Letter to Turkey's President: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Here is an outstanding letter from a Turkish-American academic and tenured scholar. Turkey quit being a friend or ally to the West several years in the past. The Turkish support of the 'flotilla intifada', working more closely than ever with Iran, attacking Israel in every way but an outright military attack. From
the Investigative Project On Terrorism.

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An Open Letter to Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister. You have accomplished in eight years what no other contemporary Turkish politician could achieve. You have successfully entered the final stages in your efforts to transform Atatürk's Turkey into an Arab-style Islamist dictatorship. Some people had warned the world 20 years ago about the likely Islamist outcome of the September 12, 1980 military coup—a momentous point in Turkey's history that "masterfully crushed" the Turkish left. They were right. You are here. Today.

How proud you must feel. After all your hard work, some of the Islamist Turks that you encouraged to sail to Gaza have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. You and your fellow Islamists have been celebrating this like nothing I can recall. You have immediately declared them as şehitler (shuheda, the martyrs). With this Arab-style "martyrdom" discourse, you have surely strengthened your image in the entire Arab world and among the Ahmadinejad followers in Iran. Not surprisingly, you have even managed to nourish most of your citizens' anti-Jewish and anti-American sentiments. Your fellow Turkish Islamists, the great majority of the Turkish liberals, and, unfortunately, the many manipulated but otherwise ordinary, beautiful, innocent Muslims joined you and your not-so-strategically-deep brothers.

Congratulations on your jihadist "victory" over the "evil" Israel and the West. By the way, Mr. Erdoğan, instead of sending others to a certain death, would you ever consider yourself becoming a martyr on Allah's path? I mean, the real thing—in the language you understand —al-jihad fi sebili'llah? Although it might be much more painful than preaching and practicing political Islam, would you ever consider it?

Your partner Bülent Yıldırım's Islamist ship embarked toward Gaza amidst the crowds shouting "Allahu Akbar!" "Remember the Battle of Khaybar, O Jews! The Army of Muhammad will return!" You know, Mr. Erdoğan, that the IHH (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsanî Yardım Vakfı, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief) is not just a "humanitarian organization." Their Islamist vessel was not a pleasure cruise ship. Most of its passengers had a jihadist, political mission, and they have accomplished it.

Your Islamist government declared the 17-year old high school student Furkan Doğan as "martyr." He wrote the following in his diary on the Mavi Marmara before the confrontation with the IDF: "The last hours towards the 'sweet juice of martyrdom'… Is there anything more beautiful than this? If there is, it is for sure my mother… But I am not sure about that either… Comparing the two is very difficult for me…"

Mr. Prime Minister, thanks to solely the vision and project of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, despite you and the vicious ideology you have been practicing, the Republic of Turkey has world-class medical professionals to assist you in interpreting this Jihadist condition.

Now the world is hearing evidence that the IHH has connections to Hamas, Hezbollah, IBDA-C, and al-Qaida. I know you have recently declared that "Hamas is not a terrorist organization." Will you also join the millions of Islamists throughout the world and pronounce publically that "al-Qaida is not a terrorist organization"? About a year ago, your Islamist brother Bülent Yıldırım delivered a jihadist speech in Gaza to tens of thousands of Hamas supporters declaring Israel, the United States and England as "terrorist countries." Yıldırım addressed the Hamas supporters as "the children of paradise." He openly offered the entire population of Istanbul to come to Gaza to "dive into the path of the bombs." And he added: "What can my enemy do to me? I am carrying paradise in my heart. My being killed is nothing but martyrdom!"

Please Mr. Erdoğan, please do not listen to your Islamist brother's advice. Do not send the 13 million people of Istanbul to be "martyred" in Gaza for the love of Hamas.

After the flotilla incident, thousands of your citizens chanted anti-Jewish slogans and called for the Turkish army's deployment to Gaza. Mr. Erdoğan, I am sure it is a tough call for you. After all, you and your dark, mafia-like Islamist forces have already declared the Turkish army itself as "the enemy of Islam." Many honorable members of the Turkish Armed Forces have been rotting in Turkish jails thanks to your so-called "Ergenekon" trials. Through the Ergenekon pretext, you have managed to declare many high-ranking officers of your own army, hundreds of Kemalist journalists, university professors, rectors, and many other intellectuals as "terrorists."

