Author: Babajanian Karo

A TURKISH PUZZLE: GREY WOLVES, ERGENEKON, AND THE ‘DEEP STATE’

International Business Times News
October 31, 2011 Monday 4:32 PM EST

Although ignored and overlooked by the mainstream media in Europe,
reports are emerging that the escalation of violence between the
Turkish military and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) near Turkey’s
southeastern border has prompted clashes among their brethren thousands
of miles away — among the immigrant communities in western Europe.

Europe-based blogs (not all of which are entirely unbiased and
reliable, admittedly) reported that Turkish nationalists in Stuttgart,
Germany, have marched to protest the killing of two dozen Turkish
troops by PKK guerillas. Other such demonstrations occurred in
Saint-Etienne, France, where Turkish protesters allegedly damaged
or destroyed a shop owned by a Kurd. Still other reports claim that
Turkish demonstrators smashed a Kurdish community center in Amsterdam,
Holland.

What all these disparate incidents have in common (according to these
reports) is that the Turkish protesters included members of the Grey
Wolves – a shadowy, mysterious, ultra-nationalist (some would say
neo-fascist) Turkish organization that has been a secretive part of
Turkey’s politics for the past four decades.

Still, the Grey Wolves have seemingly been dormant for many years –
their presence appears to have diminished ever since Turkey embarked
on a course to modernize its economy (with great success), become a
dominant player in Eastern Europe-Middle East politics; and aspire
to join the European Union (EU).

But, who are the Grey Wolves and what do they want?

Founded in 1969 by a man named Alparslan Turkes, the Grey Wolves took
their name from a mythical wolf that is central to the legend of the
‘Turkic’ peoples – a vast tribe that allegedly swept across the plains
of Asia westward and ultimately formed the modern Turkish nation on
the Anatolian peninsula.

Turkes was an ultra-right-wing politician who had also founded the
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – the Grey Wolves were created as
the youth wing of the party, although some members have long claimed
they have no direct link with MHP.

At the center of Grey Wolves ideology is the formation of the “Turan”
– an empire of all the “Turkic” peoples (which potentially includes
an immense population from present-day Turkey and central Asia all
the way to Northwestern China).

Consequently, the Grey Wolves have been described by many as a
“racist” organization.

The Grey Wolves are believed to have committed hundreds of murders
-mostly of liberals, trade unionists, leftists, intellectuals,
Communists, Kurds, etc. — in Turkey during the mid to late- 1970s.

Dilshod Achilov told International Business Times that during the
1970s the youths of the Grey Wolves were manipulated by state agencies
(particularly the military) to create a chaos in the country and
destabilize the state through well-orchestrated clashes against
the various secular-liberal-Marxist leftist groups who proliferated
in Turkey.

“The purpose was to create a clash between the nationalists
(right-wing) and the secular-communist leftists in order to undermine
the civil government, allowing the Military to take control of the
state,” he said.

“Well, it happened exactly as planned. The military coup of 1980 was
actually a result of a political game orchestrated by the military
itself. ”

Achilov, a professor of political science at East Tennessee State
University, in Johnson City, Tenn., added that Turkey’s military
engaged in many questionable acts during the coup.

“We now know that the senior security/military ranks were at the
forefront of the Grey Wolves operations (at least in their initial
stage of existence),” he noted.

In 1980, the military coup in Turkey brought general Kenan Evren to
power. Despite using the MHP and Grey Wolves to help him ascend to
the top, Evren outlawed the groups and arrested Turkes and several
other Grey Wolves and charged them with hundreds of murders. (Evren,
who ran Turkey for ten years, is still alive at age 94).

That would seem to have been the final demise of the Grey Wolves.

However, the Grey Wolves has apparently remained active in shadows,
reportedly making alliances with both Turkish intelligence services
and Turkish mafia. The Grey Wolves has also been implicated in violent
attacks against Greeks, Kurds and Armenians, among others.

Perhaps most spectacularly, the man who attempted to assassinate Pope
John Paul II in 1981, Mehmet Ali Agca, was reportedly a Grey Wolves
member. The conspiracy to murder the holy pontiff reportedly involved
a large bewildering array of players, including Turkish intelligence,
Bulgarian secret police, the Turkish mafia, the Russians, the Poles,
even the CIA. (All of which suggests that the Grey Wolves had a broad
and wide network of cohorts).

