Justice for Khojaly

Do you know what Khojaly means?

Khojaly is a town in Azerbaijan. On 25 February 1992, almost 1.000 Azeri civilians, including 106 women and 83 children, have been killed there by Armenian soldiers with the help of Russian Army.

This is the 17th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre, but have you ever heard of it before? Azeris took the streets all over the world to remember the victims, but did you read any stories in your local newspaper?

Probably, you didn't.

Why?

Because the international media are heavily influenced by the Armenian lobby in the United States.

The wealthy Armenian lobby, through the international press, tells you lies about a disputed tragedy which occured almost a hundred years ago, the so-called Armenian genocide.

There is no Azeri lobby, no Turkish lobby...

* * *

Historical proofs are not enough to make a strong judgment on the Armenian genocide allegations. After all, there is not even one document to prove that the Ottoman officials had ordered the extermination of the Armenian population.

We know about the Armenian uprising, incited by the Tsarist Russia and used as a propaganda tool by the Western great powers, which were in war with Ottoman Empire then. The Ottoman authorities made a shameful decision and ordered to transfer all Armenians who live in the Eastern Turkey to Syria. Several hundreds of thousands people, including Turks, died during the civil strife and the following emigration.

To stop the on-going anti-Turkish propaganda and to get rid of this historical abuse, Turkey has recently opened up her archive and Armenia doesn't accept to do so. However, in this over-politicized game, Turkey has already been convicted for a crime that she didn't commit. Even though she, as a state, did not even exist in 1917!

* * *

So on one hand, there is a disputed allegation, clouded by a lack of proof, remained unsettled and foggy.

On the other hand, there is Khojaly, ethnically-cleansed just yesterday. Certain. Tangible. Concrete. Lucid.

Today's Khojaly is the result of a crime of humanity that TODAY'S ARMENIA has ultimately committed.

The proof is clear, the accounts are undisputed; but nobody talks about it; because it's a game of politics.

The lobbies don't really care about the people that were killed.

Anywhere.

* * *

And what can I say now?

1) Deliver yourself from the Armenian lobby and its apparatus in the Western press.

2) Turn a deaf ear to their propaganda and make your own research about such sensitive issues.

3) Help bringing JUSTICE FOR KHOJALY.

After all, can you solve century-old problems without remembering just yesterday? As a person who is full-to-the-brim with hate, you can remain biased, but do you think that you'll always be the only one to write history?

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

(In and Around the European Union)

What did make Europe a dwarf? How did the Old Continent end up here?

If you ask me, it's all about the mental formation of the people of the Continent and how it's being formed by biased information.

It's all about how the European people are being fed by malevolent gatekeepers.

Listen to the tone of a recent news story from the Dutch Radio, concerning the latest decision of the ECJ, and see what I mean:

"This decision will bring about great problems to the EU. The EU officials joke that 70 million Turkish businessmen will flock into the EU soon and Turkey will be out of economic crisis. (...) Now each Turk who filled up his suitcase with Chinese-made watches will be pounding at the EU's door."

And now I ask, in the same "humoristic" manner:

If this is not xenophobia in the mainstream European media, what's it? What would the Dutch Radio earn, if the Dutch people would reject Turkey's EU membership one day? Remember Lisbon Treaty?

You answer these questions, but I just tell you that it's definitely not the way to make a dwarf a giant again. Neither politically, nor economically, nor culturally.

This is the work of the dwarfs. Not physical, but psychological ones...

Hey, Europe, Obey the Law!

It seems that the EU governments would soon feel under too much pressure and give Turks what they earned three decades ago.

Here is the important development of the last week:

The Court of Justice of the European Communities ruled that Turkish businessmen are not required to apply for a visa to conduct business trips in Europe.

It is expected that the German court will respect the decision. However, my concerns about the honesty and consistency of the EU governments remain.

I know that it doesn't mean that the visa-free path to the Turks are opened now, but it's another breakthrough. It is reported that the latest decree may result in EU member states allowing Turkish citizens to apply for a “visa exemption” status.

We know that the EU doesn't respect several international treaties that she had signed with Turkey (like the Ankara Treaty or the Additional Protocol of 1970, which states that the EU can't apply visa to the Turks), but she should at least start to be respectful to its own judicial organs, like the ECJ.

