Monday 30 November 2009

The story of Karrad, who had to flee Iraq following the US-led invasion in 2003



SYRIA: Karrad, "If I stop working, how can we survive?"



DAMASCUS, 30 November 2009 (IRIN) -


Karrad, 16, and his family fled the sectarian violence in Iraq following the US-led invasion in 2003 and came to Syria in 2005. Although the Syrian government provides Iraqi children with free education in its public schools, Karrad and his brother Ali, 12, cannot go to school because they are the breadwinners.
Karrad told his story to IRIN: “I arrived with my parents and three brothers in Syria in 2005. As we were Shiites living in a Sunni neighbourhood [in Iraq], we used to receive many threats, which forced us to leave the country. My father used to work in the Iraqi security forces. In 2007, he went for a visit to Iraq and disappeared. We went back to look for him but we could not find out what happened to him. “I was in grade six when we left Iraq in 2005 and have not been back to school since then.

I did a number of jobs in Syria. [Initially] at a factory, then at a restaurant and grocery store among others. My brother Ali, 12, is working too.“Then I started to have fights and arguments with my mother because she wanted our third brother, Hussein, to work too. I was against this. He was only 10 years old. Who will employ him and what can he do? It is enough that Ali and I are working. I wanted Hussein to remain in school.


“After those things my mother decided to leave us. In March 2009 she took my youngest brother, Mohammed, 6, and left the house. She phoned us after two months to say that she had reached Greece. We haven’t heard from her since then.“I live now with Ali and Hussein in this house. We don’t have any relatives here and nobody asks about us, including my relatives in Iraq.
Ali and I work now in a real estate office while Hussein goes to school. I work from 9am to 9pm and earn SYP3,000 [about US$65] per month while Ali works from 9am to 7pm and earns SYP2,000 [about $43] per month. I have been in this job for about one-and-a-half years.
Although the working hours are long I am happy because the people treat us well. We spend the day cleaning and making coffee and tea.“We receive SYP8,500 [$184] from the UN Refugee Agency [UNHCR] every month but this amount goes for rent and electricity and water bills. “I wish I could go back to school but if I stop working, how can we survive?

I did not even think what I wanted to become in the future. All I think about is how to take care of my brothers.“We struggled after our mother abandoned us because we are very much attached to our youngest brother Mohammed. “All we hope for now is to be resettled in a third country because we don’t seem to have any future … neither in Syria nor in Iraq.”


Sunday 29 November 2009

Angry at Turkey, energy-rich Azerbaijan may spurn West

Michael Mainville
BAKU - Agence France-Presse
Saturday, November 28, 2009

On a windswept hilltop looking down at the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Turkish flags flutter over a monument that testifies to decades of close ties between the two nations. Surrounding an obelisk bearing the Turkish crescent and star, stone blocks carry the names of dozens of Turkish soldiers who died while fighting for Azerbaijan's independence before it was absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1922.


For Turks and Azerbaijanis, who share close ethnic and linguistic roots, the monument is a symbol of what officials in both countries frequently describe as “brotherly” relations.
So it came as a shock when Azerbaijan – angry over Ankara's efforts at reconciliation with Azerbaijan's archrival Armenia – removed the Turkish flags flying over the monument in October. After some soothing words from Ankara, the flags soon returned. But anger at Turkey is running deep in Azerbaijan, and tensions are threatening not only a partnership that has been crucial for both countries, but also Western interests in an area of great strategic importance.
Diplomats and analysts say resentment in Azerbaijan is aimed not only at NATO member Turkey for pursuing ties with Armenia, but also at the United States and Europe for pushing Ankara towards a deal.


That could see Azerbaijan turn away from nearly two decades of looking to the West, threatening vital energy supplies to Europe and sowing further instability in the volatile South Caucasus region between Russia and Iran.
“It's not only Azerbaijan whose interests are put at risk by this ‘abruptive,’ not carefully prepared... rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia,” Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told AFP in an interview.


The interests of Europe and the United States also stand to suffer, he said, while warning that “reactions from Azerbaijan will be even more harsh” if Turkey ratifies a deal to establish diplomatic ties and open its border with Armenia.



Karabakh dispute

At the center of the dispute is the mountainous southwestern Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenian separatists, backed by Yerevan, seized control from Baku during a war in the early 1990s that left 30,000 dead.

Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region have been stalled for years and tensions remain high, with frequent fighting and deadly shootings along a fragile cease-fire line.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan over the Karabakh conflict, and Baku insists the border should not re-open until the region's status is settled. The United States and Europe had pushed for Ankara to reach a deal with Armenia earlier, making it appear that Baku's interests have been set aside, said Vladimir Socor, a regional expert with the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

“Azerbaijan is justifiably irritated with Western policy on this issue,” he said. “Azerbaijan correctly feels that its own security concerns and the Karabakh issue are simply not being taken into account to a sufficient degree, if at all, by the United States and by the major European powers.”

Socor said that by ignoring Azerbaijan's interests, Western powers are jeopardizing years of effort to gain influence in the strategic Caucasus region and to tap the vast energy reserves of the Caspian Sea.

Since gaining its independence with the Soviet collapse in 1991, Azerbaijan has been at the heart of Western efforts to transport oil and gas from the Caspian to Europe, decreasing Western reliance on Russian supplies.

Baku is the starting point for two major pipelines carrying oil and gas from the Caspian, through Georgia and Turkey, to hungry European consumers. Efforts are underway to expand the network into Central Asia, and Azerbaijan is also considered a key potential supplier for the European Union's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline.

But in the wake of the Armenia-Turkey deal, Azerbaijan has threatened to seek alternative export routes and in recent months has signed new supply deals with both Russia and Iran.
Azimov, the deputy foreign minister, said the West needs to realize that pushing for a deal between Turkey and Armenia without taking Baku's interests into account will have consequences. “The question that needs to be asked is: Are we important? And if we are, then issues have to be solved in a way providing for all interests,” he said.

Among the Azerbaijani public, emotions are running high and analysts say the government will be under pressure to make sure Baku's demands are not ignored.

Near to the hilltop memorial to slain Turkish soldiers, pensioner Ismael Mammedov expressed the frustration – and confusion – that many Azerbaijanis are feeling over Ankara's move. “I don't understand this, Turkey and Azerbaijan are supposed to be like brothers,” said Mammedov, 69, whose 22-year-old son was killed during the Karabakh war. “How can they abandon us?”

© 2009 Hurriyet Daily News URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=angry-at-turkey-oil-rich-azerbaijan-may-spurn-west-2009-11-26

Bringing Baathists into the fold

Bringing Baathists into the fold




For 35 years the Baath party that was associated with Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, ruled Iraq with an iron fist.

Today, that party no longer exists and former members were barred from running for office after the 2003 war.

But last year a law was passed which relaxed some of the restrictions on former Baathists and allowed them to apply for reinstatements to the civil service and military.

The US administration praised the law and called it a good step toward national reconciliation, but some Iraqis fear that the law has opened the door for former Baathists to return to positions of influence.
So, with parliamentary elections coming up, should Iraq's democratic process be opened up to the former supporters of Saddam Hussein?
To discuss this Jasim Azawi is joined by Saad al-Mattalibi from the ministry of national dialogue and Abdelbarri Atwan, the editor in chief of al-Quds al-Arabi.

This episode of Inside Iraq aired from Friday, November 27, 2009.

Triumph of the Turks



Turkey is the surprising beneficiary of U.S. misadventures in the Middle East.
By Owen Matthews and Christopher Dickey NEWSWEEK
Published Nov 28, 2009


From the magazine issue dated Dec 7, 2009
Archibald Wavell himself could scarcely have imagined how horribly accurate his prediction would prove to be. Having watched in dismay as the victorious European powers carved up the Ottoman Empire after World War I—"the war to end war"—the British officer commented that they had instead created "a peace to end peace." And sure enough, the decades since have spawned a succession of colonial misrule, coups, revolutions, and an epidemic of jihadist violence. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 could be viewed as a last-ditch attempt by the world's sole remaining superpower to impose order on the region. Instead, the net result was to create a power vacuum, leaving Iraq too weak to counterbalance its neighbors and threatening to destabilize the whole map.


