Month: August 2009

  • Stuttgart court convicts three members of Turkish terror organization

    Stuttgart court convicts three members of Turkish terror organization

    The Stuttgart state court Friday convicted three men for being members of a banned Turkish leftist group and of supporting its terrorist activities.
    The Stuttgart ruling is another blow for the DHKP-C

    The Stuttgart state court Friday convicted three men for being members of a banned Turkish leftist group and of supporting its terrorist activities.

    The court ruled that the three were all high-ranking members in the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a group which investigators say seeks to overthrow the present Turkish government and replace it with a Marxist one.

    Membership in a foreign terror organization carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

    The group features on the terror lists of Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

    As part of a plea agreement in which they confessed to involvement with the group, Hasan S. (46) was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison. Mustafa A. (52) and Ilhan D. (40) who were also convicted of forging documents, were given five years and three-and-a-half years respectively. Hasan S. and Mustafa A. are Turkish nationals. Ilhan D. is a German national of Turkish origin.

    After the sentencing, Mustafa A. and Ilhan D. walked free from the courtroom as they had already served their time in detention before and during the trial which lasted 15 months.

    The DHKP-C is believed to have orchestrated attacks on Turkish institutions in Germany as well as on purported “enemies” of the group until it was banned in August 1998.

    The following year, the group’s general secretary, Dursan Karatas, said that it would no longer use violence to achieve its political aims.

    The DHKP-C is also accused of masterminding a wave of hunger strikes among left-wing prison inmates and their friends and families in Turkey that has resulted in nearly 70 deaths in four years.

    Convictions follow extradition of regional leader

    The convictions in Stuttgart come after Hasan Huseyin K., the suspected leader of a regional chapter of the DHKP-C in Germany, was extradited to Germany from the Netherlands in June.

    He was accused of belonging to a terrorist organization and also faced charges of extortion and of beating and shooting two political dissidents in a Hamburg restaurant.

    The DHKP-C is believed to have some 650 members and supporters in Germany.

    nda/AP/dpa

    Editor:  Susan Houlton

    Source: www.dw-world.de, 07.08.2009

  • Victims of overseas terrorism to get payout

    Victims of overseas terrorism to get payout

    Prime minister considers retrospective scheme to aid Britons injured in Bali, Egypt and Mumbai

    Ned Temko
    The Observer, Sunday 9 August 2009

    logo_observer

    Facing warnings of a “Gurkha-scale” policy misjudgment, Gordon Brown has set aside a cabinet decision to deny financial help to dozens of British victims of terrorist attacks overseas.

    Overruling his senior ministers, the prime minister was said last night to be considering the possibility of a “retrospective” scheme to cover more than 200 Britons injured or killed by terrorists in Bali, Turkey, Egypt and Mumbai.

    As a result of a legal loophole Tony Blair pledged to close in 2005, British citizens targeted in terrorist attacks abroad have been denied payouts from a scheme put in place after the 7/7 London bombings for domestic victims.

    For those such as 29-year-old Will Pike, who suffered crippling injuries in Mumbai, this has meant the prospect of life in a wheelchair with the maximum of £15,000 help from a Red Cross emergency fund.

    A committee of senior ministers – including the home, foreign and justice secretaries – finally decided last month to close the compensation loophole, but unanimously rejected making the scheme retrospective, deciding that the price tag could be too high.

    Last night a Downing Street spokesman confirmed the decision to set up a “fantastic compensation scheme” for victims of future attacks. He made it clear that the prime minister had not accepted the decision to rule out covering existing victims. “We are still considering whether it is going to be retrospective,” he said.

    The rethink came amid signs of anger among victims and their families over the decision to cover only future terrorist attacks. Labour MP Ian McCartney said the families’ “sense of abandonment” was understandable. “It is like the Gurkhas,” he added. “The government has done the right thing by agreeing to a compensation scheme, but unless the scheme is retrospective, it will still be justice denied.”

    Trevor Lakin, whose son Jeremy was killed in the 2005 terrorist attack in Sharm el-Sheikh and has been a leading campaigner for other victims, also said the decision was perverse and “unjust”.

    Lakin’s insistence that he personally does not want compensation has been cited by at least one minister in defence of the decision not to make the package retrospective. But he said this was a gross misunderstanding of his position. “I have said the only compensation that would make any difference to my own family – to bring Jeremy back – is beyond the government’s ability to provide.”

    But he said that the government had a responsibility to many other victims in “real need” of support: “The reason that the government has finally decided to help future victims is that they have looked at the current victims and said, ‘These people need help’.”

    Source:  www.guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2009

  • Is Obama Recruiting Citizen Spies

    Is Obama Recruiting Citizen Spies

    Can the unthinkable actually be happening? Is the Obama Administration employing Stalinist tactics of thuggery and intimidation against average Americans who oppose ObamaCare?

    Consider the following incident.

    When Barack Hussein Obama rolled into town for his – by invitation only – town hall meeting in Bristol Virginia, average citizens, desperate to make their voices heard, gathered on sidewalks and curbs along the route of Obama’s motorcade holding homemade signs opposing ObamaCare.

