Saturday, August 24, 2024

Turkey kills 2 journalists in Kurdistan

In Iraq, the big news  should be the Karbala pilgrimage to commemorate Arba'een.  But it's not.  Instead, it's Turkey's ongoing illegal actions in the Kurdistan.  RUDAW reports:

Journalists gathered in Sulaimani’s Azadi Park on Saturday to protest a suspected Turkish drone strike that killed two colleagues the day before.

“Our hearts are heavy and our spirits are crushed by the tragedy of the bloody Friday and the assassination of both women journalists Gulistan and Hero,” the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate said in a statement about the gathering.

Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin from Sterk TV were killed in a suspected Turkish drone strike near Said Sadiq, east of Sulaimani on Friday.






Since Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House, the government of turkey has repeatedly violated the rights and sovereignty of Iraq by attacking northern Iraq.  And during all that time?  Throughout those twenty-one years and counting?  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has either been the prime minister or the president of Turkey -- aka dictator for life.


Turkey repeatedly violates international law by sending troops into Iraq on raids and other missions and bombing the Kurdistan Region with war planes and drones in pursuit of the  PKK?  The what?  The PKK is one of many Kurdish groups which supports and fights for a Kurdish homeland. Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described them in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk." The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has been a concern to Turkey because they fear that if it ever moves from semi-autonomous to fully independent -- such as if Iraq was to break up into three regions -- then that would encourage the Kurdish population in Turkey. For that reason, Turkey is overly interested in all things Iraq. So much so that they signed an agreement with the US government in 2007 to share intelligence which the Turkish military has been using when launching bomb raids. However, this has not prevented the loss of civilian life in northern Iraq. Aaron Hess noted, "The Turkish establishment sees growing Kurdish power in Iraq as one step down the road to a mass separatist movement of Kurds within Turkey itself, fighting to unify a greater Kurdistan. In late October 2007, Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet accused the prime minister of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, of turning the 'Kurdish dream' into a 'Turkish nightmare'."


Over the years, the government of Iraq has often called out the actions of Turkey.  But they haven't prevented these actions.  The actions have included bombing villages and they've included the ecocide -- where Turkey bombs and burns areas in northern Iraq to 'stop' 'terrorism.'  It's including Turkey setting up -- in violation of Iraq's sovereignty -- a military base in northern Iraq. 


Turkey always insists it only targets the PKK and no civilians are ever harmed -- let alone killed.


Lie.


But the media loves to let them get away with it.  There was a little push back two years ago when Turkey attacked a resort.   Long excerpt from the July 21, 2022 snapshot:


There's not a week that goes by that the Turkish government isn't killing someone in the Kurdistan (northern Iraq).  They've set up military bases there, they use War Planes and drones to bomb the area, they've cut down trees in the area -- all of this in violation of Iraq's national sovereignty.  


Khaled Sulaiman Tweets:


By destroying and burning natural forests, the #turkish_army is eliminating the ecosystem and wildlife in Iraqi Kurdistan الجيش التُركي يمارس إبادة بيئية في اقليم كُردستان العراق سوپای تورکیا کۆمەڵکوژیی دژی ئیکۆسیستم و ژیانی هەمە-چەشنیی هەرێمی پیادە دەکات
6:26 AM · Jul 21, 2022



Except for Jeremy Corbyn, no non-Iraqi politician has seemed very concerned with this behavior.  Today, that may finally be changing.


Ghassan Adnan and David S. Cloud (WALL ST JOURNAL) explain, "Iraq accused Turkey of carrying out an artillery attack on a popular tourist destination in the country’s mountainous north, killing eight people in an area where Ankara has conducted a decadeslong military campaign targeting Kurdish militants."  Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim (WASHINGTON POST) report:

 

Videos from the scene of the attack showed a summertime idyll destroyed. Shortly before the strike, families had been gathered by a pool, taking a dip or resting in the dappled shade.

When the shelling began, screams filled the air beneath a canopy of vines. Parents grabbed their children and ran.

Turkey has been conducting military operations against militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Iraq’s northern mountains for years. The group has fought a decades-long war for autonomy for Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish minority -- but civilian casualties on this scale are believed to be rare.


Rare?  Most attacks result in the Turkish government announcing they killed X number of terrorists and when Iraqi media reports that this was a farmer or these were children or whatever, the western media ignores it.  Over and over.  "Terrorist" is used to describe any Kurd or Yezidi and Turkey is allowed to carry out a genocide not unlike the one they did in the 20th century when they went after the Armenians.  