Turkey, the old seat of Ottoman power, did its best to stay out of that fight, refusing even to let U.S. forces cross Turkish soil for the 2003 invasion. Still, it's the Turks—not the Iranians, as many observers claim—who are now emerging as the war's real winners. In economic terms Turkey is running neck and neck with Iran as Iraq's biggest trading partner, even as most U.S. businesses sit helplessly on the sidelines. And in terms of regional influence, Turkey has no rival. The country's stern-faced prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is working to consolidate that strength as he asserts Turkey's independence in a part of the world long dominated by America. Next week he's in Washington to meet with President Obama, but only a few weeks ago he stood shoulder to shoulder with his "good friend" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran and defended Iran's nuclear program.

That's only one example of the behavior that's disturbing many of Turkey's longtime NATO partners. Among the biggest worries has been the souring of ties with Israel, once Turkey's close ally, over the military offensive in Gaza earlier this year that human-rights groups say killed more than 1,400 Palestinians. Erdogan walked out of the World Economic Forum in protest over the deaths, and recently scrapped a decade-old deal allowing the Israeli Air Force to train over Turkish territory. At the same time, the Turkish prime minister has repeatedly supported Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, claiming he couldn't possibly be guilty of genocide in Darfur because he's a "good Muslim." Right now there are "more points of disagreement than of agreement" between Washington and Ankara, says Philip Gordon, Obama's point man on Turkey at the State Department.

What scares Washington most is the suspicion that Ankara's new attitude may be driven less by the practical pursuit of Turkey's national interest than by thinly concealed Islamist ideology. Erdogan has always denied mixing religion and politics, but his ruling Justice and Development Party (known by its Turkish initials, AKP) has been investigated repeatedly by Turkey's top courts on charges of undermining Turkey's constitutional commitment to a strictly secular state. But official policy notwithstanding, Turkish attitudes toward Europe have displayed a marked cooling over the past five years, and a corresponding rise in hostility toward Western institutions like the International Monetary Fund. "No one in the government has made any attempt to reverse rampant anti-Americanism in Turkey," says Kemal Köprülü of the independent ARI think tank. "The government cannot admit it, but most decision making in foreign and domestic policy simply doesn't take Western values into account."


On the other hand, Turks could be excused for thinking that Western decision makers don't always lose sleep over Turkish interests. During the Cold War, Washington did anything necessary to stabilize the region and keep the Kremlin from gaining ground, often backing nominally pro-Western despots like the Shah of Iran and the Turkish generals who seized power from civilian governments three times in as many decades. The result was a disaster for America; it ended up with unreliable allies who were hated by their own people. In Turkey, the cumulative anti-U.S. resentment peaked in 2003 when the Bush administration pressed Ankara to let U.S. forces invade Iraq through Turkish territory—a plan that was derailed only at the last moment by a parliamentary revolt.


That was the low point of Turkey's relationship with the United States. But it was also the start of Turkey's rise to economic recovery and regional influence, and the beginning of a new kind of relationship with Washington. Indeed, Turkey's new standing in the region has a chance of transforming the country into something far more valuable to Washington than a subservient tool or proxy. The Turks say they're seeking to become what Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu calls a "partner to solve the region's problems." Whatever ambitions they may have harbored in earlier years, it's only in this decade—especially since 2002, when Erdogan and the AKP came to power—that Turkey has had the economic and political strength, as well as the military presence, to fill such a position.

Turkey's economy has more than doubled in the past decade, converting the nation from a backwater to a regional powerhouse. At the same time, its financial focus has moved closer to home: Turkey now conducts more trade with Russia, Iraq, and Iran than it does with the EU. Energy politics have also favored the Turks, who find themselves astride no fewer than three competing energy supply routes to Europe—from Russia, from the Caspian, and from Iran. Years of reform and stability are paying off as well. Ankara is on the verge of a historic deal with its Kurdish minority to end an insurgency that has left 35,000 dead in the past quarter century. In turn, Turkey is making peace with neighboring countries that once supported the insurgents, such as Syria, Iran, and Armenia. The principle is simple, says a senior Erdogan aide who's not authorized to speak on the record: "We can't be prosperous if we live in a poor neighborhood. We can't be secure if we live in a violent one."


The advantages keep compounding. Thanks to judicious diplomacy and expanding business ties throughout the region, Turkey is close to realizing what Davutoglu calls his "zero-problems-with-neighbors policy." The new stance has boosted Ankara's influence even further; the Turks have become the trouble-ridden region's mediators of choice, called in to help with disputes between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, between Iraq and Syria—even, before Erdogan's outburst in Davos, between Israel and Syria. Speaking at a recent press conference in Rome, Erdogan expressed little hope that Turkey could do more for Syria and Israel. "[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn't trust us," he said. "That's his choice." But others in the region still welcome Ankara's assistance: Turkish diplomats are excellently trained in conflict resolution.


That can scarcely be said for Iran. The Tehran regime remains paralyzed by infighting and is far from loved in most of the Arab world. Saudis in particular think back fondly to the Ottomans facing off against the Persians, not to mention their feelings about Sunni Turks versus Shiite Iranians. "Saudi Arabia is welcoming the new Turkish comeback," says Jamal Khashoggi, editor of the influential Jidda daily Al-Watan. Not the least important part of the charm is that Erdogan's government has a distinctly Islamic (and by Saudi lights, a distinctly Sunni Islamic) coloration—"even if no Turkish officials would say that publicly, because it is politically incorrect," says Khashoggi.

Still, the Turks believe they're wise not to play an antagonistic role, and officials in Ankara insist that Erdogan's warm words to Ahmadinejad are no more than atmospherics. At base, they say, Turkey shares the West's goals regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions; it's just doing things in its own way. "We have been dealing with [Iranians] for centuries," says the Erdogan aide. "We show them the respect and friendship they crave. Would our being hostile to Iran do anything to solve the problem of their nuclear program?" When the International Atomic Energy Agency offered Iran the option of exporting most of its low-enriched uranium in return for French-made fuel rods in October, Erdogan offered Ahmadinejad a deal (apparently with Washington's blessing): Iran could store its uranium in Turkey rather than send it to a non-Muslim country.

Tehran ultimately said no, but the effort demonstrated that Turkey is prepared to do its part to keep the region peaceful and safe. Ankara insists that its new friendships in the region are no threat to its longstanding ties to the West. "NATO is Turkey's strongest alliance, and integration with Europe is the main objective of Turkish foreign policy," insists Davutoglu. "But it doesn't mean that because of these strong ties, we can ignore the Middle East, we can ignore Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, or Africa." The world has changed radically since the fall of the Ottomans, and Turkey is unlikely ever to regain the imperial power it wielded for 350 years, from Algiers to Budapest and Mecca. But as the world tries to move, at last, beyond the 90-year-old peace that ended peace, no other country is better positioned to pick up the pieces.


With Sami Kohen in Istanbul

Saturday 28 November 2009

Fête du sacrifice (Aïd Al-Adha) à Kirkouk, Irak: Pas d'électricité depuis tois jours...

C'est la fête du sacrifice (Aid al-Adha) et les habitants de la ville de Kirkouk sont sans électricité depuis trois jours....


Nous venons de téléphoner aux membres de notre famille à Kirkouk pour leur souhaiter une bonne fête du sacrifice (Aïd Al-Adha), tous nous disent qu'ils sont sans électricité depuis trois jours.


