Turkey's Suicide

[Armenak]

Literacy.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/Marc...7/13/c9968.html

 

Turkey - Leaked reports show army and government abuse accreditation system

<<

Leaked reports published by the Turkish media on 8 and 9 March show

that the army and the prime minister's office punish and reward

journalists according to their "loyalty."

>>

 

MONTREAL, March 13 /CNW Telbec/ - Leaked reports by the army high command

and the prime minister's office that were published in the Turkish press on

8 and 9 March show that the news media are classified according to their

support for government policies and that the procedures for issuing press

accreditation are used to undermine critical newspapers and journalists and

reward those that support the armed forces, Reporters Without Borders said

today

"We condemn this use of black-lists and these attempts to neutralise

journalists by depriving them of their raw material, information," the press

freedom organisation said. "The armed forces like to portray themselves as the

guardians of society and yet they try to gag those journalists they consider

to be troublesome. Such procedures are not compatible with democratic

principles. The Turkish should abandon such practices aimed at influencing the

media."

Reporters Without Borders said it supported the protests voiced by the

Turkish Association of Journalists (TGC), the Contemporary Association of

Journalists (CGD), the Union of Journalists of Turkey (TGS) and the Press

Council (Basin Konseyi) against the methods of the army high command and the

prime minister's office.

Noting that these organisations said the accreditation system had always

been problematic in Turkey, Reporters Without Borders added: "Like them, we

hope that the outcry about these reports will help to shake up this system and

change these practices."

The aim of the leaked high command's report, written in November 2006 by

the army's departmental directorate for public relations and published on

8 March, was to evaluate the "loyalty" of the media towards the Turkish Armed

Forces (FAT) and to ban those regarded as weakest from attending or

participating in military activities such as news conference and guided tours.

The report's authors were fully aware of the harm done by a refusal to

issue accreditation. The report included this comment: "Not granting

accreditation to media regarded as not very credible has also contributed to

these media being held in low esteem by the public."

The report analysed the editorial line of 19 daily newspapers, 18 TV

stations, eight magazines and five news agencies. There is no mention of any

pro-Islamist media as the army refuses to grant them any accreditation as a

matter of principle.

A footnote said this about the daily Radikal: "This is a newspaper that

the FAT should follow closely. It is liable at times to differentiate itself

on the subject of the FAT. During the period March-July 2005, the newspaper

employed the term 'death' for the FAT martyrs. This elicited criticism. The

subject was raised on 21 July 2005 during a briefing for the media and the

newspaper has since improved its editorial line thanks to the sensitivity of

the managing editor, Ismet Barkan."

As a result, the army recommended that the newspaper's accreditation

should be renewed but that the four columnist who had criticised the FAT -

Nuray Mert, Yildirim Turker, Murat Belge and Hasan Celal Guzel - should not

receive individual accreditation.

The army report recommended that accreditation of the UK-based Jane's

Defence Weekly should be maintained but that its correspondent,

Lale Sariibrahimoglu, should not be invited to FAT activities for journalists.

Her accreditation had already been cancelled by the army when she wrote for

the conservative daily Bugun.

In a final example, the report noted that Erol Mutercimler, the presenter

of the programme "Press Club," was a fierce critic of the army, even getting

into conspiracy theory. It recommended that his TV station's accreditation

should be provisionally suspended and that the station's owner, Ufuk Guldemir,

and some of its journalists, should be barred from military activities for the

press.

On 9 March, the day after the leaked report was first published, the army

issued a press release announcing a judicial investigation, without saying

whether it was an internal investigation or one targeted at the media that had

published the report.

The same day, the daily Cumhuriyet published an article on the "Monthly

report by the prime minister's office," consisting of a sort of classification

of the media. The prime minister's press office described the article as

"unreal and deliberate" and insisted that "no such report has ever been

submitted to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

According to the newspaper, the report even included the fact that

journalists Nuray Basaran, Enis Berberoglu, Oral Calislar and Gungvr Uras

drank 2002 vintage Syrah Calvet French red wine during a visit to Lebanon on

5 July 2005.

The Islamist daily Yeni Safak (New Dawn) is identified in the report as

an essential support for Prime Minister Erdogan and his government. The

committed Islamist daily Vakit (Time) is praised for "deflecting criticism of

the government over the Muslim headscarf"and the Islamist daily Zaman is

praised for being "free of prejudice towards any group or person."

Other newspapers are not held in such high esteem. The republican

Cumhuriyet is "rarely objective," the liberal centrist Millyet is said to have

improved after Sedat Ergin became its editor and "the articles and content

became more positive." The liberal right daily Sabah (Morning) is accused of

becoming more negative, publishing fewer stories about the government and

putting them on the inside paged when it did.

As for the liberal right newspaper Hurriyet (Freedom), the report says it

"no longer puts the government's activities on its front page since its

leading journalists were not allowed on the prime minister's plane during and

his US visit, and the reports on the government are quite short."

The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has said Turkey will not

be able to meet democratic standards as long as the army continues to exercise

influence over non-military matters. The Turkish Armed Forces, which often

portray themselves as a bulwark against Islamism, have seized power three

times, the last one in 1980.

 

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press

freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium,

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has

representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has

more than 120 correspondents worldwide.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

The Joke Of The Day

 

-----------------------------

 

Poll says Turkish nationalism rising, EU partly blamed

 

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar...amp;link=105279

[Aratta-Kingdom]

It seems the turks blackmail too many to advance their own interests. Is this something they are born with...?

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/stor...6481507,00.html

 

Ono Driver Can Leave U.S. Voluntarily

 

Thursday March 15, 2007 5:31 AM

 

 

By SAMUEL MAULL

 

Associated Press Writer

 

NEW YORK (AP) - Yoko Ono's former driver, who pleaded guilty to trying to extort money from her, can leave the United States voluntarily rather than be deported, a federal immigration judge decided Wednesday.

 

Koral Karsan can return to his native Turkey without further legal proceedings under an order signed by Judge Alan A. Vomacka. Karsan must leave the U.S. by April 13. He has a plane ticket to Turkey for March 23, lawyer Jonathan Avirom said.

 

The voluntary departure resulted from an agreement between Avirom and Department of Homeland Security attorney Victor Yee. It makes Karsan's re-entry into the United States less difficult than if he were deported.

 

Karsan, 50, was arrested in December and accused of trying to blackmail Ono, widow of Beatle John Lennon, for $2 million. He threatened to release embarrassing recordings and photos of her and possibly have her killed.

 

Karsan pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 to attempted grand larceny, admitting he told Ono she had to pay him ``more than $3,000'' to stop his plan. Any defendant pleading guilty to that charge must admit trying to steal at least that much.

 

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, which was covered by the time he had already served. Karsan then was turned over to immigration officials.

 

Karsan's criminal trial lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, maintained after Karsan's plea that he was an aggrieved employee ``who was sexually harassed'' and otherwise abused by Ono and had been demanding compensation, not trying to blackmail her.

 

[Zartonk]

Literacy.

 

Yes they are.

[Zartonk]

Many Turks feel the EU puts unfair pressure on their country over a wide range of issues and that the wealthy bloc does not really want Turkey, a large, relatively poor, Muslim country, as a member.