    One of the peaceful citizen protesters sent this shocking eyewitness report to the Internet blog, TheGatewayPundit.com:

    “There were several vehicles following the limo that contained the secret service. The vehicles had all the windows rolled down, and back hatches open on the SUVs with the men holding their, I assume assault rifles, machine guns, drawn on everyone lining the streets. Needless to say, it took my breath away at the sight of them, and made my friends and I dizzy with fear…. I turned on a local talk radio program as we were leaving and all the calls were about witnessing the guns being pointed at them.”

    Of course, we don’t want to jump to any conclusions. There might have been a legitimate reason behind what appears to otherwise be an excessive show of force… we simply don’t know.

    But even if the intent of the Obama Administration was not to oppressively stifle 1st Amendment rights… the message that was left is nonetheless chilling.

    Rosslyn Smith with AmericanThinker.com put the incident in perspective:

    “Whatever it was, the message was poison. Only handpicked supporters were going to get into the carefully orchestrated media event at a Kroger deli that had Obama jetting in and out of the community. That all those who were left to peacefully demonstrate outside had been held at gunpoint is not going to be forgotten anytime soon by those in attendance.”

    Thuggery? … Veiled threat? … Paranoia on the part of Team Obama? … Legitimate and necessary safeguards to protect the life of the President against a real threat?

    We may never know.

    But there is one thing that we do know.  Proponents of ObamaCare are showing a detestable contempt for the American people.

    They don’t want to hear from you. They don’t want to hear what you have to say when it comes to the government takeover of the health care system and they don’t care what you have to say.

    Essentially, they are trying to tune you out.

    But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can make them listen… right here and right now.

    Use the hyperlink below and send Barack Obama and each and every member of the Republican and Democratic Leadership of the House and the Senate messages that have a powerful and real impact.

    Flood their fax machines. Tell them that Americans want no part of ObamaCare and that attempts to ignore or ridicule or marginalize or dismiss the majority of Americans who oppose the government takeover of health care will only make a bad situation worse and place their political futures in peril.

    Remind them that they work for the American people. Remind them that the American people are their employers, not their serfs. And finally, demand that they cease-and-desist their callous tactics and abandon ObamaCare once and for all.

    Union Thuggery… Maoist Moms… Or Making Mountains Out Of Molehills?

    On Thursday, the left-wing Huffington Post published an article, “Unions To Take On Conservative Groups Health Care Town Hall.”

    “The nation’s largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess.”

    “In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined the blueprint for how the union conglomerate would step up recess activities on health care reform and other topics pertinent to the labor community. The document makes clear that Obama allies view the town hall forums as ground zero of the health care debate. … ‘The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts,’ reads the memo.”

    “Directly engage?” … “ground zero?” … “principal battleground?”

    We can only hope that Sweeney is talking about pristine political activity.

    But there’s something else.

    A video posting by Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, on the White House blog on Tuesday has people wondering….

    Is the Obama Administration recruiting Maoist Moms? Is Big Brother recruiting people to spy on their friends and neighbors?

    “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to [email protected].”

    Of course, what really makes Douglass’ posting downright scary is the fact that no one is spreading any “disinformation” when it comes to Obama’s so called “health care reform.”

    Douglass says: “For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them.”

    But what Obama says and what is spelled out (in black-and-white) in the so-called “health care reform” legislation making its way through Congress are diametrically opposed.

    To put it bluntly… Barack Hussein Obama is telling a whopper… a big one… and the response of the White House is to encourage their liberal shock-troops to report people who are telling the truth when it comes to ObamaCare?

    That’s the stuff that nightmares are made of.

    Are these incidents molehills or mountains… coincidences or well-thought-out attempts to suppress your 1st Amendment rights?

    We can at least say this; the proponents of ObamaCare are showing extreme – almost surreal – contempt for the American people.

    They don’t care what you want… they don’t care what you think.

    But you can force them to listen. You can flood the fax machines of our elected officials… it’s a message they cannot ignore.

    And now is the time to act because ObamaCare will radically change your live… it will radically change the lives of your children and grandchildren… speak up now or forever hold your peace.

    Use the hyperlink below and send Barack Obama and each and every member of the Republican and Democratic Leadership of the House and the Senate messages that have a powerful and real impact.

    Flood their fax machines. Tell them that Americans want no part of ObamaCare and that attempts to ignore or ridicule or marginalize or dismiss the majority of Americans who oppose the government takeover of health care will only make a bad situation worse and place their political futures in peril.

    Remind them that they work for the American people. Remind them that the American people are their employers, not their serfs. And finally, demand that they cease-and-desist their callous tactics and abandon ObamaCare once and for all.

    Extreme Malice Directed Against The American People Or Depraved Indifference…?

    At this point there is no telling just how far the extreme-left will go in its quest to ram ObamaCare down the throats of the American people.

    But there can be no doubt that Obama and Nancy Pelosi and their minions are willing to play dirty.

    And we’re not talking about playing hard-ball with the political opposition… we’re talking about political hard-ball waged against average Americans… the people they are sworn to serve.

    No lie is too great… no tactic is too under-handed.

    In California, seven retirees who were deeply concerned about health care went to Senator Diane Feinstein’s West Los Angeles office wanting to speak with her.

    Instead of welcoming the seniors, Feinstein’s office called the police.

    Senior Citizens a threat? Right.

    Nancy Pelosi recently had this to say of hard-working American taxpaying citizens who have actually taken the time to speak out against ObamaCare.

    “They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare.”