La situation à Kirkouk va de mal en pis depuis l'occupation américaine et depuis que les militaires américains ont permis aux milices kurdes (peshmergas) d'envahir et de prendre contrôle de la ville en avril 2003.

Warum tötest du, Zaid?

.

Why do you kill, Zaid? (in German with English subtitles, video 10 minutes)"A story of a young Iraqi who became one of the Iraqi Resistance. The story reflects the suffering of a nation that resists the American occupation for independance & living with dignity. Dr. Juergen todenhoefer, a german litterateur, went to Iraq to shed the light on the suffering of Iraqi people under the American occupation and met with people from the Iraqi Resistance. He lived with them and learned about their lives. He met Zaid, the young guy who lost most of his family members, and then he decided to join the Iraqi Resistance. They're mostly sunni. Dr. Jurgen shed the light on the truth of what's happening in Iraq, horrible crimes are committed everyday by the US army forces so he can clarify to the world how different the western media is from the truth. Dr. Juergen wants to give the truth a chance and wants justice for the suffering of the Iraqi people."

See:
http://abutamam.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-of-origins-of-iraqi-national.html

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Buda Türk Dünyası Açılımı olsun !


Can Kerkük


Türkiye bugün Erdoğan Hükümeti sayesinde çok cesur adımlar atmakta bu adımlara bizimde bir katkımız olsun diye Türk dünyası arasında serbest dolaşım önerimizi sunmak istiyorum.Türk asıllı insanların Türk dünyasında serbestçe giriş yapma hakkı, ki buda bir Türk olarak en doğal hakkımızdır.

Bugün Avrupa’da bu konu temelinden çözülmüş asırlarca birbiriyle kıyasıya savaşan bu ülkeler ortak bir dile sahip olmamalarına rağmen bugün hepsinin birbirine kapısı sonuna kadar açık ve insanları bütün Avrupa ülkeleri arasında serbestçe pasaportsuz vizesiz dolaşa biliyorlar hatta olay bununda ötesine geçerek kıtalar arasına taşınmış Avrupa, Amerika ve Kanada vatandaşları birbirine serbestçe ve izinsiz vizesiz basit bir kimlikle girip çıka biliyor.


En son Türkiye Suriye arasındaki sınır kapısının kaldırılması insanların serbestçe vizesiz giriş çıkış yapmaları takdire şayandır, bugünde bu serbest dolaşıma yeni bir ülke daha katıldı oda Libya, bu cesur adımı Coğrafyası, dini ve dili bir olan Araplar dahi atamamışlardır.


Bizler Türk dünyasının insanları olarak hiçbir zaman kavgalı olmamışızdır Tarihimiz coğrafyamız dinimiz dilimiz aynı NEDEN kapılarımız birbirimizin yüzüne kapalı, Türk asıllı insanlar yıllardır bu konudan muzdaripler Anavatanları olan Türkiye’ye girmek için bir sürü bürokratik işleme tabi tutulmaktalar, halbuki bizde Avrupalılar gibi nezih ve güvenilir bir kurumdan elde edeceğimiz Türk asıllı Kimlikle Tüm Türk cumhuriyetlerine serbestçe girip çıkmamız lazım.


Türkiye Avrupa birliğine soyunmuşken vizesiz serbest dolaşıma hazırlanmışken bu uygulamayı önce kendi Türk soydaşlarıyla yapsın ve Bir Tarihi Türk Dünyası Açılımını gerçekleştirsin.


Bu açılıma sadece Türkiye değil ancak Tüm Türk dünyasının aynı yaklaşımla bu konuyu kendi taraflarından ele almaları lazım ve biran önce Türk dünyası serbest dolaşıma açılsın.


Bu konuyu, Tüm Türk medyası ele alması lazım ayrıca Tüm Türk sivil örgüt kurum ve kuruluşlar bu konuda sıkça ve ciddi bir şekilde çalışmalar seminerler düzenlenmesi lazım Türk dünyasını bu adımı atmaya biran önce hazırlamamız lazım.

Saygılarımla

Germany Suspects China of Spying on Uighur Expatriates

1/24/2009
Police Raid in Munich
By Holger Stark


German investigators on Tuesday morning searched the residences of four suspected Chinese spies. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the suspects had been spying on Munich's Uighur community on orders from the Chinese government.

Unlike China's imposing embassy in Berlin, the general consulate in Munich is no symbol of power. The representative office in the Bavarian capital is located in the upmarket district of Neuhausen in an inconspicouous corner building close to Nymphenburg Palace.
If you believe the consulate's own PR, the institution deals with pleasant issues such as business and travel visas, the Olympic Games or German-Chinese trade relations. But if German investigators are to be believed, this idyll is merely a facade behind which the Chinese intelligence service is operating a network of spies.

On Tuesday morning, officers from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bavarian police searched the homes of four Chinese nationals in the Munich area, SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned. They are under suspicion of being intelligence service agents for the Chinese government tasked with spying on Munich's large expatriate community of Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in China that has been engaging in violent protests this year against perceived discrimination.

A Center for Expatriate Uighurs
Several hundred Uighurs live in exile in Munich, and many of them are politically active. Munich has one of the world's largest exile communities of Uighurs and the World Uighur Congress is based there. The government in Beijing is interested in everything the Uighurs think, talk about or plan. The Uighurs are one of the "five poisons" the Communist government is fighting against with all the means at its disposal.

To read the article in full, please click on:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,663090,00.html


Election law set back for Iraq (Al-Jazeera Programme Inside Iraq)




INSIDE IRAQ

Election law set back for Iraq


Just when things appeared to be back on track in Iraq, a setback has arisen.Iraq's parliament recently passed a long delayed election law, but now, Tariq al-Hashimi, Iraq's vice-president, has vetoed the bill.

Al-Hashimi said he did not reject the bill as a whole, but there is one part that he considers unconstitutional.According to the new election law, Iraqis in exile would account for only 5 per cent of the seats in parliament, even though several million Iraqis live abroad.

Most of them are thought to be Sunnis, so this provision could reduce the weight of Sunni Arabs in the upcoming election.Many Iraqis living in Syria or Jordan appreciate the move, but al-Hashimi faces harsh criticism from Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, and from the US government.

On Inside Iraq this week, we ask: Who are the winners and losers of al-Hashimi's veto and will the elections still go ahead in January?

This episode of Inside Iraq aired from Friday, November 20, 2009.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Şehit Yavuz Efendioğlu - Başınız Sağ olsun

Başınız Sağ olsun

23 Kasım 2009, Pazartesi.


Hüseyin Avni Botsalı, ITC Musul İl sorumlusu Yavuz Efendioğlu'nun şehit olması nedeniyle bir taziye mesajı yayınladı
Tüm Iraklı Türkmen kardeşlerimin derin üzüntüsünü paylaşır, Şehit Yavuz Efendioglu'na ebedi istirahatinde yüce Allah'tan rahmet, ailesine sabır ve başşağlığı, Efendi Evi başta olmak üzere, Telafer, Musul, Kerkuk. Erbil, Selahaddin, Diyala ve Bağdat Türkmenlerine taziye ve metanet dileklerimi sunarım.
Genç Türkmen nesillerinin toplumları uğruna hayatlarını feda etmiş şühedanın hatıralarını kalplerde yaşatarak, Irak'ta barış ve istikrar arayış sürecinde, gücünü meşruiyet, akıl ve itidal temelinde bir arada yaşama ruhundan alacak çoğulcu parlamenter demokrasi hedefinden ayrılmayacaklarına inancım tamdır.
Hüseyin Avni Botsalı

Monday 23 November 2009

Taziye Merasimi


23 Kasım 2009, Pazartesi


ITC Yürütme Kurulu Üyesi ve Musul İl Başkanı şehit Yavuz Efendioğlu için Taziye merasimi tertip edildi.


