AMERİKAN HALKINA MEKTUP- A LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

TÜRKÇE (For English text, please scroll down.)

Aşağıdaki yazı Türker Ertürk'ün

2 Temmuz 2013 tarihli Aydınlık'ta yayınlanan makalesidir. (s. 5)

Amerikan halkına hitaben yazılan bu yazıyı, muatabı olan Amerikan halkına ulaştırabilmek kaygısıyla, tercümesiyle birlikte yayınlıyorum.

Amerikan halkına mektubumdur

Bu mektubu size yazmamı çok sevdiğim ve fikirlerine değer verdiğim bir büyüğüm istedi. Kendisi yıllarca ülkenizle iş yapan ve siz Amerikan halkına karşı olumlu duygulara sahip bir işadamıdır. Büyüğüm, halen Obama yönetimi tarafından sürdürülen Türkiye ve Ortadoğu politikalarının çok yanlış olduğunu, bunun gelecek nesilleri travmalı hale getireceğini ve birbirlerini düşman olarak görmesine neden olacağı konusunda sizleri bilgilendirmemi istedi.

Büyüğüm haklıydı; çünkü siyasetçiler ve yöneticiler geçiciydi ama halklar bakiydi. Evet, doğruydu ama bu mesajı niçin ben vermeliydim? Hangi Amerikalı okurdu beni! Bu endişemi dile getirdiğimde bana “Senin yazılarını okuyorum ve ABD’nin Ankara Büyükelçiliği tarafından okunduğunu biliyorum” dedi.

Haklı olabilirdi, çünkü yaklaşık bir yıl önce yazılarımı yayımlayan internet sitelerinden birisinin sahibi beni arayarak, “Yazınızı sitemde paylaşalı sadece 4 saat oldu, şu anda çok yüksek tıklama seviyesine ulaştık. Çoğunluğu Avrupa, Körfez ülkeleri, İran ve Suriye, işin ilginci 2 tık da Pentagon’dan” demişti.

Belli ki siyasetçileriniz, askerleriniz ve istihbaratçılarınız benim gibi insanların ABD’nin politikalarını eleştiren yazılarını ve değerlendirmelerini okuyor ve izliyorlar ama siz Amerikan halkının sanırım bu durumdan haberiniz yeterince yok.

İç savaşı tetikleme peşindeler

Bugün Obama yönetimi yanlış yolda olup ülkenizin kısa vadeli çıkarları için uzun soluklu menfaatlerinizi, evrensel değerleri, etik ilkeleri, demokrasi ve insan hakları prensiplerini, ABD’nin kuruluş ideallerini ve gelecek nesillerinizin güvenliğini yok etmektedir.

Ankara Büyükelçiniz Francis Ricciardone, Türkiye’nin hassas bölgelerinde dolaşarak ve hassasiyetlerini kaşıyarak bir iç savaşı tetikleme peşindedir.

Basından kısmen izlediğiniz gibi, Türkiye’deki halk hareketi çevre duyarlılığı için yapılan eyleme karşı polisin yaptığı hunharca ve vahşice saldırı sonucunda başlamış, tüm ülkeye yayılmış, Erdoğan ve AKP’ye karşı bir isyana dönüşmüştür. Artık sorun ağaçların kesilmesini ve köktendinciliğin sembolü olan Topçu Kışlası’nın inşasını engellemenin ötesine geçmiştir.

Türkiye’de halen devam eden isyanın nedeni 11 yıllık Erdoğan ve AKP iktidarlarının icraatlarıdır. Ama Türk halkı, Erdoğan ve AKP’yi iktidara getirenin, destekleyenin ve isyana neden olan projelerin yüzde 75’inin arkasında ABD yönetimleri olduğunu bilmektedir.

Türkiye’de tarihte hiç olmadığı kadar Amerikan düşmanlığının yayıldığını biliyor musunuz? Eskiden Siyasal İslamcılar ve Sosyalistler Amerikan düşmanlığı yapardı; şimdi bu nefret toplumun her kesimini kapsıyor.

Erdoğan ve AKP iktidari Atatürk’ü yok etmeye ve onun izlerini Türkiye’den silmeye çalışmaktadır. Siz Amerikalılar Atatürk’ü tam olarak nasıl tanıyorsunuz bilmiyorum ama Atatürk Batı’nın uzun dönemde acı çekerek gerçekleştirdiği Rönesans, Reform ve Aydınlanmadır. Bunlar giderse geriye ortaçağ kalır.

