Sam Harris on the dangers from a moderate religious viewpoint

Sam Harris talks about the danger that can result from even a moderate religious viewpoint. Highly recommended (14 minute video).

State Propaganda Nobel Prize goes to ...

In normal countries state propaganda competes with free speech. In countries like "Turkey" state propaganda defines the limits of public discourse, punishing those that venture into the unsanctioned.

This is not an Erdoganian phenomenon. It has been true for all "Turkey"s since 1923. Turkish journalists, academics, etc. always knew their limits, knowing that careful self-censorship is a must for self preservation.

It's crucial to understand that the seemingly free opinions we read by Turks in the English language NEVER, I repeat, NEVER appear in any Turkish outlet in the Turkish language! It's in fact part of the carefully crafted state propaganda machine. The state wants foreigners to assume that what they read is also what Turks do. That is not the case. Articles written by Turkish journalists in English which offer a rosy picture of a "Turkey" that harbours all opinions are never published in the Turkish press in Turkish.

In Erdogan's "Turkey" things become even worse, as if they were not bad enough. In this new "Turkey" of his state propaganda is the sole truth. Pretenses have been dropped. Those who dare speak against the official state line, without exception, are 'eliminated' in one way or another.

In Cyprus we are victims of heinous Turkish propaganda for decades. The Turkish Cypriot minority in particular has been at its mercy, almost entirely shaping its fears, hopes, aspirations and ultimately its perception of reality.

A short video highlighting Erdogan's war on HDP

Lord Radcliffe on claim by 18% pop to share political power equally with 80% 'Constitutional Proposals for Cyprus'

Turkish bombs and riots in Cyprus: Handling the facts - William Mallinson:

Why the public has had to wait so long to read some fairly obvious things is anybody’s guess. The papers that I excavated merely show that Britain knew full well that the Turkish Cypriots planned riots in Nicosia in the summer of 1958, and that the latter planted a bomb against their own people in order to blame the Greek Cypriots. Before commenting on the whole distasteful farrago and its relevance and implications for today, let us reproduce some extracts.
...
...
It is fairly well known that truth is the first casualty of war, although it does often emerge years later. Whenever one dares to speculate, one is often branded a ‘conspiracy theorist’, as I would have been, had I speculated that the Turks planted a bomb against themselves, without the documentary evidence that I have now provided. One day, perhaps we shall be provided with incontrovertible evidence that it was indeed also Turks who planted a bomb at their own consulate-general in Thessaloniki, although enough books by serious academics already point the finger at the Turks. And while on the subject of agents provocateurs, it is highly unlikely that Greeks or Greek Cypriots murdered a British housewife in Famagusta October 1958. [18] It could have been an American, a Turk or even an Englishman. One hopes that one day incontrovertible evidence will appear.

To conclude The moment that Britain began thinking of transferring its Middle East headquarters to Cyprus in early 1952, the die for dividing Cyprus was cast. [19] ‘All’s fair in love and war’, as some say, whether cynically or simply realistically. Britain and the US could not afford to countenance a truly independent Cyprus, given their fear of the Soviet Union. It is the same today, just as in the Ukraine, where agents provocateurs abound. One day, there, too, the truth will come out.

Source: Turkish bombs and riots in Cyprus: Handling the facts

Bizonality is a war crime

Bizonality is a war crime. Yet the UN is proposing to cement it into law. What are the ethical and legal responsibilities of the UN representative who masterfully tries to hide the fact that the basis of the current Cyprus talks is an illegal military invasion that for the first time ever divided Cyprus along ethnic lines into two separate zones. Espen Barth Eide, as well as all previous UN negotiators, must see the the inside of an international court room for lending their support to a proposed solution that violates international law.

In 1974, ISIS was in Cyprus - PHILOS PROJECT

ROBERT JONES

July 28, 2016

Since 2014, Yazidis in Iraq have been exposed to genocide at the hands of the Islamic State, which has led to their forced expulsion and exile from their ancestral lands.

ISIS has executed thousands of Yazidis and abducted a myriad others from the Sinjar area, raped them repeatedly and sold them as sex slaves. Nearly 200,000 Yazidis have been displaced in northern Iraq, where the large majority lives in refugee camps.

Forty-two years ago, similar crimes were committed in Cyprus by another occupying army, which is also a NATO member.

In the summer of 1974, the Turkish military invaded Cyprus in a bloody military campaign.

