Erdogan's Kristallnacht

The self-aggrandizing president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has unleashed mobs to sack the offices of the legal Kurdish party, the People's Democratic Party (HDP) all across the country. 126 party buildings have been sacked. That this massive violence occurred simultaneously in numerous locations proves it was obviously organized. (For some reason Newsweek called the attackers “nationalists,” whatever that's supposed to mean.)

This comes ahead of new elections Erdogan has called, just weeks after the last parliamentary elections in which the Kurdish and other opposition won enough seats to keep Erdogan from gaining the super-majority he sought in order to give himself dictatorial powers. So the sore loser has decided to stage another election. Maybe he'll just keep staging new elections over and over until the people get it right. Burning down and otherwise destroying the opposition's offices should help him by disorganizing his opponents.

The “democratic and freedom-loving West” hasn't had much reaction to this. No surprise there. When military regimes ruled Turkey, and the fascist Grey Wolves terrorized progressives, the U.S. and Europe were fine with that too.

This comes a month or so into an aerial bombing campaign against the Kurdish guerrilla organization, the PKK, in their encampments in Iraq and Syria, ordered by Erdogan, breaking a truce with the group.

The U.S. government's national radio propaganda network, NPR, which is beamed via local affiliates into every corner of America, has bent over backwards to hide the assault of the Erdogan regime on the Kurds. Take this example from Sunday, September 13, a morning “news” broadcast on NPR, emanating from Washington, D.C., at 11 am D.C. time. The female propaganda reader sets up a brief piece by saying the conflict “boiled over,” noting the deaths of more Turkish cops along with Kurds. Then NPR “reporter” Peter Kenyon's piece is played. Kenyon says “hundreds have been killed since violence resumed.”

This is pure, disingenuous obfuscation.

“Violence” didn't happen to “boil over” or spontaneously “resume.” Using the thin cover of pretending to attack ISIS in Syria, Erdogan ordered his air force (with its U.S.-supplied warplanes and U.S.-supplied ordnance) to bomb the Kurdish PKK camps outside of Turkey, breaking a long-term truce with the group. The Kurds naturally fought back, rather than rolling over and dying, by attacking Turkish SOLDIERS and POLICE (who are primary oppressors of the civilian population), NOT civilian targets. (Which doesn't stop the U.S. and Turkey from branding the PKK “terrorists.” I submit that the actual terrorists, those who terrorize civilians, are Turkey, with its long history of persecution and killing of Kurds, and the U.S., the Arsenal of Fascism and Reaction, and the ringleader in global class warfare against poor people everywhere.)

Erdogan, by the way, is an Islamist. But apparently he's the U.S.' kind of Islamist.

Regarding the state-sanctioned mob attacks on the political opposition in Turkey, NPR and the rest of the U.S. media has pretended that it was something that just happened, without even hinting at state complicity. (Notice how very differently they play every act of violence in Russia, for example, all of which are laid at Putin's doorstep, no evidence required.)

All this raises the gravest suspicions about who the terrorists were who bombed a rally that was the pretext for Erdogan's pretending to start bombing ISIS while ordering air raids against the PKK. Those terrorists may well have been Turkish state terrorists.

Erdogan has been busy on other repression fronts. He has been rolling back the limited freedoms and rights that all too recently came to Turkey. Besides his restarting of the war against the PKK and his imitation of Kristallnacht, he had the Istanbul prosecutor target a magazine for the crimes (actual criminal violations in Turkey) of “insulting the Turkish president” and “making terrorist propaganda.” The magazine was raided, and the offensive issue banned. [1]

[Turkey, like other U.S. allies, may just be following Obama's lead here. People here have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for translating or passing along jihadi propaganda. And causing Obama to feel disrespected got Medea Benjamin's arm broken and shoulder dislocated. Then there is the long campaign against journalists by Obama, such as James Risen of the New York Times, the massive phone tapping against the AP, the criminal investigation of a Fox reporter, and the attempts to destroy Wikileaks and imprison Julian Assange. Oh, and the new, official Pentagon policy of murdering journalists they don't like. But Obama could be said to be following in George Bush's footsteps. Bush of course repeatedly bombed the offices of Al-Jazeera, and the U.S. Army murdered a number of journalists when it invaded Iraq in 2003. See Obama Regime Codifies Policy of Murdering Journalists U.S. Doesn't Like, August 10; Bush Created "Enemy Combatants." Now Obama Has Invented" Unprivileged Belligerents," Formerly Known as Journalists, August 11; and From The Horse's Mouth: Pentagon Lawyer Confirms Targeting of Journalists, August 16.]

