AMSI CONDEMNS THE THREATENING OF CHRISTIANS

HEYET Net – In the press statement numbered 581 General Secretariat of AMSI clarified that these actions are not approved by Islam and its tolerant teachings as it is also incompatible with national unity.

The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) asserted that those suspicious publications made Iraqis in certain times to be cautious on the parties and others who want to create chaos and disrupt the conditions for influential parties in the region associated with the occupation, its presence.

At the statement AMSI announced that: “unfortunate news about the dropping mentioned leaflets to the region where Christian citizens live in Mosul City was including a threat to their existence and remaining them to choose three orders: Islam or jizya or murder.

With our imaan (belief) such publications do not come from a genuine Iraqi resistance to the occupation and the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq announce the following:

First; such acts are not approved by the Islam and its tolerant teachings under which Muslims and other religions lived in tolerance, peace and security in the history of mankind. The minorities are under this umbrella. In contrary to this; today’s politician under the occupation violated minority rights, fully canceled the article in the legislation affecting them miserable, covers only those instincts as if this country is only for them.

Second; it is inconsistent with the requirements of true national unity sought by good seekers of our people to achieve, which took off seems clear, and like many of the evil guys to achieve.

Third; it is detrimental to the genuine Iraqi resistance and its liberation project. This resistance has limited this time to expel the occupation, to liberate Iraq from its clutches and followers.

Fourth; these suspicious publications are used to made, at certain times and drops the other, to create chaos, confusion and conditions for the influential parties in the region, linked to the occupation, its presence or absence.

In any case, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq keeps itself away from those who stand behind these publications, from whichever sides they were, and whatever pretext they invoked.

Finally, AMSI requests our dear Christian citizens to not weaken their moral and national position before such desperate attempts, although they were hardier and closer to their country.
AMSI prays Allah Almighty to expel the enemies of Iraqis and their deception…Indeed He is the best listener…
AMSI General Secretariat
8 Shawwal 1429 / 7 October 2008

Idea of a Jewish people invented, says historian

Israeli Bestseller Breaks National Taboo

Idea of a Jewish people invented, says historian

by Jonathan Cook

"No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list – and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel's biggest taboo.

Dr. Sand argues that the idea of a Jewish nation – whose need for a safe haven was originally used to justify the founding of the state of Israel – is a myth invented little more than a century ago.

An expert on European history at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Sand drew on extensive historical and archaeological research to support not only this claim but several more – all equally controversial.

In addition, he argues that the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today's Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country's conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state.

The success of When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? looks likely to be repeated around the world. A French edition, launched last month, is selling so fast that it has already had three print runs........

The problem with the teaching of history in Israel, Dr. Sand said, dates to a decision in the 1930s to separate history into two disciplines: general history and Jewish history. Jewish history was assumed to need its own field of study because Jewish experience was considered unique."There's no Jewish department of politics or sociology at the universities. Only history is taught in this way, and it has allowed specialists in Jewish history to live in a very insular and conservative world where they are not touched by modern developments in historical research."

I've been criticized in Israel for writing about Jewish history when European history is my specialty. But a book like this needed a historian who is familiar with the standard concepts of historical inquiry used by academia in the rest of the world.""


http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/

A shattering moment in America's fall from power

The global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when the Berlin Wall came down. The era of American dominance is over

John Gray
The Observer,
Sunday September 28 2008

Article history
Our gaze might be on the markets melting down, but the upheaval we are experiencing is more than a financial crisis, however large. Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably. The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over.

You can see it in the way America's dominion has slipped away in its own backyard, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez taunting and ridiculing the superpower with impunity. Yet the setback of America's standing at the global level is even more striking. With the nationalisation of crucial parts of the financial system, the American free-market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets have been vindicated. In a change as far-reaching in its implications as the fall of the Soviet Union, an entire model of government and the economy has collapsed.

Ever since the end of the Cold War, successive American administrations have lectured other countries on the necessity of sound finance. Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina and several African states endured severe cuts in spending and deep recessions as the price of aid from the International Monetary Fund, which enforced the American orthodoxy. China in particular was hectored relentlessly on the weakness of its banking system. But China's success has been based on its consistent contempt for Western advice and it is not Chinese banks that are currently going bust. How symbolic yesterday that Chinese astronauts take a spacewalk while the US Treasury Secretary is on his knees.