After all, when will the EU governments stop playing this awful game and obey the international law? Until when will they keep torturing Turkish citizens at the borders, forcing them to appeal to international courts and win and win and win?

For European governments, it's time to move on and amend the national laws to adjust them to the international justice. Otherwise, they would be deemed as a constant violater of the international law...

The Israeli Side

After I read a post of Istanbulian Calling, I was more curious about the Avi Mizrahi story and what the Israeli general had actually said.

I contacted Amir Oren, the Haaretz correspondent who had written the initial story, letting the world know about Mizrahi's remarks.

Amir Oren, whom I hadn't met before, sent me the following reply quickly and kindly:

"Maj. Gen. Mizrahi did not refer to the Armenian and Kurd issues in so many words. The indication or hint was clear and obvious to all present, but the word "Genocide" was not used. Of course, the interpretation was not denied when the report came out."

As a result, I don't agree with the cynical touch of Istanbulian Calling, even though I agree that this cynicism is indeed journalistic.

I think that Amir Oren did a great job to inform us, even without any quotation marks. It is beyond doubt that the Mizrahi story made a sensational impact in Turkey, resulted by a diplomatic note from Ankara to Israel.

But how about the Israeli side? By far, we didn't hear anything about the reactions of the Israeli public. We have seen a couple of analysis in the Israeli press, mainly of Haaretz again, which were mostly critical about Mizrahi's remarks. And the ordinary Israeli citizen? Did he/she support the general or did he/she condemn him?

I asked these questions to my friend and colleague Daniel Bettini, the Foreign News Editor of Yedioth Ahronoth. His answer is as follows:

"It actually had a little impact here. If I'm not wrong, our paper didn't even publish it - just our internet site Ynet (Link 1 - Link 2). Of course they talked about it on the news, on TV and on the radio, but in the printed press it hadn't such a huge impact.

"I don't know about the quotation marks in the Haaretz story. You have to understand that a lot of people in Israel were shocked about the words of Erdogan and the huge demonstrations in Turkey on the war in Gaza. We didn't expect from Turkey such a reaction and that's why some people and in this case Mzrahi reacted this way, I think.

"The point is: Israelis, almost everybody here, love Turkey, the Turkish people, culture and the vacation spots - because of the reactions in Turkey, the whole story got big proportions here. I'm confidant that very soon the relations between the two countries, who really were and are good friends, will get back to normal."

Olmert's Gaza Explanation for Turkey:

I Didn't Talk About It Even With Bush

An address by Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has went unnoticed for several days.

During the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, it is revealed that Olmert had talked about the latest crisis on Gaza with Turkey.

The following passage is particularly interesting:

"I don't know of one society in the world which has been exposed to that degree to the attacks of terrorist organizations for such a long time that has responded with such restraint as we have manifested over so many years, until at some point, regrettably it was in the same week that I visited the Prime Minister of Turkey. The Prime Minister of Turkey was very unhappy and complaining how come I was visiting him Monday and I didn't tell him that we are going to attack the Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday. So I subsequently sent a message to him.

The reason I didn't tell him was twofold. One, is that on Monday I didn't know that we will attack on Saturday. How could I know? On Tuesday, Wednesday, they were shooting 50, 70 rockets and missiles a day against all our cities in the south, and we just decided that enough is enough and we have to respond. But I also said, quite frankly, I didn't call the President of the United States, my good friend, George W. Bush, at that time, and say to him, I'm going to attack Gaza. I didn't call my good friend, Gordon Brown or Nicolas Sarkozy or Angela Merkel. Why should I say to any prime minister what the military plans of the State of Israel are for defending its citizens? I don't think that it was the right thing to do. I don't think that I had to do it and I was quite unhappy with the feelings that were expressed by the Turkish Prime Minister.

We have good relations with Turkey. We want to continue the good relations with Turkey and we hope to continue the good relations with Turkey and we hope that the Prime Minister of Turkey will understand that there are certain constraints sometimes which forbid leaders of some nations of sharing the most sensitive secrets when there are secrets. Certainly not at that time when as I said I wasn't even aware that I will order the Israeli army on Saturday morning to attack the Hamas terrorist organization because of the continuous attacks against innocent Israelis."

