AlwaysAnarchy
2nd November 2006, 02:46
I was amazed and disturbed to find out how fascist the country of Turkey is. It has been involved in some of the worst human rights abuses, including acts which have been deemed as "barbaric" even genocide, of the past 50 years and even in the 1990s maybe the worst human rights abuses. It has been involved in ethnic cleanisng and has always been harsh against revoltuionaries, that's why I call it The Pure Fascist state. More information by anarchist intellectual Noam Chomsky is included below.
Axis of Evil: Turkey, Israel, and United States?
Chomsky Addresses ANC Forum on US Policy in West-Central Asia
WATERTOWN, MAJune 7, World-renowned dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky, speaking at an Armenian community forum, analyzed and condemned repressive Turkish, Israeli, and US policies in West-Central Asia, likening them to the thuggish tactics of gangsters using force to maintain control.
Professor Chomsky made his comments during a public forum organized by the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Eastern Massachusetts. Titled US Policy in West-Central Asia, Freedom of Speech, and the Kurds in Turkey, the event was held on June 7, at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, in Watertown, and was attended by some 200 Armenian and non-Armenian supporters and activists. Introduction
Prof. Chomsky was introduced by Armenian Weekly editor Jason Sohigian, on behalf of the ANC of Eastern Massachusetts. Taking the opportunity to address a mostly non-Armenian audience, Sohigian provided historical background on the host organization, the ANC, as well as the ARF.
The Axis of Evil
Prof. Chomsky began his talk with an overview of the region and the role of the US there. He discussed the axis of evil recently described by President Bush as including Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He noted that the term was inappropriate because these countries cannot possibly be considered an axis, in that two of them were recently at war with each other and have nothing to do with the third.
He therefore explored why these countries were selected as leading enemies. Chomsky said North Korea was chosen because it is not Muslim, so that current actions by the US wouldnt be portrayed as a war against Islam.
Turkey
Chomsky discussed other meanings of the phrase axis of evil as used in international discourse. He noted that the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram called the US, Turkey, and Israel the true axis of evil. In Bushs example, there is evil, but in the other case, there is an actual axis, said Chomsky, adding that theres plenty of evil to go around.
Turning his attention to Turkey, Chomsky acknowledged that Turkey has been a US ally since the end of World War II, has a powerful military force, was valuable for its proximity to the Soviet Union, and was the recipient of a large flow of arms from the US, which is the measure of how close an alliance is.
During the Clinton years, the flow of arms was four times higher as during the entire Cold War period, revealed Chomsky. In 1997 alone, Clinton sent more arms to Turkey than during the entire Cold War period combined. The flow was so extreme that Turkey was the leader for the transfer of US arms, aside from Israel and Egypt.
This flow of arms had nothing to do with the Cold War, and took place after the Cold War was winding down and ended, and increased after the Cold War through the late 1990s, said Chomsky. He noted, however, that these were the years that the Turkish operations against the Kurds were taking place. It began in 1994, atrocities escalated in the mid-1990s, and the flow of arms increased along with them. This is straightforward state terror, a term borrowed from the [Turkish] Minister of Human Rights in 1994, when two million were driven from homes in southeast.
According to Chomsky, Kurdish human rights groups in Diyarbekir estimate that by now over three million refugees have been created by the attacks. He said it was very easy to find accounts of these barbaric atrocities in human rights reports, and that it is estimated that 50,000 Kurds have been killed.
Chomsky called it state terror and even some of the worst international terrorism seen in the 1990s. He said that US support came not only through arms but also in the ideological realm, through silence: Keep it all under wraps, because if people here find out about it, they are not going to permit it, adding that an important task of the educated sector of society is to go along and make sure that people dont know anything about what is going on. It is extremely important not to let people know that they are participating in some of the worst atrocities of the time. He explained that this approach has been carried out very successfully in the US, as almost nobody knows about what was going on in Turkey. Chomsky noted that this was all going on at the same time as everyone was praising our commitment to principles of human rights in the late 1990s. He explained that the US and England were unwilling to tolerate atrocities near the border of NATO in Kosovo, but that worse atrocities were tolerated inside the borders of NATO. Chomsky described it as a tribute to the discipline and submissiveness of the educated sector, and as another kind of contribution to the atrocities.
Chomsky admitted that it was not completely true that nothing was said about state terror in Turkey. He said there is some discussion of it, but that Turkey is lauded for it. He pointed out that the annual State Department report on terrorism in 1999 singled out Turkey for its positive experiences in countering terror. He also indicated that this assessment was considered perfectly reasonable when reported on the front page of the New York Times. In Fletcher Forum, US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson recently credited Turkey for its positive accomplishment in countering terror and said the US can have no better ally in countering terrorism because of Turkeys achievements in countering terror. Pearson also said, It is no surprise that Turkey should be in the lead in joining the war against terror. Chomsky reminded the audience that Turkey was the first country to offer troops to the US after Sept. 11. He added that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit declared that it was, as Chomsky put it, in gratitude for proving arms for the enormous state terror operation he was conducting.