Pray for "Turkey"

Turkey's Manipulation of Europe, Then and Now - MIDDLE EAST FORUM

A Turkish regime exploiting an international crisis to
manipulate Europeans. Sound familiar?

by Efraim Karsh, July 17, 2016

Originally published on June 24 under the title "Holding the Balance of Power: Turkey's Complicating Relationship with Europe during the First World War and Since."

It is a historical irony that, for the second time in a century, Turkey is exploiting a major international crisis to manipulate the most powerful European nation into a hugely misconceived and self-defeating policy.

Having exacerbated the Syrian civil war by allowing jihadists of all hues to cross Turkish territory to fight his friend-turned-nemesis Bashar al-Assad, then spurred a massive humanitarian crisis by allowing hundreds of thousands of Syrian refuges (and assorted Middle Eastern migrants camped in Turkey) to infiltrate Europe illegally, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan capitalized on Chancellor Merkel's recoil from her "open door" migration policy to extract substantial financial and political concessions from the European Union that, if fully implemented, will irreversibly change the EU's demographic and cultural identity.

Not so fast! Turkey was no great 'secular' state before Erdogan - WND

Ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots by the invading Turkish military, 1974

Exclusive: Andrew Bostom examines brutal conquest, Islamization of northern Cyprus

By Andrew Bostom

Although much ballyhooed 42 years later for its unsuccessful attempt to remove current Neo-Ottoman, Islamic Jew-hating President/Muslim despot Mas-Kom-Ya Erdogan, July 20, 1974, the same putatively “secular” Turkish military waged a “successful” jihad invasion of n
orthern Cyprus.

Using Cyprus’ own short-lived July 1974 military putsch (the Greek junta-supported coup had collapsed by [July 23, 1974]) as a pretext for long sought expansionist designs within Cyprus, pseudo-secular Turkey claimed its 1974 jihad invasion was a “peaceful action” that sought to “restore” Cypriot rights, territorial integrity, and security “without any discrimination toward the (Christian majority and Muslim minority) Communities.” But the July-August, 1974 jihad of Turkey’s pseudo-secular military regime, consistent with the devastating half millennial legacy of its Ottoman forbears’ campaigns, was punctuated by Islamic jihadism’s trademark “sacralized” brutality against non-Muslims: massacre, pillage, enslavement, rape, deportation (of infidels) and colonization (by Muslim replacements).

Brexit please!

BREXIT PLEASE! Let's put the EU to the test. If it cannot survive it, then it was just an illusion. An illusion of family, an illusion of security. The sooner we find out the faster we'll forge those strategic relationships that truly matter. My hope is that the EU comes out stronger. Hopefully the UK too. We face a financial risk from Brexit after all.

Of all the nations in the EU the only one facing an existential threat is us. A Brexit should help fellow members appreciate our top priority better. If they can't and won't back us 100% (with "Turkey"'s cheerleader out) then what the hell are we in for.

My thoughts on why Cypriots should want the UK out HERE & HERE.

Bizonality Defined

BIZONALITY (aka BBF) is that political system which requires the legalization of forced usurpation of land and properties of majority Christians via their very own vote, in order to create a unified de-jure majority Muslim geographic zone in the framework of a 50-50 federation-apartheid between the majority and a Muslim minority.

The UN Negotiator Liking & Retweeting a Sworn Antibizonalist

Snapshot #1

UN Cyprus tweeted on June 8th 2016 about Lisa Buttenheim's departure (will we ever know the real reasons?) (1st snapshot). I replied with a tweet that read "Good people. Condemned to star in the Bizonality Sisyphean Tragedy. Cherchez le Brit" (2nd snapshot). And to my surprise Espen Barth Eide, of all people, both liked and retweeted (3rd snapshot). An honest mistake? Or perhaps not? I immediately captured the screen as I suspected it would not stay up for long. Indeed, minutes later it was gone!

But what (part of the tweet) could have prompted Mr Eide to both like and retweet? My tweet contained three messages.

Brexit: a Blessing for Cyprus

In a previous post I argued that Cyprus should favour Brexit. But as I was watching Cameron last night describe what Brexit would mean for the UK I became more convinced than ever that Brexit would be a blessing for Cyprus. If the UK backed Brexit, Cameron said, the UK would be left outside the negotiating room, "our nose pressed to the window, trying to find out what decision they were making", adding: "That would be terrible."

