He continued on to say:

I think that if we were to come up with specific information that we and the Iraqis would be prepared to do the appropriate thing. And if we had information on them in Turkey, that we would provide that information. So we are determined to work with the Turks in trying to reduce this threat to the Turkish people and the Turkish army

A couple days later after this statement, Deborah Haynes of The Times has updated her blog with pictures and interviews from the PKK terrorist base in Kandil mountains. She also had an article in the newspaper as well.

Hard to see how Mr. Gates expects people to believe US does not have intel on PKK, when journalists can easily go to PKK camps and interview terrorists.

a website that provides news, reviews and its own style of comment within site sections that include everything from memory to microprocessors and channels to consoles.

And it goes on to describe The Inquirer’s editorial philosophy as:

The Inquirer attracts an enormous following of IT experts and the IT channel community through its exclusive blend of news content and delivery. Often breaking exclusives, the team behind the INQUIRER is renowned for expertise in the chip, component and server markets that helps readers purchase products and sell and market their own. The Inquirer meets the needs of users by:

* Keeping up to date with technology announcements
* Helping judge whether future product developments may affect internal IT strategy
* Helping make IT decisions that may affect strategy against competitors

On Friday September 21st, The Inquirer published an article about Youtube being banned in Turkey. The article was written by Nick Farrell. I was shocked to read the article, as the article was very political, referring to Turkey as ‘Kurd murdering nation’. I don’t know what happened, but currently, the article no longer makes that reference, it just says ‘the country’. I have screenshots of the Inquirer article before & after below (click to enlarge the pictures).

I don’t know what’s the deal with Mr. Farrell, but I don’t know why a guy who writes about semiconductors would make such a remark. Talk about prejudice…

After the German parliament passed the law, the Turkish community in Germany had hopes that the law might be prevented from getting presidential approval on the grounds of lack of compliance with constitutional and human rights principles. However, the German President Horst Koehler approved the law and a spokesman for the presidency said that the law does not have any measures that are unconstitutional.

As expected, the Turkish community (some 2.5 million strong now) in Germany were very upset, as the law appears to be targeted to only one ethnic group. Some call this discrimination, others call it racism. The Turkish community is expected to appeal to the European Court on Human rights, on the grounds that the new law is not in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Now, the US government is saying, I quote:

We urge Turkey and the Iraqi government to work closely together. The PKK is a terrorist organization and they’ve killed a lot of innocent civilians in Turkey and they have also engaged the Turkish military, so we understand the concern of the Turkish government. So we’re doing what we can to help them resolve it without resorting to any use of force.

Ironic that this comes from a government, who, in 2003, first tried to gain support for an Iraqi invasion with this:

… and then failed to convince the world, but invaded Iraq anyways -with a still unproven WMD story- and caused 80000 Iraqi civilian deaths and millions of people displaced. US is now “urging” Turkey not to defend herself.

Perhaps instead of bringing a fake vial of anthrax, the Turkish government should bring the dead bodies of 29 soldiers to the UN Security council. Might that be enough to gain UN support? After all, if a fake vial achieved so much…

Meanwhile, many of the terrorists captured dead or alive in the clashes turn out to be armed with American M16 rifles, which were sent to Iraq by the US. Remember the 190000 weapons that were ‘lost’ by the US military?. The US need not be worried as all these rifles are being found by the Turkish military!

Both men insisted that the ruling AKP had signed away Turkey’s right to intervene in Northern Iraq in return for a large amount of money from the US. In the Foreign Ministry’s statement, it was confirmed that an agreement between the US and Turkey had in fact been signed on September 22, 2003, but that there was no stipulation about Turkey not intervening in Northern Iraq in said agreement. Most significantly, the ministry statement did note that the agreement was never implemented, after an assessment that concluded that the Turkish economy’s strength was such that there was no need for financial support from the US as a result of the ongoing intervention into Iraq. Part of the ministry’s statement is as follows:

“An agreement between Turkey and the US that forsaw the negative effect of the US military operation in Iraq on Turkey’s economy, and with an aim to lessen that, and with an aim to support the ongoing Turkish economic reforms, was signed on September 22, 2003 between Turkey and the US. The agreement was for a donation to Turkey of one billion dollars, which could also be turned into 8.5 billion dollars of credit for Turkey. It was never a pre-condition of this agreement that Turkey not intervene single-handedly in Iraq. Turkey never offered any promises regarding not intervening in Iraq as far as this agreement was concerned. In accordance with the agreement, if during the installment payments of the one billion dollars to Turkey, Turkey does in fact engage in a military intervention into Iraq, the US does have the right to shelve the remaining payments of the one billion dollars. To wit, it is a part of the agreement that if in fact Turkey does engage in military intervention, this feature of the agreement, the payment, would be erased.

After the above-mentioned agreement had been signed, it was decided on the basis of the Turkish economy’s peformance, its stability, and its sustainable growth, as well as the structural reforms and positive effects of deep-rooted changes that in fact our country had no need for such financial support, and thus the implementation of this economic support agreement was passed up on. When the Treasury Undersecretary made its decision on this subject, the US side was informed by a formal diplomatic note. And since there was no element of secrecy to this agreement, the Treasury Ministry shared its decisions and statements with the public at the time.”

The Foreign Ministry statement also noted that the agreement referred to was never submitted to the Turkish Parliament for either approval or implementation.

1) USA (432)
2) Germany (55)
3) Russia (53)
4) India (36)
5) UK (29)
6) Turkey (25)
7) Japan (24)
8) Canada (23)
9) Hong Kong (21)
10) Brazil, Spain, China (20)
11) France (15)
12) Saudi Arabia (13)
13) Australia (12)
14) South Korea (10)
15) Mexico (10)

A prominent Turkish newspaper columnist Fatih Cekirge wrote an article today, which was published in Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper. Excerpt below:

US SENATE, INSTEAD OF FACING UP TO A LOBBY, WHY NOT FACE UP TO REALITY?

