Month: February 2012

ARMENIAN PM TO PRIORITIZE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Vestnik Kavkaza
Feb 22 2012
Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met activists of the Republican
Party in Oktemberyan (Armavir Region) and said that agricultural
development would be a priority for the next 5 years, ARKA reports.

He noted that Armenian villages will have infrastructure and service
system formed, as in Yerevan.

The main aspects of agriculture to be developed are seeding,
agricultural equipment and production of fertilizers. Armenia has
been importing elite seeds from Russia in the last two years, for the
first time in decade. Armenia plans to produce 30,000 tons of seeds
annually to have self-sufficient seed production.

90% of agricultural equipment has become outdated and needs
modernization.

Sargsyan noted agreements to import harvesters from Russia and tractors
from Belarus. The government is developing leasing companies for
the purpose.

The World Bank is assisting in development of a program to subsidize
50% of funds needed for purchases of agricultural equipment for 55th
most socially-unsupported communities.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN READY TO ROCK AUCKLAND (+VIDEO)
By Chris Schulz

New Zealand Herald

Feb 22 2012

It’s been a long seven-year drought for System of a Down fans, but
tonight the Armenian-American thrash-metallers will return to New
Zealand with a vengeance.

The Grammy-winning band behind hit songs like Chop Suey! and Aerials
last performed in Auckland at the 2005 Big Day Out, a show memorable
for several stoppages for over-aggressive moshing in the D-barricade.

A sweaty and heaving moshpit can be expected at tonight’s show at
Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, as the band rip through what is likely
to be a greatest hits set cherry picked from the band’s albums:
1998’s System of a Down, 2001’s Toxicity, 2002’s Steal This Album!,
and 2005’s double release Mezmerize and Hypnotize.

It’s the band’s first New Zealand show since they reunited in 2009
after three-year hiatus. And they haven’t performed since October 7
in Chile, but it’s likely to be a fired up performance thanks to Serj
Tankian, an occasional New Zealand resident, performing in front of
what he considers to be something of a home town crowd.

“New Zealand feels like home to me, and while my work takes me many
places I always love returning. I’m super-excited to be back home in
Auckland again, this time with System,” Tankian said.

Recent setlists show System of a Down perform up to 26 songs a night,
including everything from Toxicity classics Needles, Bounce and Prison
Song, to more recent anthems Lonely Day and Lost in Hollywood.

The Dillinger Escape Plan will open for them at 7.20pm, with System
of a Down due on stage at 8.45pm. Doors open at 6.30pm.

Both bands will head to Australia next to perform as part of the
Soundwave festival.

Ticketdirect’s website shows the gig is almost sold out, with only
tickets left in the South Upper Allocated section of the venue.

What: System of a Down Where: Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, Auckland When:
Wednesday, February 22

JAVELIN THROWER JANOYAN AIMING TO PUT ARMENIAN ATHLETICS ON THE MAP IN HELSINKI

European Athletics

Feb 22 2012

Armenian javelin thrower Melik Janoyan has been setting a plethora
of national records for the last six years, adding almost 20 metres
to the country’s best mark since he first threw over 60 metres in 2005.

His first national record was 61.22m, produced when winning at the
2005 Armenian national championships, and now he stands on the verge
of breaking through the elite 80- metre barrier after going into new
territory again with 79.71m at the Lunev Memorial Meeting, the Russian
Winter Throwing Cup, at the Black Sea venue of Adler on Saturday.

~SI don’t feel 80 metres is far away. I would like to do it at the
European Cup Winter Throwing in Montenegro next month,~T said Janoyan,
who finished second in Adler behind the Russia’s evergreen 2003 world
champion Sergey Makarov.

The 2012 European Cup Winter Throwing will be in the Montenegrin town
of Bar on 17-18 March.

Further details of the event can be found here.

Janoyan also wants to redeem himself in Bar after he travelled to
last year’s event in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia and failed to
register a valid mark. However, he did finish third in the under 23
competition back in 2007 when he rose to the occasion and set the
first of four national records within the space of 10 weeks.

He also hopes to make his mark at this summer’s European Athletics
Championships in Helsinki and making the final, after not getting
beyond the qualifying competition at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009
World Championships.