 

Quoted from the zaman report. Do your math.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Al-Qaeda Pledge in Turkish School

 

 

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/953.htm

[zurderer]

I think I evaluated armenians wrong. It is good you cares for turkish women so much.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

You see them as a baby making machine, 8 million of them are illiterate, and are constantly beaten by their fathers, husbands or brothers. Do I need to remind you about the honor killings?

 

Did you change the subject to divert the attention from the al-Qaeda operated schools in turkey? BTW, by changing the subject doesn't make you any better person than what you really are. You are still the same moron who eather has his head in the sand or constantly does this----->

 

[zurderer]

Thanks for teaching me my country.

 

what about teaching me your country?

 

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Thanks for teaching me my country.

 

what about teaching me your country?

 

I'm not a teacher. I'm the one who records the facts and does this to you ----------->

 

 

[tuurkhdenial Paradigm]

Are Armenians happy seeing Turkey in bad condition?Then,they should not get surprised if Turks react their hatred,which is relatively ignorable compared with Armenians'

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Are Armenians happy seeing Turkey in bad condition?Then,they should not get surprised if Turks react their hatred,which is relatively ignorable compared with Armenians'

 

Are you again blaming the others for all your problems?

 

 

 

 

 

 

TURKISH EXAM SONG LANDS ROCKERS IN COURT

By Christopher Torchia, Associated Press Writer

 

San Jose Mercury News, USA

July 15 2007

 

ISTANBUL, Turkey-As punk rock goes, a song bemoaning a high school

exam hardly sounds like the stuff of anarchy. But in Turkey it can

land you in court, as an Istanbul rock band has discovered.

 

All the song does is lash out against Turkey's equivalent of the SAT,

the exam that all Turkish high-schoolers must pass to have a shot at

getting into college. High-schoolers the world over may sympathize, but

to Turkish prosecutors it's an insult to the state and its employees.

 

The troubles besetting the five-man group called "Deli," or "Crazy,"

as they head to trial Thursday are typical of the extremes endured

by a country historically torn between cultures-Islam and secularism,

Europe and Asia, democracy and military dictatorship, and a reverence

for institutions of state that frequently collides with basic civil

liberties.

 

The song is several years old and may have gone unnoticed were this

not the Internet age. It came to prosecutors' notice only after a

teenager lip-synched the song and posted it on youtube.com last year

for the whole world to see.

 

Now the musicians, along with their manager and a former band member,

will go on trial on July 19 in the Turkish capital, Ankara. If

convicted, they face up to 18 months in jail, although they could

get off with a fine or a warning.

 

Turkey, which seeks European Union membership, retains strict limits on

expression. Several intellectuals, notably Nobel Prize winning author

Orhan Pamuk and Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, were prosecuted on

charges of "insulting Turkishness" for comments on mass killings of

Armenians a century ago. Dink was subsequently assassinated and 14

suspects are on trial.

 

In March, a court order made YouTube inaccessible in Turkey for two

days because of videos that allegedly insulted Ataturk, the late,

revered founder of the modern republic.

 

The punk song is called "OSYM," the Turkish acronym for The Student

Selection and Placement Center. That's the state institution that

decides which students go to university, based on a three-hour

multiple-choice exam held every June.

 

In a nation of 70 million with 10 percent unemployment, passing the

test is critical to every young Turk's future prospects. Even so,

in 2006 there were university spots for fewer than one-third of the

1.5 million students who took the test.

 

"Life should not be a prison because of an exam," go the lyrics of

"OSYM." "I have gotten lost/ You have ruined my future/ I am going

to tell you one thing:/ Shove that exam..."

 

Mild stuff by the standards of Western popular culture, but according

to Turkish media it prompted Unal Yarimagan, the professor who chairs

the university placement system, to seek legal advice, and the matter

was referred to state prosecutors.

 

"We opened the case and now it is in the hands of justice," state

prosecutor Kursat Kayral said.

 

There has been little public discussion about the wisdom of

prosecuting the punk band. Turkish prosecutors routinely file

defamation complaints, creating a glut of cases, some of which never

come to trial.

 

Gathered in a cramped Istanbul recording studio, the Deli musicians

don't look like stereotypical punks-no spiked hair, lip studs

or drugs. They're in their early 20s, polite, mild-mannered and

irreverent. And all passed the university exam. Vocalist Cengiz Sari is

studying to become an art teacher. Base guitarist Enis Coban studied

textile manufacturing.

 

Coban says Turkey has more censorship than Europe or the United States,

but less than China or Iran.

 

"Compared to dictatorships, Turkey is like heaven," he said. "Turkey

still has a lot missing, but we believe that it is on the right track

to improve itself."

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Europe News

German integration plan a milestone, says Merkel

 

Jul 12, 2007

 

 

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday described the adoption of a new national integration plan for the nation's immigrants as 'a milestone.'

 

She was speaking at a press conference following a meeting with ethnic leaders in Berlin to announce government assistance to minorities which federal leaders fear are developing into separate societies.

 

The 90 community leaders at the summit adopted a 'national integration plan' containing 400 promises for improvements, which Merkel said was the first in Germany's post-Second World War history.

 

Amid fears that poor minorities may be radicalized, business leaders also attended the 'integration summit.' They have been pressed to train and employ larger numbers of immigrant youths.

 

However, four major Turkish groups boycotted the summit in protest at legislation passed last week which raises the hurdles for newly wed Turkish women moving to Germany to live with their husbands. They must be over 18 and pass a language test.

 

Kenan Kolat, chairman of a secular association, Turkish Community, said in a television interview that his group would challenge the legislation as discriminatory in Germany's constitutional court after it had been gazetted into law.

 

 

(filthy pypocrites don't even wanna learn some 300 German words ...just like in turkey, they all must be sent to a german court for insulting Germany, the german institutions, the german people, and the german culture)

 

 

 

The previous day, the German government had approved a package of 150 measures to bring immigrant communities into mainstream German society, including an expansion of nearly free German-language courses.

 

The length of time that each immigrant can attend such a course was increased by 50 per cent.

 

Private language schools and non-profits, which obtain federal grants to conduct the courses, must also provide baby-sitting services for mothers while they learn German and there will be extra grants to train the illiterate and difficult-to-educate teenagers.

 

The federal government also aims to set up a network of sponsors to help immigrant families.

 

Maria Boehmer, the federal migration commissioner, said she found it was 'totally exaggerated' for the summit to be boycotted by Kolat's group, the Ditib network of mosques, the Turkish Parents' Association and the Council of Germans of Turkish Extraction.

 

Germany has a population of nearly 82 million, of whom 7.3 million are not German citizens, according to official statistics.

 

But the federal government estimates that ethnic minorities total 15 million people, including those who are have obtained German citizenship by naturalization or because they were children of mixed marriages between a German and a foreigner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Chancellor Angela Merkel rejects Turkish criticism of visa law

13 July 2007

 

Berlin (dpa) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday rejected criticism from ethnic Turkish groups of a new law that imposes a language test on young brides entering Germany to live.

 

Merkel, who was unveiling a "national integration plan" to improve work and education opportunities for 15 million people of non-German ethnicity in her country, said the law had implemented an EU guideline and included a wide range of exemptions.