Indeed. It would be, for the UK. And as a result it would seek as much inside information and influence as possible. No EU member (with the exception of Malta perhaps) is both Britain-friendly but also small enough to allow not merely a peek inside but also influence on EU policies. In other words, Cyprus would cease being just a geostrategic rock in the the eastern Mediterranean loaded with all kinds of "sovereign" critical surveillance and mission enabling infrastructure, but it would also become an extremely attractive political ally, in the true sense of the word.

All the UK has to do to maintain its geostrategic privilege of the military bases is smile. The "sovereignty" bit makes it so. But for the political privilege the British would have to do a great deal more than smile. They would have to give. And it so happens we have something to ask for in return. Urgently. Freedom from 60's & BBF's political apartheid and 74's geographic division. The smiles would no longer cut it for the natives.

Brexit from a Cyprus angle

I hope Brexiters win it. What will it mean for Cyprus?

1. A bit of adjusting at first, but it won't take long for the economies to establish their common language. 
2. Brits are addicted to Cyprus. They don't have that many good friends & nowhere is like Cyprus. British tourists will keep coming.
3. The number one "Turkey" supporter will be gone, thus allowing us to have a far stronger and clearer EU voice for Cyprus justice.
4. The EU, with Cyprus at its core, will be able to become more tightly knit far more quikcly without UK's obtsructions and delays.
5. Cyprus, among others, will be in a position to benefit from the flight of capital and businesses that will seek EU-based home.
6. The EU will be more free to pursue a pro-Russia policy

Look Beyond and Act Despite the Noise

All Cypriots must understand that the UK/US will do ANYTHING to preserve the "S"BAs (military bases), without any concern whatsoever for either Cypriots or justice, other than present the solution and themselves as shiny as possible.

The Cyprus government must use the leverage it has to threaten the UK with action to remove the bases, and mean it. Otherwise they will play us for time in much the same way they have been doing for the last 40 years.

The Cyprus government must also introduce the northern Kurdish cause into the equation in order to:

• expose Turkish hypocrisy & arrogance
• expose Turkish Cypriot hypocrisy & arrogance 
• impress western audiences with the type of shallow, double-faced, sinister mentality we are up against

It's simple really. The interests of US/ UK/ "Turkey"/ tCs coincide. By creating enormous volumes of noise these actors manage to hide the fundamentals of the problem. They have successfully forced our leaders' capitulation with the boogieman: bizonality or else. We need to call the bluff. Prepare and call it. Soon.

Their theatrics are so impressively powerful they have even stolen a black-swan reality to suit their bogus purpose. Yes, the stars are indeed aligned. But not for their dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus but rather its upgrade, away from apartheid, away from privileges, away from foreign meddling, and MOST CERTAINLY away from zones.

UN/EU membership & energy are our defensive weapons. The ones I list above our offensive ones, which have so far been left unused. It's time to get serious.

Source

Political Amoeba

The USA, in as far as Cyprus is concerned, can be viewed as a political amoeba, a single-celled deleterious parasite that cannot be removed and can only be preserved via bizonal reproduction. This protozoan views its host organism solely as a military base with various other essential infrastructure. It has a jellylike mass of political cytoplasm that forms temporary pseudo-positions, by which it moves and engulfs every notion of justice.

Looking beyond empty statements and declarations, the USA is an enemy of Cyprus and Cypriots, far greater than "Turkey", an enemy that demands apartheid solutions it would never, and never did, consider for any of its sizable ethnic minorities. It's Cyprus problem, how to preserve its geostrategic privileges on Cyprus, has nothing to do with Cypriots' problem, "Turkey". Unsurprisingly, the US solution is no solution for Cyprus and Cypriots.
--

2008 January 29, 14:17 (Tuesday), US Ambassador SCHLICHER "Via varied formal agreements and informal arrangements, the United States enjoys some access to and benefits from these UK facilities. Unlike the Cyprus-owned infrastructure noted above, the damage or complete loss of SBA-housed facilities would pose a threat to our national security interests in the eastern Mediterranean."

Why do Cypriot Greeks reject “peace” plans? - IANS, University of Edinburgh

May 26, 2016
By Lambros George Kaoullas (Staff Writer)

24th April marked twelve years since Cypriot Greeks rejected in a referendum, by an overwhelming 76% margin, the UN-sponsored “Annan Plan”. By contrast, 65% of Cypriot Turks with Turkish settlers in the occupied north accepted the plan in a separate referendum.

This rejection by Cypriot Greeks must be startlingly puzzling to a foreign observer. I can even picture an annoyed reaction in my mind: Wait a minute!