Obama yönetiminin Türkiye’nin komşusu Suriye’ye müdahele edebilmek için Erdoğan ve bazı çağdışı Körfez ülkeleri ile birlikte Suriye’ye terör ihraç ettiğini biliyor musunuz? ABD yönetiminin Suriye’de desteklediği El Kaide bağlantılı canilerin insanları canlı canlı kesip kalplerini ve ciğerlerini yediklerinin farkında mısınız?

Thomas Harris’in yarattığı Sir Anthony Hopkins’in canlandırdığı yamyam (İnsan eti yiyen) kurgu karakteri Hannibal Lecter’in ve hem de yüzlercesinin Suriye’de ABD politikalarıyla yaşama geçirildiğini size anlatıyorlar mı?

Bunları biliyor musunuz?

Türkiye’de rejim değişikliği yapabilmek maksadıyla Erdoğan eliyle sürdürülen politikanın önünü açabilmek için Ergenekon ve Balyoz gibi operasyonların yapıldığını, bunların arkasında CIA’nin olduğunu ve ülkemizin aydınlık yüzü olan siyasetçilerinin, bilim insanlarının, gazetecilerinin ve askerlerinin zindanlara atıldığını biliyor musunuz? Artık Türkiye’de hukuk ve adalet yoktur. Askerlerin içinden geldiğim ve iletişim içinde olduğum için biliyorum, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri istisnasız en kıdemsizinden kıdemli komutanına kadar Amerika’dan nefret ediyor. Bu sonucu yaratan, ABD yöneticilerinin ufuksuz ve yarını görmeyen siyasetidir.

ABD yönetiminin arkasında olduğu Erdoğan ve AKP iktidarının yürürlüğe soktuğu 4+4+4 adlı ortaçağ karanlığının eğitim ve öğretim sistemini biliyor musunuz? Bu eğitim sisteminden yetişse yetişse köktendinci bombacı yetişir. Yarın dünyanın herhangi bir yerinde evlatlarınızı veya torunlarınızı din adına patlatılan bombalar ile kaybederseniz, bu bombacıyı yetiştiren iklime ülkenizin sağladığı bu katkı nedeniyle vicdan azabı duymayacak mısınız?

Ben, Gazi Mustafa Kemal’in önderliğinde yapılan Türk devrimlerinin oluşturduğu laik eğitim kurumlarında yetiştim. Hiçbir ırka, millete, dine ve mezhebe karşı nefret bir yana olumsuz bir önyargıya bile sahip değilim.

Geçen ay bir konferans için Londra’daydım. Konferans sonrasındaki yemekte karşıma oturan bayan 30 yıl önce Türkiye’den İngiltere’ye göç etmiş bir Musevi olduğunu ve beni dinlemek için geldiğini söyledi. Konuşmam sırasında Ortadoğu’da olanları anlattığımdan İsrail’in ülkemize tehdit oluşturan politikalarından bahsetmiştim.

Yanlış anlamaması için tekrar anlattım. Benim İsrail’i tehdit olarak değerlendirmem sürdürülen politikalara bağlıdır ve konjonktür ile ilgilidir. Yoksa benim antisemitik (Yahudi aleyhtarı) olmadığımı ama Erdoğan ve AKP iktidarının güce tapınma ve hedefe ulaşana kadar takiye yapma ilkelerine uygun olarak İsrail ile işbirliği yaptıklarını ama antisemitik olduklarını delilleri ile anlattım.

Yaşasın dünya barışı

Sevgili Amerikan halkı, mektubuma son verirken bilmenizi isterim ki Obama yönetimi tarafından sürdürülen politikalar Türk ve Amerikan halkları arasında düşmanlığa neden olmakta, bölge ve dünya barışını tehdit etmektedir.

Geçtiğimiz Pazar Mısır’ın Tahrir meydanında yapılan gösterilerde “Obama Terörü destekliyor” dövizi dikkatimi çekti. Bu çok doğru! Gerçekten ABD yönetimi dünyanın her yerinde kısa vadeli hedeflerine ulaşmak için Türkiye de dahil terörü desteklemektedir. Sanırım demokrasi bu olmasa gerek!

Yaşasın Türk ve Amerikan halklarının kardeşliği, yaşasın dünya barışı!

Saygılar sunarım.

El Nusra infazda.

Al Nusra conducting executions in Syria.

(Görüntü medyadan- El Nusra'nın kendi yayınıdır!)

(Image from the media- disemminated by Al Nusra itself.)

ENGLISH
The footnote links do not work; you will have to scroll down to to the footnotes for expanded information. Opening the blogsite on two seperate windows and keeping one on the footnotes will make it easier to go back and forth. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'm no expert!.
Other links should work.

