BRIGHTENING GLANCE
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  • SHOUTS: A Novel of Love and War
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  • On Sports
    • A SENSE OF WHERE YOU ARE by John McFee
    • Baseball poetry by Lynn Rigney Schott about her father
    • Brownsville Bum
    • Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu
    • Miracle of Coogan's Bluff
    • Muhammad Ali: "Eclipse of the Sonny"
    • The Four Horsemen
    • The Green Fields of the MInd
    • The Death of a Racehorse
  • TURKEY
    • HOW TO WRITE ABOUT FASCIST TURKEY...
    • BAD TURKISH MOON ARISING
    • Eavesdropping on the Planet (in particular on Turkey) (3/29/2014)
    • Seymour M. Hersh’in 4 Nisan 2014 tarihli “The Red Line and The Rat Line” isimli yazısının Türkçe Çevirisi
    • Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels (9 April 2014)
    • UNITED NATIONS AND NEW YORK TIMES CARPET BOMBED (20 September 2016)
    • THE FAKE MILITARY COUP
    • BLOOD MOON, BLOODY HANDS (15 April 2014)
    • SOMA
    • THE FATAL STATE OF LABOUR IN TURKEY (20 May 2014)
    • KILLER KOAL (14 May 2014)
    • CİHAN, TEK AT
    • CHEMICAL TAYYIP: SEYMOUR HERSH VIDEO INTERVIEW (9 April 2014)
    • A LESSON FROM NAZI GERMANY TO FASCIST TURKEY (29 March 2014)
    • TURKISH OFFICIALS PLAN FALSE-FLAG ATTACK TO CREATE PRETEXT FOR WAR WITH SYRIA (3/29/2014)
    • ANNE/MOM (MOTHERS OF THE MURDERED)
    • TODAY, ERDOĞAN SAID “GODDAMN THE GEZI PARK MOVEMENT" (26 March 2014)
    • ELECTION DAY: TURKEY’S RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH (25 March 2014)
    • HEY TWITS, THIS TWEET’S FOR YOU (21 March 2014)
    • PEA-BRAINS ON PARADE (17 March 2014)
    • RECEP DECEIT ERDOĞAN 15 March 2014
    • TAYYIP
    • NO JUSTICE FOR BERKIN ELVAN
    • Başbakan’a mektup! (Mustafa Mutlu) 13 Mart 2014
    • GİT LAN! 13 Mart 2014
    • HEY YOU! HEY ERDOĞAN! (11 March 2014)
    • HEY SEN! HEY ERDOĞAN! (11 Mart 2014)
    • TOILET TALK FROM A FEW FASCISTS
    • THE SICK JOKE (8 March 2014)
    • OPERATION BULB BUSTER: COMBAT OPERATION ORDER (28 February 2014)
    • ERDOĞAN’S DIRTY MONTAGE (26 February 2014)
    • TURKEY'S CRIME MINISTER (25 February 2014)
    • THE SEWER (24 February 2014)
    • Erdoğan’ın 20 yıllık çıkını (23 Şubat 2014)
    • FASCISTS, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU! (21 February 2014)
    • Bipartisan Letter to President Obama on Turkey
    • INSIDE THE TIGER (13 February 2014)
    • KAPLANIN İÇİNDE (13 February 2014)
    • SNOW JOB (11 February 2014)
    • RÜŞVET DİALOGLARI
    • TURKISH SWISS "CHEESE" AND OTHER CORRUPTIONS (7/02/14)
    • TAYYIP'S TRILLIONS (4 February 2014)
    • FIGHT TURKISH AND AMERICAN FASCISM
    • Turkey's Gold-Smuggling Ring (29 January 2014) BLOOMBERG
    • BAD TURKISH MOON RISING (29 January 2014)
    • TERRORIST TURKS, DOUBLE-FACED ARABS, MURDEROUS AMERICANS, HYPOCRITES EVERYWHERE, OPENING STATEMENT, GENEVA: Walid al-Moallem - SyriaN Foreign Minister (23 January 2014
    • RECEP TAYYİP ERDOĞAN BURNS HIS REICHSTAG (16 January 2014)
    • DEVLETTİ KAYBETTİK (15 Ocak 2014)
    • "Today, our nation is in crisis." Letter to President Gül (10 January 2014)
    • Gazi Recep’in İstiklal Mücadelesi... (Bekir Coşkun) (1/8/14)
    • LIARS (4 January 2014)
    • KİMDEN YANA OLMALI? (Türker Ertürk) 4 Ocak 2014
    • YÜCE ATATÜRK (8/12/2013)
    • TREASON TIME WITH TRAVIS (25 December 2013)