But, have the Grey Wolves really disappeared from the Turkish political
landscape?

“Grey Wolves activities have significantly diminished in the public
discourse,” Achilov said.

“They rarely ever come to the public’s attention, or the media’s
attention anymore.”

However, there is yet another facet to Turkish political life that
is likely to bring the Grey Wolves back to public prominence.

The country has been watching a fascinating, ongoing trial of an array
of more than 500 ultra-nationalists who have been charged with seeking
to overthrow the state by, among other things, murdering intellectuals,
politicians, religious figures, among other targets.

Many former Grey Wolves are believed to be defendants in the cases.

It is part of something that prosecutors call “Ergenekon” – an alleged
terrorist organization that conspired to topple the existing government
through endless acts of political violence, including kidnappings,
torture and murder.

Like something out of James Bond or a John LeCarre novel, the very
existence of a conspiratorial group like Ergenekon has been questioned
by some; while others claim it is part of something called a “deep
state” – that is, a secret state apparatus that operates within the
boundaries of the existing government – and yet, at odds with it.

Turkish Prime Minister Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
repeatedly said what a threat to the country’s security that Ergenekon
poses.

He once told private Kanal 24 channel in Turkey: “Of course there are
some threats now. These unfortunately come from inside and outside
(of the country). Interesting things happen that could be considered
abnormal even though they have been told by a prime minister.”

This past May, when Erdogan was campaigning for re-election, he even
claimed that elements of Ergenekon were conspiring with the PKK to
increase tensions in Turkey to again destabilize the government ahead
of the polls.

RUSSIA OFFERS TO SELL ARMENIA AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT WORTH $50 MILLION

Vestnik Kavkaza
Nov 1 2011

Russia is offering to sell Armenia agricultural equipment worth $50
million, Armenian Deputy Agriculture Minister Vardan Karapetyan said
on Tuesday, ARKA reports.

The proposal was made at a meeting with officials from Rosagromash,
which includes over 60 manufacturers of agricultural equipment and
instruments.

Preliminary agreements allow agricultural equipment and instruments
to be leased for 7 years at a rate of 5%.

Concerning prices, Karapetyan noted that the combine-harvesters of
New Holland are worth $150,000, while Russia’s Niva ones cost $78,000.

Armenia is negotiating a purchase of Niva combine-harvesters for
$50,000 each. Russian partners are offering Armenia a discount. The
Niva models are three times cheaper and have the same standards as
New Holland ones.

Karapetyan reminded that Armenia also plans to realize a grant program
with Japan and a leasing program with India. Moreover, Japanese grants
for realization of agricultural equipment worth $791,000 will be used
to update the vehicle pool.

Armenia imported about 1,000 units of agricultural vehicles. The
state has 15,000 tractors and 1400-1500 combine-harvesters. Armenia
has about 70% of the agricultural equipment it needs.

MPS WITHDRAW FROM KURDISTAN PARLIAMENTARY SESSION

Aswat Al Iraq (Voices of Iraq)

Nov 1 2011

ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: Rafidain Kurdistan Parliamentary Bloc MP said
that five Christian MPs, Armenian MP and Turkmen MP withdrew from
provinces law voting session in Kurdistan in protest for passing the
“unjust” law in regard to the minorities.

MP Salem Kako told Aswat al-Iraq that the law deprived our
representation in lower administrative units, which is “a regression
to democracy in Kurdistan”.

Kurdistan parliament voted today for the amendment of provinces
election law, in which two seats were given to the Christians,
according to “Quota” bases in Arbil and Duhuk provinces.

ALL ABOUT WORDS A SUCCESS.

Shahan Deirmenjian, AGBU Toronto, 25 October 2011

On September 30th, 2011 the Toronto Armenian community enjoyed a
fascinating and entertaining lecture at the Alex Manoogian Cultural
Centre on the origins and derivations of Armenian and English words.

The presentation was titled “Around the World in 1,001 Words.”

After a brief welcome Ms. Salpi Der Ghazarian introduced the
speaker–Mr. Jirair Tutunjian–who has, for years, studied the history
of the Armenian language and words. A graduate of Ryerson Journalism
with a Masters degree in Communications from Northwestern University,
author and founding editor of numerous Canadian periodicals, Mr.

