Cyprus-Forum.com

[oranos64]

Cold welcome for freed Turkish soldiers
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Istanbul


The release of eight soldiers after two weeks held hostage by the PKK has not been celebrated in Turkey.

Turkey has massed soldiers on the border with Iraq
Some here have branded them cowards - even traitors.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told an audience at Ankara University on Monday that he could not be entirely happy about the soldiers' release. WHY NOT ASSHOLE ...LEARNT A LOT FROM THE YANKS EHH ?
They were captured in an ambush by the PKK close to the Iraqi border on 21 October. Twelve other soldiers were killed in what was the worst clash of its kind with Kurdish separatists in many years.

"No member of the Turkish armed forces should have found themselves in such a situation," the minister began. WHY NOT ARE THEY BETTER THAN THE SPEZNAZ/DELTA FORCE NO THEY THEY ARE JUST POOR PHEASANTS SUCKED IN THE NATIONAL ARMY AS A ESCAPE FROM POVERTY .....FUCKING DICKHEAD RETARDED INBRED PIECE OF SHIT

"As a Turkish citizen I cannot accept the fact that they went with the terrorists that night. Our soldier is prepared to die if necessary when he is protecting the country." (RIGHT ..AH YES THE SIGNS OF MILITARY FACISM SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE WITH THE SWEET TONE OF PROPAGANDA AND MILITARY JINGOISM ...WHAT DID YOU WANT THEM TO DO STRAP BOMBS TO THEMSELVES ...SILLY C*/8T)

'Shame!'

The soldiers' families kept a very low profile while their sons were held hostage. The justice minister's statement prompted one mother to break her silence.


The military did not want this debated in public, because people had already started asking questions about how the hell it happened

Mehmet Ali Birand
Turkish columnist
"Why is our family honour being trampled upon just because my son was taken hostage?" demanded Aynur Atakul in one Turkish newspaper.

"I sent my son to his military service in a dignified manner. Would it have been better if he had died there?"

Many comments left on the webpage of Hurriyet, Turkey's most widely-read newspaper, suggest precisely that.

"Shame, shame, what shame! Eight weak soldiers. I wish they had stood and fought and become martyrs," reads one typical entry.

"What were they doing when their comrades were martyred beside them? If I were them I would be unable to look anyone in the face after this," says another.

There are only a few expressions of sympathy with the hostages.

Barely a mention

The October ambush itself sparked mass street protests across Turkey against the PKK, which is recognised as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.


PKK fighters strike Turkey from bases in northern Iraq
When the coffins of the 12 soldiers were returned home, huge crowds turned out for their funerals. Newspapers and the airwaves were filled with calls for revenge strikes against PKK bases inside Northern Iraq.

But the eight missing men barely got a mention.

And when their release came, the official announcement - like that of their capture - was terse.

"During an armed clash with the PKK terror organization communication was cut with eight members of the Turkish Armed Forces," read a statement on the Chief of Staff's website.

"As of 4 November 2007 those eight soldiers have rejoined the Turkish Armed Forces," it read.

Unlike recent hostage crises involving Israeli and British military members, here in Turkey the government, military and media played this one very low-key. (THERES A SURPRISE EHH ?

One explanation is concern, in the current nationalistic climate, about the potential for clashes between Turks and Kurds in Turkish cities.

But some read more into the near-silence.

"The reflex of the mainstream press here is to turn a blind eye to anything they see as humiliating to national pride," explains Burak Bekdil, of the Turkish Daily News.

"The military did not want this debated in public, because people had already started asking questions about how the hell it happened," says respected columnist Mehmet Ali Birand.

"Something went dreadfully wrong for the soldiers to be taken by the PKK - and that reflects badly on the Turkish military," he says.

"The media played it down on purpose."

Voluntary surrender?

Four days after their release, the former hostages are still being questioned by military prosecutors. An already suspicious public is ready to believe the rumour that one of them has links to the PKK.

"Prosecutors will be focusing on whether or not the soldiers left with the PKK voluntarily," explains retired military judge Umit Kardas.

"If they did they could be charged with membership of a terrorist organisation."

"This has really shaken the military," he adds.

In a further blow to Turkish pride, pictures from the handover of the eight soldiers have now made their way into local newspapers.