 

She rebuked four mainstream Turkish groups which boycotted a "summit" Thursday at her office and demanded the law be amended.

 

Merkel said her government did not accept ultimatums. She denied the legislation treated Muslims differently from anyone else.

 

"They have a responsibility not to fire up emotions," she said of her critics.

 

Under the new law, husbands in Germany can only obtain permanent residency for their new brides from abroad if the women are aged 18 or over and can speak between 200 and 300 words of German.

 

Turkish groups have complained that many other nationalities benefit from exemptions. Four groups skipped the two-hour summit.

 

"My hand remains extended to them," Merkel said. "We have a lot to do. We invite everyone to involve themselves once again."

 

The chancellor described the integration plan as "a milestone." It contains 400 promises from the federal government, the states and community groups for improvements in the lot of migrants, ranging from aid for ethnic sports clubs to more German-language classes.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Aratta-Kingdom

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Waterloo Record, Canada

 

Turkey's 'deep state' is doomed

 

100 years after the Young Turk revolution, this country is at a crossroads

 

July 05, 2008

GWYNNE DYER

 

The Ottoman Empire had already been in retreat for over a century when

the Young Turk revolution broke out in July 1908. Some of the Young

Turks hoped to save the whole empire; others wanted to abandon the

empire and rescue an independent Turkey from the wreckage. The latter

group won the argument, in the end, and although the rest of the

empire fell under European imperial rule 10 years later, Turkey itself

was saved.

 

Now, exactly a 100 years after the Young Turks, the country is plunged

into another constitutional crisis.

 

In March, the public prosecutor brought a case to Turkey's highest

judicial body, the constitutional court, demanding that the ruling AK

(Justice and Development) Party, re-elected only last year with an

increased majority, be shut down for trying to subvert the secular

state. He also wants Prime Minister Tayyib Recep Erdogan and 70 other

senior AK party members banned from politics for five years.

 

Last week the government struck back, arresting two retired generals

and 23 other people on the charge of "provoking armed rebellion

against the government." One, General Hursit Tolon, was the former

second-in-command of the army.

 

Police allege those arrested were members of a state-backed gang that

is suspected of a number of murders of prominent public figures with

the aim of destabilizing Turkish society and forcing military

intervention.

 

But wait a minute. "State-backed?" Isn't the government itself the

embodiment of the state? In Turkey, not necessarily. The conspirators,

it is claimed, belong to what Turks call the "deep state," the

alliance of senior judicial and military figures who still see

themselves as the guardians of the secular Turkish republic that was

ultimate result of the Young Turk revolution.

 

What the rebellious Young Turk officers demanded in July 1908 was the

restoration of the constitution suspended 30 years before. It brought

a rough kind of democracy to the multinational empire, but the various

ethnic nationalisms, Bulgarian, Kurdish, Greek, Arab, Armenian -- and,

above all, Turkish -- were already too strong for a unified state to

survive.

 

The Ottoman Empire went under at the end of the First World War,

leaving a decimated Turkish population (only eight million in 1918) to

fight for its independence against British, French, Italian and Greek

invaders who sought to carve Turkey up between them. The man who led

that independence struggle, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founded the Turkish

Republic in 1923, and he made it one of the most rigorously secular

states in the world.

 

Ninety-nine percent of Turkey's citizens are Muslims, but political

parties are banned from appealing to religion. Even religious symbols

are seen as dangerous: women wearing "Islamic" head scarves are not

allowed inside state institutions, including universities.

 

Initially, this militant secularism was a tactic for wrenching a

largely illiterate and deeply conservative peasantry out of its

medieval ways and catapulting the country into the 20th

century. Turkey must never be weak again, and to be strong it must be

"modern." But as the decades passed, the reformers turned into a

self-selecting "republican" elite who justified their privileges by

claiming that they had a mission to defend the secular state.

 

What they have ended up defending the state against, in fact, is

democracy, which challenges their arbitrary power. Faced with a

democratically elected party that has Islamic roots (although it has

been staunchly loyal to the secular constitution), they have begun

waging an open war against it in the courts.

 

They have also launched a secret and violent struggle against it in

the shadows, a struggle that has already cost lives. Some fear that it

could end in a military coup, but that time has passed.

 

A hundred years after the Young Turk revolution, the Turks are again

at a crossroads. It is quite possible that the court will decide to

ban the AK Party later this year, just as it rejected the new law

allowing women students to wear the head scarf at university last

month. Many senior judges are part of the "deep state." But it is not

1908: the outlook this time is a lot brighter.

 

The 75 million Turks of today have about the same per capita income as

Russians or Romanians, and about the same range of social attitudes,

too. Turkey is not going to turn into a theocratic dictatorship,

because very few of them want such a thing.

 

However, quite a few of them do want a state that does not despise or

penalize them for being publicly pious. Quite a few others who are not

at all devout support the AK Party anyway, because they know that in

the current crisis it represents democracy, tolerance and the rule of

law.

 

It will turn out all right because the self-nominated defenders of

secularism are transparently cynical in their attempts to manipulate

popular opinion. And it will be all right because the AK Party leaders

have clearly decided that it's not worth having a bloody political

battle now, when it's obvious that they have already won the war.

 

If the court bans AK, they will all resign from power peacefully, in

obedience to the law.

 

Then those who are not banned from politics entirely for five years

will reform the party under another name, and fight and win another

election. And bit by bit, the "deep state" will wither away.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

TURKEY'S SINISTER BLEND OF WATERGATE AND THE DREYFUS AFFAIR INSIDE THE ERGENEKON CASE

By Ece Temelkuran

 

CounterPunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/ece12032008.html

Dec 4 2008

CA

 

Turkey is facing a new round in her relationship with

democracy. Opponents of the Islamic governing party, known as the AK

for the initials of its Turkish name, are being accused being members

of a secret state gang called Ergenekon. The trials in this case,

which are expected to last for years, began last month. The sinister

undertow portends the likelihood that Turkey is about to experience

its own version of a 'colored revolution'.

 

A few weeks ago in Diyarbakir, in the Kurdish region of Turkey,

a prominent Kurdish intellectual said: 'Maybe I should appear as a

commentator on the Ergenekon case'. Putting on a sour, hesitant face

she carried on: 'Since my husband's assassin is still unknown I can

be counted as a victim of deep state like many other Kurdish and

Turkish leftists.' The group of well-known intellectuals from both

ethnicities gathered round the table were silent; nobody knew how

to respond. Those who had for years been vocal about any political

issue were now, like many of their peers, speechless.

 

That is why one should be warned about the Ergenekon case. Since the

Ergenekon case represents the advanced level of classical Turkish

chaos, this is not a good time to start learning about Turkey unless

you are experienced in this 'lonely and beloved country'. Of course,

it makes the story easier if you are promoting a certain political

engagement such as Kemalism or political Islam, but if you want to

maintain a leftist stance on the Ergenekon case, there starts the

hesitation, silence and confusion. And unfortunately this messy,

pervasive state of mind has arisen at one of the most important

cross-roads of not only Turkish political history but also the

Middle East.