    • THE FETO SHOW (22 December 2013)
    • Naci Eriş: A Hero For These Times (15 November 2013)
    • Hello America, Obama's Best Friend Has Done It Again (25 October 2013)
    • FINAL CURTAIN (16 November 2013)
    • DIVINE WRONGS (8 November 2013)
    • PIMP (14 November 2013)
    • VERY LITTLE WOMEN (1 November 2013)
    • THE FIRE THIS TIME (29 October 2013)
    • Our Invisible Revolution (Chris Hedges) 28 October 2013
    • NOWHERE MAN (27 October 2013)
    • KILIÇDAROĞLU THE COLLABORATOR: Shaking Hands With Darkness (8 October 2013)
    • HALK TV'DE YILIN RÖPORTAJI: ESAD'IN ERDOĞAN HAKKINDA HİÇ ANLATMADIKLARI (10/05/2013)
    • ERDOĞAN MEANS "CATASTROPHE" IN ANY LANGUAGE (4 October 2013)
    • IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, IN ANOTHER WORLD (A Gezi Symphony-Prelude) 01-10-2013
    • FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP SAYING “INSHALLAH” (28 September 2013)
    • Din Hanesini Sildirdi (Kimlik): "BAŞBAKAN MÜSLÜMANSA BEN DEĞİLİM" 21.09.2013
    • The Ergenekon Verdicts: Chronicle of an Injustice Foretold (Gareth Jenkins)
    • TURKEY’S POOR PLAYER (23 August 2013)
    • DEMOCRATIC DEMONS (17 August 2013)
    • HAPPY DAY (3 August 2013)
    • UNDER OCCUPATION: A MANIFESTO (11 August 2013)
    • LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (28 July 2013)
    • “DEAR ERDOĞAN”— Letters from the World (26 July 2013)
    • IN OUR STARS (12 July 2013)
    • MY APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE by Admiral Türker Ertürk (Ret.)
    • The American Ambassador (20 June 2013
    • TURKEY’S DEAD MAN TALKING (1 July 2013)
    • Alain Badiou--Türkiye: Gerçek Bir Tarihi İsyan Mı? (19 Haziran 2013)
    • Alain Badiou--Turkey: A Genuine Historical Riot? (19 June 2013)
    • ERDOĞAN ON THE HORNS (18 June 2013)
    • GASSING WHILE BEING GASSED--A CONVERSATION
    • Ataturk Youth Earthquake Not A Turkish Spring (14 June 2013)
    • If They Are Not Turkish, What Are They (11 June 2013)
    • Fighting Words (11 June 2013)
    • A Montage: Taksim-Gezi Parkı Direnmiş (Resistance)
    • Barricade Defense
    • Taksim-Gezi Parkı Direnmiş (Resistance)
    • What happens to a dream deferred? Ertelenmiş bir düş ne olur? 8 June 2013
    • Turkish Youth Cross Their Rubicon - 6 June 2013
    • ERDOĞAN: TURKEYS “MARGINAL” MAN (4 June 2013)
    • Ayranı Fazla Çekince (Bekir Coşkun-30 Mayıs 2013)
    • ÜMİT UMUTU VERİR 24 Mart 2013
    • Killer Democracy, a portrait
    • Letter to The Honorable Abdullah Gül, president of Republic of Turkey
    • İYİ ŞEKER BAYRAMLAR!!!! AKP'DEN (19/8/2012)
    • KILLERS! My last letter to Obama. (20 December 2013)
    • UCUBE (11/8/2012)
    • Olympic Women (11/8/2012)
    • OBAMABALL: an open letter to the President of the United States (2 August 2012)
    • Sinatra Dedicates One to Ataturk (17 May 2012)
    • As He Lay Dying (14 May 2012)
    • Viva 19 Mayis! Haydi gel! Bizimle ol!
    • It's 19 May...Know Your Enemy! (11 May 2012)
    • America,Turkey--Natural Born Killers
    • I'm as mad as hell... (2 April 2012)
    • ARAB SPRING=AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
    • General Asymmetrica (12 March 2012)
    • Happy World Women's Day in Turkey (8 March 2012)
    • Holy Terror 6 March 2012
    • Kusura Bakma Patron (Bekir Coşkun) 1 Mart 2012
    • The Second Coming of Mustafa Kemal
    • My e-mail note from Barack Obama (12/19/11) and my response
    • High Ground
