Beytushebab Massacre: Lies and Crimes of Turkish Mil
Garbis Altinoglu - 05.10.2007 14:24
Especially in the wake of the start of the PKK-led guerilla warfare in August 1984, Turkish soldiers, Special Forces, police and Village Guards have put into effect a policy of state terrorism vis-a-vis the Kurdish people. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they have killed and wounded tens of thousands of unarmed people in Turkish Kurdistan, dumped the remains of some of their victims into unidentified mass graves, detained and tortured hundreds of thousands of civilians, forcibly evacuated millions of Kurdish peasants from their villages, burned their houses and forests, killed their cattle and sheep and applied a food embargo on regions supporting the Kurdish resistance.
Beytushebab Massacre: Lies and Crimes of Turkish Militarists
Garbis Altinoglu, 3-4 October 2007
On September 29th, Turkish news agencies informed the Turkish and world public about a so-called PKK attack in which 12 people of Kurdish origin (7 of whom were Village Guards working for the “security” forces) were said to have lost their lives. They were mowed down in their minibus near the village of Hemkan attached to Beytushebab town of Shirnak province neighboring Iraq. Immediately after the event, Turkish authorities and newspaper editors, columnists and TV channels working in tandem with them began a concerted effort to fan the flames of hatred against the Kurdish people, PKK (=Kurdish Workers’ Party) and DTP (=Democratic Society Party). Involved in this charade were Abdullah Gül, President of Turkey, Köksal Toptan, Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, R. Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister, General Yasar Büyükanit, the Chief of Staff etc. who condemned the attack and blamed the PKK for the massacre, without bothering to wait for the results of the preliminary investigation. There was nothing unusual in this attitude of Turkish authorities though; they are in the habit of blaming others, especially the Kurdish resistance for the crimes they themselves commit. Turkish military didn’t lose time in arranging pompous funeral services for the deceased where some Turkish officers and local Kurds working for the state delivered speeches condemning PKK terrorism! The PKK, which has been fighting against Turkish army since 1984 for the national rights of Kurdish people and the HPG, the military arm of the organization denied any involvement. In its announcement made on October 1st, the HPG headquarters accused the Turkish army and JITEM, main military intelligence agency notorious for its black operations and dirty war against Kurdish people for years and drew attention to the efforts of Turkish generals and the AKP (=Justice and Development Party) government to escalate the conflict and their repression of the Kurdish people.
Turkish military and civilian authorities as well as some bourgeois parties have tried to utilize the occasion to criminalize the DTP, which has gained 20 seats at the parliament in the general elections held in 22 July. They pressed the pro-Kurdish party, with strong ties to the PKK to condemn “PKK terrorism” and more or less openly threatened it, despite the fact that the DTP and its predecessors have consistently advocated a peaceful solutuon to the Kurdish problem. General Büyükanit, Turkish Chief of Staff harshly criticized DTP once again in a speech he delivered at the Turkish War Academy on October 1st.
Of course, one cannot outright rule out the likelihood of the PKK committing this massacre. Far from being a consistent and principled national liberation organization, the PKK has historically been prone to using violence against Kurdish and Turkish civilians, rival Kurdish nationalist groups, Turkish left-wing organizations and last but not least against its own members. Abdullah Ocalan, the captive leader of the PKK had in the past admitted on certain occasions the existence of a “bandit mentality”, which was said to be behind the reprisal actions and indiscriminate killings both inside the organization and against civilians. What is more important, Mr. Ocalan himself was responsible, until his capture in 1999, for detentions, torture and executions in the ranks of the PKK, for the creation of an undemocratic and very tense atmosphere in the organization and the building of a personality cult around himself.
One could also think of an American and/ or Israeli connection or even direct involvement in this this massacre. (The same could be said about several bombings in Turkish cities and tourist destinations over the last couple of years conducted by the TAK or the Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan, a shadowy organization seemingly related to the PKK.) The growth of better relations between American/ Israeli officials and the PKK leadership based in Northern Iraq (=Southern Kurdistan), especially in the aftermath of the invasion of this country in March 2003 is common knowledge. The Iraq-based leadership which controls the PKK with a fighting force of approximately 5,000 guerillas, had welcomed the invasion of Iraq before it began and considered the American intervention in the Middle East as an historical opportunity to liberate Kurdish people from Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian yoke. (1) In passing I should acknowledge the existence of another, but weaker and gradually weakening tendency in the PKK favoring cooperation with Turkey, despite the uncompromising stand of the main body of the Turkish establishment.