    Uh… Madame Speaker… we hate to break this to you… but if people were indeed carrying handmade signs with swastikas… it’s not because they were advocating the atrocities committed by the NAZIs… it’s because they were comparing the tactics of the proponents or ObamaCare to the tactics of the NAZIs.

    Perhaps, the analogy goes too far, but average citizens do have the right to express an opinion.

    Maybe this is one of those times that Pelosi should ask the question that good liberals typically ask when confronted by enemies of the United States… “What could we have done to make them so mad at us.”

    Or does Pelosi consider enemies of the United States to be her friends and patriotic Americans to be her enemies?

    But here’s the icing on the cake… elected officials are now actively attempting to cut the lines of communication with the American public.

    According to CNS News, some Members of Congress, are now holding their town hall meetings by telephone in an attempt to avoid “angry and persistent questioners.”

    And one Congressman, Brad Miller (D-NC), has cancelled town hall meetings altogether.

    Expect more Members of Congress to follow suit.

    They may not want to hear from you but you can do something to make them hear you loud and clear right now.

    Use the hyperlink below and send Barack Obama and each and every member of the Republican and Democratic Leadership of the House and the Senate messages that have a powerful and real impact.

    Flood their fax machines. Tell them that Americans want no part of ObamaCare and that attempts to ignore or ridicule or marginalize or dismiss the majority of Americans who oppose the government takeover of health care will only make a bad situation worse and place their political futures in peril.

    Remind them that they work for the American people. Remind them that the American people are their employers, not their serfs. And finally, demand that they cease-and-desist their callous tactics and abandon ObamaCare once and for all.

    Alice In Obamaland: Spontaneous Opposition Is “Manufactured” and Rent-A-Mob Protests Are Spontaneous.

    Americans are starting to feel like Alice plummeting down the rabbit-hole.

    For the first time in a good long while, average Americans, many who have never been politically involved before (small business owners… mothers… retirees), are taking part in the political process and are desperately trying to make their views known to our elected officials in Washington.

    It’s a largely spontaneous movement – complete with homemade signs – and yet, some of these extremely liberal proponents of ObamaCare are actually pointing fingers at boogie men that don’t exist… claiming that public indignation has been “manufactured.”

    White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

    “[T]here are groups that spread out people across the country to get people to go [to] these things and to specifically generate videos that can be posted on the Internet so that people can watch.”

    “Manufactured” opposition…. “Groups that spread out people across the country?” It’s a fairy-tale… the latest liberal talking point.

    It’s also hugely ironic when you consider that the left has traditionally relied on “community activist groups” like ACORN, labor unions and “rent-a-mobs” for years.

    Bussing in protesters is Standard Operating Procedure for leftist organizations. Leftist organizations employee people full-time for the express purpose of rounding-up warm bodies.

    Liberal organizations (Greenpeace is just one example) maintain “training camps” for liberal activists.

    And Obama knows that… he was a “community organizer” for years.

    But now that average Americans are now taking part in the political process, liberals have the audacity to claim that these protests are being “manufactured” and “engineered?”

    Who are they trying to fool?

    The hypocrisy is staggering.

    Of course the bottom line is that some of our elected officials just don’t want to listen.

    You can make them listen… right now.

    Unless, of course, you fear that exercising your 1st Amendment rights might be construed to be “manufactured opposition.”

    Use the hyperlink below and send Barack Obama and each and every member of the Republican and Democratic Leadership of the House and the Senate messages that have a powerful and real impact.

    Flood their fax machines. Tell them that Americans want no part of ObamaCare and that attempts to ignore or ridicule or marginalize or dismiss the majority of Americans who oppose the government takeover of health care will only make a bad situation worse and place their political futures in peril.

    Remind them that they work for the American people. Remind them that the American people are their employers, not their serfs. And finally, demand that they cease-and-desist their callous tactics and abandon ObamaCare once and for all.

    Liberal Denial-Of-Reality Is The Disease. You Are The Cure.

    And just how far does liberal denial-of-reality on ObamaCare go? Just how deep is the rabbit-hole?

    Speaking on ObamaCare, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered this delusion to CNS News:

    “The American people favor what we’re doing by almost a 70 percent margin.”

    Not reading legislation is bad enough but it’s obvious Reid isn’t reading polls either.

    According to FOX News, a whopping 86% of Americans are satisfied with their current health care and according to Rasmussen, a majority of Americans now oppose ObamaCare and the number is rapidly climbing.

    And while we’re on the subject of denying reality, let’s take another look at Douglass’ posting to the White House blog mentioned earlier?

    “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.”

    “Rumors?” “Disinformation?”

    “End of life care” … “control of your finances” … “the eradication of your private insurance” … Those issues are specifically addressed in the 1019 page monster of a bill… legislation that Obama has – by his own admission – not read.

    Do you think that if Obama would actually read the legislation, the White House would change its tune?

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

    CNS News again:

    “Asked if the president would read the 1,000-plus health care bill, [White House Press Secretary Robert] Gibbs said ‘I assume the president will study the details of the proposal, and will be – he’s a highly informed individual.’”

    “The reporter followed, ‘But he won’t take time to read it front to back?’ Gibbs responded, ‘I don’t know what his vacation plans are currently.’”

    It’s the epitome of arrogance. ObamaCare will radically change our lives and our future and Obama won’t even take the time to read the legislation.

    Then to add insult to injury, the White House claims that provisions specifically addressed in the legislation – in black-and-white – aren’t actually there… just “rumors” and “disinformation.”