Another Dumb Declaration

And This Time It's A Soldier

The week was opened with the shocking remarks of an Israeli general, Avi Mizrahi, who accused PM Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey harshly. Following Turkey's diplomatic note, Israeli Army disowned the general's attack. However, Turkey is still awaiting an official explanation.

When I read the Turkish newspapers and listen to the ordinary citizens, I see that Mizrahi's words have seriously hurt the Turks.

I am not sure if those words were calculated. In contrary, I believe that Mizrahi has never thought that his remarks in the United States would be printed at home and stirred up trouble in Turkey.

However, I have no doubt that those words were actual feelings of many Israelis, who have recently voted for the far-right and the hawks.

Mizrahi's attack was an answer to Erdogan's Davos reaction, which was another foolish declaration of the feelings of his people, but there is a difference: The Turkish PM is a politician and Mizrahi is a soldier. We all know that the politicians have got the luxury to talk through their hats. The soldiers don't have it.

As a matter of fact, I also think that there should be some kind of sanction against Mizrahi in the Israeli Army, which has got indispensable ties with the Turkish Army.

To summarize, the Turks are waiting for an apology, a resignation or a dismissal...

The Barnabas Code

Another interesting story of the last week about a lost gospel was largely overlooked. The subject may have got a tendency to be stirred up by conspiracy theories, but it doesn't mean that we should completely ignore it.

According to a report by Kibris newspaper, the Turkish Cypriot police seized a 2000-year-old book, the so-called Gospel of Barnabas. Nine people were arrested and the experts are now evaluating the book.

Putting forward an idea about the historical importance of this religious book is outside my area of expertise. I just know that the Gospel of Barnabas is strongly anti-St. Paul and anti-Trinitarian in tone. Some say that the gospel, which is in accordance with the Islamic interpretation of Jesus Christ as a respected prophet, but not the son of God, was one of the most realistic accounts of Jesus' life; though it has naturally been forbidden for centuries by the Establishment of the Church.

I was more interested in the whereabouts of the original manuscript of the Gospel of Barnabas, after I read the legendary indictment of the Ergenekon case. Joking apart, all the claims about this gospel are seducing for anyone. Here is how it all started:

* In 1981, it was alleged that an original manuscript of the Gospel of Barnabas was found in southeast Turkey. The Kurdish peasants who discovered the book in a cave informed the Turkish gendarme.

* Veli Kucuk, a retired general and the alleged mastermind of the Ergenekon gang, popped in! He was the person who had paid to translate the gospel. Prof. Hamza Hocagil, a Turkish expert, was commissioned to translate the book.

* One of the advisors of Hocagil was Viktoria Rabin, the granddaughter of Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin. In Apokrifal, a book by Aydogan Vatandas, it is claimed that Viktoria Rabin had converted to Islam after she read the gospel and she was consequently murdered in Ethiopia where she conducted a research on the Old Testament.

* Prof. Hocagil says that Adem Tasdemir, the aide-de-camp of Veli Kucuk, was the person who made him contact a Greek publishing house, called Markos. Tasdemir was a friend of Tuncay Guney, the whistleblower of Ergenekon investigation and a gay journalist who claims to have converted to Judaism before becoming a rabbi in Canada.

* According to witnesses, Veli Kucuk and his comrades were trying to sell the gospel to a Greek group. However, the mediator, a cardinal called Mario, was killed before the deal was done. We know nothing about the nature or the motives of the Greek group, the demands of the Turkish part or the details of the deal, such as the question if it was a financial agreement or a different one.

* Meanwhile, St. Barnabas' tomb in Northern Cyprus was looted by some men, who had professedly got some links to the intelligence unit of the Turkish gendarme. Kutlu Adali, a Turkish Cypriot journalist, started to investigate the looting, but he was murdered shortly afterwards. It was reported that some dark figures of the Turkish Special Warfare Unit had arrived the island shortly before the murder.

After all the Da-Vinci-Code-style twists and turns, including three murders, Prof. Hocagil believes that the original manuscript is still in the vault of the Turkish General Staff.

Then what about the 2000-year-old book that was found in Northern Cyprus last week? Was the Hakkari manuscript a hoax or was it just a late copy of the Cypriot original? (It is claimed that the Hakkari manuscript is the original one and it even includes a passage which informs the reader about where the other four copies can be found.)