They show three members of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish DTP party standing beside a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned PKK founder. In others, the MPs are seen greeting the hostage-takers with handshakes and kisses.

Though the DTP insist they were present for humanitarian reasons, to aid the soldiers' release, they are now being investigated on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organisation.


TO SUMMARISE ....SLOWLY BUT SURELY THE TURKISH MILITARY FACIST MACHINE TURNS ITS WHEELS MORE AND MORE TO NON MEMBERSHIP OF THE E.U AND MORE AND MORE DECLARE THEMSELVES SUPREME MILITARY MACHO MACHINES WILLING TO BOW TO THE U.S AND PAY REGIONAL FACIST POLITICS WITH THEIR CITIZENS ....

[phoenix]

Turkey is from a different era entirely. Their whole outlook is sick by current standards.

Whilst the civilised world are distancing themselves from the need to have soldiers as killing machines and instead have them as peace keepers, the deranged Turks can only think of death and destruction.

All Turkish men have to keep this in mind . . . they are only wanted by their country to die for upholding their fascism.

Above all . . . sad!

[oranos64]

Turkey is from a different era entirely. Their whole outlook is sick by current standards.

Whilst the civilised world are distancing themselves from the need to have soldiers as killing machines and instead have them as peace keepers, the deranged Turks can only think of death and destruction.
All Turkish men have to keep this in mind . . . they are only wanted by their country to die for upholding their fascism.

Above all . . . sad!

SORRY P
i think you will find all military powers are developing soldiers who are more able to tackle both war and close in combat for arresting/civilian control etc

Turkeys is seen as a poweful allie by the U.S in the region it is selling its skills taught to it by the U.S to its neighobouring turk men nations so as to create a bigger divide next to the russian borders as per instructions from washington ....RUSSIA responce ...its training with CHINA and some its newer allies and ofcourse helping cyprus ...

this year coming Turkey will again host 3 turkmen countries and the uzbecks for 3 weeks of war games against Russias approval on its border ..this soldier hostage taking event ..upset the top brass emencly ...especially as they did not want their people to know if there safe release and return and they did not want their clients to see weaknesses in their forces as one general put it ..

sad and pathetic ...

o welll ....(anyone mention vietnam veterans 1976 )

[lextalionis]

bla. bla. bla.



ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz..............................

[shahmaran]

uranus64 is at work again

[BC Numismatics]

Turkey is both a morally bankrupt country & a very racist country,just like the racist Romish rebel pirate state called the Republic of Ireland is.

Aidan.

[phoenix]

Am I the only one capable of breaking down the thread topic and discussing appropriately?

Come on guys, you are getting boring or are you just preening each other as a warm up? Some kind of male jostling ritual for alpha position?

[shahmaran]

I just love watching numnuts talk about racism while being racist, what an utter moron!

[BC Numismatics]

Shahmaran,you're a nutcase anyway! Both you & Robert 'Crackpot Bob' Mugabe would get along well - as pals!

The Anatolian Turks are scum anyway! You Turks should wake up & smell the coffee,as it were.The native Turkish Cypriots are becoming resentful at Turkey's interference in Cyprus.If you are in northern Cyprus,you should think about packing your bags & getting on a plane back to Turkey.

Aidan.

[oranos64]

Shahmaran,you're a nutcase anyway! Both you & Robert 'Crackpot Bob' Mugabe would get along well - as pals!

The Anatolian Turks are scum anyway! You Turks should wake up & smell the coffee,as it were.The native Turkish Cypriots are becoming resentful at Turkey's interference in Cyprus.If you are in northern Cyprus,you should think about packing your bags & getting on a plane back to Turkey.

Aidan.

well said ....i was refered to this article by a couple of turkish cypriots over for shopping at Orphanideies ...seems as though more and more TC are coming over to work in the offices of the south ,my brothers firm for employ 8 TCS AND 45 Greek cypriots etc ,..this family who i engaged in conversation ...advised me of their experiences and i have to say sounds like the Norths government is falling more and more under the the influence of the ankara empire ....

this is the new age ,where TC AND GC will eventually co exist within their own enclaves and share various resources ....so sharamumbo ...shut the f))k up ...you hate the truth dont you ......... and dont give you holier than thou attitude ,....difference between me and you is i dont take this forum nor your views too seriously ....

UP THE U.S dumb ass