~SI’m looking forward to Helsinki as I have never been to a European
Athletics Championships and I expect to achieve new successes there,~T
he added.

If Janoyan can be counted among the top 12 javelin throwers in
Helsinki, it would be a milestone for Armenian athletics as no athlete
from the country has made a European Athletics Championships final
since independence was recognised in 1991.

However, there were a number of European Athletics Championships
successes when Armenian athletes wore the vest of the former Soviet
Union, notably the memorable long jump victory of Robert Emmiyan
in 1986.

Emmiyan remains the European long jump record holder with the 8.86m
that he jumped in Tsakhkadzor in 1987 and today he is the president
of the Armenian athletics federation.

SYRIA: COOL AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARIS AND ANKARA
Marc Semo

Liberation
Feb 22 2012
France

[translated from French]

The two countries have for months been the most engaged in connection
with Syria and are both calling for an international conference of
“friends of Syria” with the Arab League, the United States, and the
principal European countries. The first one will take place in Tunis
Friday [ 24 February,] as desired by Paris. The second is expected to
take place in Istanbul, as designed by Ankara. But though the French
and Turkish authorities are indeed acting in unison to mobilize
the international community, they are now open rivals and… are no
longer speaking to each other. Or only indirectly, and absolutely
not about Syria.

“Rivalry” – “All contacts now take place only via intermediary
researchers,” one diplomat complained. In retaliation against the
law sanctioning the negation of the Armenian genocide, Ankara has
decided to freeze military and political relations. “In connection with
Syria, Turkey knows that it is crucial and wishes clearly to remind
the French authorities that they can do nothing without it,” we were
told by Kadri Gursel, foreign policy editorialist for centre left daily
Milliyet. The two countries’ positions on a major international crisis
are nevertheless closer than they have been for a long time. “There
is as much a rivalry as emulation between the two foreign ministers,
Ahmet Davutoglu and Alain Juppe, who share the same convictions
about the pressing need to halt the Ba’thist regime’s massacres,”
according to Khaled Khodja, the representative in Turkey of the
Syrian National Council (SNC,) the main opposition organization,
which has for the for the past four months had an official bureau,
not far from Istanbul airport, the first of its kind.

The Syrian crisis is a crucial test for Turkish diplomacy, which
is increasingly active on the regional scene. Having long hesitated
last spring in response to the population’s revolt and having urged
Bashir al-Asad [Syrian president] to “heed his people,” the Turkish
Government, worried about the danger of destabilization facing
its southern neighbour, with which it shares an 800 km border,
has called increasing openly for regime change. “We wanted Al-Asad
to be Syria’s Gorbachev, but he has chosen to be its Milosevic, and
that’s the whole problem,” Ahmet Davutoglu told students 10 February,
during a five-day visit to Washington. The rather unusual duration of
his visit highlights Turkey’s importance in bringing aid to Syria’s
civilian population and even establishing “humanitarian corridors,”
a possibility first mentioned last fall by the French foreign minister,
but also by his Turkish counterpart.

Indeed for the present everything is blocked because such a deployment
would require the Syrian authorities’ approval or a resolution from
the UN Security Council, which is currently paralysed by the veto from
Moscow and Beijing. But the international community is increasing the
pressure, as shown by the massive vote at the UN General assembly to
support the resolution submitted by the Arab League, with the West’s
backing. “It grants legitimacy to a humanitarian intervention by the
international community, even if only a Security Council resolution
can grant it a legal framework,” according to one diplomat, who
pointed out that Ankara will in any case not act on its own.

The authorities have already planned “buffer zones” on their soil
which could, in the event of an emergency, receive a huge influx
of refugees. Since the summer they have already hosted some 5,000
refugees near Antioch, but also some 100 deserters, including Col
Riyad al-Asad, who says he is the leader of the Free Syrian Army and
who grants interviews in the presence of Turkish diplomats. “The
Islamic-conservative government that has been in power since 2000
faces a huge challenge: if Turkey is not at the centre of an operation
for Syria, it will deal a heavy blow to the entire credibility of
the policy pursued in the Middle Eas t in recent years and to the
popularity gained by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the
region,” according to international relations expert Soli Ozel.

