DIYARBAKIR –

A huge funeral ceremony for three female members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who were shot dead in Paris last week has been held in Diyarbakır’s Batıkent Square with the participation of tens of thousands of people.

Some had expressed fears of provocations and sabotage before the ceremony, but no public order problem was experienced, and the crowd dispersed peacefully at the event’s conclusion. Meanwhile, police officers especially avoided approaching too closely to the square.

The bodies of the PKK members were brought to the ceremony area with hearses while thousands of people marched alongside the vehicles. People wore black symbolizing their grief and wore head coverings symbolizing peace.

Sakine Cansız, one of the founding members of the PKK; Fidan Doğan, the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress’ (KNK) Paris representative; and KNK Youth Union member Leyla Söylemez were murdered in the office of the Kurdistan Information Center in central Paris on Jan. 9. Their bodies arrived in Diyarbakır late Jan. 16.

The coffins were wrapped in flags of the PKK while posters of the murdered female members were held aloft by the public. People carried banners saying “We are all Sakine,” “We are all Leyla,” and “We are all Fidan,” and chanted slogans such as “The PKK is the people, the people are here,” and “martyrs never die.” After the coffins arrived at Batıkent Square, white pigeons symbolizing peace were released.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies also delivered speeches expressing their sorrow during the event.

“Everybody is expecting sensitivity from us. But here, our people have showed that they are ready for peace although we have lost three of our comrades. But peace can be possible with mutual respect,” said Ahmet Türk, an independent deputy and co-chair of Kurdish umbrella organization Democratic Society Congress (DTK).

Türk also said it was impossible to speak about peace when Kandil, a mountain in northern Iraq where PKK militants are mainly based, are being bombarded by Turkish jets.

“I’m appealing to those who call on us to be sensitive for peace. Mr. Prime Minister, how can you talk about peace while Kandil is being bombarded? What kind of peace is being sought with this?” Türk said.

BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said people in the square were demanding an “honorable peace.” “As mothers bid farewell to their children, they did not promise revenge. They demand peace. When will the world understand this stance?” Demirtaş said.

The BDP co-chair also lamented the air strikes on Kandil. “As we were talking about peace, seven Kurdish young people died on Kandil. It’s not possible to make peace while making war at the same time. If you seek peace, you have to be brave,” Demirtaş said.

Demirtaş, however, reiterated his party’s support for government officials’ recent talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK. “We support the resolution proposal that Mr. Öcalan has introduced or will introduce,” he added.

Following the ceremony in Diyarbakır, Cansız was set to be buried in the eastern province of Tunceli; Doğan was to be sent to Elbistan in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, while Söylemez was to be interred in the southern province of Mersin.

ISTANBUL (Today’s Zaman)—A prosecutor who is conducting an investigation into the role of several security officers in the 2007 assassination of journalist Hrant Dink has submitted his understanding of the hierarchical structure of the criminal network behind the murder.

Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş has placed every suspect in the Dink trial in a hierarchical chart of the organization based on evidence collected during the investigation, which is a very important development according to Dink family lawyers. The prosecution has also requested an intelligence report filed by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) that establishes links between Dink’s killers and the Special Operations Department, which does not officially exist. It is the name of the unit that was later changed to the Mobilization Unit (STK) of the Turkish Armed Forces. This report will also be included in the indictment as further evidence of the links between the murderers and illegal groups within security agencies. The prosecution’s findings are the results of a two-year investigation.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot by a teenager outside his office in 2007, in what initially appeared to be a murder staged due to the young hitman’s ultranationalist sentiments.

However, during the course of the five-year trial, both co-plaintiff lawyers and the prosecutor were able to gather evidence indicating the role of a larger group, possibly linked to cabals inside the military plotting to overthrow the government such as the Ergenekon network. Co-plaintiff layers have long complained about attempts at a cover-up, as several gendarmerie and police officers are also involved in the trial. As if to confirm the suspicions, the court found that the hitman had acted alone, a ruling that was recently overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The lower court’s judge said he knew there was an organizational link but accused the prosecution of failing to prove it, in a public row between him and the prosecutor.