ITC Yürütme Kurulu Üyesi ve Musul İl Başkanı şehit Yavuz Efendioğlu için ITC Türkiye Temsilciliğinde 11:00 ile 18:00 arası bir taziye merasimi düzenlenecektir.


Tüm halkımız davetlidir.


Tarih: 24 Kasım 2009 - Salı
Saat: 11:00 - 18:00 arası
Yer: ITC TT - Abidin Daver Sokak 12/A Çankaya / ANKARA

BAŞSAĞLIĞI

BAŞSAĞLIĞI


22.11.2009 Pazar akşam saatlerinde Musul’da ki evinin önünde kimliği belirsiz insan görünümlü hayvanlar tarafından hunharca şehit edilen Türkmen liderlerden ITC Musul İl Başkanı Yavuz EFENDİOĞLU’na yüce Allah’tan rahmet, kederli ailesine ve Irak’ta ki tüm Türkmen kardeşlerimize sabırlar ihsan etmesini niyaz ederim.

Ey Şehit oğlu şehit isteme benden makber
Sana ağuşunu açmış duruyor peygamber.

Irak’ta ki Türkmenler bu olaylarla pusturulacak, korkutulacak, kaçırılacak diye düşünülüyorsa bu yanılgıdan öte hiçbir şey ifade etmez. Çünkü Türkmenler bir vücut, tek ses olarak başları dik davalarından asla vazgeçmeyeceklerdir.


FİKRET ŞAHİN

Sunday 22 November 2009

Yavuz EFENDIOĞLU, ITF MUSUL Representative has been assassinated


Its is with great sadness that we just learned that
Mr. Yavuz EFENDIOĞLU, Iraqi Turkmen Front Mosul Representative has been assassinated in front of his home.

We offer our sympathy to his family, friends and colleagues.










Musul ITC sorumlusu YAVUZ EFENDİOĞLUNU akşam vakti kapısı önünde öldürüldü

Saturday 21 November 2009

Turkmen singer Abdurrahman Kizilay

Turkmen Diaspora Representatives in Europe write to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission

Turkmen Diaspora Representatives in Europe send a letter to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) demanding to be included in the election observers’ team in Europe


السيد أياد الكناني المحترم

المسئول عن الانتخابات في الخارج

لدى المفوضية العليا المستقلة للانتخابات





الموضوع : مراقبة الانتخابات خارج العراق/ انتخابات مجلس النواب العراقي 2010



نهديكم تحياتنا الخالصة و بعد



نحن ممثلو تركمان العراق في أوربا نقدر عاليا جهودكم المبذولة من اجل تنظيم و مراقبة الانتخابات القادمة لانتخاب أعضاء مجلس النواب العراقي الجديد في 2010 كما نقدر حرصكم على إجراء هذه الانتخابات في أحسن الظروف و في جو ديمقراطي سليم بعيدا عن بعض الأخطاء و التجاوزات المؤسفه التي حدثت و رصدت في الانتخابات السابقة



حرصا منا لإنجاح الانتخابات القادمه نود إعلامكم عن تصميمنا و تصميم جميع افراد جالياتنا( جاليات تركمان العراق في البلدان الاوربيه) المشاركة الفعلية في هذه الانتخابات من جهه و عزمنا و استعدادنا على المشاركة في مراقبة هذه الانتخابات و عمليات التصويت لها في البلدان الاوربيه حيث نقيم تفاديا لوقوع الاخطاء او التجاوزات اثناء التصويت



لذا نفاتحكم كممثلين للجاليات التركمانيه في البلدان الاوربيه كي نبلغكم عن رغبتنا و استعدادنا للمشاركه في مراقبة الانتخابات القادمه في اوربا آملين حصول موافقتكم و إشراكنا في فرق المراقبه لتلك الانتخابات



في انتظار ردكم الى طلبنا هذا نرجو قبول تحياتنا الخالصه



د. حسن توفيق آيدنلي : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في بلجيكا و رئيس لجنة الدفاع عن حقوق تركمان العراق لدى الاتحاد الاوربي

د. نورالدين شاهين : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في فرنسا

السيده سندس عباس : ممثلة الجاليه التركمانيه في المملكه المتحده

السيد سلمان موفق : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في ايرلندا

السيد غانم عثمان : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في المانيا

السيد عباس قصاب : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في هولندا

السيد شكران قياجي : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في الدانمارك

السيد يلماز توفيق : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في السويد

السيد اورهان كتنه : ممثل الجاليه التركمانيه في تركيا

Friday 20 November 2009

Cats are a Threat to the Security of Israel




A couple of day ago, some news agencies reported the imprisonment of a cat by the Israeli Prison Authority. The cat was placed in an isolation cell in the Israeli Naqab prison as punishment for helping isolated Palestinian prisoners.

The reported cat had been “caught” transporting light stuff belonging to Palestinian prisoners from one isolation cell to another. Reports add that Palestinian prisoners have been taking care of the many cats that come to the tents in search of food.


This is not a joke, nor is it a shocker. For everything is to be expected from the Zionist entity; an entity that wouldn’t hesitate to arrest children, women and elderly. Mothers, fathers and siblings would be arrested so as to pressure wanted Palestinians and force them to surrender themselves to the IOF or admit to things they never committed.
This same entity doesn’t hesitate to threaten women and young girls with rape and threaten little children with torture if they didn’t confess or expose the whereabouts of their fathers or brothers.
This same entity that beat elderly mothers in front of their sons to force the sons into confessing what they never did.
This same entity that would kill prisoners in cold blood after their arrest, that would torture prisoners to death, that would stand still and watch while Palestinian prisoners cry out in pain till they die due to medical negligence.
This same entity that arrested over 76,0000 Palestinians since 1967, including 13,000 women and tens of thousands of children.
This same entity that arrested 68,000 Palestinians since Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, including more than 800 women and more than 7700 children.
This same entity that holds today some 11650 Palestinians prisoners, including 326 children, 32 women and 1500 who are in need of medical care.

This same entity that holds 50 Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells
This same entity that holds 16 Palestinian prisoners suffering from cancer

This same entity that holds 150 Palestinian prisoners suffering from heart diseases and blood pressure problems
This same entity that holds 40 Palestinian prisoners suffering from mental and psychological ailments due to the interrogation methods used by the Israeli Shabak and the Israeli prison authorities, which include torture

This same entity that killed 197 Palestinian prisoners since 1967: 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed in cold blood after being arrested, 49 as a result of medical negligence and 7 being shot dead inside prisons by the Israeli prison authorities


This same entity that holds 325 Palestinian “veteran prisoners”, who have been locked up in Israelis jails since before 1993.
This same entity that holds 108 Palestinian “deans of prisoners”, who have spent 20+ years inside Israeli jails
This same entity that holds 13 Palestinian prisoners
since more than 25 years


This same entity that holds over 500 Palestinian administrative detainees without charges or trial
-
Thus, it is not a surprise that the Zionist entity would even imprison a cat for helping Palestinian prisoners. For even a cat has more compassion and “humanity” than the Zionists. So, for all those Palestinians who own a cat, prepare yourself for an IOF arrest campaign of all cats on grounds that these cats are collaborating with the Palestinians and constitute a security threat to the existence of Israel.
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sources:
www.aljazeera.net

Irak Türkmen Cephesi Hurmahanı Saldırısını Kınadı.

18 Kasım 2009, Çarşamba


ITC bir kınama mesajı yayınladı

Kerkük'te bulunan (Hurmahanı) İmam Ahmet semtinde meydana gelen patlamanıyı Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak şiddetle kınıyoruz. Saldırıda 6 masum Türkmen şehit oldu, 3 kişinin Dede aşiretinden olduklarını belirlendi.