 

Ergenekon is the name of a legendary valley in Turkish

mythology. According to the legend, the valley in Central Asia was home

to the ancient Turks, until a grey wolf led them out onto the road to

the eventual nationhood. Since last January this piece of mythology

has become extremely vital for Turkey. Ergenekon is now the name of

an alleged ultra-nationalist, ultra-Kemalist gang, which has been

operating since 1999 as a part of the 'deep state'. Their alleged aim

is to organize coups against the AKP government. Like coups, the term

'deep state' has been and still is a very popular term in Turkish,

used to describe renegade members of the security and military forces

said to act outside the law in what they judge to be Turkey's best

interests. The term has a very long history, which goes back to the

Ottoman period, but the contemporary version generally begins with the

Cold War era. Under the name of 'counter-guerrilla', it was formed to

combat the rising leftist movement and later on the Kurdish uprising

in South Eastern Turkey. The secret entity represents illegal state

violence, but also drug dealing and all kinds of smuggling, first

in the Kurdish region then in whole country. The growing illegal,

invisible and untouchable body has been the source of state terror

against Kurdish and Turkish politicians, intellectuals, trade unions,

leftist student organizations.

 

Although the whole country became aware of the concept, especially

during the coup years in the 1980s, the deep state was revealed beyond

any doubt in 1996 when a car accident happened in Susurluk, a town in

the Marmara region. In the car were a senior police chief, a prominent

right-wing politician and a wanted assassin who was especially

famous for killing or ordering the killings of Kurdish leaders and

intellectuals. Although the accident revealed the relations between

government and assassins, the case opened against the 'Susurluk gang'

was obscured and blocked by the concept of 'state secrets'. Soon after

the interrogations began, Mehmet Aar, then minister of the interior,

was linked to the case because of his alleged relations with mafia

bosses and ultra-nationalist organizations. His defense was built

on the concept of 'state secret', which was powerful enough to

legitimize any illegal act. The accusations were paralysed with the

help of the term and the case never progressed. But the Turkish left,

that has been politically dispersed since 1980, for the first time

came together en masse to protest. The name of the civilian action

was 'Darkness for 1 minute'. We switched our lights on and off for 1

minute at 9 o'clock every night. It was an easy and legally costless

action, so as a result the mass got bigger and even included those

who live in the apartments of the National Intelligence Service. For

a couple of months people blew whistles, called the residents of their

districts for action and chanted 'One minute darkness for daylight!',

a reference to the idea of bringing the criminals into daylight. It

never happened. The case followed a spiral-like route and every time

the prosecutions ended up with either the sacred term of 'state secret'

or the immunity of the MPs. The only positive outcome of the case was

that society was mobilized more than it ever had been since the coup.

 

Among the sulking faces were the Islamists. The Felicity Party

did not admire the mobilization at all. The leader of the party,

Necmettin Erbakan, created a sarcastic metaphor for the activists and

the action. He said 'They are doing glu glu dance' which practically

meant nothing but he was referring to the African tribes and their

native dance. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Mayor of Istanbul, was one of

the leading figures in the Felicity Party. As far as the Turkish media

knows he was silent about the deep state and the Susurluk gang. There

was another silent name, Mumtazer Turköne. He was the consultant

of Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, during the Susurluk case. His fame

comes from making her say 'The one who shoots or is shot by a bullet

for this country is a hero' about the Susurluk case. This motto was

created not only to defend the Susurluk gang members and eventually the

counter-guerrilla but also to exacerbate the racist, ultra-nationalist

attack on Kurdish society. This name and this little story does not

mean anything to you at the moment but just keep him in mind for a

couple of paragraphs. At some point this name and the political route

that it followed will show how the political compass of Turkey broke

down during recent years. This name also will function as a beacon

to find our way through the mess of the Ergenekon case.

 

Turkey couldn't judge the Susurluk gang but public opinion was

convinced there were links between the mafia, ultra-nationalist

organizations and the state. Radikal, then a very new, leftist

newspaper made its debut publishing striking stories about

Susurluk. They now and then gave two-page spreads to maps showing the

links between illegal organizations and political figures dating back

to the coup years. But even this committed newspaper lost track when

things got so complicated that no map was sufficient to show all the

links. The complexity of the issue created a pollution of information,

and gradually those following the case gave up. The Susurluk case left

behind '1 Minute darkness' activists who eventually became a loose

civil action group which, among many other oppositional actions,

organized the anti-war campaign that stopped Turkey joining the

invasion of Iraq.

 

The 'oppressed' becomes the 'oppressor'

 

To cut a long story short, in 2001 after the Virtue Party, descendant

of the Felicity Party, was closed down because of its anti-secular

actions, the young, dynamic politicians in the party started a

new movement and soon they established a new party, the AKP. Their

leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan was held as a political prisoner for

reading a poem which runs: 'Minarets are our spears, mosques are our

helmets'. He was a young, fledgling leader when he was imprisoned

but when he stepped out his prime ministry was almost guaranteed

along with his image of being an 'oppressed political leader', an

image still in use even in his second term in office. He was the

handsome face of moderate Islam, an oppressed soul and, as an owner

of fast-growing companies, a capitalist. These virtues made him the

tailor-made leader for new neo-liberal party with conservative topping.

 

On coming to power the AKP began one of the most important eras of

Turkish political history. Their civil discourse was pleasing to

liberal intellectual circles. The party fitted in with the Greater

Middle East Project long envisioned by the White House. The big

corporate fat cats were quite happy with this business-oriented

government. The supposedly long-oppressed conservative Islamists were

looking to the future with hope. Fetullah Gulen's community, the widest

religion-based economic and political network in Turkey, constituted

just after the coup in 1980, supported the new government. Seeing the

support of liberal intellectuals and up to a certain degree leftists,

the European Union was reassured about the party. Since the party was

talking about pluralism and the 'Kurdish question' openly, Kurdish

politicians were fine with the AKP as well. For a while, an absolute

and uniformly annoying 'stanno tutti bene' situation was in place.

 

>>From the beginning of their first term the AKP, starting from

their leader to the lowest-ranking party member, created and shared a

mythology of being oppressed. The history of 'oppressed Muslims' goes

back to the establishment of the republic. In the common description,

the Kemalist elite, centering power in a secular, unitary state,

oppressed the Muslim community. Sociologists defined the AKP government

as 'the margins' taking over the 'centre' or the triumph of the

'tradition' against the 'modernist state'. Since the intellectual

staff of the political movement wasn't capable of theorizing and to

a certain degree polishing the reign of the AKP, the party gathered

an intellectual support group consisting of former leftists who have

converted to neo-liberalism. The group legitimized the Islamist AKP

basically by saying that the long wait of the oppressed people of

Turkey is over, as they are now taking the country from the old guard

of the Kemalist elite. The AKP leaders, members and supporters were

represented as the 'light bulbs' of freedom and 'real democracy'. The

same liberal intellectual circles also all but became the guarantors

of democracy and the regime, especially for the European Union.