Tutunjian gave a passionate lecture on the origins of Armenian and
English words to a standing room only audience of over 150 people.

Mr. Tutunjian began his talk by giving the audience a brief
introduction on the rules of transliteration (daratartsoutune), and
why words change their spelling and pronunciation over time. To put
his presentation into context, he then spoke about the Indo-European
language group and its major division into East and West: Armenian
being part of the east branch, together with Iranian, Beluchi, and
Sanskrit in India.

With the aid of PowerPoint Mr. Tutunjian proceeded to provide
a history of how and why languages borrow from one another. With
humorous anecdotes he illustrated how Iranian and Arabic words have
infiltrated the Armenian and English languages, and how the English
language has adopted certain Armenian words in their everyday lexicon.

Using a small sample of over 40 Indo-European and Sanskrit words
which are very similar to Armenian and English, he unravelled the
fascinating connections of how words have changed shape and meaning
over the centuries. The examples used were but a small sample of the
vastness of this relationship that exists between words of seemingly
different languages.

The audience was surprised to learn that Armenian has even given birth
to a little known language called Lomavren, which is a mixture of
Armenian and a Gypsy language. As recently as 2004 it is a known fact
that about 50 people could speak Lomavren in the Republic of Armenia.

Mr. Tutunjian’s presentation created a flurry of questions from
the audience. In the course of 90 minutes the audience was not only
entertained but had gained knowledge about a fascinating subject which
most often people wonder about but seldom take the time to acquaint
themselves with.

Mr. Tutunjian has been invited to give similar lectures at AGBU in
Montreal and elsewhere.

SERIOUS ISSUES INSIDE THE REGIME

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:31:56 – 01/11/2011

On March 1, the Armenian National Congress demanded dismissal of a
number of officials, including the mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan,
the chief of Police Alik Sargsyan and vice-prime minister, minister
of territorial administration Armen Gevorgyan.

We asked the Coordinator of the Armenian National Congress Levon
Zurabyan whether the recent dismissals can be considered as
implementation of the Congress’s demands.

“I view these dismissals in the context of exhaustion of the regime,”
says Zurabyan. He added that Mayor Karen Karapetyan’s resignation a
couple of months after his appointment means it is empty propaganda
despite comments that the regime is ready for serious reforms. All
these replacements, appointments, resignations mean only one thing:
this is determined by serious issues inside the regime,” said Levon
Zurabyan.

BAKO SAHAKYAN AWARDED SERGEY MELKOUMYAN WITH “GRATITUDE” MEDAL

Aysor.am
Tuesday,November 01

On 1 November President Bako Sahakyan signed a decree awarding head
of the economic geography department of the Armenian State Economic
University, doctor, professor Sergey Melkoumyan with the “Gratitude”
medal for services shown to the Nagorno Karabagh Republic, long-term
scientific-pedagogical activity and in connection with his 80th
birthday, the Press Service of the Artsakh president reports.

ERDOGAN SLAMS GERMANY FOR OPPOSING TURKEY’S EU FULL MEMBERSHIP BID

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 2, 2011 – 11:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
accused Germany in a newspaper interview of letting Turkey down
by not doing more to support its European Union membership bid and
failing to recognize Turks’ efforts to integrate in German society,
Reuters reported.

The interview appeared in Wednesday’s, November 2, edition of the
mass-circulation paper Bild, hours before Erdogan meets Chancellor
Angela Merkel in Berlin for a ceremony commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the labor pact which brought large numbers of Turkish
workers to Germany.

Ties between the two leaders are strained because of Merkel’s deep
reservations about Turkey joining the EU, and Erdogan’s speeches to
the Turkish community on previous trips to Germany, in which he urged
Turks not to forget their roots.

Asked what he considered German politicians’ biggest failing over
integration, Erdogan said: “German politicians do not acknowledge
enough the integration of the three million Turks in Germany.”

“Germany should do much more for Turkey’s EU membership bid as this
would massively support integration. Because we Turks regard Germany
very positively, we feel very let down on this issue,” he added.

Instead of full membership Merkel favors a “privileged partnership”
for Turkey, whose 74 million people are predominantly Muslim.