Aynı zamanda yetkili mercilerden canilerin bir an önce tespit edilip tutuklanmalarını talep ediyoruz, Irak'ta yapılacak olan seçimlerin güvenli bir şekilde yapılabilmesi için bu tür terör olaylarını önlemek gerekmektedir.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak şehitlerimize rahmet ve yaralılarımıza acil şifalar dileriz.

ITC TTEnformasyon Şb. Tarafından Türkçeye Çevrilmiştir.
http://www.kerkuk.net/haberler/haber.aspx?dil=1055&metin=200911181

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Kerkük İl Meclis Üyesi Mehdi: Seçim Yasası ABD'nin Baskısıyla Çıktı (Özel)


Kerkük İl Meclis Üyesi Ali Mehdi, parlamentoda çıkarılan seçim yasanının Türkmen halkının ve Türkmen partilerin istemediği bir şekilde ABD'nin baskısı ile çıktığını söyledi. Türkmen yetkili, çıkarılan seçim yasasının partiler arasında görüşülmeden aceleyle geçirildiği ifade etti.

Aynı zamanda Türkmeneli Partisi Başkan Yardımcısı olan Ali Mehdi, "Çıkarılan secim yasası Türkmen halkının ve Türkmen partilerinin arzu etmediği bir şekilde maalesef ABD baskısı ile çıkmıştır. Dünyada seçmen kütüklerinde bir sorun veya fazlalık varsa bu giderildikten sonra seçime gidilir. Ama bu, Irak'ta aksi bir şekilde oluyor. Önce seçimlere gidiliyor sonra seçmen kütüklerinde bir yanlışlık veya bir sorun varsa ona göre bir komisyon kurulacak bunu araştıracak." değerlendirmesini yaptı.

Diğer sorunun parti birleşmeleri olduğunu ifade eden Mehdi, "Oluşan ittifaklarla seçime girileceği için bu da Türkmen halkına zarar verecektir. Çünkü 6 tane Türkmen partiden 5'i değişik partilerle ittifak ederek seçime giriyor. Bu da Bizim için ve Kerkük için büyük bir kayıptır." dedi.

Daha önce Türkmenlere yaptıkları birlik çağrılarının dikkate alınmadığından yakınan Türkmeneli Partisi Başkanı, "Bu seçimde Kerkük'te Türkmenler büyük bir kayba uğrayacak. 200 bine yakın Türkmen seçmen sayısını 5'e bölersek ancak bir parti barajı geçer. O da en fazla 1 milletvekili kazanır." diye konuştu.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi Kerkük Sorumlusu Erşad Salihi ise seçimlere Irakiye Listesi ile anlaştıklarını ve seçime bu liste ile gireceklerini söyledi. Salihi, seçmenlerin istedikleri adaya oy verebileceğini belirterek, bu durumun kendileri için avantaj olduğunu söyledi.

Irak parlamentosu ocak ayında yağılan genel seçimlerle belirlenecek yeni meclisini sandalye sayısının, 275'ten 323'e çıkarılmasına karar vermişti. Böylece her 100 bin kişiyi, bir milletvekili temsil edecek.

(CİHAN)

Monday 16 November 2009

Uranium in Iraq: the Poisonous Legacy of the Iraq Wars


Review of Abdul-Haq Al-Ani and Joanne Baker's book
by David MacGregor

Global Research, November 15, 2009 Hegel remarks upon the appearance of "concrete evil" in history, the intermittent eruption of human malevolence on a colossal scale capable of destroying entire societies.

Perpetrators of world-historical crimes are propelled solely by passion—by self-regard, greed and hatred—and pay no heed, Hegel noted, to "order and moderation, justice and morality." [1] The imperialist assault on Iraq—which began with the First Gulf War, reached a peak with "shock and awe" attacks launched by U.S./U.K military forces in 2003, and continues today, nearly twenty years later—offers a horrendous example of unrestrained evil spread across a titanic canvas.

Abdul-Haq Al-Ani’s and Joanne Baker’s indispensable book spotlights the appalling criminal enterprise now working itself out in Iraq:

Deliberate contamination of the Iraqi nation, its peoples, and natural environment with radiation from previously unheard of weapons of mass destruction—deadly implements of war fashioned from a practically inexhaustible global garbage dump of depleted uranium (DU).

Grisly newspaper photographs and televised images of the "Highway of Death" revealed in late February 1991 desert vistas of burnt-out, twisted Iraqi civilian and military vehicles destroyed in cold blood by US air strikes during Saddam Hussein’s hasty exit from Kuwait. Surely the world will be repelled by such savagery, many thought at the time. Surely these pictures alone will push popular sentiment against war, and propel combatants toward peace? But the cavalcade of cruelty on the road from Kuwait to Basra signaled just the beginning of a crusade that would unfold for most of the next two decades.

And no photograph, no television video, nor even the senses of sight, taste, feeling and smell of witnesses on the ground could have revealed the secret corruption of those searing images, the deadly radioactive and toxic refuse emitted in clouds of invisible vapour from fired US missiles, shells and other armaments composed of DU that will contaminate the Gulf area for a millennium.

George H.W. Bush’s 1988 declaration that Saddam Hussein was "worse than Hitler" inaugurated a successful propaganda offensive vilifying the Iraqi people. The culumny against Iraq now extends to its inability to seek protection from radioactive and chemical poisoning by DU, or indeed to carry out and publicize scientific research on dangers presented to humans and animals by DU contamination.

As documented in this book, US/UK governments treat DU deposits with serious concern, but only as regards their own territory and citizens. The people of Iraq have become a giant experimental colony for measuring the hazards of ionized radiation and toxicity associated with reckless deployment of DU.

From a purely military point of view, DU is highly cost-effective. [2] DU is a radioactive waste product generated by nuclear reactors and the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Suppliers are anxious to get it off their hands since gratis procurement by the military is a desirable alternative to prohibitively expensive, safe disposal of "nuclear tailings". Just as chemically toxic as lead, DU is almost twice as heavy and much harder.

DU is self-sharpening: DU bores through very tough materials while gaining ability to penetrate. DU at high velocity sears through hard targets such as tank armor and emerges on the other side with intense fire and deathly gases. As this book documents, over 2000 tons of burnt, pulverized and exploded DU have been scattered over Iraq by US/UK armed forces since 1991.

Beginning in 1991 the world stood by while western imperialism enforced a total blockade on Iraq: the first time in modern history that a nation has been entirely cut off from external trade and communications. Only barbaric sieges dating from the Middle Ages offer anything like the spectacle of suffering in Iraq. Even scholarly and scientific discourse fell victim.

Without a murmur of dissent from the global community, imperialism barred Iraqi researchers and writers not only from vital materials required for research but also from international sources of scientific discovery and dissemination.

Abdul-Haq Al-Ani and Joanne Baker offer in this book an initial scientific reckoning of DU despoliation from behind the uranium curtain. [3] The authors do not suggest that the poor state of health of the Iraqi people arises entirely from DU contamination. There are plenty of reasons for the massive increase in disease, including cancer and birth deformities, among Iraqis.

US/UK imperialism destroyed the social infrastructure of the country, including water treatment plants, electric power installations, food markets, hospitals and schools. Uncontrolled oil fires polluted the air.

Assaulted by malnutrition and infected water sources, the immunological systems of many Iraqi children have collapsed. Even the farcical trial and diabolical murder of Saddam Hussein did not satisfy western invaders. After the Iraqi leader’s removal, the embargo remained and infrastructure deteriorated even further

Pre-war Iraq enjoyed the professional services of 34,000 registered doctors. By 2006, 20,000 physicians had fled; 2000 of the remainder had been killed, and 250 kidnapped. By 2007, 8 million Iraqis required emergency aid and over half the population of 22 million suffered absolute poverty.