But apart from their loud statements, the authorities remain cautious
in practice. They fear suffering the repercussions of the Syrian
conflict, with a resumption of the Kurdish rebellion, stoked by
Damascus, or even increased tensions between the large Sunni majority
who support the Syrian revolt and the Alevis, a progressive Shi’i
sect who account for one-third of the population.

Gas – Furthermore, the Syrian regime’s last remaining allies, Iran and
Russia, are Turkey’s neighbours and its principal gas suppliers. The
left wing opposition, which was the first to condemn al-Asad’s blind
repression back in the spring, openly criticizes the “adventurism”
of Turkish diplomacy. Osman Koroturk, deputy and pillar of the Foreign
Affairs Committee, said: “The government wants to export democracy to
our neighbours, despite the fact that it’s in an increasingly sorry
state in Turkey itself.”

[translated from French]

‘STATE WATCHDOG’S DINK REPORT NOT ANNOUNCED DUE TO MÄ°T CRISIS’

Today’s Zaman
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

The summary of a report prepared by the State Audit Institution
(DDK) regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
which reveals that mistakes were made in the investigation of public
officials who were suspected of having acted negligently in preventing
the murder — was completed on Feb. 2 but was published 18 days later
on Monday.

The reason for announcing the important report 18 days after its
completion has been interpreted by some as a move to not harm the
National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T) while the country was shaken
by MÄ°T Undersecretary Hakan Fidan being called by prosecutors to
testify in a terrorism-related case, the AkÅ~_am daily claimed on
Wednesday.

The DDK’s report reveals that mistakes were made in the investigation
of public officials who were suspected of having acted negligently
in preventing the murder. The summary of the DDK report was posted
on the website of the Presidency on Monday.

Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
broad daylight in Ä°stanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The investigation into
his murder stalled when the suspected perpetrator and his accomplices
were put on trial as those who masterminded the plot to kill him have
yet to be exposed and punished. In the face of growing calls from the
public and a European Court of Human Rights (ECtCR) ruling that found
Turkey guilty of failing to protect Dink’s right to life and of not
carrying out a thorough investigation into the officers who failed
to take the necessary measures despite early warnings and tip-offs
about the plot to kill Dink, Gul ordered the DDK to investigate Dink’s
murder last year.

The investigation that followed Dink’s death revealed that the police
had been tipped off about the plans to murder the journalist, but
that they failed to intervene. The summary of the DDK report said the
sequence of negligent acts by public officials was not examined as a
whole and no investigation was launched separately into different state
institutions. It said the method adopted during the investigation
of public officials led to the failure of not investigating all
allegations about public officials as a whole.

‘SABAHATTIN ALI, LIKE DINK, WAS KILLED FOR OPPOSING DEEP STATE’

Today’s Zaman
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

The daughter of renowned Turkish poet and writer Sabahattin Ali
has said her father, like Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
was killed because of his opposition to the deep state.

Ali, known for his strong opposition to the state, was convicted
of insulting the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in one of
his poems in 1932. He served time in the Konya and Sinop prisons but
was released after a general amnesty granted on the 10th anniversary
of the republic in 1933. Ali was murdered while trying to flee the
country on April 1, 1948. His body was found on June 16. It became
evident that Ali Ertekin, a smuggler, was the killer; however, the
motive behind the murder remained a mystery.

“Why was Hrant Dink killed? We need to ask this. It would be wrong to
label these murders [Dink and Ali’s killings] as simple murders. There
is a supra-party state here. Everyone knows that there is a reality
called the deep state in Turkey. This is a monolithic concept. The
state structure, which never accepts criticism, has destroyed everyone
who opposed, for any reason, its deeply rooted policies. The system
functions this way,” said Ali’s daughter, Filiz Ali, in an interview
with the Yeni Å~^afak daily that was published on Wednesday.

Dink was murdered in 2007 by an ultranationalist youth in Ä°stanbul,
the masterminds of which still remain a mystery.

In the interview, Ali also commented on the recent statements of
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, who
admitted that the CHP was behind Ali’s murder.

Kılıcdaroglu, who recently spoke in critical terms of several
acts committed by the CHP during its 27 years of single-party rule
in the early years of the Turkish Republic, said during a television
program earlier this month that it was the CHP that killed Ali and that
renowned Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet was imprisoned for his political
views. “Who sent Nazım Hikmet to jail? Who killed Sabahattin Ali? The
CHP. We will always admit the reality, but it is not correct to abuse
the wrongdoings of the CHP,” he said.

