2020- UNPROVOKED

ENGLISH: (Türkçe için bkz. "2020- Kışkırtmasız")


As the years go by, more and more of our people have come to regard it as a given that a globalist power base is and has been the source of the region's woes- and the US is at the center of this power base, the Western Powers pretty much

Free Syrian Army militia leading pro-government militant
to execution in Aleppo, early August 2012.
Since then the Free Syrian Army has become our ally in Syria.
Today we call them the "Syrian National Army",
apparently to confuse the issue.
(Image from the media.)

the sattelites, with multi-national corporations, financial players, and Israel playing the eminences grises. Russia, on the other hand, gives armed military support to the beleaguered Damascus regime. The differences, sensitivities, weaknesses, biases and prejudices that plague the region have systematically been provoked and the conflicts escalated, always to the profit of the masterminds who lurk backstage, keeping an appearance of clean hands and distance. 

The terrifying ISIS, sometimes called ISIL, is the pretext for US involvement in Syria, but it is practically taken for granted here in our country that it is no more than a US/ Israeli operation; a band of sadists cobbled together from the the worst and most fanatical elements the geography has to offer. The "Islamic State" stands alone in the history of armed conflict as a would-be state conducting warfare without ever seeking recognition. ( See: "About 'ISIS' or 'ISIL' or 'DAESH'", 2 Şubat-February 2016.) The much-publicized execution videoclips released by the group look embarrasingly amateurish as long as the purported victims are westerners (US citizens James Foley and David Sotloff and Briton David Haines), with a fade-out before the actual act. (I mentioned this in my article "Next Year Has To Be Better", 8 January-Ocak 2015 but the video link to the alleged execution no longer works.) The Jordanian pilot burned to death was visibly real, however!

DAESH, a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL, the excuse for US presence in Syria!
(Image from the media.)

(Why is it called "ISIS" or "ISIL" anyway? They're acronyms of English words, "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria", and "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" respectively, whereas the Arabic equivalent "Daesh" is easy and snappy enough for English speakers. Is it because the English names were hatched first?)

War has raged on sovereign Syrian soil for years, and everybody and his brother have their fingers in the pie. Our country has been involved first in one way, then another over

Embattled Idlib. The refugees head for Turkey.
(Image from the media.)

the years. But most of all, it has been a war waged by small players, paramilitary groups with different acronyms, willingly or, as more often the case, unwittingly serving the interests of masterminds, puppetmasters who keep in the shadows, off the stage, in the wings, never getting their hands dirty: US, Western powers, gobal interests, major corporations, Israel, or all of the above. 

But this is not only Syria- it has been the story of the Middle East since Lawrence of Arabia. Now with the hindsight of the nightmare days of the US-backed, RAND Corporation concocted Erdoğan-Gülen alliance and the Ergenekon and "Sledgehammer" frame-ups, NATO ally US is a proven back-stabber not to be trusted. No wonder there is such a rising admiration in Turkey for Putin, and widespread support for Erdoğan moving closer to Russia and opting for Russian missiles, braving US discontent. We only need to keep in mind that Russia, like any state, will act in its own interests and there is no need to push rapprochement to gullibility- as we once did with our NATO allies.

We have all come to understand that our region, including our country, has become an arena for proxy wars, but we are still not wise and cool-headed enough to resist provokation, letting our tempers and our emotions get the better of us when goaded. Since parting ways with Gülen, President Erdoğan has toned down his fundamentalist, pro-Ottoman, anti-republican rethoric and taken a patriotic, nationalist, at times even Kemalist stance that has done much to soothe nationalist and secular anxieties, and reduce friction. But the bickering of politicians, particularly President Erdoğan vs. opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu, often using abusive language, is a dangerous game of amassing political points by triggering fellow citizens against each other. And the press only magnifies the differences, irresponsibly adding stress to the fault lines.

The geography is explosive; the Syrian civil war is raging on, with refugees streaming to the Turkish frontier once again. There are upheavals in Lebanon and Iraq, and unrest in Iran

Iraq, November 2019.
(Image from the media.)

and Georgia. With Erdoğan no longer the willing tool, the US/Globalist interests are applying pressure on Turkey in various ways, squeezing the economy. Turkey, however, is surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances.