If Hamas is not a terrorist organization, I've got another question for you, Mr. Erdoğan: What if some countries start deploying "humanitarian aid ships" to the PKK in Turkey tomorrow? What if they argue that the PKK is not a terrorist organization? Regardless of what your "strategically deep" Islamist brothers might advise you, let me tell you, Mr. Erdoğan, what I really think: Both Hamas and the PKK are blood-thirsty terrorist organizations that the civilized world must destroy, and any kind of "help" to those organizations should be considered a crime against humanity.

Mr. Erdoğan, do you even care about the ordinary, normal Muslims of your own country and of the world? If you do, then why have you successfully established such frightening friendships and contacts with some of the most dangerous and brutal dictators of the so-called Islamic world? I know your honor is very valuable to you and sensitive. How does your honor handle and justify extending official invitations to the cruel Islamist dictator Ahmadinejad to Turkey? As the Prime Minister of Turkey, what honor is there in fulfilling his holy request not to have to visit Atatürk's mausoleum in Ankara? What will you eventually do with the dictator's enriched uranium in Turkey? Will you join him by declaring "now Turkey needs nuclear energy, too"?

No, Mr. Erdoğan, neither Iran nor Turkey needs nuclear weapons developed under the guise of peaceful energy needs. Both of these countries need genuine democracies, freedoms, and liberation from Islamism. The world does not believe in such nuke-seeking Islamist lies. Even the Islamists themselves do not believe their own lies. It is a deception, and you know it very well. How does it feel, Mr. Erdoğan, when you give hugs and kisses to the terrorist Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya? How does your honor justify it? When was the last time, Mr. Erdoğan, that an honorable Turkish leader bowed in front of the appalling dictators of Saudi Arabia, the main source of Islamist terror throughout the world? How does your honor handle it? Last but not least, how do you sleep at night, Mr. Erdoğan, when you officially invite the genocidal maniac Omar al-Bashir to Turkey? He is responsible for butchering hundreds of thousands of Muslims. Did it ever occur to you to send some "humanitarian ships" to Sudan?

When it comes to demanding more freedom for Islamism, you talk big, Mr. Erdoğan, by defending and using democracy. In reality, you have a conveniently narrow understanding of the concept of democracy. During your long single-party dictatorship, your citizens cannot even talk on their phones freely: they fear they are being constantly monitored and recorded. Anyone who dares to criticize you and your radical views might find himself or herself in jail the following week. You have, Mr. Erdoğan, created an Arab-style regime of oppression. You have turned Atatürk's Turkey into a Republic of Fear.

Mr. Erdoğan, you and your partners in Islamism have been leading Atatürk's Republic of Turkey back into medieval darkness, and you have been doing this under the pretext of democracy and the so-called "alliance of civilizations." Iranian, Arab, Sudanese, and other Islamist dictators have no business referring to their shameful crimes against humanity as "civilization," and you should leave Turkey and Turkish Islam alone. You and your dangerous ambitions have no right to put Atatürk's Turkey into such a position.

Turkey is not and should not be the new Ottoman Empire of the region. Do not try to implement a radical Turkish foreign policy based heavily on the post 9/11 universal Islamism. Such grandiose idealism serves only to help Osama bin Laden's mission to destroy our world. Mr. Prime Minister, the Ottoman Empire is gone. If you have been dreaming that the Ottomans were all about your ideology's perception of "Islam," you are mistaken. You are a Prime Minister, I am a scholar. Mister Erdoğan, based on what you have been reading so far, you might think that I am some sort of "an enemy of Islam" (a dismissive response aimed at critics all over the "Muslim world" especially since 9/11). I am a proud Muslim, Mr. Erdoğan, and I refuse to let leaders like you hijack my religion for their deplorable political "gains."