    So why, in the name of all that is holy, is the White House sending our a directive soliciting others to report those who are speaking the truth about this legislation.

    What does that sound like to you? I know what it sounds like to us.

    And it must be stopped.

    Use the hyperlink below and send Barack Obama and each and every member of the Republican and Democratic Leadership of the House and the Senate messages that have a powerful and real impact.

    Flood their fax machines. Tell them that Americans want no part of ObamaCare and that attempts to ignore or ridicule or marginalize or dismiss the majority of Americans who oppose the government takeover of health care will only make a bad situation worse and place their political futures in peril.

    Remind them that they work for the American people. Remind them that the American people are their employers, not their serfs. And finally, demand that they cease-and-desist their callous tactics and abandon ObamaCare once and for all.

    Floyd Brown

    ExposeObama.com

    P.S. Even if you can not join us in this effort right now, you can still help us expose Barack Hussein Obama by sending this e-mail to at least 10 of your friends.

  • Ambassador Kamuran Gürün passed away

    Ambassador Kamuran Gürün passed away


    ERMENI SORUNUNDA SON DERECE DETAYLI ARASTIRMALARI YAPAN VE PEK COGUMUZUN KULLANDIGI BILGILERI DEVSIREN SAYIN KAMURAN GURUN’UN ONUNDE HURMETLE EGILIR VE MEKANININ CENNET OLMASINI YUCE TANRIDAN DILERIZ

    DR. KAYAALP BUYUKATAMAN

    BASKAN, TURKISH FORUM

    KAMURAN GURUN

    By Gunduz Aktan

    Ambassador Gurun has sadly passed away. With his exemplary career and his abiding influence, undoubtedly he was one of the pillars to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his generation, and ours.

    He was my first ambassador at my first post abroad, namely, the Turkish delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He arrived in mid-1970 from Bucharest, his first ambassadorial post. He was then barely 50-years-of-age. We were taking over economic representation from the Ministry of Finance, which had snatched them from us in the heat of the May 27 coup. Naturally, our colleagues from that ministry had been somewhat restless. They were afraid that the new ambassador would seek revenge.

    None of their fears materialized. He was an ambassador of all and for all. He treated everybody equally. Indeed, they were better off than us as they were treated as our guests. His convictions were deeply conservative, yet he was open-minded and liberal towards his staff. The first thing he did was to liberalize working hours. People were free to-come-and-go. They were responsible only for the work they did.

    I served for two years as his assistant at the Council and Executive committee meetings. I used to prepare his file by collecting information sheets from those who were in charge of the committees, together with the documents of the agenda. He used to receive a-half-hour briefing, either from me or a much longer one from others, depending on importance.

    He used to read fast, indeed, there was a rumor that he understood diagonal reading. He quickly grasped the gist of the matter and he hated verbiage. Yet I remember no one whose sermon was interrupted in staff meetings. Instead, our own show of impatience had been the subject of rebuke. For him, one ought to realize one’s own mistakes.

    He was laconic. He used to speak in a low voice with an anxious countenance, yet he was outspoken. He addressed the council the same way as he conversed with individuals. Although his French was very good, he never tried to pronounce like the French. He used to tease those who were infatuated with public address.

    Turkey was the poorest OECD member. It was there mainly due to being a member of NATO, in other words, for geo-strategic reasons. Our contribution to debates and to the work of the organization was constrained by this situation. Soon he felt frustrated and wanted an important bilateral post — and Athens was being vacated.

    While there an unfortunate event occured. While he was with Greek friends on a yacht in the Adriatic Sea, the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus began, he was later blamed for the consequences. Furthermore, he was accused of asking for permission to burn classified correspondence in case of an outbreak of war between Turkey and Greece. Those who were weary with his renowned courage took advantage of the situation and depicted him as a coward.

    Back in Ankara the illustrious part of his career seemed at an end, yet destiny had something new for him. The Sept. 12 administration made him secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As expected, he did not condescend to avenge anybody. He tried hard to save the ministry from possible damage from the personnel reform carried out by the then administration. He was all alone in this enterprise. The traditional title of secretary-general was abolished and replaced by under-secretary, formally undermining the privileged status of the ministry when compared to others. The corresponding level of minister counselor was also lowered from director-general to assistant director-general. Such was the interpretation of the day, the military apparently wanted to have a unique position in the State structure, shunning the rivalry of the ministry.

    Once again frustrated, he was seemingly dispatched as ambassador to our embassy in Bonn, West Germany. However, they committed another mistake by not asking for his prior agreement. He refused and left the government service.

    Nevertheless, along with his heavy work-load as secretary-general, he achieved the unachievable; he wrote a book on the Armenian question, prompted by the Armenian murders of Turkish diplomats. A long-awaited response by Turkey to the Armenian allegations, the book entitled “Armenian File” treated the subject fairly and humanely, while shattering the genocide myth.

    Upon retirement, he wrote columns in newspapers. As was his style, they were simple, curt and to the point. I guess he had few readers, but that would not have been his concern in the least. He was one of the few ambassadors who wrote history rather than patchy anecdotes about our strange career. In his magnum opus, a trilogy on Turkish foreign policy, he was scholarly, but never intellectual.

    Above all, he was a man of integrity and honesty; rare commodities of our time.

    Together with Mrs. Gencay Gurun, who was a former diplomat herself, they made a formidable couple representing a misrepresented country.

    July 20, 2004

    By Denis Ojalvo

    The protagonist of Turkish-Jewish ties in the post 1980 military intervention era, former Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Kamuran Gürün passed away.
    By Denis Ojalvo

    In July 1980, Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital. In August, the Turkish government suspended the activities of its General Consulate in that city.
    On the 12th of September 1980, the Turkish army took control of the state in order to prevent an imminent civil war which, was about to be triggered by the daily clashes of left and rightwing militants.
    The National Security Council (NSC) consisting of the top military establishment of Turkey, appointed Ambassador Ilter Türkmen as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Kamuran Gürün as his undersecretary.

    In his book titled Tumultuous Years – memoirs of an Undersecretary published in 1995, Ambassador Gürün provides his readers with first hand and most authoritative information regarding the debut of Turkey’s ties with the American Jewish Establishment.

    Since the assassination of its diplomats by an Armenian avenger in Los Angeles in 1973, the Turkish foreign policy making has been under the mortgage of genocide allegations by the Armenian Diaspora who has been pressing for the recognition as such, of the mass deportations and killings of Armenians which took place in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Anatolian provinces.

    On the 15th of July 1974, The Greek Cypriot national Guards led by Nikos Sampson, made a coup in order to annex the island to Greece. This prompted an intervention by the Turkish military on the 19th of July, which lasted until the 22nd. Having obtained no tangible result, The Turkish military made a second landing on the 14th of August and took control of the northern part of the island.

    The Greek Americans mobilized their lobbying skills in order to drive the Turkish forces out of the island. By the same token, the Armenians jumped in the wagon and together with the Greek Lobby formed one of the most formidable Anti-Turkish fronts thwarting all American congressional resolutions regarding Turkey.

    Turkey’s efforts to deal with this phenomenon by enlisting the support of the Jewish Lobby date back to 1974 when the Governor of Istanbul Mr. Vefa Poyraz, upon instructions received from the government, established contact with the notables of the Turkish Jewish community and asked them to take part in Turkey’s efforts to explain the reasons of Turkey’s intervention in Cyprus.

    In the mean time on the 17th and 18th of December 1974, the Greek Lobby managed to have both the Congress and Senate vote a resolution on an arms embargo on Turkey. This resolution was effective as per the 5th of February 1975.

    The Armenian Lobby took advantage of the conjuncture and managed to have the Congress and Senate pass joint Resolution No. 148 on the 9th of April, designing April 24, 1975, as “National Day of Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man”.

    Jak kamhi and Fred Burla, two Jewish industrialists took part in the task force sponsored by the Turkish Industrialists Union which visited the USA on 6-16 September 1975 for lobbying against the arms embargo.

    Below is a summary of Ambassador Gürün’s contacts with The Jewish Lobby and the involvement of Turkish Jews in Turkey’s lobbying efforts, as reported in his previously mentioned memoirs.

    When he took office as under-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gürün inherited an even bleaker situation owing to the fact that on top of Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus and Armenian Genocide allegations, he had to advocate the legitimacy of the newly established military regime in Turkey.

    Ambassador Gürün was seeking the support of the West against the raging Armenian terrorism which, in a span of 11 years from 1973 to 1984 claimed the lives of 41 Turkish diplomats and consular staff. In that scope, he thought that it was important to organize the Turkish Diaspora, especially the one in the USA, and establish a Turkish lobby which would explain to the world public opinion Turkey’s points of view on the afore mentioned subjects.

    Following the military intervention of September 12th 1980, Mordo Dinar, a Turkish lawyer and member of the Turkish Jewish community, contacted Ambassador Gürün in Ankara on his own initiative and proposed to organize meetings with the press and the audio-visual media. Ambassador Gürün contacted the Turkish Ambassador Adnan Bulak in Paris and asked him to cooperate with Mordo Dinar.

    Mordo Dinar who covered his own expenses, managed to block the broadcasting of certain French Television programs which, were unfavorable to Turkey. He was present during all meetings with the members of the Jewish Lobby, the following year in New York.

    According To Ambassador Gürün, Mordo Dinar and Jak Kamhi have been the first two persons with whom The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated in order to explain the Turkish point of view especially in France and the USA, in order to forestall the adverse currents regarding Turkey.

    Jak Kamhi was the person who found the lawyer who represented Turkey in the case of the Orly Massacre perpetrated by Armenian terrorists.

    Ambassador Gürün established that the center of the Anti-Turkish activities sponsored by the Armenians was the American Congress in Washington. And that the Armenians were trying to enlist the Jewish Lobby to back their efforts.

    It was again, Jak Kamhi who through the Turkish Jewish and the American Jewish Communities, prevented the Armenians from taking part in the Holocaust Museum and who fulfilled an important role in the establishment of a Task Force of non-governmental prominent figures.

    Few people know the unforgettable services rendered by these two friends of ours.

    Mordo Dinar and Jak Kamhi deserve a great “Thank You”.

    On the 12th of February 1982 a delegation of the Jewish Community in Turkey led by the Chief Rabbi David Asseo and whose participants were Jak Kamhi, Jak Veissid and Eliezer Kohen visited the Head of the State General Evren.

