi-millions of loss to the district economy.
Approximately 30 to 40 percent area, especially in Matta, Kabal, Khwazakhela and Swat Kohistan as well as villages in lower Swat like Barikot, Kota, Landaki, Odigram, Thana, etc, are under fruit orchards that provide employment to 70 percent people, a fruit dealer from Gujranwala, Muhammad Ramzan Wikki, told ‘The News’. He said delay in peaches’ transportation from Swat was causing millions of rupees loss to him, besides farmers and labourers. “Only Gujranwala has a market of Rs20 million and the fruit is also being supplied to markets in Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Sargoda and other big cities. But due to the military operation and militants attacks the shifting has been completely stopped and the fruit is being rusted in orchards.” Normally 600 to 700 truckloads of fruit were being shifted out of the district as only 20 to 25 wheelers load of peaches were being marketed in Gujranwala, he informed. He said fruit dealers had paid amount to farmers and labourers for spray, fruit plucking, packing etc, but due to the bad situation the fruits could not be transported.
He said peaches in lower Swat were ready for marketing, while apricots would be ready in a couple of days and plums in a week, adding that the product in upper parts of the district would be ready in two weeks. He put the loss to the district’s fruit-based economy in billions, saying due to destruction of bridges, blockade of roads, attacks, shelling and curfew fruit shifting out of the district had come to a halt. Fruit orchards and agriculture were the main source of income for the people of the district and the prevailing situation had affected it badly, he added. Not only farmers, but dealers and labourers were earning their livelihood from these orchards, he maintained. He said many a fruit dealers who had invested by buying orchards were crying over their loss while hundreds of families had been deprived of their lone source of income. He said that in order to save farmers and dealers from millions of loss and fruit from rusting, the government should at least relax curfew for six to seven hours daily so that fruit could be shifted to down country. A farmer from Tendodag village told ‘The News’ by telephone that his peach product was ready for marketing but due to the prevailing law and order and curfew the product could not be shifted. Fazal Wahid said peaches product was lying in orchards and apricots were also ready while plums would be ready in a few days. Since orchards’ yield was cash crop, the farmers preferred planting fruit saplings to earn their livelihood. He said his and his two uncles’ orchards had Rs10 million worth of peaches and product of the whole village would exceed Rs200 million. He appealed for relaxation in curfew so that the fruit could be shifted to markets. “We are just waiting for marketing of peaches and apricots, which are being wasted because their shelf life is very short; otherwise, we want shifting because of the bad situation,” he added.
By Nisar Mahmood
Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said that an appeal launched a week ago for $543 million was only 21 per cent funded. Around 90 percent of the people who have fled Swat and Buner have been provided shelter by families outside the conflict zone, and aid workers fear the burden will become to great for the host communities' meager resources.The military had sealed off most routes into Swat, choking off supplies and reinforcements for the militants, and the offensive had already targeted the militant's logistics bases. During the past 24 hours a cordon-and-search operation had finally cleared Peochar village of militants, according to a military statement. The search operation destroyed militant hideouts, including a madrasa, or religious school, and recovered 12 stolen United Nations' vehicles. Troops also uncovered a network of tunnels and found "a huge arms cache including 12.7 mm guns." The military statement also said troops had secured Bahrain, a town in upper Swat, and killed nine militants. The army says troops have almost secured Mingora, the main town in Swat with a population of 300,000 before most of the inhabitants fled. There were still clashes as troops searched buildings in and around Mingora. Militants ambushed a convoy ferrying rations to people who had stayed behind, and four soldiers were killed.
After have secured those areas..make sure there are people there. Coordinate with police and communication, networking, workers to get the place in order such as with electric and other services, get in people there so people can feel secure to return. There shall not be a wasteland.. but filled with people.
PESHAWAR: Fruit dealers and farmers have called for relaxation in curfew as the forces-militants clashes in Swat district are causing million of rupees loss to farmers and dealers, besides rendering thousands of labourers jobless. Fruit like peaches have already matured and ready for marketing while apricots and plums would be ready for marketing in a couple of days. But the ongoing operation and militant attacks have been badly affecting the transportation, packing and marketing of the fruits, causing multi-millions of loss to the district economy.