The Palestinian, Hamas, Iranian, Hezbollah, and many other Islamist "causes" are not—and should never be—Turkish causes. There was a time, Mr. Erdoğan, you had proudly proclaimed: "Democracy is a streetcar. We will ride on it until we reach our destination, then get off!" Please tell the world, Mr. Erdoğan, if you have reached your final destination yet, so we can all get ready for where you may be headed next.

Original article can be found here

Bülent Yildirim, leader of the radical Islamic Turkish IHH

This is from Traveler and is a good look at Bülent Yildirim. He is the leader of the IHH, who was responsible for the flotilla that tried to break the Israeli naval blockade of gazastan. Yildirim has a long history of recruiting for and being connected to Islamic terrorism. You could call him the 'mastermind' of the flotilla. For all practical purposes, Israel and Turkey have nothing left between the two countries. Turkey just recently severed a water agreement that was supposed to have lasted for twenty years. The Iranian influence inside Turkey is growing at an alarming rate. Once secular Turkey is now, in this blogger's opinion an Islamic country with bad intentions for the shell of Middle East peace.

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IHH Leader Yildirims Role in Flotilla and Violence. Learn the truth and please share.
By Traveler

Portrait of Bülent Yildirim, leader of the radical Islamic Turkish IHH and his central role in preparing the aid convoy and violent confrontation with the IDF

1. Bülent Fahmi Yildirim, 44, was born in Erzurum, Turkey, and studied law at Istanbul University.

Today he lives in Istanbul and practices law. He is married and has four children. In 1995 the events in Bosnia and Herzegovina prompted him to help found IHH with the primary intention of providing humanitarian assistance to the battle zones.

1 He eventually came to lead the organization. In the past IHH has been involved in providing logistic support for global jihad and terrorist networks in the Middle East and beyond. Bülent Yildirim's name was also mentioned in the past as providing support for the global jihad.

2. A study carried out by an American expert named Evan Kohlman examined the links between IHH and the global jihad. It indicated, among other things, that in the mid-90s Bülent Yildirim was involved in recruiting ex-military personnel and sending them to battle zones in Muslim countries to gain experience (Page 11 of the study). Between 2002 and 2004 Bülent Yildirim played a key role in inciting Turkish Muslims to anti-Americanism in the issue of the war in Iraq (Page 12 of the study).2

3. Bülent Yildirim is firmly attached to the Islamic regime of Erdogan, who was involved in IHH preparations for the flotilla. During the voyage Bülent Yildirim was on board the Mavi Marmara and played a key role in directing the IHH operatives' preparations for a violent confrontation with the IDF and in inciting them to violence with fiery speeches. He also ordered the operatives not to allow IDF soldiers on board the ship and to throw those who managed to board into the sea.

Yildirim's role in organizing the flotilla

4. Bülent Yildirim was the moving spirit behind the last flotilla and the most senior figure to accompany it on its journey. It began with purchasing the ship, organizing contributions and drawing up a list of passengers. Organizing the flotilla necessitated a long series of preparations and a vast organizational system which maintained contact with hundreds of organizations and operatives around the globe, most of them affiliated with radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood, and some of them pro-Palestinian from Western relief organizations.

5. It was not the first time Yildirim was involved in support for the Gaza Strip. In January 2010 he was responsible for organizing the Turkish section of the Viva Palestina convoy organized in London by a former British MP, the pro-Palestinian George Galloway. The Egyptians stopped the convoy and did not let most of its participants enter the Gaza Strip, and only some of them succeeded in reaching it.

6. Yildirim has very close ties with the highest echelons of the Turkish government, especially Tayyip Erdogan, who gave the government's blessing to the flotilla and according to all accounts helped organize it. Additional evidence for the ties were found in a letter in one of the lap top computers on board the Mavi Marmara. It was written by Bülent Yildirim to Turkish President Abdullah Gül and requested the release of IHH operative Izzam Shahin from an Israeli jail.3

Yildirim's ties with Hamas

7. IHH, headed by Bülent Yildirim, has close ties with Hamas and also provides it with funding. To further its activity with Hamas it established a branch in the Gaza Strip headed by IHH operative Muhammad Kaya. In January 2009 Bülent Yildirim met with Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus. Mashaal thanked him for his organization's support for Hamas.