    Ambassador Gürün prepared a report for the NSC meeting which, had to take place on the 18th of March 1982. One of the topics on the agenda was whether to allow the Jews of Turkey to participate to international Jewish gatherings. It was judged that the Turkish Jews provided proof they could lobby on behalf of Turkey in those forums. The head of State, General Evren, opened the matter for discussion. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ilter Turkmen opposed the granting of a permission to Turkish Jews to participate to the meetings of the World Jewish Congress on the grounds that this would harm the relations between Turkey and the Arabs.

    Ambassador Gürün paid a visit to General Evren on the 24th of March 1982, before traveling to the USA where he was to meet with Jewish organizations. It was agreed between the two that his contacts would be kept secret for the time being. In his meetings with Jewish Organizations, Ambassador Gürün emphasized Turkey’s will to cooperate with these against terrorism and informed them on the allegations of Genocide made by the Armenians and their efforts to hide behind Jewish organizations. The Jewish organizations asserted that they would not contest historic events, but that they were ready to back Turkey and cooperate against terrorism.

    Mordo Dinar had a meeting organized by the vice-president of the International Law Society, Mr. Seymour Rubin (a Jew) where columnists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Foreign Policy as well as commentators of the TV chain CBS participated along with specialists of the Middle east Institute. That meeting provided Ambassador Gürün with the opportunity to answer many questions regarding Turkey and its foreign policy, including the Armenian issue.

    Following Ambassador Gürün’s journey which lasted until the 1st of May, on the 21st, took place a meeting of the NSC where General Evren asked whether it was appropriate to allow Turkish Jews to participate in World Jewry’s meetings. This time the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Ilter Türkmen) did not oppose and General Evren gave the necessary instructions to the office of the Prime Minister who in its turn instructed the Governor of Istanbul accordingly on the 27th of May 1982.

    After the meeting, some participants asked the minister why he denied that permission during the previous meeting. The minister replied that he was opposed to contacts with the Jewish Lobby.

    Ambassador Gürün emphasized that the existential question Turks have to ask themselves is who would take advantage and who would be harmed by the weakening or dismemberment of Turkey? He points that in the setting of those days it would be difficult to assume that Russia, Bulgaria,Greece, Syria and Iraq would care. That Iran, Saudi Arabia and Jordan would be indifferent.

    The ones that would be nervous and unwilling to see Turkey weaken would be the USA and as strange as that may seem, Israel. Therefore, Ambassador Gürün suggested a NSC meeting to be convened in order to determine the interests of Turkey and fix the principal guidelines of its foreign policy.

    Ambassador Gürün pointed on two means for handling the Armenian Question, and the Kurdish Question when this one is likely to manifest itself. These are:

    1- To fulfill all of Turkey’s necessary obligations at the national level

    2- Given that Turkey is unable to achieve its goals all alone, to seek partners which share the same perspective and goals with Turkey at the conceptual and operational levels.
    He concluded that the only natural ally against the powerful Greek and Armenian Lobbies is the (American) Jewish Lobby.
    Under the given circumstances, taking advantage of the Jewish Lobby becomes a matter of national interest. Turkey cannot sit and watch, given the danger of dismemberment, just not to offend the Arabs. The interests of Turkey take precedence above any other thing.

    Ambassador Gürün pointed to the fact that the American Congress is abundant of Anti-Turkey propaganda and that if Turkey antagonized with the Jewish Lobby, not one decision favorable to Turkey would pass the Congress.

    He remarked that the Jewish Lobby was able to assert its will on the German Government, provide anxiety to the French, and fight with the Russian. In his opinion, what makes things move is not Israel but the Jewish Lobby. Turkey doesn’t need to contact this lobby officially to enlist its support. This could easily be done by Turkish Citizens (Turkish Jews). That is the reason why Ambassador Gürün has been in favor of allowing the representatives of the Turkish Jewish Community participate to the meetings of the World Jewish Congress.

    On the other hand, the Ministry reprimanded Turkish Americans for criticizing with an advertisement a plot against Israeli diplomats drawing parallels to plots perpetrated by Armenian terrorists against Turkish Diplomats. Ambassador Gürün thought that this reprimand by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was misplaced.

    On the 5th of May 1982, Ambassador Gürün submitted the NSC a report of 61 pages regarding his contacts abroad. He was received by the Head of State and told by the Secretary General of the NSC, General Necdet Urug, that all his oral and written suggestions were agreed with. His suggestions would be discussed in a meeting of the NSC to which would participate Ambassadors Sukru Elekdag of Washington, Coskun Kirca of New York and Adnan Bulak of Paris. The NSC meeting took place on the 21st of May 1982 and Ambassador Gürün read the “Reflections and remarks” part of his report. Ambassador Elekdag underlined the importance of the Jewish Lobby and stressed the necessity of establishing contacts with that lobby and the Israeli ambassador. Thus, Ambassador Gürün became aware of existing restrictive instructions on this subject. Ambassador Coskun Kirca mentioned Arab countries’ attitudes vis-à-vis Turkey at the United Nations and stressed the importance of the Jewish Lobby. In conclusion, the Head of State affirmed that it was in Turkey’s interest to take advantage of the Jewish Lobby.

    In his meeting with General Urug (Secretary General of the NSC), the latter told Ambassador Gürün that nobody until then thought about organizing a Task Force (consisting of non-governmental prominent figures) and lobbying organizations, and that if he could institutionalize this subject, he would have rendered the country a big service. General Urug requested Ambassador Gürün to commit himself to this task meticulously.

