Turkish Journalist Arrested. U.S. Ambassador To Turkey Under Fire

Conversely, sometimes I feel like a hypocrite talking about human rights violations in other countries, since it's not exactly a rose garden here. True, they won't hang you by the ceiling and electrocute your balls, but they will destroy your property and means of income, tell you it's in public interest and they have the right to do so, and they will deny you justice or any compensation. You just wrote about it, and there are numerous other examples besides Susan Heyes. The only difference between the thugs that destroy businesses in Zimbabwe and the institutionalised thugs here is that these thugs wear neckties and get rubberstamped by judges.

Well Steffan, your comment,

"True, they won't hang you by the ceiling and electrocute your balls"

Guess you haven't been down to the DTES on a Saturday night after welfare payday?  Some weird shit goes on down there if you have money for freaky shit!

What are your sources? Your only link here is to your previous post on NP, now reposted on examiner.com. And the only link in that latter report (Silent Civil War) was to another of your own reports on examiner.com (etc.) It's rather self-perpetuating, don't you think?

My sources are the mainstream Turkish news media. I happen to speak the language, and there's no sense in linking an English publication to sources in a foreign language. This is an open forum. If you don't like what I report, or believe you can refute any of it, you have the opportunity to make a submission like everyone else...

And I happen to live in Turkey. And there's plenty of sense linking to sources in Turkish, if only to verify your story (plus you could, obviously, translate key parts) -- otherwise it's just opinion. And for the record, there are 2 main camps of Turkish "mainstream" media. Those who perpetuate that the Ergenekon trial is just something dreamed up by the current AKP government who magically control the judiciary (just as Europe and North America do, right?). And the other camp who believe there's no smoke without fire: i.e., 4 military coups d'etat across 60 years of troubled Turkish democracy, and like there's no 'bad apples' in the TSK (the military) now, right? With shady connections to the mafia, the PKK, various leftist and Islamist 'terrorist' groups. Cross reference that with the Susurluk scandal, or the Şemdinli incident -- recent historical examples of the existence of the 'deep state' in Turkey, of which Ergenekon is the biggest example. And you're right, it is an open forum -- hence my comments. To wit, what's wrong with your report is its lack of credible sources. And if I can find the time to counter it, I certainly will. But for the time being, I'll gladly refer you, and anybody that's interested, to my submissions here on NowPublic back in 2007 on just how subversive the Turkish military can be when it comes to democracy.

Riiiiight. You just happen to live in Turkey. I'd like to see that linked to a source.

Well, Jimbo, if that's your name, how about that soon-to-be coming bio you promised in 2007 so we know how credible you are. I'm quite aware of the various factions in Turkey and which one you apparently belong to. Your opinions are well noted and I do respect them. You may even have a point since one of my sources is the Vatan daily, whose editor, a lady, was imprisoned without charges for almost a year and then had to be released because they couldn't fabricate any charges or evidence against her. Please excuse them if they may be a little bit biased. As for me, I live in Canada and I write about events in that part of the world as I see them from this side of the Atlantic...

Steffan -- I deleted the original bio in the last couple of weeks as it referred to the WordPress block of 2007, which was over by the end of that year. The new one is still coming. As my recent post was highly critical of the AKP PM Erdoğan, you can hardly say I'm in the 'pro-AKP faction'. Nor am I Islamic, not that that should matter. If I have to have a 'faction', I'm in th pro-democracy gang. As I was born and raised in the UK, it must be something to do with my upbringing. Cheers for the elucidation re: Vatan though. I 've heard about 'that lady', although I doubt I could say whether the 'they' could fabricate the evidence against her or not.

Birch -- you're not even verified. Who knows where you're from or are even at.

Thank you, Jim, I thought so. Haven't met any Turk with your grammar. There's a lot of praise about your teaching skills. Pro-democracy, in my humble opinion, is a dangerous position to be in in an Islamic country that has not naturally evolved to that kind of maturity or a national consensus. Maybe you were not even born when the Iranian Revolution took place...

I tip my hat to your research skills Steffan (re: my teaching skills). Now we seem to have moved onto my age. Maybe I should quote the Stones & say I was around when Jesus was born. Well, it's beginning to feel that way anyway. But I'll give you enough to say that I was around on this planet when the Iranian revolution took place, when Elvis died, when man first landed on the moon, and just about when England last won the (soccer) World Cup. Which is also way too much information for my liking, but you've given me enough food for thought for my upcoming bio, if only for you cynical North American types :)

Btw, the Iranian argument vis a vis Turkey has been spinning like a broken record since 1923 (when the republic was hammered into shape). Strange one to bring up now Turkey is being touted as the role model for the wave of pro-reform revolution sweeping the Arab world.

The country has come a long way in the last 8 or 9 years, and for my money it wasn't the military that were the ultimate check and balance, but the EU accession process.

The only bind about being pro-democracy in Turkey is that a defence of such unfortunately leads to a defence of the AKP, the only democratic show in town. Of course the're not whiter than white. They're politicians after all! But what's lurking under their beds ain't Sharia -- just rampant capitalism.

Correction: "...when Jesus had his moment of doubt & pain", it went in the Stones' Sympathy for the Devil.

Come to think of it, now I think I may have caught a glimpse of you in the crowd in Life of Brian. You mean that mean-looking terrorist type isn't a recent snap?:))

What accession to EU? Do you really believe that the EU will admit a member that is looking less and less like a European country? The French told Erdogan not to bring his wife to Paris because they can't stand the sight of a covered woman, let alone millions like that invading Europe. EU is a game deftly played by both sides for their own agendas. To Europe Turkey is the slutty concubine that it doesn't want to lose but will never marry. The worse she looks the longer the game goes on. "Honey, it's not working, you're rubbing it the wrong way."To AKP it's the Godsend excuse to undermine the Army's power and lay the foundation for a theocracy. Even the most hawkish generals bought it. It wasn't hard when it came with an attractive retirement package.

As much as I hope that you may be right, this sounds like the argument I had with my pro-democracy Iranian friend before the revolution, and I'm tired of saying I told you so.

"You mean that mean-looking terrorist type isn't a recent snap?" -- Hell, there's a compliment in there :) That's why it's in b&w. Taken last August in a hotel in Gaziantep.

Nope. Just taking photography lessons from the PKK :)

I read your resumé. You have an impressive background, & I can see you certainly know your Turkish, not mention chasing down credit card defaulters with your self-taught legal skills.

It didn't state your d.o.b., but doubtless at one time you warned those bleeding-heart liberals about Hitler :)