MİT’s report on the Dink murder was made public last week. It states that the Dink murder, the massacre of three Bible publishers in Malatya in 2007 and the murder of a Catholic priest in Trabzon in 2006 were part of a plot devised and carried out by a group inside the General Staff’s Special Operations Department. The MİT report is likely to shed light on a number of unsolved cases, mostly assassinations in 2007. The report clearly states that the “planning, implementation and management” of the three murders was carried out by the STK.

Commenting on the prosecutor putting together the chart of the criminal organization’s makeup, lawyer for the co-plaintiff side in the Dink murder trial Bahri Belen said: “It is important that the prosecution requests the [MİT] reports. This is completely in line with the way we have wanted the Hrant Dink investigation to be perceived all along. Everything about the murder should be questioned. We can’t even dream of having the slightest hope for a democracy unless structures such as Special Operations aren’t exposed. It was clear as day that there is an organizational link the first day of the investigation.”

Erdal Doğan, a lawyer for the co-plaintiff side in the Malatya missionary murders case, said, “Murders committed by Special Operations and the National Strategies and Operations Department of Turkey [TUSHAD] should not be ignored.”

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Most political observers predict a contentious hearing in the Armed Services Committee and later in the full Senate on the confirmation of former , President Obama’s nominee as the next Secretary of Defense.

During his 12 years in the Senate, Hagel, a Republican, managed to offend a slew of constituencies, including conservative Senators of his own political party, as well as Jewish Americans, Armenian-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and gays.

In order to appease his critics and secure Senate’s confirmation, Sen. Hagel has been busy in recent days issuing retractions and apologies to various groups.

Upon learning of Hagel’s nomination, Jewish-American organizations harshly criticized him for being soft on Iran and hard on Israel, and for stating that “the Jewish lobby” in the United States “intimidates a lot of people.”

Sen. Hagel responded by telling The Lincoln Journal Star on January 7 that his record demonstrates “unequivocal, total support for Israel” and endorsement of tough economic sanctions against Iran. There is “not one shred of evidence that I’m anti-Israeli, not one [Senate] vote that matters hurt Israel,” Hagel told the newspaper.

The nominee also backed down from his opposition to ambassadorial nominee James Hormel in 1998 whom he had called “openly, aggressively gay.” He issued an apology last week to gay rights groups, stating that his earlier comments were “insensitive.”

However, the nominee for Defense Secretary remains unapologetic regarding his highly insensitive remarks on the Armenian Genocide.

During a press conference in Yerevan on June 2, 2005, Sen. Hagel expressed his opposition to a pending congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide: “Historians and others should deal with it. But, I don’t think that the United States Government should become involved in the issue based on a resolution or any other way. What happened in 1915, happened in 1915. As one United States Senator, I think the better way to deal with this is to leave it open to historians and others to decide what happened and why.” This happens to be the exact position of the denialist Turkish regime on the Armenian Genocide.

Sen. Hagel went on to tell Armenian journalists: “The fact is that this region needs to move forward. We need to find a lasting peace between Turkey and Armenia and the other nations of this region. I am not sure that by going back and dealing with that in some way that causes one side or the other to be put in difficult spot, helps move the peace process forward.” These comments were simply intended to cover-up the Turkish crime of genocide.

Sen. Hagel’s pronouncements against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide are highlighted by his expressions of admiration for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, who continued the genocide initiated by the predecessor regime. It is not surprising that the Ataturk Society of America presented Sen. Hagel, the Ataturk Society’s Leadership Award on May 19, 2005, two weeks before going to Armenia and endorsing the Turkish government’s views on the Armenian Genocide.

Hurriyet newspaper quoted Sen. Hagel as making the following highly laudatory statement about the Father of modern Turkey in a 2008 speech: “Ataturk is one of the most valuable leaders of the 21st century. Children in the United States know nothing about this great leader. They should teach about him in schools and write about him in history books. Ataturk played a leading role in shaping today’s world.”