Approximately 30 to 40 percent area, especially in Matta, Kabal, Khwazakhela and Swat Kohistan as well as villages in lower Swat like Barikot, Kota, Landaki, Odigram, Thana, etc, are under fruit orchards that provide employment to 70 percent people, a fruit dealer from Gujranwala, Muhammad Ramzan Wikki, told ‘The News’. He said delay in peaches’ transportation from Swat was causing millions of rupees loss to him, besides farmers and labourers. “Only Gujranwala has a market of Rs20 million and the fruit is also being supplied to markets in Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Sargoda and other big cities. But due to the military operation and militants attacks the shifting has been completely stopped and the fruit is being rusted in orchards.” Normally 600 to 700 truckloads of fruit were being shifted out of the district as only 20 to 25 wheelers load of peaches were being marketed in Gujranwala, he informed. He said fruit dealers had paid amount to farmers and labourers for spray, fruit plucking, packing etc, but due to the bad situation the fruits could not be transported.
He said peaches in lower Swat were ready for marketing, while apricots would be ready in a couple of days and plums in a week, adding that the product in upper parts of the district would be ready in two weeks. He put the loss to the district’s fruit-based economy in billions, saying due to destruction of bridges, blockade of roads, attacks, shelling and curfew fruit shifting out of the district had come to a halt. Fruit orchards and agriculture were the main source of income for the people of the district and the prevailing situation had affected it badly, he added. Not only farmers, but dealers and labourers were earning their livelihood from these orchards, he maintained. He said many a fruit dealers who had invested by buying orchards were crying over their loss while hundreds of families had been deprived of their lone source of income. He said that in order to save farmers and dealers from millions of loss and fruit from rusting, the government should at least relax curfew for six to seven hours daily so that fruit could be shifted to down country. A farmer from Tendodag village told ‘The News’ by telephone that his peach product was ready for marketing but due to the prevailing law and order and curfew the product could not be shifted. Fazal Wahid said peaches product was lying in orchards and apricots were also ready while plums would be ready in a few days. Since orchards’ yield was cash crop, the farmers preferred planting fruit saplings to earn their livelihood. He said his and his two uncles’ orchards had Rs10 million worth of peaches and product of the whole village would exceed Rs200 million. He appealed for relaxation in curfew so that the fruit could be shifted to markets. “We are just waiting for marketing of peaches and apricots, which are being wasted because their shelf life is very short; otherwise, we want shifting because of the bad situation,” he added.
By Nisar Mahmood
Denial of existence - genocide and using that denial and a juridical murder as justifications for denial of political rights - politicide
Turkey submits report to lift pro-Kurdish politician's immunity
A Turkish Public Prosecutor's Office submitted an investigation report to the Justice Ministry recommending removal of immunity for a Kurdish party leader accused of disseminating "terrorist propaganda", Turkish news channels reported on Friday. The Public Prosecutor's Office in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir submitted a report of its findings to the Justice Ministry after completing the probe into Democratic Society Party, or DTP, chairman, Ahmet Turk, after he made a comparison between the head of the terrorist organization PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, and South Africa's legendary former President Nelson Mandela.
The report, recommending the removal of Turk's political immunity, will be submitted to Parliament through the ministry. At a Nevruz celebration in Diyarbakir on March 21 to mark the arrival of spring, Turk told the crowd that the black-white dispute was resolved when Mandela was freed and that the Kurdish issue could only be resolved if Ocalan, who was currently serving a life imprisonment, was freed.
Prosecutors had requested a transcript of Turk's speech from Diyarbakir police and launched an investigation into Turk for disseminating propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization.
So maybe it´s time for Joseph Ralston Directors of Lockheed Martin and the Cohen group to think about how the work to "defuse growing tensions between Turkey and Iraq-based Kurdish guerrillas", which Kurds go to jail for calling them in calls for peace. And after "the PKK declared a cease-fire, the gesture won applause from the United States and Iraqi Kurds" ...now will be evaluated.
Some maybe should hold a grip on their stock market portfolios, because we are FAR from finished here yet. "Terrorist lists good for business"..
A Turkish Public Prosecutor's Office submitted an investigation report to the Justice Ministry recommending removal of immunity for a Kurdish party leader accused of disseminating "terrorist propaganda", Turkish news channels reported on Friday. The Public Prosecutor's Office in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir submitted a report of its findings to the Justice Ministry after completing the probe into Democratic Society Party, or DTP, chairman, Ahmet Turk, after he made a comparison between the head of the terrorist organization PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, and South Africa's legendary former President Nelson Mandela.
The report, recommending the removal of Turk's political immunity, will be submitted to Parliament through the ministry. At a Nevruz celebration in Diyarbakir on March 21 to mark the arrival of spring, Turk told the crowd that the black-white dispute was resolved when Mandela was freed and that the Kurdish issue could only be resolved if Ocalan, who was currently serving a life imprisonment, was freed.
Prosecutors had requested a transcript of Turk's speech from Diyarbakir police and launched an investigation into Turk for disseminating propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization.
