Cyprus-Forum.com

by **bill cobbett** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:59 am

Was Turkey behind last year’s Syrian chemical weapons attack and did Turkey's MIT supply the precursor chemicals to produce the sarin used in the attack...??? That is the question raised in a new exposé by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in this interview by Amy Goodman in demcracynow.org...

Hirsch concludes that Turkey's support for the radical groups inside Syria is ... "intense'''

"... AMY GOODMAN: In your piece, you mention the leaked video of a discussion between the Turkish prime minister, Erdogan, and senior officials of a false flag operation that would justify Turkish military intervention in Syria. This is Erdogan’s response to the leaked recording.

PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: [translated] Today they posted a video on YouTube. There was a meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Syria, on the tomb of Suleyman Shah. And they even leaked this on YouTube. This is villainous. This is dishonesty.
AMY GOODMAN: Turkey briefly imposed a ban on YouTube following the leaked recording. Sy Hersh, could you explain what the Erdogan administration’s support for the rebels, the Turkish support for the rebels, has consisted of and where the U.S. now stands on this?

SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, where we stand on it now is that there’s not much we can do about it, because—well, let me just tell you what we know. What we do know, that Turkey is—that al-Nusra groups have been inside Turkey buying equipment. There’s also reports that they’ve also received some training from the Turkish intelligence services, which is very—is headed by a man named Fidan, who is very known. There’s reports, wonderful report in The Wall Street Journal recently about Fidan’s closeness not only to Erdogan, the prime minister and the leader of Turkey, but also to the most radical units. And so is Erdogan. They’re all supporting—if they have a choice, they’re supporting the more fundamental groups inside Syria. And so, we know they supply training. We know also there’s a—there’s, I guess you could call it, another rat line. There’s a flow—if you’re going to send the chemicals that, when mixed together, meddled together, make sarin, they flow—that flow comes from inside Turkey. A sort of a paramilitary unit known as the gendarmy—Gendarmerie and the MIT [Milli Istihbarat Teskilati] both are responsible for funneling these things into radical groups. There’s actually a flow of trucks that brings the stuff in. And so, Turkish involvement is intense.

And I can tell you, and as I wrote in this article, the conclusion of many in the intelligence community—I can’t say it’s a report, because they didn’t write a report about it—the conclusion was, based on intercepts we have, particularly after the event, was that there were elements of the Turkish government that took credit for what happened in eastern Ghouta, with the point being that this sarin attack crossed Obama’s famous red line. If you know, Obama had said in the summer of 2012, there’s a red line that, if they cross in terms of using chemicals or doing too much, the opposition, he will bomb to stop Bashar. And so, Turkey was dying, trying, repeatedly in the spring—there’s a lot of evidence there were some attacks in the spring. The U.N. knows this, although they don’t say it. I write about that, too, in the article. And also, the American community knew. That’s the reason why that secret report I wrote about, the talking paper, was written. We knew that the radicals were—had used—the jihadist groups had access to nerve agent and had used it against Syrian soldiers in March and April. Those incidents that were always described by our government as being the responsibility of the rebels, with high confidence, it’s just not so. And the report makes it clear. We have had a huge problem before the August attack in—near Damascus. We knew about this potential for months before. We just—it’s the kind of information, for some reason, it doesn’t fit with what the administration wanted to hear, so it just never got out. ..."

Lots more with a video at... http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/7/sy ... rkish_role

by **Maximus** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:15 pm

Excellent find Bill and congratulations to Seymour Hersh.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) was assaulted in Parliament before his party group meeting today.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkis ... sCatID=338

by **Maximus** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:56 pm

The PKK are returning to Turkey, with about 2000 new recruits, to possibly drop some banana skins later.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/withdr ... sCatID=338

by **bill cobbett** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:56 pm

The USA moved a step nearer to recognising the Armenian Genocide with the passage of a resolution through a Senate committee today.

Bill now goes to the full House for a vote on April 24.

Erdy will be an unhappy man tonight.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armeni ... sCatID=359

by **bill cobbett** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:51 pm

The GB Independent follows up on the Herschey claims of involvement by Turkey (as well as US and GB Intelligence) in supplies of nasty war materials to the not very nice Jihadists in Syria.

First paras...

"... The US's Secretary of State John Kerry and its UN ambassador, Samantha Power have been pushing for more assistance to be given to the Syrian rebels. This is despite strong evidence that the Syrian armed opposition are, more than ever, dominated by jihadi fighters similar in their beliefs and methods to al-Qa'ida. The recent attack by rebel forces around Latakia, northern Syria, which initially had a measure of success, was led by Chechen and Moroccan jihadis.
America has done its best to keep secret its role in supplying the Syrian armed opposition, operating through proxies and front companies. It is this which makes Seymour Hersh's article "The Red Line and The Rat Line: Obama, Erdogan and the Syrian rebels" published last week in the London Review of Books, so interesting.

Attention has focussed on whether the Syrian jihadi group, Jabhat al-Nusra, aided by Turkish intelligence, could have been behind the sarin gas attacks in Damascus last 21 August, in an attempt to provoke the US into full-scale military intervention to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. "We now know it was a covert action planned by [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan's people to push Obama over the red line," a former senior US intelligence officer is quoted as saying. ..."

Lots more of interest at... http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 56551.html

by **repulsewarrior** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:22 am

http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/90 ... detention/

...a lawyer is released for lack of evidence, from jail, after over one thousand days, charges are still pending.

Background information
As a lawyer, Muharrem Erbey stood by victims of human rights violations, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. He also represented some of his clients before the European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, he is vice-president of the IHD and president of the local branch of the IHD in his hometown Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey.

Formally he is charged with membership of an illegal organisation, but there are indications that he is being prosecuted because of his work as lawyer and human rights defender. The trial against Erbey and 151 others began in October 2010. The defendants face prison terms varying from 15 years to life.

by **repulsewarrior** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:01 pm

ttt is not far off as a replacement for www.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey ... sCatID=339

...this from the crowd that says that tele-kenisis is a threat very real to them. it is like watching a criminal psychosis that fears whatever it cannot control.

The minister said: "The only source address of social media is U.S.-based companies. That's why, EU countries led by Germany and France have also problems with it. These countries are in talks with the U.S. Social media should have a joint international text of rules like the United Nations Charter. Otherwise, countries may form their own Internet domains to have more security."

stuff like this is good to stir the pot with...

...“We have reached a consensus to ‘neutralize’ malicious content that is the object of court decisions by pixelating,” Elvan had said in a written statement on April 17.

YouTube remains blocked in Turkey since March 27 despite a court order.

by **Maximus** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:06 pm

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is not just a political party but is also a “great historical movement” that it will “continue to exist through the centuries,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.

“There are efforts to create an impression that the AK Party is polarizing society and is fueling tension. Just imagine if the AK Party did not exist in this country. For God’s sake, there could never be such a period. The AK Party will continue to exist through institutionalization through the next 10 years and even through the centuries,” Davutoğlu said at a party meeting in his hometown, Konya, on April 21.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey ... sCatID=338

Party before country. He is basically saying that Turkey is now an AKP dictatorship which is going to be running that parallel state from within, that Erdogan keeps going on about...