We'll see after the Turkish Cypriot experts finish their investigation.

At the end of the day, some conspiracy theories might indeed be true and just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not being watched... By the way, did I tell you that Prof. Hocagil couldn't be contacted by any journalist for the last two months?..

Releasing from the Turkish Guantanamo

Another important story of the last week was about the Ergenekon case, once a promising investigation which turned out to be a tasteless parody of miserable clowns and crazy villains. And of course, irresponsible -but religious- prosecutors...

A Turkish court has ordered the release of retired Gen. Hursit Tolon, who was accused of plotting to topple the government.

Tolon was not released due to poor health. The court has release him due to a lack of evidence.

So why was Tolon arrested after all? Why did they keep him locked for seven months and make him suffer from his ailing health? If there is no evidence, why and how on earth?

The answer is simple: The Ergenekon case is nothing to do with justice anymore. As I have voiced my doubts many times before, it seems like a politically-driven process. An effort by the AKP government to silence the political opposition and tame the army officials...

Habeas corpus is the main pillar of the rule of law. However, this principle is being ignored in Turkey now, just like in the United States, where there still is Guantanamo.

A man-made Hell, which is created by paranoia and being administered by the purposeful abusers of law. It is true that there are a few criminals inside, but this is just for making the public believe in its legitimacy. At the same time, many, many innocent people have been suffered in vain.

"Free" Elections and a Govern(ment)or

Last week, I didn't post any articles about Turkey's domestic agenda -except the Davos issue- but I was following the news.

I guess that there were several important stories that would continue to develop this week. Now I will voice my opinion about one of them.

We learn that the AKP officials are more and more innovative when it comes to electioneering. Just before the local elections in March, now they start distributing household appliances to poor people in the eastern provinces.

Up to now, the AKP were using MY taxes to buy votes in exchange of coal and food. Personally, I was not completely unhappy about this shameful tactic; because, after all, those poor people really need to eat and stay warm in the winter; so it's tolerable. But what about the latest wave of dishwashers and microwave ovens as election gifts?!

On the other hand, most of the people look at the finger and not where it points out. The latest AKP scandal is not only about buying votes. It is about making certain people richer.

The AKP, through the hands of the provincial governor who is a relative of an AKP MP, singled out two firms and bought hundreds of household appliances -thanks to the central state budgets- from these firms.

The election committee has prohibited such campaigns and a state prosecutor has begun investigating the govern(ment)or; but it's too late. As the goods are already bought and distributed, the message is sent and the lesson is learned:

Other firms, which will confront a serious contraction in the market volume for the next 5 years, should eat their hearts out. Maybe they should also start supporting the AKP!

The Quote of the Day

As the election day in Israel approaches...

“I don’t care if Lieberman becomes Prime Minister, then the mask will slip and people will know the true face of the state of Israel. Jewish and democratic don’t go together, just like a state that is Islamic and democratic can’t be democratic.”

Hashem al-Hamid, a former Arab MP in the Knesset.

I Didn't Go Anywhere

Because of some personal matters, I have been struggling during the last week to find time to post here. I guess I'll start writing regularly again after Monday.

For now, please enjoy the following Davos jokes that I have seen on bobiler.org.

The Last Davos

Erdogan the Hulk

The Fight

And... Click to see the Flippant Moderator...

The Quote of the Week

The best answer comes from the man who isn't angry.

Arabic Proverb

The Arabs and Modern Turkey

I was about to post this article last week. I drafted it, but until today I didn't have time to finish and send it. If you think that my previous post was anti-Arabic, anti-Islamic, anti-semitic or anti-Peruvian (there are many other versions, but only 'anti-Turkish' is not in global usage, as if it is a secret rule), this might help:

I stumbled upon an article about the relations between Turkey and the Arabs.

"The Arabs and Modern Turkey: A Century of Changing Perceptions" by Basheer M. Nafi is definitely worth to read.

I don't agree with the author on a few points, like his affirmative stance on the AKP issue, but the article still brings about several interesting facts, especially about the evolving cultural interaction between these two nations.

For instance, I didn't know about the poem of Ahmad Shawqi before. Now I have learned that this renowed Arab (or maybe Turkish?) poet had composed one of his most memorable poems to celebrate the Turkish Independence War and hailed Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as the "Khalid of the Turks."