The article above by journalist Türker Ertürk appeared in Aydınlık on June 2nd, 2013 (p. 5). It is adressed to the American people. I felt compelled to pass it on. Below you will find a translation, faithful to the best of my abilities.

My letter to the American people

An elder whose person and opinions I hold in respect proposed that I write this letter to you. The person in question is a businessman who has for years been conducting business with your country and who harbors positive sentiments towards the American people. My elder wanted me to inform you about the erroneous policies of the Obama administration concerning Turkey and the Middle East, and how these policies will traumatize future generations, breeding enmity between them.

My elder was right, politicians and administrators are transitory but the peoples are here to stay. True as it may be, why should I be the one to send out the message? What American would read me? When I expressed my doubts he said “I read your articles, and I happen to know that the US Embassy in Ankara reads them as well”.

He might have a point; about a year ago someone who had been publishing my articles on his website called me to say “Within only 4 hours after we published your article we have reached a very high number of hits. Most are from Europe, the Gulf states, Iran and Syria, and interestingly, there are two clicks from the Pentagon”.

Apparently your politicians, your military and intelligence personnel are reading and following criticisms and evaluations of US policies written by people like myself, but I believe the American people remain insufficiently informed.

They are trying to trigger civil war

Today the Obama administration is following an erroneous path, sacrificing your long term interests, universal values, basic tenets of ethics, principles of democracy and human rights, and the founding ideals of the United States, endangering the security of your future generations, for nothing more than some short term gains.

Francis Ricciardone, your Ambassador to Ankara is touring sensitive areas and triggering civil war by scratching the scars.

As you have partly followed from the press, the civil movement in Turkey started in reaction to a brutal and vicious attack launched by the police against an environmental demonstration, spread all over the country, and evolved into a full blown uprising against Erdoğan and the AKP. It is no longer just a question of opposing the felling of trees or the rebuilding of the Artillery Barracks, symbol of fundamentalism.[1]

The reasons for the ongoing uprising in Turkey are the practices of the Erdoğan-AKP administrations over the past 11 years. And the Turkish people are aware that Erdoğan and the AKP were brought to power by, and continue to enjoy the support of, the administrations of the USA, who have been behind  75 percent of the offending policies.

Are you aware that anti-American sentiment in Turkey has spread to a degree unprecedented in history? In the past, anti-Americanism was the reserve of political Islamists and Socialists; now the hatred has spread across every level of society.

Erdoğan and the AKP administration are attempting to erase Atatürk and all traces of his works from Turkey. I don’t know what you Americans know of Ataturk but for us he is the Renaissance, Reform, and Enlightenment that the West attained only over a very long stretch of time and through much suffering. Take them away and it’s back to the middle ages.

Are you aware that Obama and Erdoğan, together with some retrograde gulf states, are exporting terror into Syria, Turkey’s neighbor, to create a pretext for intervening in that country?[2] Did you know murderers with Al Qaeda connections are cutting people alive to eat their hearts and livers?[3]

Have they told you that the fictitious cannibal Hannibal Lecter character, created by Thomas Harris and played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, is being incarnated hundredfold in Syria through US policies?

Do you know about these?

Do you know that, operations like Ergenekon and Balyoz (“Sledgehammer”) were launched to clear the way for policies managed by Erdoğan aiming at a change of regime, that through these CIA-backed operations, the brightest lights of our country, politicians, scientists, journalists and soldiers have been cast into dungeons?[4] Henceforward law and justice no longer exist in Turkey. Coming from a military background and still maintaining contact I know that all members of the Turkish Armed Forces without exception, from the lowest rank to the highest commander, detest America. This is the result of the shallow, shortsighted policies of US leaders.

And are you aware of the 4+4+4 education system, harbinger of medieval darkness, introduced by the US-backed Erdoğan-AKP government?[5] Such a system is only good for raising fundamentalist bombers. If tomorrow, somewhere in the world, you lose your children or grandchildren to bombs blasted in the name of religion, won’t you feel pangs of conscience for the contribution of your country to the climate that bred them?

I was raised in the secular educational establishments created through the Turkish Reforms under the leadership of Ghazi Mustafa Kemal.[6] I harbor no animosity, no prejudices towards any race, nation, religion or denomination.

I went to London for a conference last month. At the meal served after the conference the lady sitting across from me told me she was Jewish and had emigrated from Turkey to England 30 years before. During my discourse, in discussing the events in the Middle East, I had mentioned Israeli policies that constituted a threat to Turkey.