Commenting on Kılıcdaroglu’s remarks, Filiz Ali said it is a
significant step for the CHP to confront its own history, while noting
that Kılıcdaroglu’s acknowledgment of what happened was a first.

“My father was killed when the CHP was in power. I was pleased with
the current CHP leader for mentioning the truth,” Filiz Ali said.

From: A. Papazian

STATE CONFESSES NEGLIGENCE IN DINK MURDER

Today’s Zaman
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

“State officials became aware of a threat against Dink’s life, but
failed to take the necessary measures. Had they done so, they could
have prevented him from being killed. … The lack of coordination
between the National Police Department and gendarmerie intelligence led
to Hrant Dink’s death.” These are some of the striking excerpts from a
recently released 653-page report prepared by the Presidency over the
killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Ä°stanbul in 2007.

The report, prepared by the State Audit Institution (DDK) functioning
under President Abdullah Gul’s office, released the lengthy report on
Dink’s murder on Feb. 20. An Ä°stanbul court issued a verdict on Jan.

17 after a five-year trial concerning Dink’s murder. All the suspects
were acquitted of charges, though all the evidence demonstrated that
the incident was an organized crime, Dink’s lawyers told the media
at the time. Ogun Samast, who gunned Dink down, was sentenced to
aggravated life imprisonment, but he was acquitted of the charge of
membership in a terrorist organization.

The court verdict sparked major outrage in the country because the
verdict said the suspects had no ties to a larger crime network but
acted alone.

However, the court ruling was appealed because both the prosecution and
lawyers representing the Dink family believe the killers are affiliated
with the Ergenekon network, whose suspected members are currently
standing trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

The DDK report, in the meantime, confirmed for the first time the
serious negligence of Turkish intelligence, which ultimately culminated
in Dink’s murder.

Dink’s lawyers had waged a persistent judicial battle to have the civil
servants who were suspected of being involved in one way or another
in the process that culminated in the murder interrogated, but failed.

The DDK report provides Dink’s lawyers with strong support in their
battle to have state officials interrogated. The DDK report highlighted
the serious lack of coordination between the police and gendarmerie
intelligence, both of whom it said failed to prevent the threat to
Dink’s life.

This report’s conclusion points to the grave consequences that come
from the absence of coordination between the two institutions in
charge of ensuring law and order, which led to Dink’s murder.

“There were problems in institutional structures and practices
in relation to the collection and evaluation of intelligence and
providing individual security. Therefore, there is a need to touch
on the ‘need for reform’,” the report added.

It also highlighted the absence of will within the state to lift the
protective shield from the civil servants who are alleged to have
committed crimes so that they can appear in court. Dink’s lawyers
insisted during the course of the proceedings that a colonel from the
gendarmerie as well as a police chief, both of whom are suspected
of negligence with regard to preventing Dink’s murder, should be
investigated.

The DDK report is now expected to pave the way for the investigation
of state officials suspected of negligence in Dink’s murder. This
country has witnessed several murders of non-Muslim Turkish citizens,
with recent ones being the murder of a priest, Father Andrea Santoro,
several years ago by a young man as well as the murder of a German
citizen in Malatya in 2007. In the same incident in Malatya, two of
the victims were Turkish converts from Islam.

All the murderers who have been caught are alleged to have been acting
alone, but such allegations have failed to convince the general public.

These murders prove the existence of a powerful network of
ultra-nationalists who brainwash young men to turn them into hitmen
to achieve their goal of undermining democratic reforms.

Turkey also needs a law that will criminalize those committing
hate crimes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENTIAL REPORT BACKS PROBE INTO OFFICIALS FOR ROLE IN DINK MURDER

Today’s Zaman
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

A new report from the country’s top office is expected to put much
needed support behind judges and prosecutors who are currently
conducting investigations into several public officials for their
role in the murder of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos’ editor Hrant Dink.