The demand of the Kurdish people for national liberation has been and remains a legitimate one. In general, this has been true for the struggle of the oppressed Kurdish nation against Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, Iraqi domination as well. Under the present circumstances, however, when the US and Israel are trying to utilize regional contradictions and injustices to further their own destructive agenda of dominating the Middle East and threatening the workers and peoples of the world with war, the longings and struggles of Kurdish people may and in general do serve the interests of Washington and Telaviv. And the pragmatic and opportunistic PKK leadership in Northern Iraq, could at least to a certain extent, be coordinating its campaign against Turkey with the tactical aims of the US and Israel.
It is common knowledge that for some time US and Israel have been pressing their long-time Turkish allies or rather lackeys to toe their line in their quest to isolate Iran and Syria. Though they follow a pro-US and pro-Israeli policy, for different reasons Turkish ruling classes are reluctant to further antagonize Iran and Syria. At the root of the problem, however, lies the systematic refusal of the Turkish ruling classes and especially the Turkish military to come to terms with their own Kurdish minority and meet their extremely modest demands, which do not go beyond the recognition of Kurdish national identity and language and culture. Turkish authorities have for years and decades vigorously opposed the idea of the formation of a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. Notwithstanding this attitude they have contributed to the formation of an autonomous and pro-US and pro-Israeli Kurdish entity by throwing their weight behind American-British policy of gradual destruction of Baas regime’s authority in Northern Iraq in the years following the “Desert Storm”, the US-led 1991 war. Meantime, they have not been content with rejecting PKK’s calls for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish problem during the 1990s, but have continued to alienate their “own” Kurds through state terror. Besides, since 2005 Turkish generals have escalated this myopic and counterproductive line to the level of open confrontation between the Turkish majority and the Kurdish minority. It is obvious that such a policy is consonant with the US-Israeli policy of “divide and rule”, which entails provoking ethnic and sectarian conflicts and serves the imperialist-Zionist plans for the destabilization of the region.
To return to the latest tragic event in question, we could tell that, a survey and a comparison of the orientation and historical record of the PKK and that of the Turkish state will drive an objective observer to seriously doubt the official Turkish account of the Beytushebab massacre. Especially in the wake of the start of the PKK-led guerilla warfare in August 1984, Turkish soldiers, Special Forces, police and Village Guards have put into effect a policy of state terrorism vis-a-vis the Kurdish people. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they have killed and wounded tens of thousands of unarmed people in Turkish Kurdistan, dumped the remains of some of their victims into unidentified mass graves, detained and tortured hundreds of thousands of civilians, forcibly evacuated millions of Kurdish peasants from their villages, burned their houses and forests, killed their cattle and sheep and applied a food embargo on regions supporting the Kurdish resistance. In this period, they have encouraged the “security” personnel to commit atrocious crimes –such as cutting of the heads and ears of martyred guerillas, desecration of the stripped bodies of the dead and of Kurdish cemeteries, use of artillery against Kurdish towns and villages etc.- to terrorize Kurdish people. In the 1980s, they have created the notorious Diyarbakir Military Prison, the record of which has dwarfed that of the Nazi concentration camps. I quote: “Mostly Kurdish inmates of this inferno were beaten on a daily basis, put into isolation cells filled with human excrement, forced to drink their own urines, spy on, beat and at times even eat human excrement and copulate with each other, were deprived of all basic human necessities months on end, compelled to say prayers, memorize and chant chauvinistic and military songs and salute even the lowest officials who systematically tried all forms of torture on them.” (Garbis Altinoglu, Urgent Call for Action, August 10th, 2007)
Until recently Turkish authorities had denied the existence of the Kurdish nation itself, banned the use of the Kurdish language, suppressed the Kurdish culture, Kurdish journals and newspapers and imprisoned or killed Kurdish intellectuals, businessmen and other community leaders sympathetic to the cause of national liberation. Over the last couple of years, they have been compelled to grudgingly “moderate” their stance and have allowed the use of Kurdish language to a very limited extent. To be fair, one must underline the fact that the PKK has not, in general responded in kind to Turkish state terror; notwithstanding some significant exceptions, it has not carried out a policy of reprisal and retaliation against Turkish targets and has not committed indiscriminate killings in the face of this violent and unbridled aggression. Yet the thugs in Ankara still complain and try to portray themselves as victims of Kurdish terrorism!