The US State Dept issued the following:

NED PRICE, DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON

The United States condemns the attack earlier today in the Dohuk province of Iraq, which killed and injured civilians. The killing of civilians is unacceptable, and all states must respect their obligations under international law, including the protection of civilians. We extend our condolences to the families of those killed and our sympathies to those injured. We maintain our strong support for Iraq’s sovereignty and its security, stability, and prosperity, including that of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

By | 20 July, 2022 | Topics: Key Officials, News, News from Washington | Tags: , ,


The United Kingdom released a statement as well:

     Press release

Foreign Office statement on the attack in Duhok

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
20 July 2022

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said:

The UK is seriously concerned by the reports of civilian casualties resulting from an attack in Zakho district of Duhok on 20 July.

We offer our deepest condolences to those affected and express our support for the Iraqi authorities in their investigations.

The UK deplores the loss of life and will continue to support the stability of Iraq including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Media enquiries

Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk

Telephone 020 7008 3100         









Sangar Khaleel and Cora Engelbrecht (NEW YORK TIMES) note:


Witnesses to the attack who were taken to the hospital roamed its halls frantically, many barefoot, searching for family and friends. They described traumatic scenes at the bombing site.

“It was chaos ­— tourists’ hands and legs were detached from their bodies,” said Ahmad Tahseen Ali, 30, from Babil Province, who said he was standing about 20 meters from one of the strikes, which wounded his brother and sister, Ban al-Humnrani, 42, who is a U.S. citizen and was visiting from Sacramento, Calif. “We are used to hearing sounds of war, but I have never seen a horrific scene like this,” said Ms. al-Humnrani, who suffered a leg wound.


BBC NEWS notes the death toll is 9 with 23 more left injured.


And the Iraqi government's response?  PRESS TV notes that today has been declared "a day of national  mourning."  IRAQI NEWS adds, "The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, chaired on Wednesday an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security, and directed to submit an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council regarding the Turkish bombing of Dohuk governorate, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA)." THE TIMES HUB notes, "Iraq withdrew its ambassador to Turkey for consultations." And Ahmed Maher (THE NATIONAL) reports:


Iraq has demanded that Turkey withdraw its troops from the country and stopped plans to appoint an ambassador in Ankara, accusing the Turkish army of a deadly artillery attack on a popular tourist destination in the country’s north.

“Turkey has disregarded the Iraqi demands to stop the violations against our sovereignty and the security of our citizens, and to respect the principle of good neighbourliness,” Iraq’s National Security Council said.

"We ask Turkey to offer an official apology and withdraw its military troops from all Iraqi territories."


AFP describes that protests have taken place:


The deaths in a village pleasure garden prompted several dozen angry demonstrators to protest outside the Turkish visa office in Baghdad early Thursday, despite a heavy police presence.

Loudspeakers blared out patriotic songs as protesters chanted slogans demanding the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador, an AFP journalist reported.

"We want to burn down the embassy. The ambassador must be expelled," said demonstrator Ali Yassin, 53. "Our government is doing nothing."

There were similar protests on Wednesday night in the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala and in the southern city of Nasiriyah.


--------------------------------------


End of excerpt.


That incident finally forced the world press to note what was taking place, what had long been taking place.  They noted it.  For a moment and then went back to ignoring the issue.


This has been going on for decades and the world has looked the other way repeatedly.  Again, Jeremy Corbyn has been one of the few -- and the most well known -- to have called it out.


Last month, Amberin Zaman (AL-MONITOR) reported:


Iraq’s first lady sharply condemned Turkey’s ongoing military operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Kurdish- administered north of the country. Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, wife of Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, took to Twitter on Wednesday to spout her anger amid reports that Turkish troops had penetrated 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) into Iraqi territory, in a fresh offensive that was mounted in early July to encircle PKK fighters holed up in the mountainous Metina and Gare region lying south of the Turkish border.

Ahmed echoed claims that some 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles) of agricultural land had been burned and thousands of civilians had been forced to flee their homes as a result of the Turkish airstrikes, with some 602 villages, including those populated by Assyrian Christians, under threat. The Iraqi public is entitled to know whether “there is any agreement between Ankara and Baghdad, or Ankara and Erbil, which permits a neighboring country to treat Iraq as its own territory,” she said. "If there is such an agreement, then public outrage should be directed at Iraqi or Kurdish authorities."


As we pointed out that day: Fun fact, Shanaz may be the world's only First Lady who has a sister that was also a First Lady.  Jalal Talabani's wife Hero was First Lady of Iraq from 2005 to 2014.  Hero is Shanaz's sister.

Today, the attention focuses on the lies of the Turkish government and its continued aggression.   ALJAZEERA notes, "Local authorities and news outlets in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region have said that several people were killed in a Turkish drone strike on Friday, including two journalists."  Salar Salim and Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) quote a statement from KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, "They were two women journalists, not members of an armed force to be a threat to the security and stability of any country or region."  MIDDLE EAST EYE adds, "Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin were driving in the Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah province on Friday when their vehicle, which was owned by the CHATR production company, was hit.  The two were on assignment for Sterk TV, a Kurdish-language channel founded in Norway in 2009."  RUDAW notes:


Media rights organizations identified the two journalists who were killed as Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin from Sterk TV. Rebin Bakir from Chatr Media Company was seriously injured.