The State Audit Institution (DDK), which started the investigation
into the issue last year in January and posted it on the website of
the presidential office on Monday, has stated that a threat against
Dink’s life was known by the police and gendarmerie officials who
failed to take the necessary measures in light of early warnings and
tips about the plot to kill Dink.

The report also noted that the seriousness of the actions of public
officials in the run up to the murder has not been understood and the
link between their actions and the murder could not be established,
leading to the failure of all of the investigations into public
officials.

The DDK report came out at a time when there is a secret investigation
into some public officials who allegedly had roles in preventing the
murder of Dink, who was shot dead by an ultra-nationalist teenager in
broad daylight. Dink was convicted in 2005 for “insulting Turkishness”
in a newspaper article, despite an expert report that he had not
committed the said charge. He received threats from extremist rightist
groups and ultranationalist circles until he was murdered, causing
outrage among many Turks who joined a massive demonstration on the
day of his funeral.

The 650-page report stated that the DDK’s authority is limited in
conducting such an investigation, and it should avoid influencing
the judiciary, but it evaluates the situation in the face of the
ECtHR ruling, which declared in September 2010 that Turkey failed to
fulfill its duty to protect the life of Dink and included a reference
to possible links between the 2007 murder of Dink and Ergenekon,
a clandestine terrorist group accused of plotting a military coup
against the government.

“In that context, there is a decision to evaluate laws and regulations
criticized in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling in
relation to the prosecution of the public officials,” the report
stated, adding that only a part of the report — the conclusion with
some parts covered with black — was made public because of an ongoing
investigation by the prosecution into some public officials. “The
first point is that it is understood that there are structural problems
in the security sector related to the failure to protect the life of
Hrant Dink.

In this framework, in the murder of Hrant Dink and in similar
events (murder in the Council of State, murders of intellectuals
and journalists, Sivas and MaraÅ~_ events), there were problems in
institutional structures and practices in relation to the collection
and evaluation of intelligence and providing individual security;
therefore, there is a need to touch on the ‘need for reform’,” the
report stated.

Cem Halavurt, a co-plaintiff lawyer for the Dink family, told Today’s
Zaman that there are several positive elements in the DDK report,
and there are some unknowns due to the secrecy of some parts.

“The report made the point that we have long been making in regards
to Law 4483, which protects public officials,” he said. “It also
makes another point that we have long been making, and it is that
public officials who are suspects can be tried in accordance with
the Turkish Penal Code’s related articles.”

Co-plaintiff lawyers for the Dink family have been defending the
view that in order to solve the murder of Dink, the whole picture
should be seen, and this cannot be done with one separate case in
Trabzon, another in Samsun and yet another in Ä°stanbul; therefore,
all the separate cases should be combined. One example of that is in
a separate case in Trabzon in which a public official was punished
with a prison sentence of six months for dereliction of duty. However,
the lawyers of the Dink family say if that case was part of the main
murder trial, then it would be possible to ask for this official’s
punishment under Articles 83 and 220 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK].

Article 83 relates to malicious murder by dereliction of duty. And
Article 220 clearly states that if someone contributes to organized
crimes intentionally, then that person needs to be tried and punished
accordingly.

“We don’t know yet if the DDK report goes further to reveal
organizational links of the public officials in the murder,” Halavurt
said. “The team from the DDK worked well. They called us for submission
of many documents. But we don’t know yet how far they went.

We expect to receive the full report from them. And as this report
comes from the top office of the Turkish state, judges and prosecutors
should feel the courage to reveal all the facts, all of the wrongful
acts of public officials.”

The Dink case was closed last month in the five-year-long murder
trial with a verdict saying that the suspects had no ties to a larger
crime network but acted alone — even though government officials,
politicians and commentators have asserted that this cannot be true.

Even Judge Rustem Eryılmaz, who delivered the verdict, said —
amid growing outrage over the trial that many feel has failed to
shed light on alleged official negligence or even collaboration —
that while he personally cannot deny the murder was the work of
an organized network, the evidence submitted to the court was not
sufficient to issue such a ruling.

The trial ended with conviction of the hitman and his instigator. The
ruling was appealed as both the prosecution and lawyers on behalf of
the Dink family believe the killers are affiliated with the Ergenekon
network, whose suspected members currently stand trial on charges of
plotting to overthrow the government.