8. In February 2009, after Operation Cast Lead, Yildirim visited the Gaza Strip and met with Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto Hamas administration. During his visit he attended a rally in the Gaza Strip in support of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who criticized Operation Cast Lead at the Davos Convention.

9. Yildirim visited the Gaza Strip again in January 2010 as part of the Viva Palestina convoy. During his visit he met with Ismail Haniya. Haniya gave Yildirim a letter for Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, inviting him to visit the Gaza Strip. At the meeting Yildirim stated that he intended to visit the Gaza Strip again with ships to render the "siege" superfluous (www.worldbulletin.net, January 7, 2010).
At the end of January 2010 Muhammad Sawalha, a senior Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activist in Britain, announced his intention to send another aid convoy to the Gaza Strip by sea to confront Israel and not Egypt (having learned the lesson of the Viva Palestina affair).

Preparations for the flotilla

10. Senior IHH personnel dealt with the practical preparations for the flotilla, in our assessment with the coordination and collaboration of senior figures in the Turkish government. Apparently most of the practical coordination and logistical preparations were carried out by Yavus Dede, Yildirim's deputy, and not by Yildirim himself. The preparations included purchasing the passenger ship Mavi Marmara and two cargo ships, in our assessment with the support and funding of the Turkish government.

11. On the eve of the flotilla's sailing, Bülent Yildirim often delivered fiery speeches about the activists' determination to reach the Gaza Strip, which included propaganda attacks on Israel (See Appendix). At the same time IHH operatives made practical preparations for the violent confrontation with the IDF which were kept secret from the other participants in the flotilla's "coalition."

On May 16, 2010, about two weeks before the ships set sail, a meeting was held in Istanbul attended by representatives of the "coalition" of the six groups and organizations which had organized the flotilla. At that meeting IHH was represented by Yildirim's deputy, Yavuz Dede, not Yildirim himself.

12. As opposed to the hard core of IHH operatives who boarded the ship in Istanbul, Yildirim boarded in Antalya with other senior IHH figures and most of the flotilla's activists.

Briefing the operatives and fiery speeches made by Bülent Yildirim during the voyage

13. During the voyage itself Bülent Yildirim had practical control of the Mavi Marmara and in fact of the entire flotilla. He prepared the operatives for battle, briefed them before the confrontation and ordered them to fight the IDF soldiers. In our assessment he was in continuous contact with the organization's land command, where his deputy was in charge (and possibly with representatives of other organizations).

14. Evidence photographed aboard the Mavi Marmara documenting the voyage shows that a group of IHH operatives headed by Bülent Yildirim was the dominant factor controlling everything that occurred on board. The operatives all wore vests with stickers identifying them as "crew," which apparently enabled them to pass freely throughout the ship (while the movements of the ordinary passengers were limited). Most of the time the operatives were on the upper deck.

15. Bülent Yildirim and other senior IHH figures apparently kept to a designated area guarded by two IHH operatives in the media situation room on the lower deck. The area contained an editing room and the ship's computer security cameras. When the IDF soldiers entered the area they found large sums of money scattered around.

16. During the voyage the activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, especially the hard core of IHH operatives, received ideological and religious indoctrination from Bülent Yildirim and other Islamists, such as Arab Israeli sheikh Ra'ed Salah and Egyptian Dr. al-Baltagi, a Muslim Brotherhood representative in the Egyptian Parliament.