    • Women's Volleyball Team-the only winners
    • MEDIA ALERT: ATATURK SOCIETIES OF THE USA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM (6 June 2011)
    • BASIN BILDIRISI: AMERİKA VE İNGİLTERE ATATÜRK DERNEKLERİ (6 Haziran 2011)
    • Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Fascist Moustache
    • Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Fascist
    • Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (Wallace Stevens)
    • Epitaph on a Tyrant (W.H. Auden)
    • Ryan Interview: Kanal B, Bilmek Gerek, 28 March 2011
    • Ergenekon Headquarters (karargâh)
    • When the Nazis Came: 8 March 2011
    • Letter to President Obama: 20 Jan. 2009
    • (Türkçe) Letter to President Obama: 20 Jan. 2009
    • Letter to President Obama: 20 Oct. 2009
    • Letter to President Obama: 3 Jan. 2010
    • Letter to President Obama: 20 July 2010
    • (Türkçe) Letter to President Obama: 3 Jan. 2010
    • (Türkçe) Letter to President Obama: 20 Temmuz 2010
    • Letter to US Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone: 18 Feb. 2011
    • Follow-up Letter to Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone: 12 March 2011
    • Letter to US Senator Mark Udall: 12 Feb. 2011
    • Silivri Concentration Camp--Monkeys in Wonderland: 18 August 2010
    • Islam, Secularism and the Battle for Turkey’s Future
    • Turkey-Slouching in Democracy- 25 March 2009
    • WHAT PERCENTAGE OF US ARE STUPID? 5 October 2009
    • The Bloody Streets of Populous Istanbul-17 December 2008
    • Headscarves, Turbans: The Ocular Proof-5 February 2008
    • Portrait of Ataturk-29 November 2006
    • Cool Turkey-7 December 2004
    • Making Hash of Turkish Democracy-16 September 2005
    • Today's Men-10 March 2003
    • Just Keep Saying No, Turkey-9 January 2003
    • Kidnapped (17/8/2012)
  • The Dead
    • AND SO PASSES A WOMAN’S LIFE IN TURKEY (21 October 2014)
    • Bury My Heart At Heartbreak
    • "Adil" means "just" in Arabic (18 July 2012)
    • THERE WILL BE NO ICE CREAM IN DAMASCUS THIS LOVELY EVENING (14 June 2013)
    • IN ISTANBUL A DOORMAN DIES (31 January 2014)
    • İSTANBUL'DA BİR APARTMAN GÖREVLİSİ ÖLÜR (31 Ocak 2014)
    • "Terrorist Pietá"
    • NOTHING BUT MARGARET (9 May 2014)
    • August 6, 1945 (6 August 2012)
    • BREATHLESS IN AMERICA (5 December 2013)
    • JFK DIES FOR THESE SINS (27 December 2013)
  • Short Fiction
    • Benediction
    • ORIENTA
    • Wellspring-"Stealing Apples"
    • INTENSIVE CARE
  • Music
    • GYPSY- All I Need Is the Girl (1989)
    • American Pie (Don Mclean)
    • BACH
    • Jazz
    • Dave Brubeck-In Memoriam
    • Bix Beiderbecke
    • Poetry in Music: The Lyrics of Lorenz Hart >
      • A Ship Without A Sail
      • Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
      • I Could Write A Book
      • I Didn't Know What Time It Was
      • It Never Entered My Mind
      • I Wish I Were In Love Again
      • Mountain Greenery
      • My Romance
      • Spring Is Here
      • Ten Cents A Dance
      • Wait Till You See Her
      • Where Or When
      • You're Nearer
    • SINATRA >
      • Only the Lonely
      • Sinatra's Greatest Hits
      • GET HAPPY, WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS
  • Poetry
    • TO THE IRANIAN KIDS BUSTED ON EXCESSIVE HAPPINESS CHARGE BY TEHRAN’S KORANIC KOPS (22 May 2014)
    • AMERICA
    • Joe the Biden Eats the Bison (21/01/2013)
    • A poem by Etheridge Knight
    • Apprehension in the Bronx Botanical Garden
    • A Shine on the Quay at Üsküdar
    • Atget Dans La Rue De Bac
    • Ballgame
    • Like Kerim
    • Pandemonium
    • Pines
    • Starry Night
    • Senseless, Remembering
    • Six Life Sentences
    • That Russian Woman in the Caffé Taci
    • The Cliffhouse on San Francisco Bay
    • Traitor
    • World Series Obsequies
  • On Peace
    • A WAR ON WARMONGERS, A “JEFFERSONIAN” REBELLION (April 4, 2016)
    • WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SOCIALIST by Chris Hedges (21 September 2015)
    • THE YOUNG EURO CLASSIC PEACE ORCHESTRA
    • MY PLEA FOR JUSTICE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (14 January 2015)
    • Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah ‘Worse than Hiroshima’ 15 October 2014
    • PRESS RELEASE: WAR CRIMES CHARGES FILED (8 October 2014)
    • Criminal Complaint: International Criminal Court, 6 October 2014
    • What I'd Like to See on Front Pages of Newspapers (By Noam Chomsky)
    • THE NOBEL OBAMA (2 September 2013)
    • My Vote For President: 2012
    • American Democracy
    • Democratic Socialism
  • On America
    • BRONX GIRL OUSTS 10-TERM DEMOCRAT POLITICAL BOSS!
    • The United States of America: Land of internment camps
    • THIS IS AMERICA!
    • MY DISGUST AND DESPAIR ABOUT TRUMP'S SCHEME TO DESTROY THE V.A.
    • MY LETTER TO SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER , 3 February 2017
    • DONALD DEMENTIA
    • Service Academy Graduates Against the War
    • U.S. Service Academy Graduates Oppose Bombing Syria (5 September 2013)
    • SLAUGHTER IN SYRIA: War Crimes Charges against Turkey and America
    • SLAUGHTER IN SYRIA: APPENDICES TO CRIMINAL COMPLAINT TO I.C.C.
    • NO WAY OUT YOU NO GOOD PSEUDO-AMERICAN NEOCON NUDNIK APPARATCHIKS! CATCH ME IF YOU DARE!
    • WILLIE MAYS FOR PRESIDENT! (SEPTEMBER 24, 2016)
    • COUNT ME OUT, BERNIE! NO MORE $3 CONTRIBUTIONS! March 2, 2016
    • The atrocities of ISIS and the US wars of sociocide (26 August 2015)
    • WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (25 August 2015)
    • KILLING RAGHEADS FOR JESUS (By Chris Hedges) (26 January 2015)
    • The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass
    • THOMAS PAINE, OUR CONTEMPORARY (27 May 2014)
    • JAMES SALTER
    • BEFORE A SUMMER SUN >
      • Prologue
      • 4. Teaching Bloody Instructions
      • 8. The Doctrine of Discovery
      • 11. Crazed from the Cradle
      • 15. The Necessary Ending of the American Indian
    • JFK >
      • JFK Files: Cover-Up Continues of President’s Assassination
      • JFK: Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association (12 September 1960)
      • JFK: American University Commencement Address (10 June 1963)
      • JFK HEALTH CARE SPEECH (May 20, 1962)
    • The CIA and the Media
    • The End Of Democracy As We Knew It (Bernd Hamm)
  • On War
    • DON’T CRY TOO MUCH FOR BELGIUM 29 March 2016
    • “COUNTERPRODUCTIVE?" Russia and the Warring in Syria (by Gary Leupp) (23 September 2015)
    • DEBATE: THE REFUGEE CRISIS IN EUROPE (Press TV) James Ryan and Richard Millett (8 September 2015)
    • IT IS TIME TO ARREST THE WAR CRIMINALS, OBAMA AND ERDOGAN. NOW! (28 August 2015)
    • Neither Truth Nor Consequence - 21 Nov 2006
    • MACHIAVELLI VOMITS: Obama and Erdogan Wallow In It (6 August 2015)
    • DRESSED TO KILL SYRIANS AND TRUTH AND US (25 July 2015)
    • Preparing the Battlefield by Seymour M. Hersh (July 7, 2008) The New Yorker
    • THE CHILDREN OF GAZA (2 August 2014)
    • PINK FLOYD: “Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves” (13 July 2014)
    • THE RHETORIC OF VIOLENCE by Chris Hedges (22 April 2014)
    • THE WORLD AS SEEN FROM THE TOP OF A BARRICADE (22 February 2014)
    • Can It Get Any Worse? (9 September 2013)
    • WAR TALK by West Point Graduates Against the War (November 2006, a radio interview) posted 27 August 2013
    • GOOD MOURNING AMERICA (26 August 2013)
    • TURKISH DECEIT: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Allah's Boys
    • HIROSHIMA (6 August 2012)
    • AMERICA’S WAR WHORES' REWARD (30 July 2012)
    • AMERICA’S WAR-HORSE HARLOTS (29 June 2012)
    • Hillary the Hypocrite
    • "Hope" a speech by Chris Hedges
    • Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier (W.H. Auden)
    • Speaking French-1 April 2003
    • PALESTINIANS: "HUMAN DUST" (30 June 2003)
    • More Foul Play-27 March 2003
    • A Day in the Life-25 March 2003
    • The Return of the Has-Beens and the Never-Was-3 March 2003
    • The True Enemy-23 January 2003
  • On West Point
    • GREETING IKE
    • GRAY DAY SASHAY
    • WHO IS MY FATHER IN THIS WORLD?
    • WEST POINT TO HONOR DISHONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH
    • OBAMA VISITS WEST POINT THEN LIES, CHEATS AND STEALS (6 June 2014)
    • West Point Graduates Organize Against The War - 21 April 2006
    • On West Point, War and Pizza - 6 May 2006
    • Now Is The Time - 12 May 2006
    • Good Neighbor Senator Sessions Walls Out Mexico . . . and Robert Frost - 19 May 2006
    • Cadet Bush at West Point: Screw that chin in, beanhead! - 1 June 2006
    • Guantánamo: The Subject Was Linens- 15 June 2006
    • Impeach the President of the United States - 7 October 2006
    • Election Eve Daze--Hanging in There Together - 6 November 2006
    • Peace Award Remarks - 12 November 2006 - Syracuse, New York
    • George W. MacBush–Serial Murderer - 15 December 2006
    • Abolish It! - 9 Feb 2007
  • Literary Criticism
    • American Book Review
    • Mrs. Ramsay's Wedge: A View of Woolf's "To the Lighthouse"
  • Paintings
    • "Genuine Fake"--"Gerçik Taklit"
    • EQUAL RIGHTS! ... EŞİT HAKLAR!
    • "Progress"--"İlerleme"
    • "Her Şey Ortada"
    • Resimler (7/8/2012)
  • Presentations-Papers
    • Boğaziçi University-Symposium
  • For Reasons Unknown
    • THE ISRAELI-AMERICAN KILLING MACHINE (19 July 2014)
    • I-THE FRAME-UP (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on Trial) 8 January 2009
    • II-THE ARRAIGNMENT (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on Trial) 9 January 2009
    • III-ATATÜRK APPEARS (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on Trial) 26 January 2009
    • How Old Are You? 4 May 2009
    • İŞTE!!! Kurmay Albay Dursun Çiçek!!! (28 October 2009)
    • A. K. P-NESS: The Condition of Being A.K.P. (27 October 2009)
  • On Living
    • "Art, Truth & Politics" by Harold Pinter (1930-2008)
    • The Power of Imagination (Chris Hedges-13 May 2014)
    • WE ARE ALL ONE
    • The Story of Stuff-What Needs To Be Done (10 May 2012)
    • An Arab Springtime? by Samir Amin
    • From Resistance to Revolution
  • Photographs
    • Istanbul
  • Kidnapped (17/8/2012)
Picture
Jet Fadil

 
TODAY’S MEN


Istanbul

March 10, 2003

“All politics is local,” famously said Tip O’Neil, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Reagan years. Yesterday, the soon-to-be-machinated new Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won, to no one’s surprise, his long-coveted seat in parliament in – what else?— the most local of elections. Actually, a by-election, as in bye-bye Turkey.

This by-election was conducted in Siirt, a city of 67,000 people, about 100 kilometers from the Iraq border. The surrounding countryside consists of Kurds and angora goats who provide the wool for the famous Siirt blankets. Siirt is also the hometown of Erdogan’s wife, a covered-woman like all dutiful spouses of the ruling AKP party.

Why this by-election? Erdogan had been banned from holding office because of a sedition conviction a few years ago for reading a poem in the course of giving one of his firebrand speeches in, ironically, Siirt. (Erdogan also has numerous ethical taints from his tenure as mayor of Istanbul, HIS hometown.) Soon after its landslide victory last November, the term on his banishment expired. But what to do? The election was over, and Erdogan had no political position, an awkward stance for the head of a victorious party. 

But not to worry, it was soon revealed that ALL the eligible voters in a miniscule countryside village called Dogankoy had refrained from their civic duty and failed to vote. It was widely reported then that the reason for the en masse abstention was because the villagers were fed up with ALL political parties because of the government’s failure to provide even the basic amenities to improve their humble lives. And since in ‘democratic’ Turkey everyone MUST vote, the entire election in Siirt was nullified, and rescheduled for March 9th.

Yesterday, Erdogan won in a rout, another trumpeted triumph for democracy Turkish-style. But this time even fewer voters turned out in Siirt: 62% of those eligible, compared to 74% last November. But this time it’s different… no one is looking for those who abstained.

“This election is as sweet as a poem,” crowed Erdogan afterwards, confusing poetic justice with sour grapes. 

The seat that Erdogan now holds because of the earlier nullification, was ever so briefly occupied by a rogue named “Jet” Fadil. Few people appear as they really are. The Jet is the exception, blessed with a robust head of black hair with a thick white stripe running front-to-back. Fadil was elected in absentia as an ‘independent’ last November. He had resided abroad, having absconded with millions of dollars from companies that he had founded with public money to provide jobs to people in that area, and then promptly drained. Hence the nickname “Jet.” On the lam from both Interpol and the Turkish authorities, he returned to a hero’s welcome in Siirt last November as its new representative in parliament. How? The Jet was a native son of the region, and thus trustworthy, despite widely proven otherwise. Why did he run for office? Simple. Members of parliament enjoy immunity from prosecution, one of the perquisites of holding national elective office here. And, incidentally and not surprisingly, one of the reasons for the widespread corruption in Turkish politics.

But the Jet couldn’t think about tomorrow and the fact that some time must elapse before he could actually take his seat. This was too much of an opportunity for the ever-vigilant Erdogan and his ever-moral AKP party. So they gave Fadil a seat in jail instead, and promptly nullified the election all because of the lassitude of the poor people in Dogankoy. So now Erdogan has the Jet’s old seat and the rest is poetic justice Turkish-style. And sour grapes for the Turkish people.

Erdogan will become the head of government as soon as Abdullah Gul, the current puppet prime minister, gets the official elbow into the economics ministry slot. And then even more fun begins. Erdogan has obviously made a deal with Bush back in November when he went on his victory promenade through the world visiting various accommodating heads of state.

That’s why the defection of Erdogan’s party members two weeks ago in the voting that rejected the “American package” so angered and shocked him. Imagine! Turkish politicians being responsive to the overwhelming anti-war sentiment of its constituents! This also explains why Bush and his operators were so muted in their responses toward the Turkish rejection. In short, the fix was in all the time… and so it  remains.

The American ambassador to Turkey, Robert Pearson, has worn out the path, but not his welcome, to parliament in the interim. Yesterday, he was one of the first to hail Erdogan’s election and meet with him in Ankara. The Turkish army had chipped in too. Refusing to comment before the vote for fear of “tampering with democracy,” the head general tampered with democracy after the resolution was defeated. Not satisfied with the decision, he urged the approval of a new resolution. No doubt he had also swapped some ‘war stories’ with his Pentagon buddies.

This also explains why, despite being forbidden to enter the country by the parliament’s decision, the Americans have continued to offload their ships and proceed with their truck-convoys to the Iraqi border. Harbormasters in the ports of Iskenderun and Mersin who protested this continuing American invasion were summarily sacked. A Turkish Army contingent that stopped one of these illegal convoys was reprimanded and quickly reassigned. Even the Turkish equivalent of the US Speaker-of-the-House, Bulent Arinc, was chagrined at the bold defiance of Turkish sovereignty by the Americans.

So much for law, the Turkish Constitution, and the much-ballyhooed ‘sacred Turkish soil.’ Always ready to make a buck (after all, this is what defines Turkish politics), some members of both parties have continued to rent properties like factories, private homes, apartments and warehouses to the Americans. “Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money… oh money makes the world go round,” sang the master-of-ceremonies in Cabaret. Tra-la, tra-la.

Erdogan will now, with much blather and lip service about how difficult it is to overcome the will of the people, proceed to form a ‘new’ government. This means simply shoving the ever-willing current Prime Minister into the economics job and firing the 96 AKP parliamentarians whose political courage helped defeat the first resolution. It’s all so terribly simple when you have the key, and that rhymes with ‘tee’ and that stands for… money.

All of which reminds one that when offered a share in gold by a fellow officer taken during a foray against the Druze in Syria during World War I, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk characteristically refused, asking, “Do you want to be today’s man or tomorrow’s?”

Later, Ataturk said, “The idiots thought they could buy me, but they got nowhere.”

Tra-la, tra-la.

Later this week, or next week, or some week very soon, other idiots, that is the Turkish Parliament, under the enormous portrait of Mustafa Kemal, will deliberate to overturn the vote on the previous resolution to allow US troops on Turkish soil. And Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ultimate “today’s man,” will ramrod, in the name of democracy, a new resolution into law that flies in the faces of 95% of the Turkish people. Then his fellow AKP party members, ever dutiful and now fully acquiescent, will vote ‘yes.’ And thus will Turkey become a full and formal ally in the so-called ‘coalition-of-the-willing,’ a coalition whose governments (except for the US and Bulgaria) are wildly out of touch with the desires of its electorates.

“To see my face does not necessarily mean that you have ‘seen’ me,” said Ataturk. “To understand my thoughts is to have ‘seen’ me.”

Yes, very soon, under the gaze of the great portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Parliament of the Turkish Republic, will subvert the expressed will of its people, neither seeing nor understanding either Ataturk, or that Turkey has become a full colony of the United States of America.

Tra-la.

Bye-bye.

Amen.

James Ryan
Istanbul, Turkey
March 10, 2003


Picture
2003