The Red Cross reported last year that the humanitarian situation in Iraq was among the most critical on the globe.

Apologists talk about a "failure" of American and British policy in Iraq, the occupiers’ inability to construct a stable democratic system to replace the Ba’athist order under Hussein. [4] But peace and security were never on the order paper for US/UK militarism. Its job was to loot, divide, desecrate and cripple Iraq to ensure the country would never again thumb its nose at the western imperium.

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, the crime of genocide involves acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. These acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, and inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group in whole or part.

The authors present compelling evidence that the occupying powers’ indiscriminate use of DU in Iraq, along with the affects of blockade and invasion, conform to these elements of the definition of genocide.This book includes the results of controlled studies by Iraqi scientists of the relation between the presence of DU, ionizing radiation, and malignant disease rates carried out under extremely adverse conditions 7-10 years after the 1991 assault.

These epidemiological studies and measures of high radiation are necessarily rudimentary and incomplete. Yet combined with documented reports of birth defects and cancer related to radiation exposure since the 2003 invasion (including a marked increase in breast cancer among Iraqi women), these pioneering investigations present an extremely disturbing picture.

Alarming evidence revealed by the authors of this book constitutes a strong case that US/UK invaders committed genocide in Iraq through indiscriminate employment of DU-armed weaponry.


Notes


1. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History. Introduction: Reason in History. Trans. H.B. Nisbet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975, p. 21.


2. For a useful summary of the issues surrounding DU see Rob White, "Depleted Uranium, state crime and the politics of knowing." Theoretical Criminology. Vol. 12(1):31-54, 2008.


3. The US Atomic Energy Commission detonated the first deliverable hydrogen bomb in 1954 in the Marshall Islands, code-named "Bravo". Deadly radiation from the gargantuan nuclear fireball fell upon island residents, US scientists and armed forces personnel. The Eisenhower administration tried unsuccessfully to block news of the disaster. Critics dubbed the US cover up, "the uranium curtain." Shane Maddock, "The Fourth Country Problem: Eisenhower's Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy," Presidential Studies Quarterly; Summer 1998; 28, 3, p. 555.

4. E.g., Daniel Byman, "An Autopsy of the Iraq Debacle: Policy Failure or Bridge Too Far?" Security Studies, 17: 599–643, 2008.

Friday 13 November 2009

Turkmen Speaker in Al-Jazeera "Inside Iraq" Programme

Turkmen Speaker in Al Jazeera

Turkmen opinion on the latest Election Law in Iraq will be explained by Orhan Kettaneh from Istanbul in Jasim Azzawi´s “Inside Iraq” program.

Representing the Arab view will be Dr. Munthir Al-Adhami from London.

The view of the Kurds will be presented by Feryad Rawanduzi from Beirut.

The programme will be broadcast several times, so many people get a chance to see it.

Here are all timings according to GMT:

Friday
17:30 GMT (19:30 in Turkey- 20:30 in Kerkuk)
22:30 GMT (24:30 in Turkey- 1.30 in Kerkuk)

Saturday
03:00 GMT (5:00 Turkey, 6:0 Kerkuk)
08:30 GMT (10:30 Turkey, 11:30 Kerkuk)

Sunday
06:00 GMT (8:00 Turkey, 9:00 Kerkuk)
12:30 GMT (14.30 Turkey, 15:30 Kerkuk)

Monday
01:30 GMT (3:30 Turkey, 4:30 Kerkuk)

About a week after first broadcast, the show can also be viewed online on Al- Jazeera website:www.aljazeera.net/english
(in the Programmes section)
It can be viewed also in Youtube under “Inside Iraq” title.

Thursday 12 November 2009

Kurdish violence against Turkmens in Kerkuk

Below is the letter from Dr. Mohammed Omar Kazanchi of Turkmen Brotherhood Club addressed to Mr. Ban Ki Moon in July 2008.

To the kind attention of the secretary general of the United Nations: Mr. Ban Ki Moon

Subject: Condemnation and request of protection

What happened in the Kerkuk city on 28 July 2008 is not a solitary event. It is a part of systematic plan by the Kurdish politicians to benefit from the unstable situation in Iraq to suppress the Turkmen and absorb Kerkuk province. The Turkmen are a peaceful community believes in the unity of Iraq.

The Iraqi Turkmen are exposed to the aggressive assimilation policies and they suffered from different massacres in 1924, 1946 and 1959.

During the Ba’ath regime, the Turkmen were exposed to deportation and their lands confiscated, teaching in Turkmen language was prohibited and they were prevented to practice their culture. The Turkmen were asked to change their nationality to avoid discrimination. After occupation, the Turkmen of Iraq continued to be marginalized from administration and excluded from the political life. The Turkmen regions are terrorized the inhabitants were intimidated.

Today, the Kurdish militant parties which dominate the Iraqi administration practice all sorts of the policies to violate the simplest Human rights of the Iraqi Turkmen; the violation of the provincial laws by all the Kurdish authorities, which postpones the election in Kerkuk with power sharing, is the most recent abuse of the Turkmen rights.

At 28 July 2008, the Kurdish parties ordered the Kurdified administration, the staffs and shop owners from all the communities and the Kurdish peoples in Kerkuk to close their business buildings and leave their offices to participate in a protest against the Provincial Election Law. They also brought thousands of the Kurds from Erbil. The armed protestors worked to create chaotic circumstances.

When the protesters reached to the building of the Kerkuk governorate an explosion occurred leaving behind numbers of the injured and dead peoples. Thereafter, groups of the protestors started to attack the buildings of the Turkmen organizations. They set fire in the building of the Iraqi Turkmen front and injured the guards. Other groups attacked the buildings of Turkemeneli party, Turkmen council, Turkmeneli television and several Turkmen business buildings and houses. All these happened under the vision of the Kerkuk military and policemen, whom they stand on the sidelines or participated the protestors.

We, the members of the Turkmen Brotherhood Club, which is considered one of the largest Turkmen civil society organizations, severely condemn these terrorist and provocative activities against Turkmen. We believe that the fundamentalist Kurdish leader parties should be held responsible of the events.

We urge the international community, particularly, the secretary general of the United Nations, members of the Security Council, the European Union to intervene to establish a mechanism to protect the Iraqi Turkmen, particularly in Kerkuk.

The Turkmen had already lost the confidence in the Iraqi Government which until now did not announce condemnation of the attacks on the Turkmen in Kerkuk. It is the time for the international community to achieve its moral task and protect the Iraqi Turkmen against the Kurdish attacks.

Dr. Mohammed Omar Kazanchi

Turkmen Brotherhood Club

U.S. adviser to Kurds stands to reap oil profits

By JAMES GLANZ and WALTER GIBBS New York Times

OSLO, NORWAY — Peter Galbraith, an influential former U.S. ambassador, is a powerful voice on Iraq who helped shape the views of policymakers like Joe Biden and John Kerry. In 2005, he was also an adviser to the Kurdish regional government as Iraq wrote its constitution — tough and sensitive talks not least because of issues like how Iraq would divide up its vast oil wealth.

Now Galbraith, 58, son of the renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith, stands to earn perhaps $100 million or more as a result of his closeness to the Kurds, his relations with a Norwegian oil company and constitutional provisions he helped the Kurds extract.

Galbraith has always described himself as an unpaid adviser to the Kurds, although he has spoken in general terms about having business interests in Kurdistan, as the north of Iraq is known.

So it came as a shock to many last month when Norwegian journalists at the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv began publishing documents linking Galbraith to a Norwegian oil company with major contracts in Iraq.

Galbraith received the rights after he helped negotiate a potentially lucrative contract that allowed the Norwegian oil company DNO to drill for oil in the promising Dohuk region of Kurdistan, documents show. He says his actions were proper because he was at the time a private citizen deeply involved in Kurdish causes.