 

On the other hand, for ordinary people these complicated democracy

theory lessons were not suitable. Another strategy was used for that

level. A variety of rumours was spread around. 'Before Ataturk we read

and understood the Quran but his legacy made us less Muslim', 'Before

the AKP nobody thought of poverty, but now its civil extensions,

the charities, are pouring money on the poor', 'Our girls will

go to universities with their headscarves'. . . And there were

more. Anatolians never thought about the meaning of the Quran, the

AKP has been charged by German courts with committing fraud over

international Islamic charity organizations, and the girls never

made it to the universities. But the rumours fulfilled their duty

and among the public the moral triumph belonged to the AKP.

 

Each and every time the party was going through a crisis of

public trust, there came an incident of 'oppression of Islam and

democracy'. While these two concepts stuck to each other in a very

dangerous way, the tension between the party and the army was the

issue causing the most agitation. A mythology was created: the grass

roots of the AKP were resisting the military, civil bureaucracy

and the elite that together have long been exploiting the religious

beliefs of the country. The masses who are intimidated by the AKP's

rise and the possibility of the second man of the party, Abdullah Gul,

becoming president went onto the streets for 'flag demonstrations'. The

demonstrations were against anti-secularism first, but soon turned

into ultra-nationalist meetings. Shortly after these famous meetings

came the elections, and the AKP won a second term after getting 47 per

cent of the votes. The Prime Minister said in his victory speech that

'the ones who didn't vote for them are the colours of this country'. It

was obvious that for the prime minister the ones who didn't support

him were only the garnish of the country, and the AKP would be served

as the only main course.

 

In its second term the AKP was even more reckless. Not only the

personal political style of the prime minister became more ruthless,

but also financially the party became more fearless. The alleged

corruptions of the AKP mayors and the cabinet were growing. But

then came the great rescuer of the AKP -- the case for the party's

closure. It was vital PR for the party and it did its job. Since it

is anti-democratic to close down a party, even the most committed

critics of the party wrote and spoke out against the closure. Plus,

in the political and intellectual arena it was now an ideological

sin to criticize the AKP. An atmosphere was created in which every

criticism of the AKP made you seem like those who are trying to block

the democratic process by means of the closure case. The AKP was once

again the 'great oppressed' in spite of its long list of human rights

violations, fierce neo-liberal policies and anti-secular moves at

every administrative level. It was now once again a sin to 'oppress'

the oppressor.

 

A political tool or the end of deep state: Ergenekon

 

It all started in last January when a large cache of hand grenades

was found in a district on the margins of Istanbul. Soon these

hand grenades were linked with the attack against Cumhuriyet, the

secularist, Kemalist newspaper and gradually to the attack against

the Council of State. These attacks were carried out by a group of

people who described themselves as 'very religious'. The reason for

their attacks was that the newspaper was against the headscarf and

the State of Council delivered a verdict against the lifting of the

ban on headscarves in government buildings. The grenades were also

linked to retired generals who became committed defenders of secularism

and Kemalism in their civilian life by founding associations. These

associations became even more famous through their involvement in

the flag demonstrations. So the main idea was that there was a gang

making provocations against the symbols of Kemalist state, actually

in order to agitate people against the government. A 2,500-page

indictment was handed to the court on July 14, 2008. 86 people,

editors of newspapers, retired generals, political party leaders,

directors of TV channels were accused during the Susurluk Case. Most

of these people were known as 'nationalists' who still religiously

believed in the secular nation-state and saw the AKP as a major danger

to a unitary, secular Turkey. Some of them were famous paramilitary

figures who have long been wanted for questioning.

 

The name of the case, Ergenekon, came from a document found in a

former TV host's home. TV host Tuncay Guney once made programs for an

Islamic TV channel and at the moment he is a rabbi in Canada. Now and

then we see him saying obscure things live on air from Canada. The

alleged gang's name was written on a piece of paper at his place,

according to the indictment.

 

The timing of Ergenekon overlapped with the case for closing down

the AKP. A considerable number of people came up with the argument

that this case was a political tool against the nationalist-Kemalist

camp--an eye-for-an-eye kind of move. The way the suspects were

prosecuted exacerbated this argument. Although his latest works were

calling ultra-nationalists to action, the well-known leading columnist

of Cumhuriyet Ilhan Selcuk was for years a highly praised and respected

leftist columnist. Selcuk, 84, was taken from his home at 4 o'clock

in the morning as the alleged leader of the gang. Mustafa Balbay, the

representative of the same newspaper in Ankara, was also taken into

custody as though he was a fugitive. The arrests were like a 'lesson'

to those who take an oppositional stand against the government. On

the other hand, among the names there were suspects of political

assassinations. So it was not easy to categorize the case purely as an

attack on opponents of the government. Once you talked about the case

negatively it was guaranteed that your name would appear in pro-AKP

newspapers as an 'Ergenekon-lover', 'coup-wanter', 'military-toy-boy'.

 

The newspaper, which was confiscated by the State and then sold

extremely cheaply to a group whose CEO is the prime minister's

son-in-law, has been and still is the most enthusiastic celebrator

of the case. Among many TV channels, radio stations and newspapers

Yeniafak, shamelessly close to the government, and Zaman which is a

trademark of Fetullah followers, represented the case as an iron fist

against those who want a coup in Turkey. The new newspaper, Taraf ,was

the most vocal one about the case. Its columnists were former leftists

who have now become liberals. One of its editors is famous for articles

supporting the attack on Afghanistan and the Iraq invasion. She was

shown as the 'voice of the White House in Turkey'. The financial

sources of the paper are still being discussed. Among many arguments

the most interesting one is that followers of Fetullah Gulen finance

the paper.

 

With the zeal of converts, all the 'retired leftist' columnists

baptised the AKP as the most courageous government of all, and the

Ergenekon case as the end to all our problems of democracy. Through the

media the case became a witch-hunt. Anything that hinders the AKP's

program was probably linked to Ergenekon gang. I remember the fierce

oppression that the unions went through on Mayday in Istanbul. One

day prior to the demonstrations the prime minister was sharp in his

words, saying that there would be no holds barred against those who

wanted to demonstrate in Taksim, the centre of Istanbul. 'It would be

a disaster if the feet became the head', he said. It was a symbolic

act for the workers to show that they don't recognize the limits of

the 1980 coup that banned them from the city centre on Maydays. But

what happened was that the police even dropped a bomb in the emergency

department of a hospital, where demonstrators were trying to hide from

the tear gas spreading almost across the whole European side of the

city. The following day, press releases and pro-AKP intellectuals were

commenting on probable links between trade unions and the Ergenekon

gang. Yet another interesting detail was that in those mainstream

American newspapers which are more than eager to put Turkey on their

front page when it comes to lifting of the headscarf ban or any

other moderate Islam issue, there was not even one sentence about the

Mayday violence which turned Istanbul into an invaded city. Instead,

national and international media quoted the prime minister saying that

'I am the prosecutor of Ergenekon case'. This exciting tone made some

of the analysts think that the case was not intended to do away with

the deep state, but to take it over from the established forces. Long

before this, it had been reported that the police forces had gradually

started to become Fetullah followers. But now it was time for a final

move to take over the deep state from secular, nation-state defenders.

 

Another argument was that the army and the AKP made a secret agreement

just before the Ergenekon case when the prime minister and the chief

general met in Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, and never revealed

what they talked about. According to some sources, it is a 'cleaning

operation' for the army and the deep state or a 'recreation project'

for both the AKP and the deep state.