    Ambassador Gürün was received by the Head of State on the 8th of September 1982. In that meeting, he informed the latter of his divergences of opinion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ilter Türkmen, which caused communication problems.

    These were:

    1- That the Minister of Foreign Affairs opined that the Head of State should take part at the Islamic Conference without the presence of Ambassador Gürün.

    2- That the Minister of Foreign Affairs thought that Turkey’s relations with Israel should be suspended, whereas Ambassador Gürün was against such a measure.

    3- That the Minister of Foreign Affairs was against a cooperation with the Jewish Lobby, but that Ambassador Gürün was in favor of such relations.

    4- That since Ambassador Gürün’s points of view were met favorably (by the NSC), the Minister ceased discussing those points with him.
    In conclusion, we know that the points of view of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ilter Türkmen prevailed on those of Ambassador Gürün and that his endeavours did not come to fruition during his tenure as undersecretary of state.

    However, that policy would change with the accession of Prime Minister Turgut Özal to power on the 13th of December 1983.

    From 1984 onwards, the relations between Turkey and the Jewish Lobby were nurtured. The culmination of the mutual efforts to enhance cooperation between the parties was the celebration of the Quincentennial (in 1992) of the welcoming of Spanish Jews who were expulsed from their country, in Turkish lands.

    The Turkish Jewish Community contributed its share to those relations with the blessing of consecutive American governments since then.

    Those relations led to a strategic partnership between Turkey and Israel in 1996.

    Both the Turkish and Israeli governments should not spare their efforts for safeguarding that precious relationship which took so much toil to achieve.

    We respectfully bow in front of the memory of this outstanding diplomat with exceptional foresight, H.E. Ambassador Gürün, the protagonist of renewed Turkish-Jewish ties, and send our condolences to his loved ones.
    Denis Ojalvo

  • Turkish POW Treatment by the British

    Turkish POW Treatment by the British

    Katran Kazaninda Sterilize book cover

    CLAIM 1
    From the book “Katran KazanInda Sterilize” (“Sterilized in Tar
    Cauldron”) by Imge Publications, written by Ahmet Duru who revealed
    the diary of the sub-lieutenant Ahmet Altinay from Karaman…

    “In WWI, 150 thousand of our soldiers were captured by the British.
    And some of these soldiers were imprisoned in Seydibesir Useray-i
    Harbiye Camp  near the city of Alexandria in Egypt. The full name of
    the camp was “Seydibesir Kuveysna Osmanli Useray-i Harbiye (4) Kampi”.
    In this camp, the Ottoman soldiers of 16th Division’s 48th Regiment
    who were captured at the Palestine fronts in 1918 were interned. For
    two years until June 12th, 1920, they were subjected to any kind of
    torture, oppression, heavy insults and humiliation.

    The reason for this inhumane treatment was the Armenians. The war was
    over. Nevertheless, to release the soldiers besides the ones who died
    because of heavy conditions in the camp was not to the benefit of the
    British. Because the British were brainwashed by Armenians, being told
    that in a potential new war they could come up against these soldiers
    again. The solution was massacre…
    Our soldiers, forced by bayonets, were put in disinfection pools with
    the excuse of wiping out germs. But the chemical, krizol, was added a
    lot more than normal in the water. Even just when they put their feet,
    our soldiers got scalded. However, the British troops didn’t let them
    get out of the pool by threatening with rifles.

    Turkish POWs, 1917

    Our soldiers didn’t want to put their heads under the water that
    reached waist level. But then the British started shooting in the air.
    Our soldiers knelt and put their heads under water not to die.
    But the ones who got their heads out of the water couldn’t see any
    more. Because the eyes were burned…The resistance of our soldiers who
    saw what happened to the ones that got out was no use and our 15
    thousand men got blinded.

    This savagery was discussed in May 25th, 1921, in the Turkish Great
    National Assembly. The congressmen Mr. Faik and Mr. Seref proposed
    that 15 thousand sons of this country were blinded in Egypt by being
    put in the “krizol” pool; and wanted the Assembly to make an attempt
    for punishment of the British physicians, commanders and soldiers who
    were guilty of this act.

    Of course the newly founded government had a thousand other problems.
    Demanding an explanation for this act was easily forgotten.

    The British commanders of the camp, because of the wrong, mendacious
    translations and provocations of Armenian translators who knew
    Turkish, had become fierce Turk enemies.

    COUNTER CLAIM
    The British run PoW camps in Egypt were regularly inspected by the
    diplomatic representatives of neutral countries and by the
    International Committee of the Red Cross
    Sidi Bishr Camp (Seydibesir Useray-i Harbiye Camp) was visited on 6th
    January 1917 and the report on that visit can be read in chapter 7,
    here
    Bryn

    CLAIM 2
    The other claim made by Yücel Yanıkdağ in his unpublished PhD thesis
    Ill-fated Sons of the Nation: Ottoman Prisoners of War in Russia and
    Egypt, 1914-1922 makes the claim that the British authorities
    deliberately infected Turkish POWs with Pellagra. This particular
    story is also doing the rounds of the “British plot to kill Turks
    inspired by Armenian” circuit and has equal credibility.