Representatives of the fascist Turkish state have long been arguing that the PKK is a terrorist organization responsible for the killing of more than 30,000 people. However these claims of theirs have been debunked by their own reports, which incidentally grossly overstate the losses of the PKK and understate those of the “security” forces. For instance, according to a report prepared by the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs and published in Milliyet, on 16 January 1998, a total of 23,190 people were killed between 15 August 1984, when the Kurdish guerilla activity began and 1 September 1997. Of these, the report said, 3,965 were civilians, 4,389 “security” personnel and 14,836 PKK fighters. What can be safely stated is that Kurdish civilians killed and wounded by the Turkish “security” forces have borne the brunt of the “dirty war”. Under these circumstances, only Turkish reactionaries would dare to declare the PKK responsible for the death of 30,000 or so people.
During its long struggle against Turkish occupation of Northern Kurdistan (=Southeast Turkey) lasting more than 23 years, the PKK has times and again proposed a peaceful solution of the Kurdish problem in return for modest reforms. Despite the absence of any sign or tendency towards compromise and negotiation from Turkish authorities, the PKK has several declared unilateral ceasefires and has tried to observe these ceasefires despite the provocative attacks of Turkish army. This violent behavior of Turkish militarists, however, does not bear witness to their strength; despite their bluster and use of more than 150,000 troops, Special Forces, police and Village Guards armed with heavy weapons during the 1990s, they have not been able to defeat a guerilla force of at most 10,000 fighters armed mostly with light weapons. The same holds true for the recent empty threats of Turkish generals to conduct “hot pursuit” operations against the PKK guerillas based in Northern Iraq or to militarily intervene against the Kurdish state there. During the 1980s and especially 1990s, when they had the full support of US imperialists, Turkish generals had conducted several such operations, at times with the participation of 30 or 40,000 troops backed by tanks, artillery and warplanes; but they were unable to achieve any significant results and had to return to their bases empty handed.
Not content with brutally oppressing workers and other toilers of various nationalities and non-Turkish peoples, Turkish fascists and militarists have over decades systematically utilized provocative acts to attain their reactionary ends. The tragic event at Beytushebab seems for the moment to be the last example of the murderous policy of Turkish fascists. I here would like to remind the reader of some of those barbarous events.
On 6 and 7 September 1955, mobs, incited by the the military, the police and the government attacked the houses, shops and places of worship of Christian minorities, especially of Greeks. According to official accounts, during these two days of horror 3 people were killed and 30 wounded. Turkish sources, which definitely understate the amount of human and material loss concede to the partial and total destruction of 85 places of worship and pillage of 5,538 shops and houses. In those days of horror, cemeteries of Christian minorities were desecrated and unknown number of girls and women were raped. The real and probably much higher figures are not known, since the Turkish governments have imposed a conspiracy of silence over the event, which up to this day remains in effect. (The figures provided by Greek sources are higher.) The aggression and pillage of 6-7 September 1955 were started after Prime Minister Adnan Menderes himself made a provocative speech on the radio. He ‘informed’ the public that Greeks had bombed the house where Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish republic was born! As it later emerged during the trial of Menderes and his cohorts following the May 1960 coup d’etat, the attack on that particular house in the Greek city of Salonica was arranged by the Turkish intelligence and carried out by an agent called Oktay Engin to incite anti-Greek feelings. (The high-level military personnel involved in the event were never brought to trial.) The authorities who were behind the plot immediately declared a state of emergency, blamed the attack on ‘communists’ and arrested dozens of progressive people. The innocent detainees, who were publicly accused by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and the martial law authorities, were held in solitary confinement for months without being charged and later released without any explanation.
In 1991, General Sabri Yirmibeshoglu, one of the architects of the 6-7 September events and a veteran of Turkish Kontrgerilla admitted to the bombing of Kemal Atatürk’s house. In an interview he gave to Fatih Güllapoglu he told:
“Of course. 6-7 September events as well were the work of the Special War Department. And that was a splendid organization. It hit the target...
“I ask you, was this not a splendid organization?” (Tanksiz Topsuz Harekat, Istanbul, Tekin Yayinevi, 1991, p. 103) As to Oktay Engin, the MIT (=National Intelligence Organization of Turkey) agent who threw the bomb, he was promoted to the governorship Nevshehir province in 1992 by the coalition government of Süleyman Demirel and Erdal Inönü, after serving long years in the ranks of the police.