So maybe it´s time for Joseph Ralston Directors of Lockheed Martin and the Cohen group to think about how the work to "defuse growing tensions between Turkey and Iraq-based Kurdish guerrillas", which Kurds go to jail for calling them in calls for peace. And after "the PKK declared a cease-fire, the gesture won applause from the United States and Iraqi Kurds" ...now will be evaluated.
Some maybe should hold a grip on their stock market portfolios, because we are FAR from finished here yet. "Terrorist lists good for business"..
Friday, May 29, 2009
DENIAL OF EXISTENCE!
Actually.. the "US special envoy to assists Turkey" in the genocide against the Kurds which have been going on for decades after together with Britain have been a part to chase them up in the mountains while children are being jailed, after have refused to solve the violations against the Kurdish people, refusing to recognize the Kurdish people their most basic human rights, culture, their identity, refusing to respond on calls for case fires, dialogues and democratic solutions over and over again, year after year, with psychopathic methods, staged attacks, terrorist methods against the whole Kurdish population, the most GROSS violations and media manipulation, with a person jailed on a island which have been isolated for years in a juridical murder to serve in a few interests to have their weapon affairs and industry earned by a systematic genocide against young women and youths, refusing human rights, recognize U.N. declarations, and calls from the very same people that have been violated for decades which are demanding their basic human rights and have done so for decades, and by that are denying them their very existence and is engaged in a genocide against young fertile women is.....
....Joseph Ralston on the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin! Currently director of the Timken Company and the URS Corporation, has been Vice Chairman of The Cohen Group, sits on the advisory board of the American Turkish Council-an American-Turkish lobby group.
As it´s described he is general assigned to "defuse growing tensions between Turkey and Iraq-based Kurdish guerrillas". Which by the way Kurds go to jail for calling them guerrillas, while calling for solutions and peace. And also by the way we can not find anything saying he is actually in a Turkish lobby group and sits on the board of Lockheed Martin.
http://www.cohengroup.net/news/current_news/news112706.cfm
So how is he "defusing tensions"?
Joseph Ralston: Ceasefire sort of implies an act that is taken between two states, two actors, to do that. And I don’t want to confer that kind of status on the PKK by saying a ceasefire.
That is those calls have been rejected for many, many years and as we all know includes calls for solutions and the Kurdish peoples human rights which not just are VIOLATED in the most gross way but also is in fact a ONGOING GENOCIDAL WAR-FARE" where they have been denied their identity and most basic human rights for decades. This refusals to respond on these calls and violations against the Kurdish people are not just violating every U.N. declaration but a DENIAL OF EXISTENCE!
Asked whether the U.S. intends to use the IRA model in dealing with the PKK, Ralston underlined that these two were totally different problems. Ralston specifically rejected the IRA-type settlement that Karayılan mentions in The Times:
Joseph Ralston: "You are comparing two very different situations, and mixing apples with oranges," the U.S. envoy said. "In the case of the PKK, our objective is to enhance cooperation with the Turkish and Iraqi governments to fight the PKK. We are also working with European governments to cut the PKK's financial and logistics lifeline. We will use all of the tools at our disposal: law enforcement, intelligence, diplomacy, financial pressure. And we have not taken any other option off the table."
That is done AFTER staged attacks that came AFTER a European court annulled the decision to have PKK on the terrorist list and AFTER British Cobahm Company director lobbied for have them back on terrorist list. Refusals to respond on calls for solutions and peace from a whole people whether it´s "apples or oranges" which have been violated for decades and speaking about "defuse tensions" to "fight the PKK" which demand the Kurdish people their basic human rights, while the whole Kurdish people is violated, abused and killed is NOT "defuse growing tensions", but a continuing of a very active sponsored GENOCIDE and a denial of existence.
Joseph Ralston: In August 2006, Secretary Rice asked me to undertake the mission of Special Envoy for Countering the PKK. My appointment followed a period of two weeks in which the Turks seemed poised to cross the Iraq border on a mission to root out PKK fighters and destroy their camps. I was given responsibility for coordinating U.S. engagement with the Government of Turkey and the Government of Iraq to eliminate the terrorist threat of the PKK operating in northern Iraq and across the Turkey-Iraq border.
So from "defuse tensions" there are now talk about "eliminate the terrorist threat". As in those that were chased to the mountains when the U.S. invaded Iraq. And before that when Britain invaded Iraq. At the end of August less than a month after the filing period for the first half of the year ended, during which time Ralston was listed with the Senate as a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin -to sell tactical fighter aircraft.