Their Cyprus Problem

US Ambassador in Cyprus Ronald L. Schlicher, 2008 January 29, 14:17 (Tuesday): "3. (C) Reftel Para 10:  Under the terms of the 1960 independence treaties, Great Britain was allowed to retain two "Sovereign Base Areas" (SBAs) and several isolated sites scattered throughout Cyprus, such as the RAF radar dome on Mt. Olympus, the island's highest point, and various antenna arrays in Ayios Nikolaos, near Famagusta.  Via varied formal agreements and informal arrangements, the United States enjoys some access to and benefits from these UK facilities. Unlike the Cyprus-owned infrastructure noted above, the damage or complete loss of SBA-housed facilities would pose a threat to our national security interests in the eastern Mediterranean."

Towards “regime change” in Cyprus? - DEFEND DEMOCRACY PRESS

06/05/2016

By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos

It is usual in European politics those years, for people to vote one thing and their leaders to do another. This is what happened in many occasions, from the French referendum of 2005 on the European “constitution” till the Greek referendum of 2015, not to mention pre-electoral promises never fulfilled.

But there are also a few exceptions, when a leader cannot or does not want to go against the will of the voters. Such an exception was the referendum on Cyprus in 2004, when the population voted overwhelmingly to reject the Annan plan for the “reunification” of the island.

Many readers may think that what is happening in Cyprus, a small member-state of EU in Eastern Mediterranean, is of rather marginal importance. This is what mainstream media are implying by their (non) reporting on the real parameters of the Cyprus question. But, in reality, the opposite is true. Cyprus, in spite of its magnitude, is too important to speak much of it!

Putin Is Being Pushed to Abandon His Conciliatory Approach to the West and Prepare for War - HUFFINGTON POST

05/17/2016
Alastair Crooke, Fmr. MI-6 agent; Author, ‘Resistance: The Essence of Islamic Revolution’

BEIRUT — Something significant happened in the last few days of April, but it seems the only person who noticed was Stephen Cohen, a professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University.

In a recorded interview, Cohen notes that a section of the Russian leadership is showing signs of restlessness, focused on President Vladimir Putin’s leadership. We are not talking of street protesters. We are not talking coups against Putin — his popularity remains above 80 percent and he is not about to be displaced. But we are talking about serious pressure being applied to the president to come down from the high wire along which he has warily trod until now.

If you build it, it will sink

Taking the Cypriots for a settlement… ride - CYPRUS MAIL

MAY 17TH, 2016

By Dr Yiorghos Leventis

Having outlined the sad historical background of the denial of implementation of the core UN principles of equal rights and of self-determination for the people of Cyprus in our Victory Day anniversary analysis (9 May 2016), it is necessary to take a look at the current state of affairs with respect to the settlement process of the Cyprus question.

The latest statement we had from the Chief Negotiator of the victimised side on the Cyprus equation i.e. the Greek majority, whose right to self-determination has been violated for 70 long years, came out last weekend. It reads as follows: Today we have the best chance ever for reunification of Cyprus which is why we should take advantage of it and do everything we can in this direction. This is a unique opportunity and this window of opportunity will not stay open forever.

Grim Legacy of VD for Cyprus: Non Implementation of Self-Determination Created Tragedy: Should the UN Legitimize the Travesty? - International Security Forum

By Dr. Yiorghos Leventis on May 09, 2016

Today marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazism. The 9th of May 1945, Victory Day, marks the date Nazi Germany, bent on subjugating the whole world, was utterly defeated by the Allied Powers. The latter through their commitments signed under both the Atlantic (1941) and the UN Charter (1945) undertook, inter alia, to lead the colonized peoples to self-government and ultimately to self-determination.

The two cornerstone charters agreed for building a better postwar world clearly illustrated the importance of self-government/self-determination in world affairs. On the one hand the Atlantic Charter (14 August 1941) stated, inter alia, self-determination and restoration of self-government to those deprived of it as ideal goals of the post-World War II international order.

On the other hand, the United Nations Charter, in other words the agreed constitution of the new world order (signed in San Francisco, US, 26 June 1945) dedicates a whole Chapter - XI: Declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories – detailing the obligations of the UN member states towards leading their colonized peoples to self-government-self-determination.

The elephant in our global room

Islam is too serious a threat to be delegated to the extreme right.

How do you spell 'islam'?

If you spell Islam with a capital 'I' you falsely accept it as a religion; if you spell 'islam' with a lower case 'i' then you consider it primarily a political ideology, albeit with hypocritical touches of religion.

Those that consider islam a religion cannot fight it. They can only adjust to it. Those of us who see right through the religious hypocrisy and are not afraid to challenge it are well positioned to fight and defeat it before it wreaks havoc with our societies.

Remember, islam is islam & the overwhelming majority of muslims are trapped in it. Just as light cannot escape a black hole neither can they escape islam. It's up to us to kill allah & emancipate them.

Legislating a-la-Turca

Ethnic Turks' Blind (Spot) Existence

As a means of survival ethnic Turks learn their state-manufactured poems well. They do so diligently since they became a country back in 1923. In relation to Cyprus they staunchly support all the myths surrounding the Turkish Cypriot minority. But they fail to realize how applicable what they say is to them. Perhaps they can understand better what they sound like this way:

• The Kurds have equal and inherent rights over the resources of the whole continental shelf of "Turkey".
• The two peoples of "Turkey" should jointly decide on how to use the offshore oil and gas resources. Ethnic Turks should respect that.
• All parties should place sincere efforts to achieve a settlement in the interest of the two peoples.
• "Turkey" needs a federal system that respects the fundamental EU principles and the bi-zonal and bi-communal nature of the federation.
• It is a case of creating a partnership between the co-owners of "Turkey", including the just sharing of resources.

Ps. These statements are made verbatum (save Kurd, Turk, & "Turkey") in an interview (22/4/2016, Natural Gas Europe) by Mithat Rende who served as "Turkey"’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative of "Turkey" to the OECD between 2013 and March 2016.

Language Hypocrisy Extraordinaire

"Turkey" says 80.000 Turkish Cypriots (of Cyprus) must be educated exclusively in Turkish. They must not even learn Greek, the language of the land non-stop for millenniums and of the historic Christian majority. Why then in "Turkey" 20 million Kurds cannot even learn theirs, being forced instead for full exclusive education in Turkish? Why Recep? Why Ahmet? Why Mustafa? Why Espen? Why Barack?

John Oliver - Insulting Erdogan

Very true & extremely funny!

Political Islam's Made-in-Cyprus Trojan Horse - CLARION PROJECT

Turkey tanks roll in to Cyprus

Turkey's invasion of Cyprus, which forced Christians out of their ancestral homes, has created the phenomenon of 'bizonality,’ a geographical separation between Muslims and Christians. Strangely, this new reality has even become the basis of the UN-led Cyprus negotiations -- despite the Security Council’s own resolutions condemning Turkey’s actions.


BY KYRIACOS KYRIAKIDES April 12th, 2016

In 1974 an illegal coup instigated by Greece’s junta caused the deaths of almost 100 Christian Cypriots. The ensuing unilateral Turkish invasion of Cyprus, ostensibly to protect the Muslim minority, was a sheer catastrophe, causing several thousand deaths.

The historic Christian majority of the 37% occupied northern part was forced or intimidated out, and the Muslim minority island-wide was later invited in.

"Bizonality," a pure ethnic-religious geographical separation, became a new reality, strangely even the basis of the UN-led Cyprus negotiations, despite the Security Council’s own resolutions (353 (1974), 541 (1983), 550 (1984)) condemning Turkey’s actions and calling for the respect of Cyprus’ “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.” No wonder Cyprus has “been dubbed a graveyard for peacemakers.”

Muslims are creating ‘nations within nations’ says former head of U.K. Equalities Commission - NEWSWEEK

Trevor Phillips, the (now former) Chair of the Equality and Human Rights
Commission, speaks at the British Chamber of Commerce Annual
Conference  held at the headquarters of BAFTA on
March 18, 2010 in London, England. OLI SCARFF/GETTY

BY LUCY CLARKE-BILLINGS ON 4/11/16

My note: Do read this NEWSWEEK article. For us Cypriots what the Brits are realizing today comes as no surprise. In our case the UN Secretary General called it self-segregation in 1965. Now (our moderate) Muslims attempt to legitimize faith-based segregation in the land's primary law. Imagine EU's hardcore Muslims! My conviction is that the quality of the Cyprus solution will seal the future of Europe. ** I hope to very soon see an article of mine published, examining Islam, Muslims, Cyprus and the ramifications of a bizonal precedent for the west at large **
--

Being Greek is about loving life! When "The Simpsons" got their Greek on! Opa!

Posted by Greek Gateway on Friday, April 8, 2016

Cyprus with most IDPs (Internally Displaced People) in the World

In 2016, We All Must Be Cypriots - Huffington Post

04/04/2016
by Andy Manatos, President, Manatos & Manatos

My note: May 2016 bury the bizonal claptrap forever & set course for an upgraded 1960, without its apartheid, foreign meddling & special privileges for the tCypriot minority.

The Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus leapt into the headlines with the landing of a hijacked EgyptAir plane. It will soon make headlines again as the US and the UN move to end the 42-year division of that country, through its capital city of Nicosia, by 40,000 Turkish troops. These negotiations will have significant ramifications for the region and the U.S.

Cyprus is a strong U.S. ally and the only western democracy, other than Israel, virtually within sight of Middle Eastern shores. Ending the occupation and division of Cyprus will be crucial to America’s security interests.

Ecevit – Erdogan Dreadful Analogy: Consistency in Expulsion and Internal Displacement - INTERNATIONAL SECURITY FORUM

Mar 22, 2016, Dr. Yiorgos Leventis

Before the week closes a fresh suicide bomb explosion hits Istiklal - the famous pedestrian high street in the heart of Istanbul (Constantinople). Known to most historically aware European travelers as Rue du Pera, Istiklal is frequented by scores of world class tourists. The German and other European governments have already advised their traveling citizens who found themselves in Istanbul to stay in their hotel rooms. Clearly, the security situation in western Turkey hits red alert. Terror rules supreme. Both Ankara and Istanbul city centres have become prime targets of attackers.

On the other hand the situation in the eastern provinces of the country is dreadful. Tens of thousands of repressed ethnic Kurds are forced to flee their ancestral homes in search for relative safety. The modus operandi, the goals, and the results of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) operations in Turkey’s Southeast targeted against the courageous Kurdish population are reminiscent of the Turkish ‘Peace Operation’ in Cyprus in July-August 1974.

Zones, Hypocrisy and Cyprus

The Pendadaktylos Mountain in Keryneia, a "zone" with
millenniums of uninterrupted Christian and/or Greek history

The zones in Cyprus were the result of an illegal, unwarranted invasion. Cyprus never had zones in its history. Or if you prefer all zones in all of Cypriot history (which spans millenniums and did not start when Ottomans invaded in 1571) have been majority Christian and/or Greek or wholly Christian and/or Greek. Therefore federation is equivalent to accentuating 1960 injustice by superimposing magic zones which are majority owned by Christian refugees. This is why it will never be approved.

Furthermore, the precedent would be disastrous. What next? Muslims in Birmingham seeking their own zone? Kurds in Istanbul (a city 20 times the size of Cyprus)? I fail to see the logic behind rendering a monstrosity part of international law because of an unfortunate historical alliance between Kemalist fascism and the Anglo-Saxon world.

Makarios was right in 1963. A minority cannot demand privileges of the kind Turkish Cypriots demand. No European in their right mind would accept them for their minority. Neither will Cypriots.

Vladimir Putin, Godfather of Kurdistan? - THE NATIONAL INTEREST

Kurdish ambitions fit into Russia's plans for the Middle East.
Michael A. Reynolds
March 1, 2016

If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thought last November that by downing a Russian Su-24 bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border he could contain Vladimir Putin’s Middle Eastern ambitions, he is certainly regretting that now. An incensed Vladimir Putin vowed that Turkey would come to rue its actions. He warned that Russia would not settle its accounts with Turkey with mere economic sanctions, adding, “We know what we need to do.”

What Putin meant is becoming clear. Earlier this month, in what can only be described as a menacing signal to Ankara, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (or PYD) formally opened a representative office in Moscow, its first in a foreign country. Meanwhile, inside Syria, the PYD’s armed wing has been using Russian arms and Russian air support to aggressively expand the amount of territory it controls along the Syrian-Turkish border. Ankara is alarmed, and rightly so. Despite possessing its own acronym, the PYD is a subsidiary of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane), or PKK, which is currently intensifying the insurgency it is waging in Turkey’s southeast. There, PKK activists have declared Kurdish self-rule and PKK fighters are holing up in cities, digging trenches and taking on Turkish security forces with everything from snipers and rocket propelled grenades to improvised explosive devices.

Turkey’s increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers - Washington Post

By Liz Sly February 20 2016

ISTANBUL — Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands.

As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascendant power hailed by the West as a model and embraced by a region seeking new patrons and new forms of governance.

All that has evaporated since the failure of the Arab revolts, shifts in the geopolitical landscape and the trajectory of the Syrian war.

Russia, Turkey’s oldest and nearest rival, is expanding its presence around Turkey’s borders — in Syria to the south, in Crimea and Ukraine to the north, and in Armenia to the east. On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the deployment of a new batch of fighter jets and combat helicopters to an air base outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan, 25 miles from the Turkish border.

Could Turkey implode? | WASHINGTON POST

Internal and external forces are tearing at the nation’ seams

By Shehab Al Makahleh - - Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Turkey, an erstwhile U.S. ally long hailed as a bastion of secular democracy in the Muslim world, could be spiraling toward all-out civil war and potential dissolution as conflicts between Turkish security forces and Kurds and other ethnic minorities continue to escalate. These conflicts have been exacerbated by the catastrophic war in neighboring Syria, which has created a refugee crisis in Turkey, expanded Turkey’s bloody campaign against Kurds into Iraq and Syria, and pushed Turkish officials into a convenient collusion with the Islamic State, or ISIS.

The lurch toward a more Islamist, autocratic posture by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long worried regional and western observers, particularly his strong curbs on political speech and active political repression of the Kurds. That policy has taken a bloody turn with the repeated bombing of Syrian and Iraqi Kurds — both of whom have been anti-ISIS bulwarks — and, since July 2015, escalating crackdowns at home. The murder in November of Tahir Elci, a leading Kurdish human rights advocate and president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association in southeastern Turkey has dramatically increased tensions and violence inside Turkey and put the Kurdish issue — seemingly settled only a few years ago — back on the agenda. The killing, which Human Rights Watch called an “assassination,” demonstrated to the world how out of control the province has become.

Erdogan is on the brink of ultimate power, but Turkey is falling apart | INDEPENDENT

The biggest losers are the Turkish people, as critics and political opponents of the President's regime are labelled ‘traitors’ and ‘terrorists’

Robert Ellis Thursday 4 February 2016

Turkey's President Erdogan may hold another election to obtain the 330 seats he needs to hold a referendum on the country's constitution.

Until 2002, when the AKP (Justice and Development Party) came to power, Turkey was doing pretty well in following Kemal Atatürk’s dictum: “peace at home, peace abroad”. Admittedly, there were three military coups between 1960 and 1980 to keep Turkey on track, together with ‘a soft coup’ in 1997. But the country was still a respected member of NATO with prospects - however distant - of EU membership.

Rizokarpaso Gymnasium in Turkish occupied Cyprus

Published on Apr 24, 2012 - Α documentary with English subtitles about the history of the gymnasium school which is located in the remote area of Rizokarpaso in Cyprus. Few Greek-Cypriots have remained living in this enclave, which is within the part of Cyprus occupied since the Turkish invasion of 1974, for the last 38 years. The Gymnasium was closed down following the invasion in 1974. Thanks to the struggle of the community and the efforts of the Cyprus government, it was reopened in 2004.The existence of the gymnasium is one major reason why the families do still live in the enclave of Rizokarpaso. It constitutes the sole Greek-Cypriot voice in the occupied territories of Cyprus. The documentary includes recent filming in the area of Rizokarpaso and interviews with former and current students and teachers, Greek as well as Cypriot, about the history of the gymnasium. Never before seen documents dating back to 1917 attest to the establishment of the first nucleus of the Rizokarpaso Gymnasium.

Why We Can't Afford to Abandon Turkey's Kurds | HUFFINGTON POST

Stefan Ihrig, Polonsky Fellow, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, 01/18/2016

JERUSALEM -- The history of Erdoğan's presidency will be written as one of creeping, sometimes galloping, autocratism and of renewed violence in the Kurdish southeast. Erdoğan's new presidential palace and declarations about Muslims discovering America seemed like loony signs of a leader simply not ready to give up and slightly out of step with the rest of the world. They amused but also scared us.

The rejection of calls to recognize the Armenian Genocide during last year's 100th anniversary seemed merely like reflexes of a Turkish strongman who inserted himself not only into the republican tradition of denial but who also continually tries to connect himself back to Ottoman times. With the renewed war against the Kurds, however, we should recognize him for what he is: an autocrat in the making who will not be removed by democratic means should the Turkish people wish to do so and who is willing to sacrifice the lives and freedoms of Turkish citizens for his goals.

The List of Kurdish Demands If They Followed Akinci's Example | Gatestone Institute

Many would agree that it is one thing to stand for the respect of the human, political and cultural rights of people and communities, but it is totally another to allow a minority to dictate the fate of an entire nation. Since 1960, the majority Greek Cypriots have felt hostage to what they regard a sort of tyranny by an 18% minority.

What if the 20% Kurds of Turkey were to follow the Turkish Cypriot example and demand for themselves "rights" commensurate to those demanded by the Turks in Cyprus? What if Turkey's Kurds, as preconditions to lay down their arms and drop all talk of an independent Kurdistan, applied the same Turkish logic to Turkey's majority-minority dispute?

"North Cyprus" is Crime Evidence, Not a Holiday Destination

There is massive campaign advertising our illegally occupied, ethnically-cleansed towns. "North Cyprus" is not a holiday destination. "North Cyprus" is crime evidence. It is also a reminder of the continued failure of the United Kingdom to live up to its obligations for the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus. See here for easy ways to take action. Do take action. Even a simple tweet (my tweet#1 & tweet#2) or Facebook post (my post) can help.  

AKEL Leadership's New F.ck-Up

AKEL is a party that is driven by big ideals. In search for perfect justice, as if it exists anywhere but death. In the 20th century your big idea was communism. For over 70 years you (AKEL leaders) served that ideal as diligently and loyally as one could expect of you. You knew things were far from perfect, yet you opted to keep the ugliness away from public view so that socialism could be allowed to prevail in the end. Until it collapsed under the weight of its own non-sense and you could not hide it any more. Then you re-invented yourselves, calling what for so long you so obediently served 'bad socialism'.

Nowadays, with the same zeal and indisputable passion you lead the way for making bizonality, a novel concept that bears the hallmarks of apartheid, a success. You believe it is the right course. You believe it with a passion that cannot be challenged. The same passion and conviction you have for your version of socialism. The young at heart will listen to you. I would too if I were younger. It all sounds so perfect. Peace and justice, at last. At least in your minds.

BUT DO TELL ME, if you were so massively wrong on socialism (version 1*) for almost a century what makes you believe you are right on bizonality? And how much credibility do you think you have to carry bizonality through? At the very least, do you see in "Turkey" the same monster you so criminally failed to see in the USSR? After your last f.ck-up the USSR was gone but Russia at least remained. A possible new f.ck-up will leave nothing except a once predominantly Greek Christian Cyprus in the history books.

* I presume now with a few free-market tricks your socialism is fixed? Or not?

Crime boss Peker threatens academics who made joint statement on Southeast | Today's Zaman

Sedat Peker is seen while addressing an anti-terror rally in the Black Sea
province of Rize in this file photo. (Photo: DHA)

January 13, 2016, Wednesday/ 13:19:42/ TODAY'S ZAMAN | CONSTANTINOPLE

Sedat Peker, a notorious figure who has been convicted on organized crime charges, has threatened academics who recently called for an end to violence in Turkey's Southeast, saying on Tuesday that their blood will be spilled.

If Not Obvious, Then Inevitable

"Turkey", but Turks also, must face the OBVIOUS and the INEVITABLE.

It's OBVIOUS that there are at least two peoples and a number of minorities inside the geography we call "Turkey". It's INEVITABLE that unless Turks accept Kurds as EQUALS then the Kurdish people (who already have their own land, and it is part of "Turkey" today) will take it and walk away.

Wise up Turks. The sooner you do, the better for all of us in the region. After all, you've been dishing POLITICAL EQUALITY in Cyprus for decades. Don't you think It's time to taste it?

If it's not OBVIOUS, then the INEVITABLE will occur with great suffering.
My two cents' worth. Read more here

Islamic Supremacism Does Business in U.S. via a Turkish Cult: Gulen Movement is an Engine for ‘CIVILIZATION JIHAD’

Center for Security Policy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 18 December 2015

Kurds call for autonomy as Turkish crackdown intensifies | Irish Times

Wed, Dec 30, 2015, Stephen Starr in Constantinople

Turkey’s military operation against militants in the Kurdish-populated southeast has entered a third week with government forces still unable to decisively root out the rebels.

More than 200 Kurdish militants and at least 49 civilians have died in clashes in Cizre, Nusaybin, Silopi and Diyarbakir’s Sur district. Several security officers have also been killed in one of the largest military operations in Turkey for years.