A new kind of psychological warfare...

Yasemin Çongar interviewed the widow of a soldier recently killed during a PKK raid. The interview is highly emotional.

The interviewee says (as many other articles from the Turkish media have) how remote the garrison was, had no doctor, not even antibiotics, and so on. She continues on about what she heard. She repeats "the things soldiers say are conflicting because they were all in shock" (it's a known fact that people who survive traumatic events can give conflicting statements). She also talks about how soldiers ran into a room and welded the only door from inside and this is how they survived. But it gets more interesting. The interviewee gives figures about how many PKK militants were killed and that the 'terrorists' carried their dead and left. Ms. Çongar, an experienced reporter, of course never thinks to ask how the soldiers could count anything since they trapped themselves into a room without any window and how come one could believe those traumatized soldiers now. The answer is simple. All rules of logic and justice can be set aside when it's about dealing with Kurds in general and PKK in particular. But on the bright side, now we know that the traumatized TSK soldiers can see through the walls. But how come such supreme beings can weld a door from inside so the guerrillas don't reach them?

The interviewee tells more interesting things such as "they [the TSK soldiers] found used up courage-boosting injections on the floor left by the terrorists [the PKK guerrillas] and also adrenaline capsules". Ms. Çongar, the veteran reporter, of course forgets to ask how one could ever know such things without analysis and how could one really be sure who used what if there really were such things. Apparently the remotely located garrison without a doctor and antibiotics had a CSI lab operating with the speed of light! Bravo Ms. Çongar!

"The change you can believe in" and Armenian Genocide

Before he was elected, Obama has promised he would have the Armenian genocide recognized. He can't seem to dare using the term genocide on his speeches/announcements made on April 24, the anniversary of Armenian Genocide.

Was this the change he wanted the people to believe in?

Adana: 3,155 Children Arrested in 2009

Adana is a city where a lot of Kurd who were forced to move out of Kurdistan have relocated. The governor of Adana has threatened Kurdish parents by taking their children away from them if the children were to participate in demonstrations. Bianet article summarizes how children are treated in Turkey by building on the situation in one city alone.

A report prepared by the Human Rights Association (İHD) Adana Branch revealed that 3,155 children aged 13-18 were arrested in Adana in 2009. 122 of them were taken into custody in the course of social uprisings. 299 children were taken into detention, 54 of them in the scope of social uprisings.

The association demands: "Detained children who came into conflict with the law should be released immediately".

According to the data compiled by İHD Adana, 48 children were sentenced to a total of 203 years, three months and 15 days imprisonment under charges of "throwing stones to police forces" and "spreading propaganda of illegal organizations".

Torture in police cars, at police stations and in prison

İHD Adana received 62 applications related to children in 2009. According to the report, the children were beaten in police cars and at the Police Department; they were threatened and restrained by hand-cuffs or chains when they were taken to another place.

Two children claimed to have been beaten by the police when they came back from a wedding ceremony. They were allegedly taken to an orange grove where they were beaten and threatened to "confess their crimes".

16 people detained in the children's prison of Kürkçüler Prison in the town of Pozantı stated that they were beaten by soldiers. Moreover, the soldiers supposedly told the guards that the children were terrorists and that "they could do with them whatever they wanted". One child said that he was insulted by the house physician and was made to clean the infirmary bathroom.

Violations in the Pozantı Children's Prison as revealed by the report read as follows:

- 13 people are forced to sleep in bunk beds designed for six people

- Beating wet hands with plastic pipes

- Neglect of health problems

- Implying pressure on the children regarding the election of the ward headman

- Forced education of the National Anthem

"Stop prosecuting children for terror crimes"

These are some of the recommendations comprised in the İHD Adana report:

The respective articles of the Anti-Terror Act and the Criminal Code providing for the prosecution of children for "terror" crimes should be amended as well as politics assessing children as "members of terror organizations".

Children should be tried at juvenile courts.

A Social Studies Report should be prepared to understand the reasons behind the crimes committed by children and to establish recommendations for prevention.

Experts should prepare reports regarding 12-15-year-old children's understanding of their crime and of the consequences of their behaviour.

No child should be deprived of his or her rights, including the right to education. Psychological and developmental support should be provided to children throughout the duration of prosecution and afterwards.

All kinds of violence against children should be prevented and forbidden by law. (TK/VK)

This is the Turkey who is sympathetic to Palestinian children throwing stones at IDF soldiers. Yet, when Kurdish children express their frustration against the forces that burnt their homes and killed their relatives, the children immediately become terrorists. Ridiculous.