The stress in Turkey peaked in 2013, when the Gezi uprising shook Erdoğan's AKP government, then still very much Gülen's partner and a tool of the US. Erdoğan was an honored guest in the White House in May 2013, the riots

The Gezi uprising of June 2013.
(Image from the media.)

broke out just days later! (I encapsulated the year and the Gezi riots in my article "Closing the Gezi Year", 27 December-Aralık 2013.) The US operation to transform secular and nationalist Turkey into an obedient theocracy led by America through a US resident imam (Gülen) was thrown into jeopardy. Coldness started to creep in between Erdoğan and Obama. The last hurrah of the US/ Gülen influence was the Ergenekon verdicts of August 5th, 2013  when Gülen's

Erdoğan and Gülen, way back when...
(Image from the media.)

judges, infiltrated through AKP's collusion over the years, passed out heavy verdicts to the cream of secular, Kemalist intelligentsia, the guardians of the Republic (See: "Ergenekon Trials and Tribulations", 30 August-Ağustos 2013). 

There was an effort to revive the Gezi movement in the Fall of 2013, but by then the opposition CHP had jockeyed in and launched an attempt to hijack the movement for the Kurdish seperatist cause- which did not gel with the public. (I notice this without dwelling on it in "Turkish Protest Rocks", 20 September- Eylül 2013). A seperate Kurdish state was ever

Kurdish singer Shiwan Parwar and Masoud Barzani,
leader of the Kurdish Autonomus Region in Iraq, both in
paramilitary attire, with Prime Minister Erdoğan
in Diyarbakır, November 2013.
(Image from the media.)

endorsed by the US, and was one of the most important missions of the AKP. Indeed, Erdoğan's AKP did much to bring it about, was applauded by the West for it, but lost much support at home, eventually freezing the talks it was

conducting with the hated PKK. The opposition CHP proved more than willing to take up the slack. 

In the ensuing months, Erdoğan broke off with Gülen

radically while the White House further distanced itself from Erdoğan. It certainly started to look like Kılıçdaroğlu's CHP was setting itself up to be the new tool of US interests in return for backing at home.

Erdoğan's AKP distanced itself from its previous sins, sometimes through denial, sometimes actual apology (See:

"To Err is Human", 26 January-Ocak 2014). Tensions started

Diyarbakır Sur district in 2017 after the crackdown.
(Image from the media.)

to ease, big issues (like the head-scarf) started to fade into insignificance. The Kurdish separatist cause left the general public cold. When the  new Erdoğan cracked down on the PKK in 2017, three years down the line, few voices (and those mostly CHP) had anything to say against it.

By and large, the public has made a clear distinction between ethnic Kurds and PKK's militants- a distinction the West does not make! So while Kurdish seperatism is not eyed with sympathy, Kurds as an ethnic group are not generally ostracized, and intermarriages are common. So there is a potential for harmony if not provoked. But back to 2014.

Before long, the victims of the Ergenekon and "Sledgehammer" prosecutions were free, and the Gülenist moles in the police, army, judiciary, and the press found themselves targeted instead. Many found themselves behind bars, others went on the run. The ones planted in the military attempted a coup on July 15th 2016; Erdoğan's supporters, but not only Erdoğan's supporters, poured out and did much to stop it, and the non-Gülenist elements in the military brought the attempt to a halt. (See: "Turkish Coup Attempt, July 15th 2016", 16 July-Temmuz 2016). Apart from the unusually large loss of life on the night of the

The bloody night of July 15th, 2016.
(Image fromthe media.)

coup (240 plus), the event didn't cause a major rift in the citizenry- all political parties, and the media, were unanimous in blaming Gülen and the US, though CHP supporters circulated the unlikely rumor that Erdoğan had staged it himself to create an excuse for strengthening his grip. The US had miscalculated- again. Too much had changed since the days of the Gezi riots. The political differences continue, as they should, but Turkey's citizens were already on their way to reconciliation.

There is nothing our enemies wish more than discord- it gives them a chance to manipulate us. Remember the days of Right vs. Left, followed by fundamentalist vs. secular, republican vs. pro-Ottoman, Alevi- Sunni..! Then remember a nation is a family: there will be differences between the members, but there should be unity and mutual support. And our geography is a neighbourhood, a community; discord in our neighbors' house spells trouble in our home as well.

There will be provokation. There has always been provokation. The thing to do is to resist!

As a great man said: "Peace at home, peace abroad."

And that can be achieved with peace in our hearts!

Happy new year!

Our seasonal message this year.