Describing Turks as open and loyal, Erdogan said Germany should
show much more solidarity with Turkey. He also criticized Germany’s
opposition to dual citizenship and laws which oblige any Turks moving
to Germany to speak good German before arrival, saying this infringed
their human rights.

“If a young Turkish man loves a woman in Turkey and wants to marry
her, this is seen as a mistake, as Germany demands that she first
learn German. But what is the language of love?” he said.

“It cannot be that the love of young people is only allowed to exist
in German by decree.”

RA AMBASSADOR: “AZERBAIJAN IS PREPARING FOR A NEW WAR”

04:26 pm | Today | Politics

Armenia’s Ambassador to the UN Karen Nazaryan delivered a speech on
“Right of Nations to Self-Determination” and “Eradication of Racism,
Racial Discrimination and Other Forms of Intolerance”, which were on
the agenda at the 37th meeting of the 3rd Committee of the UN General
Assembly. Nazaryan mentioned that Azerbaijan’s assaults against
the Artsakhtsi’s right to self-determination led to destruction,
deportations and aggression, and that even today Azerbaijan is
preparing for a new war by advocating hostility toward Armenia and
the Armenians in general.

The Ambassador made references to the reports by international
organizations for the fight against racism and called everyone’s
attention to the fact that Baku is declaring Armenophobia as state
advocacy. Karen Nazaryan mentioned that Azerbaijan continued to
spread lies, make false declarations or give and send false speeches
and letters to cover that inacceptable behavior. He also mentioned
that the forms and manifestations of racial discrimination endanger
the formation of an atmosphere of confidence and harm the process of
negotiations over the NK conflict settlement.

U.S. CONSIDERS UNUSUAL ARMS DEAL FOR TURKEY
By Jim Wolf

Sun, Oct 30 2011

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-The Obama administration is consulting Congress on
an unusual proposal to transfer U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopters
to Turkey, U.S. officials said on Oct. 27, as Ankara tries to exact
revenge for a major attack by Kurdish separatists.

An AH-1 SuperCobra helicopter Turkey, a NATO ally, has been seeking
AH-1 SuperCobra helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle
against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Under the administration’s plan, the Marines would get two new,
late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the
three AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara from current
inventory, a congressional official said.

The officials declined to be identified because of the matter’s
sensitivity and because they were not authorized to speak on the
record. The idea to take weapons from the U.S. arsenal was rare,
they said.

The proposal has been held up amid lawmakers’ questions about
increasingly distant relations between Muslim-majority Turkey and
Israel, a key U.S. ally, among other matters.

The AH-1W has sold previously for about $10 million. Turkey bought
10 of them in the 1990s. The larger, twin-engine AH-IZ may sell for
about $30 million, according to industry sources.

Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the executive branch must
provide 15 days’ formal notice to Congress before going ahead with
significant arms transfers to a NATO partner. It was not immediately
clear when such notice might take place, with informal congressional
consultations continuing.

Turkey last week launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants
in northern Iraq, vowing to exact “great revenge” after 24 Turkish
troops were killed on Oct. 19 in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks
in years.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by the United States. It is
waging a 27-year-old war from bases inside Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan
region. The administration’s proposal to transfer the helicopters
pre-dates the October 19 attack on Turkish forces near the border
with Iraq.

The United States and Turkey have a strong tradition of military
cooperation, both bilaterally and inside the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization.

Turkey agreed last month to host a powerful U.S.-supplied radar system
to act as advanced eyes for a layered shield against ballistic missiles
coming from outside Europe.

The AN/TPY-2 surveillance radar in Turkey will boost the shield’s
capability against Iran, which Washington alleges is seeking to build
nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

GALUST SAHAKYAN: NEW DISMISSALS WILL FOLLOW

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:32:25 – 01/11/2011

Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party, Chairman of the Republican
parliamentary faction Galust Sahakyan said today about impending
dismissals. He didn~Rt name concrete people noting there will be no
essential changes, only new dismissals.

Dwelling on the change of the Chief of Police Alik Sargsyan, Galust
Sahakyan said that the appointment of officials of force structures
is a competence of the President and not the party. According to him,
Serzh Sargsyan decided to make a replacement of the actors.