Joseph Ralston: Chairman Wexler, Congressman Gallegly, Members of the Sub-Committee, it is an honor to speak to you today about my efforts during the past six months to address the significant threat posed to our long-standing ally Turkey by the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party), including its impact on Turkey's relations with Iraq and the potential for Turkish cross-border action. This conflict has endured for more than twenty years and the resulting violence led in the last year alone to the deaths of 600 Turkish citizens. The continued ability of this terrorist group to operate from Iraqi territory is a threat to regional security and an impediment to improvements in the lives of people on both sides of the border.
So what´s the "improvements" except destroyed live stock, destroyed waters, environment, burnt down forests, destroyed villages, destroyed infra structure, displacement, burnt down fields, jailed Kurds, clubbed Kurds, jailed children, clubbed children, deaths among both farmers, elderly and more killed Kurds in both North of Iraq/south of Kurdistan and in Turkey, including children, and both Turkish and Kurdish youths and more Turkish young soldiers deaths?
Joseph Ralston: Movement toward closure of the Makhmour refuge camp, which had become a refuge for PKK fighters in the safety of northern Iraq. An agreement structuring the voluntary return of Makhmour camp residents to Turkey and on the camp's disposition is being worked out between Turkey, Iraq, and the UNHCR. Practical steps have had to be dealt with. The camp needed to be cleared of any PKK personnel, all the arms needed to be removed from the camp, UNHCR needed to register every person in the camp -- man, woman, and child -- and everyone in the camp needed to be interviewed to determine their intention to return to Turkey or to remain in Iraq. All of this, except the survey of intentions, has been accomplished. We will continue to work with UNHCR, the Turks and the Iraqis on how to close the camp and what sort of assistance will be needed to encourage the residents to either repatriate or resettle.
So while claiming to determine peoples intention to return to Turkey or to remain in Iraq. They will continue to work with UNHCR, the Turks and the Iraqis on how to close the camp. That is not a question of determine peoples will - that is RESETTLEMENT! And obvious the intention from the beginning.
"On March 5, the three parties held their most recent trilateral meeting to discuss the closure of the camp. Although the discussion did not finalize the agreement, they made substantive progress."
The US itself raided Maxmur camp in January and not a single bullet was found. And "all the arms that needed to be removed from the camp" showed up to there were no arms. The UN census proved the civilian nature of the camp, in spite of State Department liars claiming the contrary. The former State Department Richard Holbrooke went to Maxmur and still there were no reports of "PKK personnel" or weapons, and State Department liar, Daniel Fried, then repeated Turkey's lies about Maxmur.
Joseph Ralston: "This conflict has endured for more than twenty years and the resulting violence led in the last year alone to the deaths of 600 Turkish citizens."
That is..a few thousands of Kurdish freedom fighters pose a "significant threat" to the Turkish 800,000-strong NATO's second largest standing army. It's amazing that Kurdish freedom fighters have done so for over twenty years without the 800,000-strong NATO army being able to secure that border which have been used for rocket transportations to Hezbollah for MANY years, even until today. And that's with billions of dollars worth of military toys from the US, including Joseph Ralston's very own Lockheed Martin. After twenty years, the alleged deaths of 600 Turkish citizens does not include Kurds? US ally Turkey, on the other hand has murdered 40,000 Kurds, ostensibly considered to be "citizens" of Turkey by Turkey, but Ralston does not include them in his body count.
The PKK has sought to cloaking its political demands in terms of local cultural and linguistic rights. PKK has offered a complete platform to politicize the entire peace process for Kurds in Turkey so that Kurds are able to possess full political rights-which include simple cultural and linguistic rights. All of the points of the platform are completely consistent with EU accession but this process, along with the current ceasefire, were dismissed out of hand by both Turkey and Washington. Ralston doesn't stop to think that it would seem ridiculous for a relative few thousand freedom fighters, coupled with the support of almost 20 million Kurds, to continue the fight if the fight were just for a few "local cultural and linguistic rights." There is something much more serious going on here, in order to keep the entire population in a state of resistance to the regime, and that something is called "genocide."
Turkey´s actions have been criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Criticisms of atrocities committed by the Turkish government fill many more volumes than any of those committed by members of PKK, yet this fact is not brought up by Ralston. Even the relatively useless US State Department human rights report overwhelmingly lists Turkish atrocities by the US and NATO-trained and armed TSK. On top of that, the product which Ralston sells, the F-16, was used extensively by the Ankara regime to bomb Southern Kurdish villages repeatedly in the 1990s during Operation Northern Watch, an operation which is propagandized as "protection" or providing "safe haven" for the Kurds.
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