To make sure there was no misunderstanding, I explained my point again. My evaluation of Israeli policies as a threat is based solely on the policies that country is pursuing and the present political conjuncture. I explained that I was not an antisemite, and demonstrated with proofs that Erdoğan and the AKP administration, true to their accustomed practices of worshipping the powerful and hypocrisy until reaching their goals, cooperate with Israel while remaining antisemitic.[7]

Long live world peace

In closing my letter, dear Americans, I want you to know that the present policies pursued by the Obama administration creates animosity between the Turkish and American peoples, threatening regional and world peace.

Watching last Sunday’s demonstrations held at Tahrir Square in Egypt, in spotted a placard with the words “Obama supports terrorism”. This is very true! In pursuance of short term goals the US administration is really supporting terrorism everywhere, including Turkey. I don’t think this is what is meant by democracy!

Long live the brotherhood of the Turkish and American Peoples, long live world peace!

Respectfully yours.

I have contacted Mr. Ertürk concerning my translation, and have been informed that another translation had already appeared on the web. That one appears on the website Brightening Glance, of Mr. Cem Ryan. Here is the link, in case you want to cross-check!
http://www.brighteningglance.org/my-appeal-to-the-american-people-by-admiral-tuumlrker-ertuumlrk-ret.html

Mr. Cem Ryan was born James Ryan, ex-US officer, holder of an MBA in Economics, MA in English Literature, and an MFA in writing,  who has taken up Turkish nationality and lives in İstanbul. I have re-published several articles by him on my blog. See: "Cem Ryan on May 19th", 29 June- Haziran 2012, "Cem Ryan to Obama", 16 Temmuz-July 2012.

Mr. Ryan has further articles on his website, including a section devoted to the Turkish situation.
http://www.turkishnews.com/en/content/category/authors/cem-ryan/

Or explore his website as you will:
http://www.turkishnews.com/en/content/category/authors/cem-ryan/

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[1] The AKP government’s project was to raze the park to make way for a shopping mall. The outer shell was to reproduce the appearance of the Artillery Barracks that had once stood there. The barracks had gained notoriety as the starting point of a fundamentalist uprising in 1909. For the fundamentalist Islamist AKP government, it is a symbol worth reviving.  For more information see: “Taksim Promenade Park”, 31 May-Mayıs 2013.

[2] See “WarDrums of a Non-Militarist Government”,  18 Eylül- September 2012, “The Shelling of Akçakale and Reprisals”,  7 Ekim-October 2012, and “Patriots vs.Patriots”, 24 January- Ocak 2013.

[3] Probably livers; the same word is used for lungs but those would be too difficult to extract. The reference is to a paramilitary organization called Al Nusra fighting the Assad government in Syria, and which runs videoclips of its atrocities on the internet. There are indications that the Al Nusra is affiliated to Al Qaeda. The US actively supports paramilitary forces opposing the Assad government.

Below is alink of the notorious cannibalism videoclip- not for the weak hearted. There is an incongruous commercial at the beginning which makes the whole thing look even more macabre.

http://www.odatv.com/vid_video.php?id=8BDA7

And here is a news item in English about links between the Al Nusra and Al Quaeda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEVzHS3R6Q

[4] Most of my blog has been about the various plot allegations and sham trials aimed at depriving the Republic of its intellectual elite and its guardians.. For Ergenekon see “The Flag and the Ribbon”, 30 May-Mayıs 2012, “FadedGlory”, 28 October- Ekim 2012, “Silivri”, 18 December-Aralık 2012, “Being aHero”, 17 January- Ocak 2013, “Silivri, 18-02-2013”, 25 February –Şubat 2013, “The Dardanelles Broken Through”, 19 March- Mart 2012,  “To Silivri Again”, 29 March- Mart 2013,  and “Provocation:Silivri, April 8th”, 13 April-Nisan 2013, for the “Sledghammer” see: “TheSledgehammer”, 6 September-Eylül 2013, “’Sledgehammer’ Verdicts”, 22 September- Eylül 2012, “Reacting to the ‘Sledgehammer’ Verdicts”,  26 September-Eylül 2012,  “Now It’s OurShift”, 6 November-Kasım 2012, “Hammering the Sledgehammer”, 5 February- Şubat 2013, “Makes You Want to Scream”, 12 February-Şubat 2013, and “Devouring his OwnChildren”, 19 February- Şubat 2013, for “September 12th” see:“The Trial of Evren and Şahinkaya”, 1 December-Aralık 2012, “1980 Minus One”, 1 December-Aralık 2012, and “The Stuff They Hoarded?”, 2 December 2012,.