 

'A piece of paper': Questions are forbidden!

 

As the prosecutions for the case carried on, even the best analysts

became mute. First of all the 2,500-page indictment was full of

recordings of personal telephone calls that have nothing to do with

the case. All these recordings were leaked to the press long before

the case officially opened. For instance, among these recordings were

Ilhan Selcuk's conversations about Fashion TV or gossip about his

colleagues. It was as if the aim was to degrade the dignity of symbolic

figures in the Kemalist camp, rather than prosecuting them. Those

taken by the police were freed within a couple of days, but the news

about their personal telephone conversations kept appearing in pro-AKP

newspapers and web-sites--to the extent that erotic exchanges between a

woman columnist and a party leader, or their comments on an episode of

'Sex and The City', were read widely. The telephone recordings have

become the most important issue on country's agenda. Recordings of

prominent figures in the Kemalist elite were put on YouTube or other

web-sites. Each and every time we heard recordings of a Republican

Party (CHP) member, a Supreme Court judge or a university dean

criticizing the AKP or making a joke about the prophet. Prominent

figures in society one by one told the press that they are oppressed

by recording-phobia. Their main concern was that these recordings

were done by the secret police in support of the AKP. When the press

asked questions about the issue the Minister of Transport commented:

'If you don't commit any crimes, why should you worry about anyone

listening to your telephone calls!' And somehow this whole issue became

a joke thanks to Turkey's very special habit and talent of normalizing

anything. Soon we all were joking about the ticky tacky sounds we hear

during our telephone calls. This outrageous revelation was overshadowed

by the celebrities taken into custody as part of the Ergenekon case.

 

Even though there was a serious part of the Ergenekon indictment,

the not-so-serious, red-carpet part was much more visible for

sure. A gay singer famous for his 'snake-dance', a very respected

middle aged actor and a list of celebrities are counted as alleged

torturers or gang members of the Ergenekon gang. Their names were on

a piece of paper in one of the retired generals' home like many other

evidences that the indictment stands on. But you should be careful

when saying such things. Since there was a witch-hunt, including the

trustworthiness of the evidence nothing could be questioned about

the Ergenekon case. During this ongoing witch-hunt, it is not enough

to stop criticizing the AKP in fear of being counted as Ergenekon

defender. You should not ask questions about the Ergenekon case

either. Questions such as:

 

If this case is intended to question the deep state or at least a

part of this illegal entity, how come the indictment has no relation

to the Kurdish issue? Since the deep state committed its recent crimes

against Kurdish politicians, businessmen and intellectuals, there must

have been something about them in the indictment. So, where are they?

 

If this case is against the deep state that organizes coups and if

the government is so eager to judge coup attempts, why don't they

start with the visible one done in 1980 rather than running after

invisible ones?

 

If the government is so against anti-democratic interventions and

eager to judge the generals who have such intentions, why didn't they

change the 15th amendment of the constitution that gives judicial

immunity to the 1980s coup generals?

 

These are just a couple of examples of possible sinful questions

about the indictment.

 

The indictment was initially supposed to shed light on every

political assassination committed in Turkey starting from Musa Anter,

a larger-than-life Kurdish writer; Ugur Mumcu, a journalist who was

killed with a car-bomb for finding alleged links between the deep

state and the Kurdish separatist movement; Hrant Dink, the Armenian

journalist who wrote and spoke in favour of recognition of the Armenian

community in Turkey, and was killed by an ultra-nationalist teenager

linked to the police forces. This promising indictment gradually became

more and more circus-like with the addition of new prosecutions. This

circus-like trend overlapped with the Supreme Court's decision about

the case against the AKP, which was in favor of the party. Some argued

that after the party guaranteed that it wasn't going to be closed,

the Ergenekon case lost its importance for the government.

 

One of the latest prosecutions is against a famous transvestite,

Sisi, who happened to be doing a documentary called 'The Women of the

Republic', probably a Kemalist product representing the role models of

Kemalism in country's early period. The other prosecution is against

the well-known actress Nurseli Idiz, whose latest work involved

her disguising herself as Kemal Ataturk. The media follow-up of the

prosecutions was even more awkward then the people themselves. The

liberal columnists who are over-rating the case, especially the

female ones, made fun of these two, commenting on how they looked,

what they wore, how they loved to be taken by the police etc. The

following week, Sisi was a guest on the TV show of the most famous pop

star in Turkey, and Idiz was seen on a daytime women's show. Both of

them talked about the psychological torture that they went through,

and the only democratic support they got was the 'Oh my god's that

they received from the TV audience. While Sisi was talking about

psychological torture, she said it was up to European standards--and

she was not being ironic at all.

 

Most of the people taken into police custody were not accused of

anything, and were only made to wait for at least three days at

the police office to be questioned about the alleged gang. But you

cannot ask if it was necessary to take people into custody to ask

a couple of questions. The reason is not only the witch-hunt that

might then catch up with you; there are also serious names among the

accused. For instance, the police chief who started the operation

against the alleged Ergenekon gang in the first place. The reason

for his prosecution was that they found a piece of paper in his home

showing links between Ergenekon members. His defence was that it was

normal and that he was the one working on the case. Such contradictory,

almost silly details of the indictment make it very difficult to

believe that it is as serious as the deep state itself. And one might

think that as a threatened writer in Turkey, since I am one of the

potential targets of such a gang, I have every right to question the

seriousness of such a case. But no, you cannot.

 

Little boxes of mind games!

 

Now it is time to remember that name: Mumtazer Turköne. Normally he

would be a normal character in the story of a Third World country where

a man makes his inadequate young wife an MP in the governing party and

himself a columnist in the pro-government media. But no, the story of

this name tells a lot about the recent history of my country. In the

70s Turköne was a young academic, known as the up-and-coming ideologue

of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves. The Grey Wolves were used by

the paramilitary forces against leftist students and often armed

to kill them. In 80s he was accused of extremist ultra-nationalist

actions and demands were made for him to be sentenced to 15 years'

imprisonment. During the 1990s he was the right hand of Prime Minister

Tansu Ciller, who exacerbated the ultra-nationalist wave created by the

civil war between Kurdish separatists and the Turkish army. Turköne

is famous for making Tansu Ciller say: 'The one who shoots a bullet

or is shot by a bullet for this country is a hero.'

 

This motto was created just after the Susurluk accident and was used to

legitimize the deep state and members of gangs applying illegal state

violence. During the 90s, at some point, this man for all seasons

must have seen the trend and understood that it was time to change

trains. At the moment he is a columnist for Zaman, the newspaper

founded and directed by Fetullah followers. His former student, now

wife, Ozlem Turköne, is the youngest AKP MP in the parliament. As one

of the most hardworking and devoted ideologues of the AKP and moderate

Islam, Turköne now never mentions his old days when he was very, very

close to the deep state. Now he is one the 'democrat intellectuals'

with other neo-liberal writers, most of them converted from Maoism or

other sects of the former left. As right-wing intellectuals they are

hoisting the standard of being democrats, and as Islamic conservatives

they are defending the Ergenekon case against people like me.