Armenian-Americans and human rights activists, who are deeply concerned about Hagel’s nomination, were quoted in an article by Adam Kredo in Washington Free Beacon titled, “Chuck Hagel has an Armenian Problem.” Here are some of their statements:

• “We remain troubled by former Senator Hagel’s acceptance of Ankara’s gag-rule on American honesty about the Armenian Genocide,” ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian stated.
• “We expect a rigorous confirmation process which will also serve as an opportunity for Senator Hagel to forthrightly acknowledge the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide,” stated Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
• “On the eve of the Holocaust, Hitler mockingly asked, ‘Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?’ Not Chuck Hagel, apparently,” stated Rafael Medoff, Director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
• “What Chuck Hagel said in his press conference in Armenia in 2005 regarding the genocide of Armenians by Turks is shameful,” said Walter Reich, former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “In his forthcoming confirmation hearings, senators should confront him with what he said and should expect him to address it.”
• Hagel’s opposition to U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide “betrays a shocking lack of moral leadership,” stated Thane Rosenbaum, Fordham University Law Professor.

Unless Sen. Hagel apologizes for his “insensitive” remarks on the Armenian Genocide, Armenian-Americans should urge the Senate to block his confirmation.

BY HRAYR S. KARAGUEUZIAN

The Susurluk scandal refers to the events surrounding the peak of the Turkey–Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) conflict, in the mid-1990s. It is considered a scandal because it indicated a close relationship between the government, the armed forces, and organized crime. The relationship came into existence after the National Security Council (MGK), Turkey’s highest body of authority conceived the need for the marshaling of the nation’s various “resources” to combat the separatist, Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The scandal surfaced with a car crash on November 3 1996, near Susurluk, in the south-eastern province of Balıkesir, Turkey. The scandal revealed relations between criminal networks, the police, and the government in Turkey. When a government car crashed, found at the scene were: Abdullah Catli, internationally wanted alleged murderer; chief police officer Huseyin Kocadag; and Sedat Bucak, a deputy for the True Path party (DYP) the political party of then Prime Minster Tansu Ciller. A sinister alliance of political representatives with gangsters in combating the Kurds was hence exposed.

Fast forward to 2013; three Kurdish women were murdered execution style in the Kurdish Information Center in Paris on January 11. One of the three murdered women, Sakine Cansiz, was a close companion of Andullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of PKK. She was present when the PKK was founded in the late 1970s and spent years in the Diyarbakir Prison, notorious for the systematic torture that took place there, and later went on to become an important PKK representative in Europe.

Who Is Responsible? The question of who was behind the killings of the three Kurdish women remains unanswered at the present. However, the lessons of the past indicate a clear role for the Turkish “deep state” in assassination plots. The examples Hrant Dink who was trying to assemble and catalog the identity of Turkish citizens of Armenian descent thus bringing forward the memory of the Gencoide, the recent assassination of a teacher in an Armenian School in Turkey all point to an organized assassination rather than an ordinary killing. Surprisingly, Dink’s case was initially dismissed as an organized murder. However, most recently the prosecutor’s office of Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals has asked the top court to overturn the rulings as an “ordinary killing,” arguing that the assassination was “organized.”

“Anything is possible,” says the Turkish journalist Saruhan Oluç . “Both opponents of the peace process within the PKK, or Turkish right-wing extremists linked to the security apparatus who oppose an agreement with the Kurds, are potential perpetrators.” A politically correct discourse would be to suggest an “internal Kurdish struggle” as PM Erdogan did without wasting time. However he did not dismiss a more sinister possibility. Erdogan, with his Islamist agenda is a different breed of politician compared to his late mentor Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. Erdogan is credited in dismantling of a military plot Balioz (Sludge hammer) designed to topple his government, However, Erdogan’s selective pursuit of justice is devoid of a high moral compass. He is after the truth that brings him more power and against issues that bring forward the memory of the Genocide. “That’s how it is here,” says the journalist Saruhan Oluç. “A positive step [i.e., talks with Ocalan] has barely been made before another setback takes place.” The journalist was referring to the recent “opening” by the Turkish PM Erdogan, who had sent a representative to ostensibly discuss possible ways of ending the lethal violence with the PKK leader Ocalan.

The question was and remains: Which Turkish government can be trusted, the “deep” or the “not so deep”?