The gunman, Ogun Samast, and 18 others were brought to trial. During
the process, lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the
case presented evidence indicating that Samast was not acting alone.

Samast stood trial in a juvenile court because he was a minor at
the time of the murder, and he was sentenced to 22 years 10 months
in prison.

The report by the DDK made a reference to Samast — who was
photographed after being captured, posing in front of a Turkish flag
and holding another flag next to security officials, indicating that
he was given the hero treatment — saying that it is necessary “to
confront with marginal understandings that gave a flag to the killer
of Hrant Dink.”

In a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers were convicted on
charges of “dereliction of duty” in the run-up to the Dink murder.

Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting
Samast to murder.

“The DDK report presents new opportunities,” said law professor
Hakan Hakeri.

Since opinions in the Turkish press indicate that a new investigation
should be started into the murder of Dink, he added that it is not
technically possible to start another investigation into the suspects
because the case is under review by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

“However, if the top court overrules the verdict, then a new
investigation can be possible. Additionally, with the DDK report,
investigations can be started against people who have never been
investigated before,” he said.

In late January, a group of people who identify themselves as “Hrant’s
Friends” released a press statement pointing out “untouchable”
officials allegedly responsible for Dink’s murder. The list included
Muammer Guler, who was the governor of Ä°stanbul at the time and
currently a lawmaker. Guler was listed as being responsible because
Dink was threatened by two MİT officials, Ozel Yılmaz and Handan
Selcuk, at the office of Deputy Governor Ergun Gungör.

Other individuals listed as being responsible for Dink’s assassination
include Osmaniye Governor Celalettin Cerrah, who was the Ä°stanbul
chief of police at the time of the murder; Ahmet Ä°lhan Guler,
then head of intelligence at the Ä°stanbul Police Department;
ReÅ~_at Altay, then Trabzon police chief; Engin Dinc, then head of
intelligence at the Trabzon Police Department and the man who told
the Ä°stanbul Police Department that Dink was going to be killed;
and Ali Oz, the then commander of the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command,
who covered up information regarding plans to murder Dink.

FEB 14 WAS NOT ST VALENTINE’S DAY IN BAHRAIN
by Burak Bekdil

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

According to Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), “the Gaza conflict is Turkey’s national
issue.” And there is more than sufficient evidence that, according
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu, the Syrian conflict, too, is Turkey’s national issue.

Needless to say, some of Turkey’s other national/domestic issues
include the Cyprus and Armenian conflicts, too.

It’s bizarre, though, that Ankara tends to get seriously offended each
time a foreign official, an author with fame or a nongovernmental
organization speaks on the Kurdish conflict or on Turkey’s now
first-class Third World civil liberties. But this can hardly be an
indication of hypocrisy in a world where Sudan and Saudi Arabia are
pressuring Syria to “democratize its regime and stop massacring its
own people,” or where Turkey condemns freedom of expression in France.

At this pace of events we may soon have the North Koreans lecturing
Europe on the virtues of liberal culture.

Hardly a day passes without Mssrs. Erdogan and Davutoglu and Western
“friends of Syria” do not fiercely stand on the right side of history
by overtly and covertly working to overthrow the tyrant of Damascus
“because he keeps on killing Syrians.”

To achieve the goal of saving innocent Syrians (according to the
official account) or to defeat Iran in this proxy sectarian war
(according to facts of life) Ankara extends humanitarian (according
to the official account) support, and/or logistical military support
(according to facts of life) to an armed group of Bashar al-Assad’s
opponents who go with the very military designation of the “Free
Syrian Army.”

Ironically, more military support for the dissident army will mean
more fighting and more bloodshed. Which brings in the inevitable
question: Do “friends of Syria” really care about the Syrian death
toll, or are they just following their sectarian instincts blended
with geostrategic interests?

I have no idea how Mr. Erdogan’s Muslim fraternity with Omar al-Bashir,
Sudan’s president with an international arrest warrant for crimes
against humanity, or cooperation with Saudi Arabia to bring democracy
to Syria could fit into the fancy pro-democracy rhetoric in Ankara.