Chomsky said that Turkey has been selected by the US and England to fight the war against terrorism. He also pointed out that operations such as those carried out by Turkey in the southeast are always called counter-terror. He reminded the audience that Nazi propaganda also claimed that the Nazis were protecting their populations from a terrorist threat--a reference to the various anti-Nazi resistance movements.
Axis of Evil: Turkey, Israel, and United States?
Chomsky Addresses ANC Forum on US Policy in West-Central Asia
WATERTOWN, MAJune 7, World-renowned dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky, speaking at an Armenian community forum, analyzed and condemned repressive Turkish, Israeli, and US policies in West-Central Asia, likening them to the thuggish tactics of gangsters using force to maintain control.
Professor Chomsky made his comments during a public forum organized by the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Eastern Massachusetts. Titled US Policy in West-Central Asia, Freedom of Speech, and the Kurds in Turkey, the event was held on June 7, at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, in Watertown, and was attended by some 200 Armenian and non-Armenian supporters and activists. Introduction
Prof. Chomsky was introduced by Armenian Weekly editor Jason Sohigian, on behalf of the ANC of Eastern Massachusetts. Taking the opportunity to address a mostly non-Armenian audience, Sohigian provided historical background on the host organization, the ANC, as well as the ARF.
The Axis of Evil
Prof. Chomsky began his talk with an overview of the region and the role of the US there. He discussed the axis of evil recently described by President Bush as including Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He noted that the term was inappropriate because these countries cannot possibly be considered an axis, in that two of them were recently at war with each other and have nothing to do with the third.
He therefore explored why these countries were selected as leading enemies. Chomsky said North Korea was chosen because it is not Muslim, so that current actions by the US wouldnt be portrayed as a war against Islam.
Turkey
Chomsky discussed other meanings of the phrase axis of evil as used in international discourse. He noted that the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram called the US, Turkey, and Israel the true axis of evil. In Bushs example, there is evil, but in the other case, there is an actual axis, said Chomsky, adding that theres plenty of evil to go around.
Turning his attention to Turkey, Chomsky acknowledged that Turkey has been a US ally since the end of World War II, has a powerful military force, was valuable for its proximity to the Soviet Union, and was the recipient of a large flow of arms from the US, which is the measure of how close an alliance is.
During the Clinton years, the flow of arms was four times higher as during the entire Cold War period, revealed Chomsky. In 1997 alone, Clinton sent more arms to Turkey than during the entire Cold War period combined. The flow was so extreme that Turkey was the leader for the transfer of US arms, aside from Israel and Egypt.
This flow of arms had nothing to do with the Cold War, and took place after the Cold War was winding down and ended, and increased after the Cold War through the late 1990s, said Chomsky. He noted, however, that these were the years that the Turkish operations against the Kurds were taking place. It began in 1994, atrocities escalated in the mid-1990s, and the flow of arms increased along with them. This is straightforward state terror, a term borrowed from the [Turkish] Minister of Human Rights in 1994, when two million were driven from homes in southeast.
According to Chomsky, Kurdish human rights groups in Diyarbekir estimate that by now over three million refugees have been created by the attacks. He said it was very easy to find accounts of these barbaric atrocities in human rights reports, and that it is estimated that 50,000 Kurds have been killed.
Chomsky called it state terror and even some of the worst international terrorism seen in the 1990s. He said that US support came not only through arms but also in the ideological realm, through silence: Keep it all under wraps, because if people here find out about it, they are not going to permit it, adding that an important task of the educated sector of society is to go along and make sure that people dont know anything about what is going on. It is extremely important not to let people know that they are participating in some of the worst atrocities of the time. He explained that this approach has been carried out very successfully in the US, as almost nobody knows about what was going on in Turkey. Chomsky noted that this was all going on at the same time as everyone was praising our commitment to principles of human rights in the late 1990s. He explained that the US and England were unwilling to tolerate atrocities near the border of NATO in Kosovo, but that worse atrocities were tolerated inside the borders of NATO. Chomsky described it as a tribute to the discipline and submissiveness of the educated sector, and as another kind of contribution to the atrocities.
Chomsky admitted that it was not completely true that nothing was said about state terror in Turkey. He said there is some discussion of it, but that Turkey is lauded for it. He pointed out that the annual State Department report on terrorism in 1999 singled out Turkey for its positive experiences in countering terror. He also indicated that this assessment was considered perfectly reasonable when reported on the front page of the New York Times. In Fletcher Forum, US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson recently credited Turkey for its positive accomplishment in countering terror and said the US can have no better ally in countering terrorism because of Turkeys achievements in countering terror. Pearson also said, It is no surprise that Turkey should be in the lead in joining the war against terror. Chomsky reminded the audience that Turkey was the first country to offer troops to the US after Sept. 11. He added that Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit declared that it was, as Chomsky put it, in gratitude for proving arms for the enormous state terror operation he was conducting.
Chomsky said that Turkey has been selected by the US and England to fight the war against terrorism. He also pointed out that operations such as those carried out by Turkey in the southeast are always called counter-terror. He reminded the audience that Nazi propaganda also claimed that the Nazis were protecting their populations from a terrorist threat--a reference to the various anti-Nazi resistance movements.