“Sterk TV… works within the framework of the Jetr Media Company licensed by the Kurdistan Regional Government,” the Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy and the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate said in a joint statement.

In their statement, they condemned the strike as a “heinous crime” and called on the KRG and the federal government “to exert maximum efforts, whether through diplomatic means or other means available to the two governments, to pressure the Turkish government to prevent such violations committed by the Turkish army against journalists and civilians.”

In other Middle East news . . . 


Gaza remains under assault. Day 322 of  the assault in the wave that began in October.  Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion.  The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.  But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets:  How to justify it?  Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence."   CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund."  ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them."  NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza."  The slaughter continues.  It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service.  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,334 with 93,356 wounded."   Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."    Months ago, United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of of acute food insecurity or worse."   Months ago,  AP  noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing."  February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home."  February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

  



April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

THE NATIONAL notes, "Eight people, including an eight-month-old baby, were killed in overnight strikes and shelling on Gaza, according to local media.  The infant and her mother were killed in shelling on the Al Bureij refugee camp, medical sources at Al Awda Hospital told the official Wafa news agency."  AP adds, "Israeli airstrikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said Saturday, as officials including a Hamas delegation gathered for high-level cease-fire talks in neighboring Egypt." ALJAZEERA notes a minimum of 71 Palestinians dead from Israeli raids today and that "Israel’s latest evacuation orders for Deir el-Balah have pushed more than 100,000 people out in less than two days, according to the local municipality."

In other news, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) reports:


  The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor argued in a Friday filing that pretrial judges have the jurisdiction to rule on the arrest warrants he is seeking for Israeli and Hamas leaders and must "urgently render its decisions."

The October 7 attack and Israel's retaliation in the Gaza Strip led the ICC's Karim Khan to apply for warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as three Hamas leaders—Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known Deif), Ismail Haniyeh, and Yahya Sinwar—in May. Since then, Israel has assassinated Haniyeh and also claimed to have killed Deif, which Hamas denies.

The Associated Pressreported that Khan's new brief "came in response to legal arguments filed by dozens of countries, academics, victims' groups, and rights groups either rejecting or supporting the court's power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel."

The prosecutor wrote that "Israel has occupied Palestine since 1967," and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled last month that "Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT)," which includes Gaza, "is unlawful."

"It is settled law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation," the prosecutor asserted, citing a February 2021 decision. "Any unjustified delay in these proceedings detrimentally affects the rights of victims."

"The situation in the OPT, including Gaza, is catastrophic, owing in large part to the ongoing criminality described in the applications," he added. "The issuance of the requested arrest warrants could avert further harm to the victims who remain in Gaza and to those who were forced to leave but continue to suffer physical and mental harm."

The Hamas-led October attack on Israel killed over 1,100 people and militants took over 240 others hostage, more than 100 of whom remain in Gaza. Since then, the Israel Defense Forces has slaughtered at least 40,265 Palestinians and injured another 93,144, according to local officials, while leveling civilian infrastructure across the coastal enclave. 


Meanwhile, THE TIMES OF ISRAEL reports:


Thousands of Israelis took to the streets across the country Saturday to demand new elections as hostages’ families held their weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where they excoriated the government for failing to save six captives whose bodies were retrieved from Gaza earlier this week.

A group representing people detained in anti-government demonstrations said three protesters were arrested in Jerusalem.

Titled “You Could Have Saved Them,” this week’s Hostages Square rally featured Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, one of the six whose bodies were recovered overnight Monday-Tuesday, and Eyal Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder’s body was another one of those retrieved. 

Also featured were Aviva Siegel, whom Hamas released in November and whose husband Keith remains in captivity; Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy; and Gil Dickmann, cousin of hostage Carmel Gat.

The speakers called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a hostage and ceasefire deal.


The protest is part of a series of protests that have taken place every weekend for months now.  However, this one comes a day after former hostage Noa Argamani calls out the media for distorting her statements and makes clear she was injured in an Israeli strike.  THE NATIONAL reports:


Noa Argamani, a former hostage brought back from Gaza in June, has hit out at Israeli media and clarified that she was not beaten by Hamas and instead her injuries were caused by an Israeli strike on the building she was in.

Ms Argamani, an Israeli, issued a statement on Instagram on Friday to correct media reports that had misquoted her testimony at a meeting with G7 diplomats in Tokyo earlier in the week.

Several media outlets, particularly Israeli ones, had reported her as saying that her captors had beaten her all over her body and had cut her hair.

Ms Argamani clarified that she had said she had “cuts” all over her body and that she was “hurting” from injuries she had sustained when the building collapsed on her after it was hit by an Israeli air strike.


Yesterday, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Junior Explains His Trump Endorsement" went up.   The following sites updated:


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