But there is, in addition to Syria, another land where the Arab Spring
brings in a light breeze of democracy although this one is not for
the Sunni-Western taste. What the more developed parts of the world
celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day was the anniversary of the much less
popular Arab Spring in Bahrain where a minority Sunni sheikdom rules
a majority Shiite population, where police continue to crack down on
disaffected youth in Shiite neighborhoods and where the youth complain
of economic and political marginalization along sectarian lines.

If the prime minister and his foreign minister are sincere about
their concerns for human dignity, human rights, universal values
and democracy in the Arab world, they should support Bahrain’s
pro-democracy (and anti-sheikdom) opponents, too, and feel sympathy
for the Bahraini death toll. But never mind, that will not happen.

“This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change
n the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protestors crying out
for freedom, or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human
dignity and human rights.”

Nice quote? Indeed. But does it matter whether it belongs to Susan
Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, or to any one of Mssrs.

Erdogan or Davutoglu? Sadly, the dead do not carry passports; but
Bahrain is too “potentially Persian” for Washington to be catalogued
as another corner of the Arab Spring, just a “little nuisance” for
Saudi Arabia, and too “Shiite” for Ankara to care for human dignity
and promote democracy.

CRISIS FEEDS EVERY SEGMENT
by Mehmet Ali Birand

Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 22 2012
Turkey

Some of my readers will get quite angry today. Since I know they will
be cross because I am telling the truth, I am ready to take on all
critics. They will not be able to prove the opposite. On the contrary,
they will silently say that I am “right.” Because they, as much as
I, like to live in an environment of crisis and they will very well
understand what I mean.

Right? We love to live in crises.

A crisis helps each segment differently. The opposition charges the
government by these means. It raises its voice and explains how the
country is dragged toward a cliff.

The media writes the most absurd conspiracy theories in the world
and spends all its energy on matters not worth a fig. There is no
shortage of headlines for newspapers. Mostly it is talk shows on
television channels that make the most of this.

The public is also happy. Thanks to this, conversations in homes are
heated, our lives are colored.

When there is no crisis, we are kind of edgy. We have to reach out
and find something and then we have a storm in a teacup.

Let me ask you this: If you just look back and compare past years with
what we are going through today, I wonder what the result would be?

Think of the horrible leftist and reactionary hunts of the 1950s and
’60s, the streets that were stirred up, and the military coup.

In the 1970s, remember that 25 people were killed every day and
liberated zones were formed; the years that major chaos was being
experienced, the tortures and the executions of the 1980s. Remember
the tumultuous periods from the 1990s to 2007, the major economic
crises, years of horrible inflation and take a look at today.

If you cannot remember, don’t strain yourself and just watch “The
Last Coup: February 28” (Son Darbe: 28 Å~^ubat), being shown every
night at 9 p.m. on CNN Turk at the moment.

See what a real crisis is. The documentary on Feb. 28 explains the
dark years between 1992 and 2002 with its witnesses and images.

Now, let’s turn and look at today.

There are several practices of the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) I do not like. They have extremely unnecessary practices and
stances that upset the applecart for the sake of fine-tuning. We are
all annoyed with their anti-democratic approaches and their policies
against freedom of expression.

However, we should give them credit by looking at the greater picture.

When you compare the country’s current situation with the past,
you can see the most comfortable period of recent history is unfolding.

While Europe’s economy is shattered, Turkey’s is standing up.

It is not all a bed of roses. Democracy is not developing as we wish.

Income distribution is still unbalanced. True, but when looking at the
other side of the medallion, I believe there is no room for pessimism.

State finally comes clean

Finally, it has happened. Finally, the state was able to admit its
fault in the Hrant Dink murder.

Indeed, not the real responsible party; they are still at large. They
still assume they can escape.

If President Abdullah Gul had not laid hands on it and if the State
Audit Board (DDK) had not been activated, the relevant members of
the police and intelligence service would have been able to hide in
their hiding places.

For the first time, the truth has found its way to an official report.

It has been revealed that a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin,
Hrant Dink, was blatantly murdered, that this murder was committed
with the knowledge of the Trabzon and Istanbul police and gendarmerie.

It has been explained how the intelligence service closed its eyes
to this matter.

I cannot explain how relieved I am. Now, I wonder in curiosity when
the prosecutors will act. Will the Interior Ministry remain a spectator
or will it bravely come forward and start a new investigation?

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress