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MIROGLU MAKES OPEN CALL ADDRESSED TO BIRAND FOR UNSOLVED MURDERS
Today's Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey
Prominent Kurdish journalist and author Musa Anter was shot dead
almost 15 years ago, in September 1992, in Diyarbakır, where he was
attending a festival held by the municipal council.
In December 2006 the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey
for failing to protect Anter. The European court said in its ruling
that Turkey was aware Anter had been threatened and failed to protect
his life or conduct an effective inquiry into his death. It awarded
his children 25,000 euros for emotional damages and 3,500 euros for
court costs and expenses.
Author and politician Orhan Miroglu was with Anter on the day he was
hit by five bullets on a side street in Diyarbakır. Miroglu himself
barely survived, sustaining three gunshot wounds.
On July 10 veteran journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, also the producer of
the "32. Gun" (32nd Day) debate program aired by private TV station
Kanal D, along with Rıdvan Akar, the other producer of the program,
hosted Professor Yalcın Kucuk, prominent journalist Gulay Gökturk
and strategist Ercan Citlioglu for a discussion on the trial about to
begin over Ergenekon, an ultranationalist criminal network suspected
of plotting to overthrow the government.
According to a writer on EkÅ~_i Sözluk, a Web site built up by user
contributions, Yalcın Kucuk during the program implicitly "supported
the mentality that killed Ape Musa [Uncle Musa in Kurdish] despite
calling Anter 'my dear friend'."
What prompted the writer was the fact that throughout the entire
program, Yalcın Kucuk exerted feverish, frantic efforts to defend
alleged illegal and illegitimate activities of Turkey's "deep state"
-- at the expense of infuriating Gökturk, who adopted a determined
stance in response to Kucuk's provocative behavior.
In the Ergenekon indictment one witness, codenamed Deniz, said Yalcın
Kucuk, also a suspected member of Ergenekon, went to Damascus in 1993
and 1996 to meet with Abdullah Ocalan, the now-jailed leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). He explained that Yalcın
Kucuk guided Ocalan in his armed activities. Stressing that Yalcın
Kucuk was like Ocalan's brain, the witness said in 1996 that it was
Yalcın Kucuk who saved Ocalan from assassination in Damascus.
Opening of new season of '32. Gun'
Yalcın Kucuk's manner prompted Miroglu to send an open letter
dated July 18 to Birand, asking him for a chance to participate
in one of the upcoming "32. Gun" programs so that he could explain
his experience and views concerning political killings committed by
unidentified assailants.
"I told Birand in my letter that his program has just played the role
of being an occasion for making this call for a debate on political
killings committed by unidentified assailants -- and this call
is not necessarily solely to Birand as the producer of "32. Gun,"
but it is also a call to the entire society," Miroglu told Today's
Zaman yesterday.
"I haven't yet received a clear answer; however, a few days after I
sent my letter, Akar told me on the phone that they had received my
letter. He said that they are now on holiday, thus the season was over
for "32. Gun." 'We will consider your proposal [to join the program as
a guest] in the letter, which will be featured in an upcoming program,
and we will consider this,' Akar added," according to Miroglu.
Ugur Mumcu, Birand, Candar and 'andıc' experience
"In the last quarter century, Turkey has for the first time been
encountering its real agenda, which is Ergenekon. In my opinion,
this real agenda is defending democracy against coup and coup
supporters. Without standing firm behind this agenda, the Kurdish
conflict cannot be ended, the European Union process cannot be defended
and cannot improve, and a real democracy can never be founded,"
says Miroglu in his letter to Birand.
"Let me tell you just this: If the Ergenekon gang's plans had been
achieved, today we could have been together with you and also with
democratic people like you in a concentration camp, or we could have
shared the same destiny in a prison cell," Miroglu tells Birand.
The Ergenekon indictment stated that a document found during
the search of a house belonging to retired Brig. Gen. Veli Kucuk,
arrested as part of the Ergenekon operation in January, claimed that
a six-member Israeli group, under the direction of the American CIA,
infiltrated Turkey to assassinate journalists Ugur Mumcu and Birand
to prevent Turkey from being ruled by a religious administration. The
document was undersigned by an official from the National Intelligence
Organization (MÄ°T). Mumcu was killed in January 1993.
Another fact concerning Birand was explained by prominent intellectual
Cengiz Candar in his regular column in English-language newspaper
the Turkish Daily News on July 24.
Candar wrote that a decade ago, he, along with Birand, then a
Hurriyet columnist, and Akın Birdal, the then-chairman of the Human
Rights Association (İHD), "were exposed to a military 'andıc',"
or "background information paper," prepared by the General Staff,
which was actually a plot against them.
"The claim was that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, allegedly
paid us some money, and this claim was appended by several commanders
to the confessions of the accused Å~^emdin Sakık of the PKK. It
was explained two years later that the note was necessary for
'psychological warfare' and its purpose was to belittle the names
mentioned in the document, including us. The 'andıc' was served by
some middlemen in the media in late April 1998. As a result of this,
Birand was fired by daily Sabah and my articles in the paper were
suspended. Publication of articles supporting us was also banned or
censored," Candar explained in the column, titled "From the Turkish
Revenge Brigade to Ergenekon."
'Samasts' of this country
Returning to Miroglu's letter, he says Yalcın Kucuk has been used
to playing the role of a "genius on the brink of insanity" and also
likes to be treated as such.
"We should not forget about children who are growing up with the
cursed ideas of Yalcın Kucuk and of those similar to Yalcın Kucuk
-- children who are growing up in darkness! We should not forget that
those who have been nourished by thoughts spread by the theoreticians
of Ergenekon, and should not forget murders committed [by those
children] in the cause of these thoughts!
"We should always keep in mind that Ogun Samast, after killing Hrant
[Dink], as he was escaping, shouted, 'I killed a non-Muslim, I killed
an Armenian!' Look what one of those children wrote to me a week ago:
'You should know that I'm ready to do everything, but everything,
not to leave this country to people like you. Be assured that there
are thousands like me, and be worried!'
"... Ergenekon is something beyond being a coup plan," Miroglu says,
underlining the vital importance he attaches to the need for Turkey's
people to face up to the country's bitter recent history with courage.
He adds that the Ergenekon organization's activities in the Southeast
should be investigated first in order to gain a comprehensive picture
of how the organization is organized and to take effective action
against it.
"I wonder if there is another country on the earth whose generals
plan to kill that country's Nobel Prize-winning author?" he asks,
referring to the fact that the Ergenekon indictment revealed that the
Ergenekon network had incited the perpetrators of deadly attacks on
some important public figures, including Nobel Prize-winning author
Orhan Pamuk.
Miroglu concludes his lengthy letter to Birand by saying: "Now is the
exact time for asking as 'What about the Ergenekon on the other side
of the Euphrates,' at the expense of infuriating Yalcın Kucuk and his
'commanders'."
--Boundary_(ID_qR75FuPU4r 3XZrqVeDyL/w)--
Today's Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey
Prominent Kurdish journalist and author Musa Anter was shot dead
almost 15 years ago, in September 1992, in Diyarbakır, where he was
attending a festival held by the municipal council.
In December 2006 the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey
for failing to protect Anter. The European court said in its ruling
that Turkey was aware Anter had been threatened and failed to protect
his life or conduct an effective inquiry into his death. It awarded
his children 25,000 euros for emotional damages and 3,500 euros for
court costs and expenses.
Author and politician Orhan Miroglu was with Anter on the day he was
hit by five bullets on a side street in Diyarbakır. Miroglu himself
barely survived, sustaining three gunshot wounds.
On July 10 veteran journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, also the producer of
the "32. Gun" (32nd Day) debate program aired by private TV station
Kanal D, along with Rıdvan Akar, the other producer of the program,
hosted Professor Yalcın Kucuk, prominent journalist Gulay Gökturk
and strategist Ercan Citlioglu for a discussion on the trial about to
begin over Ergenekon, an ultranationalist criminal network suspected
of plotting to overthrow the government.
According to a writer on EkÅ~_i Sözluk, a Web site built up by user
contributions, Yalcın Kucuk during the program implicitly "supported
the mentality that killed Ape Musa [Uncle Musa in Kurdish] despite
calling Anter 'my dear friend'."
What prompted the writer was the fact that throughout the entire
program, Yalcın Kucuk exerted feverish, frantic efforts to defend
alleged illegal and illegitimate activities of Turkey's "deep state"
-- at the expense of infuriating Gökturk, who adopted a determined
stance in response to Kucuk's provocative behavior.
In the Ergenekon indictment one witness, codenamed Deniz, said Yalcın
Kucuk, also a suspected member of Ergenekon, went to Damascus in 1993
and 1996 to meet with Abdullah Ocalan, the now-jailed leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). He explained that Yalcın
Kucuk guided Ocalan in his armed activities. Stressing that Yalcın
Kucuk was like Ocalan's brain, the witness said in 1996 that it was
Yalcın Kucuk who saved Ocalan from assassination in Damascus.
Opening of new season of '32. Gun'
Yalcın Kucuk's manner prompted Miroglu to send an open letter
dated July 18 to Birand, asking him for a chance to participate
in one of the upcoming "32. Gun" programs so that he could explain
his experience and views concerning political killings committed by
unidentified assailants.
"I told Birand in my letter that his program has just played the role
of being an occasion for making this call for a debate on political
killings committed by unidentified assailants -- and this call
is not necessarily solely to Birand as the producer of "32. Gun,"
but it is also a call to the entire society," Miroglu told Today's
Zaman yesterday.
"I haven't yet received a clear answer; however, a few days after I
sent my letter, Akar told me on the phone that they had received my
letter. He said that they are now on holiday, thus the season was over
for "32. Gun." 'We will consider your proposal [to join the program as
a guest] in the letter, which will be featured in an upcoming program,
and we will consider this,' Akar added," according to Miroglu.
Ugur Mumcu, Birand, Candar and 'andıc' experience
"In the last quarter century, Turkey has for the first time been
encountering its real agenda, which is Ergenekon. In my opinion,
this real agenda is defending democracy against coup and coup
supporters. Without standing firm behind this agenda, the Kurdish
conflict cannot be ended, the European Union process cannot be defended
and cannot improve, and a real democracy can never be founded,"
says Miroglu in his letter to Birand.
"Let me tell you just this: If the Ergenekon gang's plans had been
achieved, today we could have been together with you and also with
democratic people like you in a concentration camp, or we could have
shared the same destiny in a prison cell," Miroglu tells Birand.
The Ergenekon indictment stated that a document found during
the search of a house belonging to retired Brig. Gen. Veli Kucuk,
arrested as part of the Ergenekon operation in January, claimed that
a six-member Israeli group, under the direction of the American CIA,
infiltrated Turkey to assassinate journalists Ugur Mumcu and Birand
to prevent Turkey from being ruled by a religious administration. The
document was undersigned by an official from the National Intelligence
Organization (MÄ°T). Mumcu was killed in January 1993.
Another fact concerning Birand was explained by prominent intellectual
Cengiz Candar in his regular column in English-language newspaper
the Turkish Daily News on July 24.
Candar wrote that a decade ago, he, along with Birand, then a
Hurriyet columnist, and Akın Birdal, the then-chairman of the Human
Rights Association (İHD), "were exposed to a military 'andıc',"
or "background information paper," prepared by the General Staff,
which was actually a plot against them.
"The claim was that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, allegedly
paid us some money, and this claim was appended by several commanders
to the confessions of the accused Å~^emdin Sakık of the PKK. It
was explained two years later that the note was necessary for
'psychological warfare' and its purpose was to belittle the names
mentioned in the document, including us. The 'andıc' was served by
some middlemen in the media in late April 1998. As a result of this,
Birand was fired by daily Sabah and my articles in the paper were
suspended. Publication of articles supporting us was also banned or
censored," Candar explained in the column, titled "From the Turkish
Revenge Brigade to Ergenekon."
'Samasts' of this country
Returning to Miroglu's letter, he says Yalcın Kucuk has been used
to playing the role of a "genius on the brink of insanity" and also
likes to be treated as such.
"We should not forget about children who are growing up with the
cursed ideas of Yalcın Kucuk and of those similar to Yalcın Kucuk
-- children who are growing up in darkness! We should not forget that
those who have been nourished by thoughts spread by the theoreticians
of Ergenekon, and should not forget murders committed [by those
children] in the cause of these thoughts!
"We should always keep in mind that Ogun Samast, after killing Hrant
[Dink], as he was escaping, shouted, 'I killed a non-Muslim, I killed
an Armenian!' Look what one of those children wrote to me a week ago:
'You should know that I'm ready to do everything, but everything,
not to leave this country to people like you. Be assured that there
are thousands like me, and be worried!'
"... Ergenekon is something beyond being a coup plan," Miroglu says,
underlining the vital importance he attaches to the need for Turkey's
people to face up to the country's bitter recent history with courage.
He adds that the Ergenekon organization's activities in the Southeast
should be investigated first in order to gain a comprehensive picture
of how the organization is organized and to take effective action
against it.
"I wonder if there is another country on the earth whose generals
plan to kill that country's Nobel Prize-winning author?" he asks,
referring to the fact that the Ergenekon indictment revealed that the
Ergenekon network had incited the perpetrators of deadly attacks on
some important public figures, including Nobel Prize-winning author
Orhan Pamuk.
Miroglu concludes his lengthy letter to Birand by saying: "Now is the
exact time for asking as 'What about the Ergenekon on the other side
of the Euphrates,' at the expense of infuriating Yalcın Kucuk and his
'commanders'."
--Boundary_(ID_qR75FuPU4r 3XZrqVeDyL/w)--