There are numerous other instances of Erdogan's oppressiveness. Erdogan suppressed Twitter because it was a source of information about the corruption of him and his government. He already strangled and intimidated the regular media to knuckle under to him. He also found it necessary to ban youtube. [2]

No fish is too small for Erdogan to go after. A teenager got an eleven month suspended prison sentence for “insulting” Erdogan by calling him a thief (which he is) at a rally. The teen has to “stay out of trouble” (i.e. be quiet as a mouse) for the next 3 years or its in the slammer for him. [3] (This is a commonly-used tactic against protesters and dissidents in the U.S. also. Stop being political or go to jail. A recent example is Cecily McMillan, the Occupy Movement protester whose breasts were mauled by a cop and was then convicted for “assaulting” him, was imprisoned on Rikers Island in New York City and now has to somehow avoid being arrested again for the next five years on pain of being locked up again, even though she's a target of political persecution. Good luck Cecily.)

But Erdogan hasn't been too busy to find something to do with $615 million dollars of the Turkish people's money. He's built himself a grand palace, four times the size of Versailles, and larger than 30 White Houses put together, as befits a Man of His Historic Greatness. He had to destroy part of a forest to erect it, but trees hardly matter. Similarly, when people protested the destruction of one of the last parks in Istanbul, Erdogan's police brutalized the protesters. (I would be arrested and jailed in Turkey for writing this. So I won't go there! Problem solved! Now, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that Erdogan doesn't have me indicted and extradited from the U.S.!) [4]

He better not think you're a headache, or WATCH OUT!

"YOU'LL DO WHAT I SAY! OR ELSE!"

(I know what you mean about those despicable journalists and pesky protesters...)

1] “Turkish magazine Nokta raided and copies seized for mock Erdogan selfie,” Guardian (UK), Sept. 14, 2015. Erdogan has been persecuting journalists consistently in Turkey. And even overseas. See “US-based Turkish journalist faces libel investigation for book on Obama and Erdogan,” Guardian, 21 June, 2015. This is a criminal case instigated by Erdogan's lawyer and being conducted by the Istanbul prosecutor.

2] For more examples of Erdogan's totalitarian tendencies, see “Turkey blocks use of Twitter after prime minister attacks social media site: Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatens to 'root out' social media network where wiretapped recordings have been leaked,” Guardian, March 20, 2014; “Turkey's YouTube and Twitter bans show a government in serious trouble, Guardian, March 28, 2014; “Turkish police arrest 23 in raids on opposition media,” Guardian, 14 December, 2014 (gee, are you getting the impression the Guardian is on top of this issue?); and “Turkey's PM threatens theatres after actor 'humiliates' daughter [this was back when he was prime minister]:Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemns 'despotic arrogance' of intellectuals and says he will cut state funding,” Guardian, 17 May, 2012. Despotic arrogance, huh? Now who does that really describe? Ever notice how swine in power consistently project their own noxious and despicable qualities onto their foes? Just one of those things, I guess.

3] “Turkish teen gets sentenced to 11 months jail for insulting President Erdogan,” dna (India), 11 Sept, 2015.

4] “Here’s How Much Turkey’s Lavish Presidential Palace Costs,” Time, Nov. 4, 2014. The so-called “White Palace” has 1,000 rooms, in case company comes over I suppose. Erdogan also treated himself to a $185 million personal jet. Hey, wouldn't the Prophet Mohammed have done the same?