[5] The Turkish educationalsystem up to university used to be: 5 years elementary school, 3 years junior high school, and 3 years senior high school (or “Lise”, from the French “lycée)  The Islamists have aways opposed secular education and, pending total liquidation of the secular system, have sought to minimize its effects, trying to move greater numbers of younger children into clerical schools (İmam Hatip, realy aimed at supplying the mosques with Imams- clergymen, prayer leaders,  and Hatips- prechers, reciters of prayers). From these, they wanted the graduates to move into key positions in government to stage a reversion to the theocratic state that was the Ottoman Empire.

The Secular elite- with the military- often introduced restrictions to curb such a development. When the Fundamentalist Necmettin Erbakan became Prime Minister of a coalition government in 1996, he did little to allay suspicions. The press expressed deep concern, even alarm,  and the National Security Council, where the Military was strongly represented, passed a series of resolutions on February 28th, 1997. The resolutions were aimed at forestalling a slip into fundamentalism and included a change in the educational system: the 5 years of primary school would be joined to the 3 years of junior high school to make eight years of compulsory education. This would ensure girls would keep learning until well into their teens, even against the inclinations in regions where women’s rights had not yet made a mark. It would also allow children  to reach some maturity before choosing to attend an İmam-Hatip or clerical school.

The AKP, in its carefully planned operation to dismantle and discard the secular Republic and all its institutions, introduced the 4+4+4 educational system. The children would have to start school one year earlier, the time up to university now spanning 12 years instead of 11. Though the education is made out to be compulsory, it is not dificcult t see that many families will take their daughters away from school after the first four years, at a very early age, to marry them off before they can know better, condemning them to the traditional role of womanhood in medieval Islamic society.

The AKP government is blatantly extending its İslamist agenda in education by converting existing neighbourhood schools to İmam-Hatips, forcing the choice on residents. See: “A FineAudience”, 7 March-Mart 2013.

Meanwhile, the Erdoğan and the AKP are gleefully wreaking terrible revenge on the instigators of the “28th of February Process” , whom they insist is a “coup”. Those involved at the time are arrested and tried much in the fashion of the Ergenekon, “Sledgehammer” and related or similar plot allegations. See: “A Turban by AnyOther Name”, 16 July- Temmuz 2012, and “Ataturk Out of Time”,  2 March- Mart 2013.

[6] “Ghazi Mustafa Kemal” is Ataturk, successful leader of the Turkish warof Independence, 1919-1922, and founder of the Republic, October 29th, 1923. The victorious Mustafa Kemal, with peace returned and the sovereignity of  the young Turkish State assured, embarked on a series of  reforms. the “Turkish Reforms”. See:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atat%C3%BCrk%27s_Reforms 

One of the many reforms was the introduction of surnames- they did not exist in Turkey before. A law was passed to that effect on June 21st, 1934, and five months after that, Mustafa Kemal was granted the surname “Ataturk” by parliamentary vote on Nov. 24th 1934.  The meaning is “Father” or “Ancestor” of the Turks, marking his Republic and reforms as a rebirth. This surname remains unique to him.

[7] The “Greater Middle East Project” to which Prime Minister has subscribed and for which he operates aims to bring “peace to the Middle East” by rearranging borders and changing regimes.

The isolation of Iraq with an embargo and “no fly zone” and the unsubstantiated claims of “weapons of mass destruction” which nevertheless led to the invasion of that country, the wave of “Arab Spring” that swept north Africa, , the civil war in Syria fıor which the US supplies arms, with the very active support of the AKP government in Turkey, are all in service of creating a subservient as well as peaceful Middle East that will provide a safe environment for Israel, one of the few countries not threatened with a change of borders or regime according to the project. (Others unaffected countries  are already subservient states which will maintain their borders and regimes in spite of drastic human rights abuses, such as Saudi Arabia.)

To make this project possible, Turkey has been saddled with a retrograde fundamentalist government that is dismantling the secular Republic. To this end, operations have been staged to frame and imprisoned hundreds of the best and brightest minds- thousands when one includes protesting students. In return the AKP government has agreed to become an all-consenting puppet of the US, obligingly cutting away the eastern provinces as a new Kurdistan without so much as a plebiscite.

The most experienced higher ranking officers, as well as the promising young ones, are behind bars. Turkey is a NATO country, allied to the US since 1952, and recognizes Israel with which it has been maintaining peaceful relations throughout the turbulent times of the Middle East. Some vocal protests in the 60’s and 70’s aside (and now they have started again), Turkay has never been an enemy of the US. Neither has it been an enemy of Israel. If  these countries see it in their interests  to engage in operations that will clearly harm us- as they indeed do- we can only qualify it as back-stabbing!