As the scope of Galbraith's financial interests in Kurdistan become clear, they have the potential to inflame some of Iraqis' deepest fears, including conspiracy theories that the true reason for the American invasion of their country was to take its oil. It may not help that outside Kurdistan, Galbraith's view that Iraq should be broken up along ethnic lines is considered offensive to many Iraqis' nationalism.

Biden and Kerry, who do not advocate such a partitioning of the country, were not aware of Galbraith's oil dealings in Iraq, aides to both say
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/6716151.html

Minorities In Iraq Face 'Catastrophe', Human Rights Watch Warns

November 10, 2009

By Nishant Dahiya


Iraq's minorities -- including Yazidis, Shabaks, Turkoman and Assyrian Christians -- face a "full-blown human rights catastrophe" as the long-festering territorial dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government in Baghdad "threatens to erupt again," Human Rights Watch reports.

The group warns that the minorities are being targeted by both insurgents and by the KRG as it aims to increase its hold on the disputed areas just south of their semi-autonomous region.

Though these minorities live in disputed land that stretches from Sinjar near the Syrian border to Khanaqin near the Iranian border, the HRW report concentrates on the northern province of Nineveh, Iraq's second most-populous. There, according to HRW, the minorities have been targeted by Sunni insurgents who regard them as "crusaders" and "infidels." Bombings in Nineveh have killed hundreds of minorities since 2007. In late 2008, "a systematic and orchestrated campaign of targeted killings and violence by insurgents left 40 Chaldo-Assyrians dead and more than 12,000 displaced from their homes in Mosul (the capital of Nineveh and regarded as the last urban strong-hold of al-Qaida in Iraq)."
The violence against the minorities is continuing. Since the June 2009 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq's cities, "attacks in Nineveh, particularly against minority groups, increased dramatically, and... show no sign of abating," HRW says. In six weeks after the withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to HRW, attacks "in four different locations killed more than 137 and injured almost 500 from the Yazidi, Shabak and Turkmen communities."

The territories where the minorities reside are at the heart of the dispute between the Arabs and Kurds. During previous Iraqi governments, thousands of Kurds were removed and Arabs settled there in a process of "Arabization." Since 2003, the Kurds, in control of the region, re-settled Kurds there, and displaced many Arabs. The Kurds assert that all the disputed land has historically belonged to them, and claim it. Iraq's Arabs appear equally determined not to let that happen.
.
The Kurds, in order to further their aims, "have offered minorities inducements while simultaneously wielding repression in order to keep them in tow," HRW says. Kurdish forces, according to HRW, "have mostly relied on intimidation, threats, arbitrary arrests, and detentions to coerce the support of minority communities." According to HRW, "in some extreme cases, they resorted to violence, including torture." The KRG denies all such allegations.

As the Kurds and Arabs struggle over the territories, they are being squeezed from both sides. As NPR's Quil Lawrence recently reported, Iraq's minorities "have survived over the years mostly by leaning toward the winning side. But there is no clear favorite at the moment, and a huge risk of being labeled a traitor if the wrong side prevails." And as NPR's Peter Kenyon has reported, Iraq's Christians have begun forming their own militias amidst increasing insecurity.

Human Rights Watch is recommending that the Kurdish Regional Government carry out investigations "of individuals, including Kurdish security forces" who may have been involved in the alleged "killings, beatings and torture against minorities." Among other recommendations, it also urging the KRG to "cease funding private militias;" "allow municipalities to hire police officers from their own communities;" and "invite the U.N." to "provide an impartial assessment of the situation." The report also calls on the Iraqi government to "protect minorities," and carry out its own investigations into the killings of the 40 Chaldo-Assyrian Christians in 2008.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/11/iraq_human_rights_watch_minori.html


Update at 11 a.m., Nov. 11. The Kurdistan Regional Government has released a statement that says, in part:
The KRG is ready and willing to look into each and every allegation, and we are ready to work on these issues under the legal framework of both the Kurdistan Region and the Republic of Iraq, with the help of HRW and other reputable human rights organisations. The KRG will investigate each specific claim outlined in the report carefully and thoroughly. There may be instances of maltreatment and neglect; the KRG does not claim to be flawless.
But the report reveals a systematic misperception of the circumstances in Ninevah and a worrying ignorance of Iraqi history. HRW therefore produces an inaccurate portrayal of the situation. Furthermore, due to the methodology employed to produce this report, it cannot be the basis for legitimate judgements or assertions.
The main thrust of this report could be grossly misleading and the KRG affirms its strong disagreement in this regard. The KRG has done more for the protection of minorities than any other entity in Iraq, and continues to insist on tolerance and peaceful coexistence in the Region and throughout Iraq.
(NPR's Nishant Dahiya is on assignment in Baghdad.)

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Ölümnün 71. yılında Saygıyla anıyoruz


Ölümünün 71. yıldönümünde ATA'ya Mektup
VIDEOS :
http://www.belturk.be/go.php?go=3421f26&do=details&return=last_news&pg=1



BÜYÜK ATAM Sen bu dünyadan ebedi hayata gideli tam 71 yıl oldu..Tam 71 yıl önce bugün kurduğun cumhuriyeti, ve yaptığın devrimleri, omuz omuza beraberce savaştığın kahramanlara, onların çocuklarına, torunlarına kısacası biz Türk gençliğine emanet ederek aramızdan ayrıldın.

Sen yaşarken kuyunu kazmaya çalışanlar, senin devrimlerine, orduna, milletine saldıran güruh, senin ölümünle saldırılarını daha da pervasızca arttırdı.

Sen İnönü´de, Sakarya´da, Afyon´da savaşırken Ankara´da sana oturdukları koltuklardan ayak bağı olanlar, Kubilay´ı katledenler senin gidişinle daha da aşağılık bir biçimde kudurdular. Senin kapattıklarını açıp, açtıklarını ise kapattılar. Senin yaptıklarını bozmak için senin savaştığın emperyalizme sarıldılar. Bu cumhuriyetin kurulmasında zerre kadar faydası olmayanlar, senin gidişinle sana saldırmaya başladılar.. Tıpkı dediğin gibi;

´Bütün bu şerâitten daha elîm ve daha vahim olmak üzere, memleketin dahilinde, iktidara sahip olanlar gaflet ve dalâlet ve hattâ hıyanet içinde bulunabilirler. Hattâ bu iktidar sahipleri, şahsî menfaatlerini, müstevlîlerin siyasi emelleriyle tevhid edebilirler´

Büyük ATAM Bugün sana saldıranların torunları kurduğun cumhuriyetin ve ordunun temellerine dinamit koymaya devam ediyorlar.. Hem de dedelerinden daha da vahşice, daha da insafsızca..

Yarın bu dünyadan göçüşünün 71. yıldönümü.. Zalimlerin torunları yine huzuruna gelip senin ne büyük bir lider olduğunu söyleyecekler, halkın sana olan sevgisinden korktukları için. Yine fraglarını giyip yalandan gözyaşı dökecekler senin için. Kimisi ise açık açık sana hakaret edecek..

Utanmadan, sıkılmadan…Yüzü dahi kızarmayacak bu soysuzların, nenelerinin, bacılarının namusunu kurtarana hakaret ederken.. Senin rozetlerini takanları da göreceksin yarın huzurunda. Her işlerini senin adını anarak yapacaklar. Senin sırtından geçinecekler.