17. A video found on board, apparently taken by one of the photographers documenting the events on the upper deck, shows a meeting of operatives (most likely the IHH hard core operatives). The meeting was held during the day, apparently close to the time of the confrontation. The main speaker was Bülent Yildirim, who incited his audience and encouraged them for a possible confrontation with IDF forces. He stated that if Israel lowered commandos onto the ship the operatives should throw them down and humiliate Israel before the eyes of the entire world.4

18. During the voyage Bülent Yildirim was frequently interviewed by the media. In one interview he was photographed holding a small child. When asked about possible violence with Israel he said that the youngest passenger aboard the ship was one year old and that there were people in their 80s. He added that although their resistance would be non-violent, they would not allow Israeli soldiers to board the ship (IHH official website, May 29, 2010).
The flotilla's organizers wanted the confrontation with the Israeli Navy to take place during the day so that the media could document it and transmit it to the international media (Al-Jazeera TV, May 29; interview with the IHH's open channel, May 30, 2010).

The last briefing before the confrontation with IDF forces

19. In the hours before the IDF takeover of the ship Yildirim conducted preparations for the confrontation. Two hours before it (and after the Israeli Navy had hailed the ships) a kind of media situation room was set up. In addition, Bülent Yildirim briefed the hard core operatives who were supposed to confront the IDF on the upper deck. He instructed them to make a human chain and throw the soldiers back into the sea with chairs and iron bars. According to statements from IDF soldiers and visual material seized on board the Mavi Marmara, in practice the instructions were followed.

Yildirim questioned in Israel

20. During the takeover of the ship Bülent Yildirim was detained by IDF forces, brought to Israel, questioned, released (along with the other passengers) and sent back to Turkey. Under questioning he denied that the operatives had been organized for violence and that weapons had been prepared. He said that if there had been violence on the part of the passengers it was spontaneous and made use only of "available objects" (the vast amount of evidence in Israeli possession unequivocally proves that the version provided by Yildirim is not true).

Yildirim's statements after returning to Istanbul

21. As opposed to what he said during questioning, interviewed after his return to Turkey he did not contradict the fact that he and his men had used violence in dealing with the IDF soldiers and he even had a "legal" explanation. On June 4, 2010, the Turkish newspaper Zaman wrote that when Yildirim returned to Turkey he told newspapermen at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul that the Israeli investigators had asked him if he and his men had attacked the soldiers with iron bars and axes. He said that "we did what we did in self-defense," adding that "first our comrades neutralized ten soldiers.

Yes, we took their guns away from them. You are considered legally innocent if you take a weapon away from someone who attacks you." He also said that they threw the guns they took from the soldiers into the sea (Todayzaman.com, June 4, 2010).

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Selected remarks by Bülent Yildirim (to the media and to IHH operatives aboard the Mavi Marmara)

1. The flotilla would be a "test" for Israel. He said that if Israel opposed it, it would be considered "a declaration of war" on the countries to which the activists on board belonged (Press conference in Istanbul, April 7, 2010).

2. He advised Israel to take care in conducting the crisis. If Israel prevented the activity of the ship, it would remain isolated in the world and harm itself (Yildirim to Israel at the sailing of the Mavi Marmara from Antalya, May 23, 2010).

3. "We are determined to enter Gaza, regardless of what happens" (During a press conference in Antalya before the ships set sail).

4. He said that children were brought aboard to prevent Israel from attacking the ship. He added that the organizers of the flotilla were in no hurry to set sail and were waiting for the right time, and perhaps in the meantime Israel "would begin thinking logically" (Interview aboard the ship, May 30, 2010).

5. "Form a human chain and throw the IDF soldiers back into the sea using chairs and iron bars" (Briefing the operatives on the upper deck before the IDF took control of the ship).

6. "The time before morning," he said, "will be a war of nerves. There are passengers from more than 50 countries aboard, and if we are stopped the honor of 50 countries will be sullied. We want the entrance of the Israeli embassies in Istanbul and Ankara locked, and we will protect themselves on board the ship. We know there is a price and we are willing to pay it. We will not retreat one step. Israel is acting like a pirate in international waters. Will the world look on from the side?" (Press conference held during preparations for the confrontation with the IDF).