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is coming together to protest the murder of Hrant Dink. The US Congress, which encompasses the Senate, will also come together to decide on the so-called Armenian genocide bill. And we, seeing this stance from the US Congress, feel that we now have the right to pose the most definitive questions possible at this juncture to the US, which is the most important ally we have had during the history of our Republic.

Now think: one morning in Turkey, I saw the dead, wracked body of the most important name in my profession lying on the street. This was Ugur Mumcu, who was assassinated.

We learned from him how to ask questions….. We learned from him what it was to engage in the honorable work of a journalist, valueing the nation, the flag, and independence while doing so. And then one morning, dark hands took his life right in front of his home…..

Ahmet Taner Kislali….. A man who was a window from this world looking out onto civilizations; they killed him too…..

Cetin Emec…..The legendary lord of the news; they shot him too.

And then there was of course Abdi Ipekci, a great great name whose end came in a chain of darkness that we were never even able to understand; they shot him too.

And then there was the silent hero of information, Bedrettin Comert……he too a victim of murder.

Professor Bahriye Ucok, Professor Muammer Aksoy, and Necip Hablemitoglu…..

But that’s not all; Turan Dursun, Kurdish intellectual Musa Anter, Jewish businessman Jak Kamhi, Ozdemir Sabanci…..

And last of all, Hrant Dink, a man who was shot and silenced because he was a son of this nation, and because he was a journalist.

And now the US Senate is preparing to come together to protest the murder of Hrant Dink.

And so do we not have the right to ask the following?: Why is it that the same commission which is coming together to protest Hrant Dink did not feel the need to do so for the Ugur Mumcus, the Kislalis, the Emeces, the Ipekcis and the Comerts of Turkey?

And more importantly…..our country has lost 35 thousand fighting men in the name of Turkey…..why is it that our ally from Korea to Afghanistan, from Bosnia to Somalia, has never seen fit to offer condolences? We ask then what exactly it is that this commission, which has never issued a message of condolence for these 35 thousand dead soldiers of ours, is meaning to do in meeting to protest the death of a national son of ours and our sibling Hrant Dink? I have ionly one thing to say: what the US Senate is doing is a great shame to this great land and people.

And as a last word: Hey US Senate, instead of facing up to a lobby, why not face up to reality?

Mehmet Okur became first Turkish basketball player to make the NBA All Star team in 2007. Mehmet is in his fourth NBA season and he is the only Jazz player to see action in all 82 games last season. Okur set career highs in games in virtually every category, including points scored, rebounds, assists and blocks. Originally selected by the Pistons in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft (38th pick overall), Okur played five years professionally in the Turkish League (1997-02). A native of Yalova, Turkey, Okur married the former Miss Turkey and also carried the Olympic flame during the Olympic Torch relay in Istanbul prior to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Mehmet Okur’s player file on NBA.com

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Here’s the full text of the article from The Sunday Times for reference:

NEARLY 50 years after Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel prize for a body of work culminating in the epic Doctor Zhivago, it has emerged that British intelligence and the CIA secretly facilitated the accolade to embarrass the Kremlin, which had banned the novel.

A new book reveals that American agents led an operation to publish a Russian-language version of Doctor Zhivago to comply with Nobel rules requiring that works be considered in their original language.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that the CIA played a key role in ensuring Pasternak received the Nobel prize,” said the book’s author, Ivan Tolstoy, a respected Moscow researcher.

Immortalised by David Lean’s film, which won five Oscars, Doctor Zhivago was first published in Milan in 1957. It tells the tragic story of a doctor poet, Yuri Zhivago, and the love of his life, Lara, against the backdrop of the Bolshevik revolution. It was banned in the Soviet Union until 1987.

Pasternak sent several copies of the manuscript in Russian to friends in the West. Tolstoy has now discovered a letter from a former CIA agent describing the operation that followed. He says the CIA — aided by the British — stole a copy from a plane that was forced to land in Malta.

While passengers waited for two hours, agents took the manuscript from a suitcase, photographed it and returned it. The CIA then published the Russian edition in Europe and America simultaneously.

“They avoided using paper which could be identified as Western-made. They chose special fonts commonly used in Russia and printed chapters in separate locations to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands,” said Tolstoy, who is hoping to see his book, The Laundered Novel, published in the West.

Members of the Swedish Academy were surprised to be presented with copies of a Russian edition just in time for them to consider Pasternak for the 1958 prize. Two days after hearing that he had won, the writer sent a telegram to the Academy: “Immensely thankful, touched, proud, astonished, abashed.”

Four days later, under intense Kremlin pressure, Pasternak sent a second telegram: “I must reject this undeserved prize which has been presented to me. Please do not receive my voluntary rejection with displeasure.”

Pasternak was harassed by the KGB and threatened with expulsion from Russia. After his death in 1960, the Kremlin ordered the arrest of Olga Ivinskaya, his mistress and the inspiration for Lara.

Ivinskaya and her daughter were charged with receiving “illegal” royalties from the publication of Doctor Zhivago abroad. Ivinskaya was sentenced to eight years’ hard labour in Siberia, her daughter to three. An international uproar led to Ivinskaya’s release four years early.

“My father played no role in the publication of a Russian edition, nor had he any idea of the CIA’s interest,” said Yevgeny Pasternak, who accepted the Nobel prize on his father’s behalf in 1989.

“My father never expected to receive the prize. Sadly it brought him a lot of sorrow and suffering.”