 

Me?

 

A friend from the socialist left stopped me on the street the other

day. His voice was anxious: "You know what, maybe you should not

write about Ergenekon for a while". He paused and sulked: "I think the

way you do on this issue but you know... They made two little boxes:

a Kemalist box and a liberal one. Even if you don't fit to either of

the boxes they break your arms or legs and make you fit one of them

at the end. They don't open a third box for you. This is a dangerous

political climate and we are all going to be wasted in the end".

 

He is right. If you ask questions about the indictment, or even if you

express your concern about the seriousness of the case, there you go

into the Kemalist box. If you clap your hands whenever you hear the

name of the Ergenekon case, then you can be considered a democrat and

can inhabit the same box as those I mentioned above. In that box the

concept of democracy is reduced to freedom of faith, and its links

to social justice or equality have been cut mercilessly. That is why

in Turkey at the moment, if you are coming from the left, in order

to be recognized as 'not a fascist' you are obliged to bow your head

before right-wing perceptions of democracy. Even though it was the

left that has been the ultimate victim of the deep state, they are for

the time being the ones accused of being the deep state itself. This

discourse or political climate has such a strong character that even

the most intelligent and experienced spin doctors on the left have been

stammering since last January about the Ergenekon case. Meanwhile the

right-wing democrats, the liberals, are making noise saying that this

time the gang was caught before it managed to carry out the coup. Thank

god, the AKP government at the last minute busted them in the very act!

 

This reduction of politics to barren dualities didn't actually start

with the Ergenekon case; on the contrary, it had already been creating

an intellectual industry with interesting products since the political

polarization deepened with the start of the AKP's second term. On

almost every news channel there are talk-shows featuring a pro-AKP

liberal democrat and an anti-AKP democrat. Since their controversies

are the product on sale, these programs are visually exaggerated as

well. In one of them, before the show begins they show two tigers

attacking each other and in another program one, side has a black, the

other a white background. The AKP, beyond its other achievements, gave

Turkey this amazing present: intellectual and political discussions

are now made in little boxes between black-and-white tigers!

 

The unwanted intervener: the Left!

 

This barren intellectual climate is dominated by those figures who very

much resemble their peers in Georgia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Like

those colour revolutions, stamped with the words 'made in USA', the

chosen political leader is praised by the New World Order's Wizard

of Oz, Richard Holbrooke. Like Saakashvili of Georgia, Prime Minister

Erdogan is a good friend of Holbrooke, and like the Orange Revolution

of Ukraine, the ideological transformation of the intelligentsia

towards liberalism is directed by US-approved, freedom-fighter

NGOs. Those who don't want to be ridden by this wave are classed as

counter-revolutionaries or just Kemalists, which basically means

fascist. Even if you have proven your ideological trustworthiness

before history, for instance by being tortured or executed by the coup,

you still might not be saved from being counted as a coup-lover. Taraf,

the very young newspaper set up just before the Ergenekon case, and

which became a committed supporter of the case, made its debut by

branding three very young revolutionaries--Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Aslan

and Huseyin Inan, executed in 1972 by an earlier coup--as xenophobic

and Kemalist. The last words of these 20-something people were 'Long

live the brotherhood of Kurdish and Turkish peoples!', but it was

passé to defend victims of the former coups. Now it was this new

coup that we were supposed to concentrate on! The newspaper not only

attacked respected and beloved figures of the left, but also tried

to make the whole leftist tradition worthless in a blink of an eye.

 

>From what I have read about colour-coded revolutions, this is what

you go through when they decide to make one in your country. Lots of

ideological confusion is spread, the concept of democracy is reduced

to oranges or tulips, and when you try to defend some basic values

like equality or secularism, you become a scapegoat if not a fascist

guardian of the old regime. The difference is that this time the

so-called revolution is taking place not in Europe but in the Middle

East, and for the Middle East. When the revolution is completed

probably the old guards of the Kemalist regime and the Cold War

generals left over from the Cold War will be gone, but Turkey will

also be a Middle Eastern country more than ever before. When that

time arrives, the liberal intellectuals probably won't apologize for

their 'misunderstandings' like their colour revolutionary buddies in

other countries.

 

These are the reasons why the left has felt hesitant to intervene in

the case as the natural victim of the deep state. Finally Ufuk Uras,

an independent MP of the socialist left, demanded in parliament

the establishment of a research commission on the coups and coup

attempts. His demand is supported by the DTP, a Kurdish party. 'Let

the coups be judged and the attempted coups be revealed initiative',

of which I am part, began in the third week of September.

 

For the sake of legitimacy, they invited a couple of liberal

intellectuals and even AKP supporters for the initiative's opening

press conference. And Uras made a declaration, saying that although he

sought support among AKP members, none of them signed the demand for

research commission. The left is trying to appear as an intervener in

the Ergenekon case--albeit with hesitant baby steps. Although they

are the ones who must be the most vocal, because of the long story

told above, they just murmur at the moment. Because they know, like my

friend in Diyarbak?r, that their sacrifices are not enough to secure an

intervening position in this case. To be right, you must be a liberal.

 

Me? I am just reading more and more about colour revolutions, which

make me feel less lonely.

 

Ece Temelkuran is the most-read female political columnist in Turkey,

writing regularly for Milliyet, with a well deserved reputation for

fearlessness and verve. She also hosts a widely view political show in

Turkish tv. Her latest book, The Deep Mountain, based on interviews

with Armenians in Armenia, France and the U.S. and published in

Istanbul in May 2008, is currently being translated into English. She

has published widely and won numerous awards for her work, including

the Pen for Peace Award, and Turkish Journalist of the Year. She

is the author of several books, including, "What Is There For Me To

Say!" on the hunger strikes by political prisoners in Turkey, and "We

are Making A Revolution Here Senorita!" on the politics and every-day

life in Chavez's Venezuela. She can be reached at ecetem@hotmail.com

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ERGENEKON AGENT SPENT TIME IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY PRIOR TO 9/11

By Wayne Madsen

 

Online Journal

Dec 10, 2008, 00:22

 

(WMR) -- Tuncay Guney, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization

(MIT) agent who was a key player in the right-wing "Deep State"

Ergenekon movement that attempted to overthrow the Turkish government,

spent time in North Jersey in the months prior to the 9/11 attacks,

according to a reliable source who spoke to WMR.

 

Guney now claims to be a rabbi but his status as a rabbi has been

rejected as a falsehood by Turkey's Jewish community leaders. Guney

is listed as a rabbi at Jacob House ("B'nai Yakov") Jewish Community

Center in Toronto but the Toronto Board of Rabbis and the Turkish

Jewish Congregation have no records of a Rabbi Tuncay Guney or

"Daniel Levi," an alias used by Guney. It is believed that "Jacob

House" is a front for intelligence operations and not an actual

synagogue. Jacob House shares an address with the New York Institute,

which also maintains an address in New Jersey.