Despite incessantly urging other countries to adopt its way of doing business, America has always had one economic policy for itself and another for the rest of the world. Throughout the years in which the US was punishing countries that departed from fiscal prudence, it was borrowing on a colossal scale to finance tax cuts and fund its over-stretched military commitments. Now, with federal finances critically dependent on continuing large inflows of foreign capital, it will be the countries that spurned the American model of capitalism that will shape America's economic future.

Which version of the bail out of American financial institutions cobbled up by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is finally adopted is less important than what the bail out means for America's position in the world. The populist rant about greedy banks that is being loudly ventilated in Congress is a distraction from the true causes of the crisis. The dire condition of America's financial markets is the result of American banks operating in a free-for-all environment that these same American legislators created. It is America's political class that, by embracing the dangerously simplistic ideology of deregulation, has responsibility for the present mess.

In present circumstances, an unprecedented expansion of government is the only means of averting a market catastrophe. The consequence, however, will be that America will be even more starkly dependent on the world's new rising powers. The federal government is racking up even larger borrowings, which its creditors may rightly fear will never be repaid. It may well be tempted to inflate these debts away in a surge of inflation that would leave foreign investors with hefty losses. In these circumstances, will the governments of countries that buy large quantities of American bonds, China, the Gulf States and Russia, for example, be ready to continue supporting the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency? Or will these countries see this as an opportunity to tilt the balance of economic power further in their favour? Either way, the control of events is no longer in American hands.

The fate of empires is very often sealed by the interaction of war and debt. That was true of the British Empire, whose finances deteriorated from the First World War onwards, and of the Soviet Union. Defeat in Afghanistan and the economic burden of trying to respond to Reagan's technically flawed but politically extremely effective Star Wars programme were vital factors in triggering the Soviet collapse. Despite its insistent exceptionalism, America is no different. The Iraq War and the credit bubble have fatally undermined America's economic primacy. The US will continue to be the world's largest economy for a while longer, but it will be the new rising powers that, once the crisis is over, buy up what remains intact in the wreckage of America's financial system.

There has been a good deal of talk in recent weeks about imminent economic armageddon. In fact, this is far from being the end of capitalism. The frantic scrambling that is going on in Washington marks the passing of only one type of capitalism - the peculiar and highly unstable variety that has existed in America over the last 20 years. This experiment in financial laissez-faire has imploded.While the impact of the collapse will be felt everywhere, the market economies that resisted American-style deregulation will best weather the storm. Britain, which has turned itself into a gigantic hedge fund, but of a kind that lacks the ability to profit from a downturn, is likely to be especially badly hit.

The irony of the post-Cold War period is that the fall of communism was followed by the rise of another utopian ideology. In American and Britain, and to a lesser extent other Western countries, a type of market fundamentalism became the guiding philosophy. The collapse of American power that is underway is the predictable upshot. Like the Soviet collapse, it will have large geopolitical repercussions. An enfeebled economy cannot support America's over-extended military commitments for much longer. Retrenchment is inevitable and it is unlikely to be gradual or well planned.

Meltdowns on the scale we are seeing are not slow-motion events. They are swift and chaotic, with rapidly spreading side-effects. Consider Iraq. The success of the surge, which has been achieved by bribing the Sunnis, while acquiescing in ongoing ethnic cleansing, has produced a condition of relative peace in parts of the country. How long will this last, given that America's current level of expenditure on the war can no longer be sustained?

An American retreat from Iraq will leave Iran the regional victor. How will Saudi Arabia respond? Will military action to forestall Iran acquiring nuclear weapons be less or more likely? China's rulers have so far been silent during the unfolding crisis. Will America's weakness embolden them to assert China's power or will China continue its cautious policy of 'peaceful rise'? At present, none of these questions can be answered with any confidence. What is evident is that power is leaking from the US at an accelerating rate. Georgia showed Russia redrawing the geopolitical map, with America an impotent spectator.

Outside the US, most people have long accepted that the development of new economies that goes with globalisation will undermine America's central position in the world. They imagined that this would be a change in America's comparative standing, taking place incrementally over several decades or generations. Today, that looks an increasingly unrealistic assumption.
Having created the conditions that produced history's biggest bubble, America's political leaders appear unable to grasp the magnitude of the dangers the country now faces. Mired in their rancorous culture wars and squabbling among themselves, they seem oblivious to the fact that American global leadership is fast ebbing away. A new world is coming into being almost unnoticed, where America is only one of several great powers, facing an uncertain future it can no longer shape.

• John Gray is the author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia (Allen Lane)

The Turkmen of Erbil: Captives in their city

http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/Rep.28-J0808.doc


The Turkmen of Erbil: captives in their city

Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation

Date: October 08, 2008
No: Rep.28-J0808

William R. Hay, an English political officer, ruled the Erbil region from 1918 to 1920. He commented on the population of the city as follows:1

“The only two Turkish speaking populations which concern us closely are Erbil and Altun Kopri”. “One mahalla or quarter of the town (Erbil) is purely Kurdish, and in the rest the lower classes resemble the Kurds in appearance and dress. All can speak Kurdish fluently, but the language of their homes is Turkish. In the upper town which contains 6000 inhabitants, the purest Turkish element is found” “Starting from with the Nebi Yunus on the bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul, and running down through Erbil, Altun Kopri, Kerkuk, Kifri and Kizil Rabat to Mendeli we find a line of towns with Turkmen speaking inhabitants”

The Kurdish arrival to the region is portrayed by Hay on several occasions:2, 3

“Dizai tribe descended from the hills about 3 centuries ago, and occupied a few villages round Qush Tappah. In the middle half of the 19th century they started to expand, and rapidly covered the whole country up to Tigris. In the late 1920s, they constitute one third of the Erbil district population.” “It is reported that less than a century ago trees and shrubs were plentiful on the slopes of Qara Choq Dagh; when the Kurds came, however, they were quickly taken for fire woods and no trace of them now remains”

Today Erbil is a heavily populated city and has been declared capital of the Kurdish region. No less than one third of the city’s population is Turkmen. Under the aggressive hegemonic policy of Kurdish tribal parties, the Turkmen of Erbil are marginalized, intimidated and exposed to suppression and assimilation.

Marginalization
The Turkmen parties got only 2000 votes in the Iraqi general election in Erbil. Seats in the city council are shared between members of two Kurdish parties; the KHP & KUP. Policy dictates that appointment of governmental offices and positions are to be made to members of Kurdish political parties only, thus depriving the Turkmen who are not members of Kurdish parties from governmental posts. The estimated number of employees in Kurdish region is about a million.4

Turkmen are being discriminated against and are seldom appointed to hold governmental offices or in the university in Erbil. Those who want to be appointed must show allegiance to the Kurdish parties and support their party’s ideology.

Assimilation
In April 2005, Kurdish security agents broke in to Turkmen institutions and took over 24 buildings: Nine primary and four secondary schools, the buildings for education, health, information, Turkmen Unions and syndicates, Turkmen House, Shifa dispensary, the Turkmen Radio and Television, Turkmeneli print house, the building of headquarters of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Erbil, the building of Iraqi Turkmen National Party and the building of the Turkmeneli party.

The educational quality in the Turkmen schools was deliberately worsened which lead to a decrease in the number of students; the student registration have been stopped in 2008. The name of the Turkmeneli Television and Radio were changed and are now used as propaganda instruments by those Turkmen that work for the Kurdish parties and whom are paid by the Kurdish authorities. The Turkmeneli newspaper has not been published in Erbil and the Turkmeneli print house has been out of use. The Turkmen department of the Institution for Teachers was closed. Turkmen publications are not allowed to be sold in shops and put in the libraries. Cafés and public houses can not operate Turkmen TV and radio and can not keep the Turkmen publications, such as newspapers in their premises.

Suppression and intimidation
The suppressive policy of the Kurdish administration hinders the appearance of Turkmen civil society activists and stall establishment of Turkmen civil society and political organizations. The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) is the only Turkmen organization which could resist the suppressive policy of the Kurdish authorities, but its functioning is severely restricted. The ITF is not allowed to realize political, social and cultural activities only inside the small buildings of the organization. Governmental buildings cannot be rented. Those who present logistic support to Turkmen organizations will be intimidated. During election campaigns Turkmen were allowed hang their posters and flags only on their own buildings.

The daily critics to the Turkmen organizations, by the newspapers of which the majority are controlled by the Kurdish political parties puts continuous psychological stress on the Turkmen of Erbil and particularly, on the small numbers of the politicians and activists who could resist the suppression.

Mr. Nadhim Abd al-Karim al-Saig was the chief of the news division of the Turkmeneli Radio and television which was taken over by Barzani’s administration. Resisting the intimidations and threats of the Kurdish authorities, he is active in different fields: media, politics and civil society. He was arrested by Kurdish Peshmerge militia on 30 Augustus 2008 in the center of Erbil city, when he photographed the entrance of the Erbil citadel, which is located in the center of the city and officially considered a historical landmark. When they found a number of Turkmen newspapers with him, he was taken to a center of Peshmerge militia. There he was exposed to a harsh interrogation. He was accused of spying and taken to the inspection department of the Peshmerge headquarters. The authority which received him asked those who brought him if any one knew of his arrest. They answered that his son was with him. It is worth noting that there are thousands of missing persons in the vast regions which controlled by KDP and KUP. The investigation continued for 2 hours and the investigators were a colonel and other with higher rank. He was cursed at, insulted, harshly beaten and accused of different charges. He was put in a prison, where about 40 other prisoners were being detained and he was threatened to be questioned even more harshly. In contrary, the second interrogation was much calmer and he was asked to abandon writing against the Kurdish administration. Later on, he was released and asked not to talk to any one and write about his arrest.

This is one of the many suppressive methods, which the Turkmen of Erbil are exposed to since the institution of the Save Haven in 1991, to intimidate the Turkmen of Erbil. These have decreased severely the engagement of the Turkmen of Erbil in the cultural, social and political activities. The small number of the Turkmen activists who resists the intimidation of the Kurdish authorities lives in fear of arrest, exposure to persecution, disappearance and assassination.

Reference:
1. William R. Hay, “Two Years in Kurdistan 1918 – 1920”, (William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles 1921), P. 81 – 83
2. Ibid., P. 77
3. Ibid., P. 19
4. Judit Neurink, “another copy of Saddam Regime”, July 2007,
http://archief.trouw.nl/artikel?REC=TR_ART_00225426



Posted on SOITM website
http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/Rep.28-J0808.doc

"Invasion of the Sea-Smurfs"

By Amy Goodman
08 October, 2008
Democracy Now!

A little-noticed story surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the Army Times newspaper about the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months,” reported Army Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro, “the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” Disturbingly, she writes that “they may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control” as well.

The force will be called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force. Its acronym, CCMRF, is pronounced “sea-smurf.” These “sea-smurfs,” Cavallaro reports, have “spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle,” in a combat zone, and now will spend their 20-month “dwell time”—time troops are required to spend to “reset and regenerate after a deployment”—armed and ready to hit the U.S. streets.

The Army Times piece includes a correction stating that the forces would not use nonlethal weaponry domestically. I called Air Force Lt. Col. Jamie Goodpaster, a public-affairs officer for Northern Command. She told me that the overall mission was humanitarian, to save lives and help communities recover from catastrophic events. Nevertheless, the military forces would have weapons on-site, “containerized,” she said—that is, stored in containers—including both lethal and so-called nonlethal weapons. They would have mostly wheeled vehicles, but would also, she said, have access to tanks. She said that any decision to use weapons would be made at a higher level, perhaps at the secretary-of-defense level.

Talk of trouble on U.S. streets is omnipresent now, with the juxtaposition of Wall Street and Main Street. The financial crisis we face remains obscure to most people; titans of business and government officials assure us that the financial system is “on the brink,” that a massive bailout is necessary, immediately, to prevent a disaster. Conservative and progressive members of Congress, at the insistence of constituents, blocked the initial plan. If the economy does collapse, if people can’t go down to the bank to withdraw their savings, or get cash from an ATM, there may be serious “civil unrest,” and the “sea-smurfs” may be called upon sooner than we imagine to assist with “crowd control.”

The political and financial establishments seem completely galled that people would actually oppose their massive bailout, which rewards financiers for gambling. Normal people worry about paying their bills, buying groceries and gas, and paying rent or a mortgage in increasingly uncertain times. No one ever offers to bail them out. Wall Street’s house of cards has collapsed, and the rich bankers are getting little sympathy from working people.

That’s where the sea-smurfs come in. Officially formed to respond to major disasters, like a nuclear or biological attack, this combat brigade falls under the U.S. Northern Command, a military structure formed on Oct, 1, 2002, to “provide command and control of Department of Defense homeland defense efforts.” Military participation in domestic operations was originally outlawed with the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, however, included a section that allowed the president to deploy the armed forces to “restore public order” or to suppress “any insurrection.” While a later bill repealed this, President Bush attached a signing statement that he did not feel bound by the repeal.

We are in a time of increasing economic disparity, with the largest gap between rich and poor of any wealthy industrialized country. We are witnessing a crackdown on dissent, most recently with $100 million spent on “security” at the Democratic and Republican national conventions. The massive paramilitary police forces deployed at the RNC in St. Paul, Minn., were complete overkill, discouraging protests and conducting mass arrests (National Guard troops just back from Fallujah were there). The arrest there of almost 50 journalists (myself included) showed a clear escalation in attempting to control the message (akin to the ban on photos of flag-draped coffins of soldiers). There are two ongoing, unpopular wars that are costing lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. Nobel-winning economist Joe Stiglitz estimates that Iraq alone will cost more than $3 trillion.

In December 2001, in the midst of restricted access to bank accounts due to a financial crisis, respectable, middle-class Argentines rose up, took to the streets, smashed bank windows and ultimately forced the government out of power, despite a massive police crackdown and a failed attempt to control the media. Here in the U.S., with the prospect of a complete failure of our financial system, the people have spoken and do not want an unprecedented act of corporate welfare. We don’t know how close the system is to collapse, nor do we know how close the people are to taking to the streets. The creation of an active-duty military force, the sea-smurfs, that could be used to suppress public protest here at home is a very bad sign.

Amy Goodman has recently been awarded the Right Livelyhood Award, regarded as the alternative Nobel Prize
Also Read
America! Be Truly Afraid
By Rand Clifford
A truly frightening article, delineating a possible scenario about to be unravelled in America

Turkey Steps up New Campaign Against PKK in Northern Iraq

Turkish dead laid to rest
06.10.2008

Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq on Monday, Oct. 6, three days after a PKK attack on a border post killed 15 Turkish soldiers.

According to a statement released by the Turkish General Staff, the warplanes bombed PKK positions in the mountainous Avasin region of northern Iraq.

"The planes returned safely to base after successfully completing their mission," the statement said. Turkish jets also attacked positions in the same area on Sunday night.

The attack on Friday night on the Aktutun border post in the south-eastern province of Hakkari that left 15 soldiers and 23 PKK separatists dead has shocked Turkey and led to the General Staff on Sunday announcing that it was to relocate five military border posts.

A spokesman for the military said the administration of the Kurdish autonomous area in Iraq had not helped in the fight against the PKK, despite overtures by Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani.

After the attack Talabani called his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to propose a meeting of high-ranking security experts from both sides, suggesting Iraqi willingness to help Turkey de-escalate the situation.

The Turkish Air Force has conducted a number of airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq since a week-long cross-border incursion into northern Iraq was launched in February.
Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 35,000 people since the early 1980s when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east of Turkey.

Turkish dead laid to rest as tensions heighten

The 15 Turkish soldiers killed in Saturday's attack on an Iraq border post were borne to their graves on Sunday by a crowd of thousands shouting angry slogans against the perpetrators - the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK.

The attack, which claimed 38 lives in total, was launched by the guerrilla group, which operates from inside Iraq, after a week of Turkish air force raids on their positions.
Turkish government and military leaders have vowed to escalate the campaign against the PKK.
"We will now conduct our campaign against terrorism even more decisively," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after he broke off his journey to Central Asia in response to the attack.

But Turkey cannot win the war against the PKK by military force alone.
One day before the Aktutun border post attack, the worst PKK assault this year, the Turkish air force had bombarded suspected PKK positions in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq, close to the Iranian border.

At the same time, the attack on the troops stationed at Aktutun was about to be launched, although they didn't know it. According to Turkish media reports, more than 300 PKK fighters assembled for the raid on the border post.

At daybreak on Saturday they opened fire with heavy weapons from Iraq as other fighters moved in on the ground. The battle at Aktutun lasted for five hours. It was the fifth attack on the post since 1992. Turkey hit back with combat helicopters and special forces.

After the attack, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, called his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to propose a meeting of high-ranking security experts from both sides, suggesting Iraqi willingness to help Turkey de-escalate the situation.

However, Turkish daily Millyet commented on Sunday that "long- range weapons cannot be brought into position without those responsible for security in Iraq noticing."

Also under question is the value of US support in informing Turkey of PKK movements within Iraq.

The Turkish parliament is due to vote Monday on whether to allow the army to extend its mandate for operations in northern Iraq for a further year.

The approval of the mandate was not in doubt even before Saturday's attack, as evidently Turkey's operations in northern Iraq had not brought the PKK to its knees.

In February, Turkey launched a ground offensive in Iraq, although US criticism brought it to a rapid end.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has suggested the military struggle against the PKK be conducted together with economic and political means. "Only this way can terrorism be stopped," he said.

The PKK is considered by the United States and the European Union to be a terrorist group.
DW staff (nda)
DW-WORLD.DE

Letter to British MP Mr. Edward Leigh re: Minorities in the north of Iraq

To: Mr. Edward Leigh, MP for Gainsborough

Dear Sir,

Subject: Your article “Politicians must act to save the language of Jesus”

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/opini/o0000273.shtml

I read your article in the Catholic Herald about your recent visit to the north of Iraq and I would like to make some comments:

The war of aggression launched on Iraq by the US and the UK in March 2003 and the illegal occupation of this country by the US-UK forces have brought complete chaos in Iraq and great sufferings to Iraq’s entire population, causing the death of over 1,270.000 Iraqis.

This illegal war followed 12 years of criminal sanctions - imposed on the Iraqi people by the UN at the instigation of the US and the UK- which caused the death of more than one million innocent Iraqi civilians.

This war has caused the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure and the displacement of over 4.5 million Iraqis inside and outside the country.

The US-UK occupiers in order to impose their occupation policy on the Iraqis have dismantled Iraq’s existing institutions, disbanded its army and police leaving the country without defence forces, its borders without surveillance and its population without any protection. Over 400 Iraqi academics and scientists have been assassinated in Iraq since the occupation by gangs manipulated by the US, UK and Israeli, secret services.

Is it possible to ignore these crimes and simply turn the page?

As an honourable British MP who voted against the invasion of Iraq I deplore the fact that in your article you omit to mention the responsibility of your government in causing so much harm to the Iraqi people and that you do not demand that the UK political leaders who started this illegal war be held accountable for the crimes they committed in Iraq and insist that the Iraqi people receive a just compensation from the US-UK aggressors for the destruction of their country.

Defending one of Iraq’s minorities is highly commendable but is it fair not to give the same attention to the other minorities who are suffering under the same Kurdish domination in the north of Iraq today?

You recommend that: “the West, particularly the US and Britain, must step in to protect the last remnant of a Christian minority in Iraq, lest they go the way of the Jews, who were all evicted”. We need to give them their own province in the Nineveh Plains. We need to warn the Kurds that continued encroachments of their land will not be tolerated”

- Iraqis were well known for their religious tolerance, Christian and other non-Muslim Iraqis have always been respected by their Muslim compatriots. I would like to remind you that before the US-UK illegal invasion in 2003 Iraq’s Christians were not threatened and did not come under attacks from what you call “Muslim or Islamic extremists”.

- As for the Jews, it is false to say that they were ‘evicted’. Jews have never been forced to leave Iraq, they left by their own free will, following the Zionist plan which encouraged them to settle in Palestine.

I would like to remind you that it is the Americans and the British who have wrongly classified and described the Iraqi people as being composed of: “Shias, Sunnis and Kurds”, mixing religious sects with ethnicity and completely ignoring the Turkmens, the Chaldeo-Assyrians, the Yezidis and the Sabeans. It is interesting to note that although the majority of Iraqis are Arabs the name ‘Arabs’ was left out of their classification of the Iraqi people.

Of course, the division of Iraq along ethnic and religious lines ‘Divide and Rule’, by the neo-con gang which controlled the Bush administration, was meant to weaken Iraq, facilitate its occupation in order to plunder it’s natural resources and also to have a pretext to occupy the country indefinitely.

All Iraqis, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religion, have suffered from this brutal aggression and from the consequences of the occupation of their country. Evidently, Iraq’s minorities which did not have armed militias became more vulnerable in the chaos which has been created by the foreign aggression and occupation of Iraq in 2003.

Today in the north of Iraq all minorities are suffering from Kurdish hegemony and from their land grabbing that is why there should be no hierarchization of Iraq’s minorities and none of the victims should be ignored.

Among Iraq’s minorities the Turkmens who represent the third main ethnic community in Iraq have suffered the most.

Over the last three decades they have suffered from discrimination, marginalization, expropriation, forced displacement, arbitrary imprisonment and assassinations due to the Arabisation policy of the former regime. Their situation has continued to deteriorate even further since the occupation of the north of Iraq in April 2003 when the Kurdish Peshmerga invaded and occupied Kerkuk and other Turkmen towns and cities with the blessing of the US Army.

Today, the Turkmens are victims of the Kurdification of their ancestral lands and cities as the two Kurdish warlords are imposing their hegemony over the entire north of Iraq and are seeking to annex Kerkuk - the Turkmens’ capital city and main cultural centre in Iraq - to their autonomous region.

Yet, I have not heard a single UK politician take up the defence of Iraq’s Turkmens. Why?

The US and the UK politicians must stop creating divisions among the Iraqi people, they must stop supporting one group to the detriment of the others and they must stop favouring one religious group while demonizing another, such kind of interferences will not bring peace, stability and harmony to the Iraqi people.

Yours truly,


Merry Fitzgerald

PKK attack raises questions over U.S. intelligence in Turkish Media

The outlawed PKK’s latest attack against Turkey, launched with heavy weaponry support from the north of Iraq, has raised question on the intelligence provided by the United States among the Turkish opinion makers.

“Long range heavy weaponry cannot be moved, deployed and implemented without the authorities that are responsible for the security of the northern Iraq receiving information about it,” Milliyet daily's Ankara bureau chief Fikret Bila commented in his column on Sunday.

Fifteen soldiers were killed when members of the terrorist organization, PKK, crossed the border from northern Iraq and attacked the Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Semdinli town of the southeastern province of Hakkari on Friday afternoon.

The separatist terrorist organization attacked the region with heavy weaponry support from the north of Iraq, which attributed to the large number of casualties, the General Staff told.

The latest domestic offensives, air strikes and cross border operations launched by the Turkish Army had neutralized the PKK for nearly one year, Bila said, adding that this side of the latest attack should be considered important.

Turkey, provided with intelligence by the United States, had stepped up military action against the PKK since December and staged several cross-border operations, including a brief land offensive in February, against PKK bases in mountainous northern Iraq over the past 12 months.

“Being supported with intelligence and launching cross border operations on PKK camps is necessary, but is insufficient as the only solution,” Murat Yetkin from Radikal daily also said.

Friday’s PKK attack was the fifth launched against the Aktutun gendarmerie station, in which a total of 44 soldiers have been killed since 1992. The attack was the second largest after a 2007 PKK strike that killed 13 soldiers in the southeastern Daglica province.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community including the United States and the EU.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/home/10042640.asp

ALTAIC LANGUAGES

Altaic Languages, family of 65 languages spoken by about 167 million people in around 23 different countries, in a vast area of Eurasia extending from Turkey in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. It consists of three main subfamilies or groups: Turkic (by far the largest), Mongolic, and Tungus.

Foremost among the Turkic languages is Turkish or Osmanli (Turkey, the Balkans) spoken by about 50 million people in Turkey and surrounding areas. Other Turkic languages include Azerbaijani (Azerbaijan and north-western Iran), Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan), Tatar (Turkey, the Balkans, the former USSR, and China), Uighur (Sinkiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, China), and Yakut (mainly north-eastern Siberia).

The Mongolic languages include Buriat (Mongolia, China, Russia), Kalmyk-Oirat (chiefly the Kalmykia autonomous region), and the most widely spoken of the group, Mongolian (Mongolia, Russia, China). Among the Tungus group, Manchu (Dongbei in China) had the greatest number of speakers and was formerly a lingua franca between China and the outside world for over 200 years, but is today practically extinct. Other languages of this group include Evenki (China and the former USSR), and Even (Russia, near the Sea of Okhotsk). The first Altaic linguistic records date from the 8th century ad and there is evidence that a variety of writing systems were used, the first being that of the Turkic peoples.

Altaic languages are generally characterized by an agglutinative type of suffixation, and by vowel harmony (that is, only vowels of the same colouring can occur in the same word); the vowels of the suffixes are altered so that they agree with the colour of the root vowel. Altaic languages lack grammatical gender, articles, and prepositions. They have a rich variety of vowels, but a relatively meagre selection of consonants. Many of these features are shared by Japanese and Korean, which, for this reason among others, are believed by many linguists to be distantly related to the Altaic family.

However, the exact origins of these two languages remain unknown. Some scholars group the Altaic languages together with the Uralic languages in a larger Ural-Altaic grouping; recent researchers, however, increasingly believe that too little evidence exists to support such a grouping.

Certain Altaic-speaking peoples are important historically, for example, the nomadic Huns and Mongols, who invaded Europe between the 4th and 13th centuries ad, and the Manchus of the Qing dynasty who ruled China from 1644 to 1912. Turkish has been written with various scripts since the 8th century; the Mongolian script was in use by the 12th century.

Since World War I there have been significant changes in the Altaic languages, brought about primarily by the need for modernization to accommodate political changes and increasing literacy. These changes have been particularly notable in Turkey where an essentially new literary language has been developed, based on the existing national language.

Selected statistical data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International.
"Altaic Languages," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008http://au.encarta.msn.com © 1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.


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Alisher Alikulov, a great Uzbek artist

Alisher Alikulov, born on 20 November 1996 in Tashkent

' Morning', Artist: Alisher Alikulov

' Samarkand Bazaar', Artist: Alisher Alikulov

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http://www.alikulov-alisher.narod.ru/abouten.htm

Alisher Alikulov


Today Alisher Alikulov is one of the bright talents in fine and monumental art of Uzbekistan, whose talent mightily become apparent in historical genre. Artist with great mastery is managing realistic manner of writing, where the main role is given to images of multi-figured compositions.Works created by the artist on the basis of serious and concrete studying of the periods of history of his country demonstrate undoubted talent and availability of deep knowledge, tremendous diligence and patience.

The scale of his talent, perspicacity and observation, luxuriant imagination and erudition, scrupulousness and intricate performance of components, descriptive interpretation of recent past and authenticity of reproductiqn of national traditions, expressiveness of means and internal cognation with heritage, the roots of which go to the deep of century are the creative "credo" of the artist. From many artists of his generation Alisher Alikulov differs with his integrity and modesty, but this in real life.

And in creative work he is full of new ideas, although much works has already been done by him. Looking to his huge canvases and monumental wall-paintings it is difficult to imagine that their author is very young man. But, despite to his youth, Alisher Alikulov has already made an important contribution to the development of fine art of Uzbekistan.

His outstanding capabilities were noticed during his student years. Just before the completion of his education at the National Institute of Art and Design named after K.Bekhzod (in 1995), he was heaped with important orders. Let's count some of these organizations: State Museum of Amir Temur, State museum of People's History of Uzbekistan, State museum of Olympic glory, Sport palace, new zoo, Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan and many others.

In 1996 for the series of works, dedicated to the Temurids' epoch, the authority of the Republic of Uzbekistan awarded him with "Shukhrat" (Glory; medal, in 2001 he was awarded with Golden medal of the Academy of Art of Uzbekistan and in 2003 he was awarded with title - "Honored Art worker" of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Looking at the works of Alisher Alikulov where artist portrays famous commanders and political figures, sages and ordinary people, wars and playing musicians, nomads and horse drovers, military armors and beautiful architectural decorations of oriental palaces, battle and bazaar scenes, traditional way of life and everyday life One can imagine of inexhaustible thinking of artist where the author pursue global goals, and especially historical and cultural, as well as artistic and cognitive. At the same time the choice of theme and composition by the artist based on architectural complex which gives to his monumental wall-paintings integrity of perception and harmony with space environment.

Created works by Alisher Alikulov are some kind of "painting-illustration" which delights us with esthetic spirituality, monumental scale and dramatic plot. In the context of abovementioned it is necessary to note his landscape works where artist demonstrates his huge potential of possession of painting and color. Not stopping on achieved and putting difficult tasks in front of him, Alisher Alikulov strives'for the new'-performances. At the same time he is actively participating at republican and international exhibitions, making creative trips, take part at international symposiums and art projects, making personal exhibitions abroad.

Gulshan Ismailova , Art critic and expert,

Member of the Academy of Art of Uzbekistan.

Master of monumental paintings -Alisher Alikulov
Appearance at the exhibition halls in Tashkent of paintings of young and talented monumental artist Alisher Alikulov are always attract the audience of public, professionals, artists, critics and art experts.

His works remain in the memories with deep immersion to the theme, as well as with the professionalism of its interpretation. Alisher Alikulov is the great artist who perfectly manages the rules of creating of compositions, either it is painting on canvas or monumental wall-painting in the interior. I think that appearing of such master of art in our country undoubtedly is phenomenon.

His diploma work on the theme "For the land of ancestors", the headmaster of which was famous master of art, participant of many international exhibitions, associate professor of sub-faculty of monumental painting - Gafur Kadirov, - was highly appreciated by the State examining board, members of which, gave high remarks to the talent of young artist and wished creative success to the rising star of our monumental art.

Today, millions of art admirers familiar with the works of Alisher Alikulov master of historical genre. He determined and formed as a figure and artist making his considerable contribution to the development of the fine arts of Uzbekistan. His idols in the art were always and still remain such classics of world art history as Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Mateiko, Semiradskiy, Bruni, Alexandr Ivanov and great Uzbek artist Chingiz Akhmarov, who laid the basis for the monumental art of Uzbekistan.

In his country Alisher Alikulov has a successful carrier as an artist-monumentalist, as well as master of painting of historical genre. Audience admires with his high professional works which are deep by ideas and spectacular by performance.

I know that the basis of success and creative potential of artist Alisher Alikulov are not only his diligence but also his love to his motherland, where his mother-gave birth to him, who lighten up the way of her son with inspiration and infinite cordiality of her love.

Academician Bakhodir Jalal



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