7. In a speech held during the voyage he said the following about Israel: "They are so weak that for the past four or five days they have been making propaganda against us and our flotilla. They see themselves as governing, but in reality they do not. Now they say that they will send the fleet [against us], that they will send in their commando and we tell them, if you send in the commando, we will throw you down from here and you will be humiliated before the whole world..." (From a video found aboard the Mavi Marmara).

(article sources)

1 The organization was actually founded in 1992 but was officially registered in 1995.

2 See http://www.diis.dk/graphics/Publications/WP2006/DIIS%20WP%202006-7.web.pdf.

3 Izat Shahin is an IHH operative who was sent to establish an IHH branch in Judea and Samaria. His main activity was transferring funds to Hamas "charitable societies." He was detained for questioning in April 2010 and later deported at an official Turkish request.

4 For further information see the June 10, 2010 bulletin, "IHH Leader and Other Islamist Activists Incite Passengers to Violence Aboard the Mavi Marmara" at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e097.pdf.

All information sourced from: rightsidenews.com.

We con the world. By The Flotilla Choir

Chief of Mossad speaks out in a rare opinion: Obama, weakness and appeasement

Rarely do we hear an opinion from the Chief of Mossad. Meir Dagan has nailed it right to the wall and he is absolutely correct. Dagan's assessment is accurate and to the point. Israel is not the only one being weakened as the damages here in the States are rapidly adding up.

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Mossad chief: Obama's perceived military "softness" weakens Israel

Debka.com: In a rare public expression of concern, Meir Dagan, head of Israel's Mossad external security service, warned Tuesday, June 1, that the progressive decline of American strength over the past decade and the perception of the Obama administration as "soft on military options for solving disputes" have cut deep into Israel's military and diplomatic maneuverability and made it fair game for its enemies. This is reported by debkafile's intelligence and political sources.

Dagan presented the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee with this evaluation 24 hours after Israeli Navy boarding parties prevented vessels sailing the Mediterranean from achieving their object of breaking the Gaza blockade. As the UN Security Council's condemned the loss of life in that raid, the Mossad chief said Barack Obama's first year as president was a period of "devaluation" for "Israeli and American strategic assets."

Dagan's uncharacteristic bluntness was a measure of the anxiety gripping Israel's security leaders over the slump in US-Israel relations.

He timed his cutting observations for the day Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was to have held talks in White House with President Obama. Although that meeting was cancelled and Netanyahu cut short his trip to return home and deal with the crisis over the flotilla incident, the Mossad Director decided that what he had to say was important enough to be said and aired without delay.

The Obama-Netanyahu meeting had been scheduled as a high point in President Obama's charm offensive for mending his ties with Israel and American Jewish leaders, Dagan noted. By speaking out now, he hoped they would be warned not to be taken in by Obama's smiles and understand that his attitude toward the Israeli government had not changed in any fundamental way.

America's ability to generate situation-changing measures in any part of the world was in decline and this weakness reflects directly and negatively on Israel's strategic situation. debkafile notes that by this remark, Dagan indirectly disputed the administration's National Security Strategy report published in Washington five days ago.

This comment also placed him in the middle of the internal political debate in Israel. Whereas opposition factions maintain the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and other neighbours is stalled by Netanyahu's allegedly hard-line positions, the Mossad chief puts it in a different perspective: Whatever the prime minister may do and whichever policy he may pursue, in Dagan's view he is stuck with the endemic weakness stemming from American weakness and the Obama administration's waning support for Israel.

He warned the lawmakers that the current US administration is in the process of making of Israel "a liability instead of an asset." The US president, said the Mossad chief, seriously considered forcing Israel to accept a dictated peace formula. He only backed off when he saw that this tactic would not produce a peace accord. But that was "only a tactical retreat," said Dagan.

"Let's see what steps the Americans take in the future, especially after the midterm congressional elections in November," he said, because, while an imposed peace is only a last resort and not (the Obama administration's) preferred option, it is still on the table and a whip he is holding over the heads of both parties.
The Mossad chief concluded by saying: "Such events (a decision to resort to an imposed peace) could career out of control and lead (US-Israel relations) into extreme situations."

Original article can be found here