Turkish authorities were also implicated in a well-known assassination attempt targeting Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981. This operation was probably directed by the CIA with a view to denigrate the Soviet Union, which was under the pressure of the strike actions of Polish workers supported both by Western powers and the Polish Pope himself. The main culprit of the attempt on the life of the Pope was Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish fascist hit-man, with a long record of crimes and a known member of the fascist MHP (=Nationalist Action Party). On 1 February 1979, he had killed the prominent liberal journalist Abdi Ipekchi. He was later apprehended and imprisoned. On 23 November 1979, however, he was virtually set free from Maltepe Military Prison in Istanbul by military officers while serving his sentence. After his getaway from prison, under conditions of martial law, Mr. Agca was provided with false identity and travel documents, taken out of Turkey, brought into Europe, supplied with lodging, information, money and weapons and sent to Italy to do his dirty job. All throughout, he had the support of various well-known fascists, such as Abdullah Chatli, Oral Chelik, Mehmet Shener, Yalchin Özbey, Omer Bagji, Musa Serdar Chelebi etc. who for years had been working together with the MIT and probably with the CIA as well. Right after the arranged escape or rather release of Mr. Agca from prison, Ugur Mumju, a prominent investigative journalist who himself would be a victim of a still unsolved murder in January 1993, most probably committed by the agents of Turkish state, had written the following:
“I do not have the slightest doubt. An armed rightist organization snatched Agca from prison. This organization established contact with the prison authorities; the two prepared a plan together and realized it...” (Cumhuriyet, 27 November 1979)
A third example relates to the murder of 11 peasants at Guchlukonak town in Shirnak in 1996, which incidentally borders Beytushebab, the scene of the latest massacre of Turkish militarists. Then too, they had raised a hue and cry over the massacre committed by themselves, blamed it on the PKK, flown journalists to the region and strived to utilize the occasion to highlight “PKK terrorism”. (Journalists as a rule are not permitted to view and record the scenes of military operations, unless they work for the authorities.) At the time Amnesty International had accused Turkish authorities over the massacre and burning of the remains of the 11 peasants at Guchlukonak on 14 January 1996.
“Near the town of Guchlukonak in Shirnak province” AI had said, “in January, 11 villagers were machine-gunned and the minibus in which they were travelling was set on fire. Seven of those killed were members of the government-appointed village guard corps. The authorities announced that the PKK were responsible for the killings. The Chief of General Staff flew journalists from all the major newspapers and broadcasting organizations to the site, and the Prime Minister condemned the PKK for the massacre. However, a broad-based delegation organized by BIBA (=Together for Peace- G. A.) spokesperson Shanar Yurdatapan found evidence that the villagers had been killed by the security forces, apparently in an attempt to discredit a unilateral cease-fire declared by the PKK in December 1995. Shortly before the killings in Guchlukonak, the European Parliament had passed a resolution encouraging the Turkish Government to respond to the PKK’s cease-fire.” (Amnesty International Report 1997, p. 316) What is more, Turkish fascists had begun court proceedings against Shanar Yurdatapan, Münir Jeylan, the former Chairman of Petroleum Workers’ Union and Erjan Kanar, head of the Ýstanbul branch of the IHD (=Human Rights Association- G. A.). And on 3 February 1998, the three were sentenced to ten months each for “insulting and weakening the moral personality of the armed forces.” Relatives of the victims on the other hand took their cases to the European Court of Human Rights despite the threats of the military, where Turkish state was declared guilty and sentenced to pay hundreds of thousands of euros as compensation.
Naturally this small sample of “incidents” and the bloodthirsty record of the Turkish militarists are not sufficient to establish their role in the tragic event at Beytushebab beyond a shadow of doubt; but they go a long way to indicate that they, very probably, were the plotters of this massacre. Notwithstanding the identity of the murderers of 12 people at Beytushebab, Turkish state terrorists have long been condemned in the eyes and conscience of progressive humanity.
NOTES
1) Reiterating its support for American intervention in and coming aggression against Iraq, the declaration of the Fifth Plenum of the Party Assembly of the PKK (held in late January 2002) told:
“The ongoing struggle over the character of the system in Iraq shall determine that of the Middle East and that in turn shall determine the basic criteria and features of the international system. We can clearly see the fact that the struggle being waged on Iraq has a regional and international character and this struggle is a one between the old system and the new system, between the old status quo and the new status quo. During the coming period, the struggle shall continue to further intensify both on political and military planes and without doubt our Party and our people shall side with the front for change which aims to establish a new system and not with that of old status quo, which reject the Kurds and want to destroy them. And our Party and people shall not side with the front for repression, division and terror, but with that of democracy, peace and free unity. They will do so, because the interests of both Kurdish people and those of the peoples of the region and of the democratic forces of the world dictate such a turn of the events.” (Ozgür Politika, 6 February 2002, italics mine)
|