    COUNTER CLAIM
    The nub of the Pellagra claim is that the British deliberately singled
    out the Turks for ill treatment by inadequate diet leading to the
    ex-POWs having the highest death rate from Pellagra amongst all the
    other prisoners. On the basis of the death rate, it was concluded that
    Pellagra was a deliberate policy. That Turkish POWs died in great
    numbers from Pellagra is well documented in British sources. However,
    this churlish complaint does not mention that Pellagra takes 5-6 years
    to manifest itself into a fatal condition. No Turkish POW spent that
    long in their incarceration leading to the conclusion that these men
    suffered from Pellagra prior to becoming a POW. It wasn’t until the
    mid 1920’s that it was discovered that Pellagra was due to dietary
    problems.

    CLAIM 3
    Cholera  at Berramke Barracks in Damascus  was deliberate to kill Turks.

    COUNTER CLAIM
    A search of the Australian archives – every single available file
    relating to POWs is very much available and they provide information
    with the good and the bad. Nothing is covered up. The worst case
    regarded the 12,000 Ottoman soldiers who surrendered at the Berramke
    Barracks in Damascus after its fall on 1 October 1918. These men were
    deserted by their own support teams and left to fend for themselves
    without any resources with neither food nor medicines. After a few
    days being held as POWs, cholera broke out amongst this group. Over a
    two week period many hundreds of men died through cholera, the worst
    day recording over 150 deaths. By dint of hard work, the POWs were put
    to work to provide a satisfactory sanitation and drinking water
    system. Some men had to be coerced into working towards the common
    good. The result – cholera was brought under control. The deaths from
    cholera did not only effect the Turks but also the Australian, Indian,
    French and British soldiers in the area with many of these troops also
    dying.

    So the cholera outbreak at Damascus was not a sinister British plot to
    kill Turks, it was a problem brought on by the neglect of the Turkish
    command for the health of their soldiers and citizens in Damascus. The
    ordinary soldier in both the Allied forces and the Turkish army paid a
    high price for this neglect.

  • The call of the pipes: Putin in Turkey

    The call of the pipes: Putin in Turkey

    15:48 07/08/2009

    MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) – Things are now so mixed up in the pipe and gas business that it is difficult to see where pipes begin and politics ends.

    Vladimir Putin’s one-day visit to Ankara was balanced on precisely such pipe and politics considerations. Plus the peaceful atom: Russia will now be building for Turkey its first nuclear power plant near Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast.

    To judge from the scale and trend of the documents signed, Ankara will soon turn into a huge energy-handling hub between Russia and the European Union in the southern sector. Now in the north we have Germany and Nord Stream, and in the south, Turkey and South Stream. Two friendships, Nordic and Ottoman.

    Turkey has long been a regional heavyweight, and Porte’s added “gas weight” will only strengthen it in this role. In recent years Ankara has been increasingly urging Russia to join in a regional forum it conceived for solving crucial Caucasian issues.

    The Caucasus war greatly puzzled Ankara, which has close economic ties both with Georgia and Russia. As a NATO country, Turkey “quietly” supported Georgia, to which it sent its military instructors and is now supplying equipment. But Turkey does not want to lose, let alone reduce or weaken, its ties with Russia either, especially in the current hard economic times. After all, Moscow satisfies 64% of Turkey’s requirements in gas, and can deliver even more.

    If that is not enough, let us bear in mind that more than one million Russians visit Mediterranean Turkish resorts every year, leaving more than $1.42 billion there. Moscow is Turkey’s top foreign economic partner – last year Turkey’s trade with Russia totaled $38 billion. In the next four years, Ankara hopes to bring the figure to $100 billion. One should not mess about with such things.

    By offering itself as a regional platform for settling Russia’s “Caucasian problems,” Ankara is perfectly aware that the Kremlin will not conduct parleys with Mikheil Saakashvili.

    But the Turks, offering their mediating services, very much hope to get Russia’s help in an area where such help cannot be dispensed with: That is a settlement in Nagorny Karabakh and normalization of relations with Armenia. In its turn, this means the involvement of Azerbaijan, which Turkey is also proposing to include, “on the kinship principle,” in the membership of the Caucasian regional forum. Unless the Nagorny Karabakh issue is settled, Turkey will be unable to normalize its relations with Armenia.

    Turkey is being prodded in the same direction by the European Union, or rather Turkey’s hope for admission to the EU (one of Brussels’ conditions is settlement of relations with Armenia), and its own regional economic interests. But the way to a Turkish-Armenian diplomatic thaw is blocked by Azerbaijan, which has long staked out its claim: It will not welcome Turkish diplomatic overtures to Armenia as long as the Nagorny Karabakh issue remains unsolved.

    Only Russia, and this is something everyone realizes, can push Armenia to a softer stance on Nagorny Karabakh. True, Russia will never nudge Armenia to surrender all its interests in Nagorny Karabakh, implying its return to Azerbaijan with broad autonomy rights. That is especially true in the wake of recognizing Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s independence. So, whether we like it or not, our friendship will only thrive on gas, oil and the peaceful atom.

    South Stream will make Russia and its customers less dependent on transit countries, in particular, Ukraine, because Turkey will not be a transit country technically. In 2013, the pipe will transport 63 billion cubic meters of gas. Investments in the project are estimated at 25 billion euros. Contractors are Russia’s Gazprom and Italy’s ENI, acting on a parity basis. In fact, South Stream’s inauguration ceremony was an affair for three: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also arrived for the occasion.

    The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.