 

Guney was arrested by Istanbul's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime

Department on March 8, 2001, after a police search of his home turned

up two guns, fake license plates, a number of Turkish identity cards,

over a hundred fake diplomas, and other Ergenekon evidence. The head

of the Istanbul police unit, Adil Serda r Sacan, suspected Guney

was a key player in Ergenekon. However, Sacan was, himself, later

arrested and charged with being a member of Ergenekon. However, WMR

has learned from its Turkish sources that Sacan is honest and was set

up in an attempt to tarnish his image after he discovered an Israeli

connection to the powerful Ergenekon movement.

 

As a member of the Turkish police JITEM unit, Guney reportedly

spied, under cover as a journalist, on Iraqi Kurdish leaders Massoud

Barzani and Jalal Talabani and Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan

Nasrallah. Talabani is now the President of Iraq.

 

After Guney's release on bail on March 9, 2001, Åženkal Atasagun,

MIT's undersecretary, asked the CIA to exfiltrate Guney to the

United States. Guney was flown on Turkish Airlines to New York. Guney

eventually ended up, according to our sources, living in North Jersey

and making a living pumping gas.

 

Guney lived in the "973" area code zone, an area that encompasses

East Rutherford and Fairlawn, towns that were centers of activity

for Israeli Mossad Urban Moving System operatives who were spotted

celebrating the 9/11 attacks from at least two locations --

Liberty State Park in Jersey City and an apartment complex on the

Jersey Palisades above Weehawken, the headquarters of Urban Moving

Systems. The FBI and CIA later identified Dominick Suter, the manager

of Urban Moving Systems, as a Mossad intelligence of ficer. Five Urban

Moving Systems employees were arrested in their van in East Rutherford

during the afternoon of September 11, 2001, after they were seen

traveling toward the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan. Their Urban Moving

Systems van tested positive for the presence of explosives. Suter fled

the United States and the five Israelis, some of whom were identified

as Mossad in an FBI/CIA database, were released after a few months in

jail after heavy pressure was applied on the U.S. government by Israel.

 

Guney is also suspected of acting as an agent for Mossad, as well as

the CIA.

 

His presence in North Jersey, a "hot zone" for Israeli intelligence

"false flag" operations before and during the 9/11 attacks, points

to a possible Turkish connection to the attacks.

 

On August 7, 2005, WMR reported on details of the apprehension of

the Israelis for their false flag actions: "Jersey City was a major

base of operations for the 1993 World Trade Center attack. The Ryder

van used in that attack was rented from a Jersey City rental agency

. . . there was a call placed to the Jersey City Police Department

that claimed 'Palestinians' in Arab clothes were seen celebrating

the attacks. Although the Jersey City Police discovered their 911

system tapes on September 11, 2001 disappeared from their servers

and achives after ISI [of Mount Laurel, NJ] took over the contract,

some tapes implicating "Arabs" found their way into the hands of

WNBC-TV in New York in June 2002.

 

WNBC played transcripts of 911 calls from the Jersey City Police:

 

Dispatcher: Jersey City police.

 

Caller: Yes, we have a white van, 2 or 3 guys in there, they look

like Palestinians and going around a building.

 

Caller: There's a minivan heading toward the Holland tunnel, I see the

guy by Newark Airport mixing some junk and he has those sheikh uniform.

 

Dispatcher: He has what?

 

Caller: He's dressed like an Arab.

 

"It is clear that the Jersey City Police Department's 911 call

tapes were manipulated to delete any calls that might implicate the

Israelis. The one call provided to WNBC was clearly an attempt at a

'false flag" operation implicating 'Palestinians' wearing 'sheik

uniforms' as the culprits in at least one of the white vans driven

by Israeli 'movers' on the morning of September 11. After the van

was traced to the Israeli moving company, the BOLO [be On Look Out

for message] went out for the arrest of the vehicle's driver and

passengers. An East Rutherford policeman directing traffic away from

the closed Lincoln Tunnel on Route 3 East noticed the van was driving

slowly on the service road towards the tunnel. The tag of the vehicle

was only off by one letter from what was contained in the BOLO (JRJ

13Y) and the front New Jersey plat e had been removed. It is very

possible that to confuse the police, the Israelis were using NJ plate

JRJ 13Y as the rear tag on two white vans - the one sighted in Liberty

State Park and the other in Maria's apartment building parking lot. In

fact, local police reported a number of white van sightings during

September 11, with a number of them phoned into the police. Maria

told ABC News she phoned tag number JRJ 13Y to the Jersey City Police

after seeing the Israelis driving in a white van celebrating the

first plane's impact, while Liberty State Park witnesses said the

same tag number -- JRJ 13Y -- had been passed to the police and FBI

after a white van with 'celebrating Arabs' had been chased from the

park by the park's chief ranger after the first plane impact.[11] It

was clear that officials of New Jersey's Department of Environmental

Protection in Trenton, which has authority over the state's parks,

ordered Liberty State Park officials not to talk to the media about

September 11 and the Israeli van."

 

The man who then New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey placed in charge

of his liaison to New Jersey's security and law enforcement agencies,

Golan Cipel, later was allegedly identified by U.S. intelligence

as a gay "honey trap" Mossad officer tasked with entrapping and

blackmailing McGreevey. McGreevey resigned as governor after details

of the ho mosexual affair became public.

 

Ergenekon has been accused of carrying out terrorist attacks and

assassinations in Turkey as "false flag" operations to discredit,

undermine, and eventually overthrow Turkey's Justice and Development

Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Former

FBI Turkish and Persian translator Sibel Edmonds told the Sunday

Times of London earlier this year that her translations of wiretaps of

Turkish, Iranian, Israeli, and American individuals pointed to Turkish

training for the 9/11 hijack ring. Edmonds said that an "Al Qaeda"

leader, a Syrian named Louai al-Sakka, had trained 9/11 hijackers

at a military base in Turkey, under the watchful eyes of the Turkish

military, which we now know was riddled with Ergenekon agents up and

down the chain-of-command, four star generals to non-commissioned

officers. Al-Sakka was convicted in 2007 for his role in a series

of 2003 bombings in Istanbul that targeted the British Consulate,

two HSBC bank branches, and two synagogues and his now serving a life

prison sentence. The Turkish ring may have been involved or known about

several beheadings of Western prisoners in Iraq that were blamed on

"Al Qaeda."

 

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA station chief in Istanbul, wrote the

following in the Dallas Morning News: "Sibel Edmonds makes a number of

accusations about specific criminal behavior that appear to be extraord

inary but are credible enough to warrant official investigation."

 

Coupling the Turkish official investigation of Ergenekon with

Edmonds' information, there is more than a smoking gun pointing to

9/11 as a "false flag" operation involving Turkish, Israeli, and

U.S. intelligence operatives.

 

The Saudi and Pakistani financial connection to the 9/11 hijackers

and the "false flag" operation has already been well-documented.

 

It is time for the incoming Obama administration to seriously

consider appointing a new 9/11 commission, sans enablers and

possible conspirators in the 9/11 false flag attack on the United

States. Thousands of pages of documents are now available in Turkey,

the United States, Britain, India, France, and other countries that

will prove that 9/11 involved a network much larger than a former CIA

asset hiding in an Afghan cave, Osama Bin Laden, and 19 ne'er-do-well

"hijackers," some of whom were more interested in going to strip joints

and bars in the days before they decided to take express flights to

"heaven" to spend eternity with Allah.