Ancak senden nefret edecekler. Senin kurduğun meclise Türkiye´yi bölme planlarını senin ölüm yıldönümünde getirip seni huzursuz etmeye çalışacaklar. ´Yas günü değil´ deyip içlerinde ki bayramı gizleyecekler halkı kandırmak için…

Büyük ATAM Sakın sen üzülme..
Senin kurduğun bu cumhuriyet seninle beraber savaşan, şehit düşen Ahmetlerin, Mehmetlerin torunlarına yani bizlere emanet.
Senin yüzüne korkudan gülüp sen cepheye gider gitmez saltanat yalakalığı yapanların, İngiliz, Amerikan, Fransız uşaklarının torunlarına emanet değil. Sen bugünleri onlarca yıl önce zaten görmüştün…

Ne demiştin o ölümsüz sözlerinde ;
´Cebren ve hile ile aziz vatanın bütün kaleleri zaptedilmiş, bütün tersanelerine girilmiş, bütün orduları dağıtılmış ve memleketin her köşesi bilfiil işgal edilmiş olabilir. Bütün bu şerâitten daha elîm ve daha vahim olmak üzere, memleketin dahilinde, iktidara sahip olanlar gaflet ve dalâlet ve hattâ hıyanet içinde bulunabilirler.

Hattâ bu iktidar sahipleri, şahsî menfaatlerini, müstevlîlerin siyasi emelleriyle tevhid edebilirler. Millet, fakr ü zaruret içinde harap ve bîtap düşmüş olabilir.

Ey Türk istikbalinin evlâdı! İşte, bu ahval ve şerâit içinde dahi vazifen, Türk istiklâl ve Cumhuriyetini kurtarmaktır! Muhtaç olduğun kudret, damarlarındaki asil kanda mevcuttur!´

Büyük Atam Bize bıraktığın emanetleri sonsuza kadar zalimlerin torunlarından koruyacağımıza söz veririz..

Thursday 5 November 2009

İKİNCİ OSMANLI DEVLETİNE DOĞRU


Ey Türk Milleti; ikinci Osmanlı devletimiz hayırlı olsun. Ama bağımsız olarak değil, çeyrek düzeyde bağımsız olarak ABD’nin çizdiği sınırlar çerçevesinde Ortadoğu’nun hamilik (ağabeylik) görevimiz hepimize hayırlı uğurlu olsun. Çünkü, artık ABD Ortadoğu politikasını tamamıyla değiştirmiş bulunmaktadır. Kendisi Afrika kıtasına yönelmiştir. Aden körfezindeki korsanlık oyunlarının neden oynandığını biraz irdelerseniz oyunun sürecini tahmin edebilirsiniz. ABD’nin GBOP yeni stratejik oyun sahası olarak Afrika’yı seçmiştir. Ortadoğu’da da İsrail’in ve de Irak’ta ki tampon bölgesi olan Barzani’nin güvenliğini teminat altına alabilmek için bölgede ki ülkeler içerisinde bu göreve en uygun olarak bizi yani Türkiye’yi seçmiştir. Son zamanlarda ki Kürt açılımı, Ermeni açılımı, Ruhban okulu açılımı, Fener Rum Patriği (ekümeniklik) açılımı gibi bir dizi hareketlerin cereyan etmesinin arkasındaki yanıp sönen ışık bundandır.

AKP hükümetimiz hücrelerinde taşıdığı ikinci Osmanlıcılık hayallerini gerçekleştirme yolunda büyük adımlar attırılarak epey yol aldırılmıştır. Yukarıda sarf ettiğim sözler hayal değil gerçeğin yavaş yavaş ortaya çıkışıdır. Geçen gün Dışişleri Bakanımız Ahmed Davutoğlu, Dış Ticaretten sorumlu devlet bakanı Zafer Çağlayan ve beraberindeki heyetle birlikte Irak’a bir çeşit diplomatik gezi düzenlediler. Bu diplomatik gezinin duraklarından olan Erbil’de Beyaz Köşk’te Bölgesel Yönetim Başkanı Mesud Barzani ile heyetler arası bir görüşme yaptılar.


Heyetler arası görüşmelerin ardından ortak basın toplantısında konuşan Dışişleri Bakanı Davutoğlu, Barzani ile ortak bir vizyonu paylaştıklarını, Ortadoğu'yu Araplar, Kürtler ve Türklerin yeniden birlikte inşa etmesinin ve cesaretli adımlar atılmasının vakti geldiğini söyledi. Davutoğlu, Erbil'de bir başkonsolosluk açma kararı verdiklerini ve bu konsolosluğun mümkün olan en kısa zamanda açılmasını istediklerini dile getirdi. "Kendimizi evimizde hissettik. Ortadoğu'yu hep birlikte inşa edeceğiz. Biz Irak'ta etnik gruplar arasında ayrım görmüyoruz. Türk, Kürt, Arap hepsi bizim için aynı." diyen Bakan, teröre karşı gerekli adımların atılmasının da tam zamanı olduğunu vurguladı. "Burada terör varsa Türkiye'de de terör var. Artık insanlarımız Basra'dan Edirne'ye kadar rahat ve sorunsuz seyahat edebilsin. Dağlar bizi ayıramaz, birleştirir." diye ekledi. Erbil'i çok gelişmiş bulduğunu ifade eden Davutoğlu, "Hep birlikte Erbil'in daha da gelişmesi için katkı sağlayabiliriz. Bu, Irak ile Türkiye arasında köprü olacak. Biz Irak'ın Avrupa Birliği'ne açılan kapısıyız. Erbil de bizim Basra'ya açılan kapımız." ifadelerini kullandı.


Ey Türk Milleti, Dışişleri Bakanımız Ahmet Davutoğlu’nun bu açıklamasını iyi irdelerseniz projenin genel hatlarını kestirebilirsiniz. Bundan sonra her şeyi hazmetmeye alışın çünkü ülkemizde daha neler göreceğiz neler. Hepsi sıraya sokulmuş madde madde çıkartılıp gerçekleştirilmeyi bekliyor. Herkese hazmetme konusunda kolaylıklar dilerim. Mideniz ne kadar genişse hazmetmenizde o kadar kolay olur. Bir Müslüman Türk’ün midesi o kadar geniş değildir. Sağlıcakla kalın.


FİKRET ŞAHİN
03.11.2009

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Who Are the Six Uighurs Released From Guantánamo to Palau?

by Andy Worthington, November 04, 2009

http://original.antiwar.com/worthington/2009/11/03/who-are-the-six-uighurs-released/

Over the weekend, six of the remaining 13 Uighurs in Guantánamo – Muslims from China’s Xinjiang province – were released to resume new lives in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau (population: 20,000).

I have written at length about the plight of Guantánamo’s Uighurs, innocent men caught up in the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, who were mostly seized and sold to U.S. forces by Pakistani villagers after fleeing a settlement in Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains where they had been living Spartan lives for several months, free from Chinese oppression.

Some were hoping to make their way to Turkey, to find work, but had found their way hard and had been advised to seek out the settlement; others nursed futile dreams of rising up against the Chinese government, and, while working to make the settlement habitable, occasionally shot a few rounds on their only weapon, an aged Kalashnikov.

I have also written about how the U.S. authorities knew, almost immediately, that these men had no connection to either al-Qaeda or the Taliban, but how, nevertheless, they flew them to Guantánamo, allowed Chinese interrogators to visit them, and tried, in their tribunals at Guantánamo, to make out that they were connected to a Uighur separatist group, which obligingly had been designated by the Bush administration as a terrorist group to secure leverage with the Chinese government in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Article continued on :

http://merryabla64.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/who-are-the-six-uighurs-released-from-guantanamo-to-palau/

Tuesday 3 November 2009

United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms

An extremely useful handbook on the United Nations human rights mechanisms has been published by the Civil Society unit of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/CivilSociety/Documents/Handbook_en.pdf

Sunday 1 November 2009

Inside Iraq- The Iraqi Diaspora (Video)

In case you missed it

Inside Iraq - The Iraqi diaspora - 9 Oct 09

Nidhal Garmo, CEO for Victims of War and Poverty
Raed Jarrar, Architect, AFSC American Friends Service Committee
Houzan Mahmood, Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq