“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;…”
I really like these lines of Shakespeare. It is an universal general assessment for all humanity, that exactly coincides with human behavior in every age from a time period which seems to be before time. Be sure, even if the calendar shows the year of 2500, these words will be compatible with humanity.
Let’s frame this on the latest situation in Afghanistan today and which country is showing what kind of policy inside and out; and finally, let’s rate them in a political context which a form of activity produced by humans currently works/operates, and how much good their performance acting on the stage by filming.
First, United States of America, movie name “We’re Heroes”
“WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) – The United States will seek to evacuate as many U.S. citizens and Afghan interpreters as possible in coming weeks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday, saying Americans could again make their way to the Kabul airport. We’re going to work really hard in the coming weeks to get as many of them out of the country as we can…Three U.S. military bases were prepared to accept up to 22,000 Afghan allies in the coming weeks… More than 700 people, including more than 150 U.S. citizens, were evacuated in the past 24 hours, Kirby said separately on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
Stage Outside:
“Afghans, who were put on a cargo plane with the dream of being taken to America, were left in Uganda. According to news, in the statement, it was claimed that the Afghans, who were loaded on the cargo plane from Kabul Airport, took them to Uganda. The statement said: “The first group of Afghan refugees (over 400) who came to Uganda started to settle in the country. Uganda has agreed to accept 2,000 Afghans under a new agreement with the United States. Afghans, who did not know that they were taken to Uganda, were reported to have reacted after they landed.”
Kirby had said 3 of US military bases prepared for Afghans, but according to news at least one of them these bases he mentioned in the Uganda.
Anyway, Over 5 points rating, I give 3 points to US authorities to their film. I take 2 points off US authorities; 1 of 2 points since they did not show much emotional behavior when the statement was made, so acting of one of male leads is not good. 1 of 2 points since they didn’t foresee that the information that Afghans were taken to Uganda instead of going to America would come out in a day, and because their production clumsily.
Secondly, France, movie name “Les Macronuzes”
Stage Inside:
According to rfi news: “Macron to deploy special forces to Kabul to evacuate French nationals, Afghan allies, French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Afghanistan should not return to becoming a “sanctuary of terrorism” and that Paris will not abandon Afghans who worked for France who find themselves under threat from the Taliban.”
“Adel Abdul Raziq, president of the Association of former auxiliaries of the French army affirms that his”colleagues are abandoned by the French army”.”Since the Taliban returned to Kabul, the auxiliaries of the French army, are worried about this threat. They are all locked in their homes,” he testifies. (About 80 people plus their families) …Last June, the Taliban assured that the interpreters were in no danger and called them “repent” and stay in Afghanistan. What is it?
This is a lie. We lost one of our colleagues, Abdul Basir, after their announcement. He was kidnapped for two weeks and they murdered him. They broke their promise. That is why my friends and colleagues who are in Afghanistan are so worried about their future. Those who remained in Afghanistan regret having worked with the French army.”
Over 5 points rating, I give 3 points to France’s Macron and his team movie. I cut one point Macron’s lack directorship ability, and cut one another point, since the promotion of the film resulted in a fiasco on the same day.
Third, Dutch-Netherlands, movie name “Summer in Afghanistan”
Stage Inside:
Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld said on Twitter:
Situatie in Afghanistan is nu heel fragiel en onzeker. We doen er alles aan om tolken, ambassade personeel en gezinnen in veiligheid te brengen. Daarbij zetten we ook militair luchttransport in.
Translate in English: “The situation in Afghanistan is now very fragile and uncertain. We are doing everything we can to get interpreters, embassy staff and families to safety. We also deploy military air transport.”
Stage Outside:
Accoding to Cumhuriyet news: “Dutch newspaper NRC wrote that Afghans working at the Dutch Embassy in Kabul were stunned when they arrived at the office on Sunday, August 15, when all the Dutch staff left the building without saying anything. It was stated that the Dutch staff at the embassy left quietly and that 37 Afghan employees found their places vacant when they came to work.”
I give 2 points to Dutch government. I took off 3 points because they didn’t choose the actors well and the stage planning was very bad. Because seemingly stage was already empty.
Fourth, Sweden, the name of movie, “Greetings to Afghanistan”
Stage Inside:
“In the press conferance of Swedish Minister of Foreign Affair, Ann Linde “They are currently working to evacuate local employees. These are employees at the embassy and people who worked for the Armed Forces until 2014, as well as their families.”
Also according to her tweet:
All utsänd personal från Sverige är nu evakuerad från Afghanistan. Det intensiva arbetet fortsätter för att kunna evakuera lokalanställd personal, tolkar och deras familjer. Som understöd i arbetet kommer Försvarsmakten idag att sända två flygplan. pic.twitter.com/3Z19WgrEPV
Translate in English: “All deployed personnel from Sweden have now been evacuated from Afghanistan. The intensive work continues to be able to evacuate locally employed staff, interpreters and their families. To support the work, the Armed Forces will today send two aircraft.”
“According to the news in the Swedish press, 19 people from the Swedish Embassy in Kabul were taken to the US military base in Doha, the capital of Qatar, by helicopter and plane on Sunday evening, August 15. Swedish personnel left Kabul, while local Afghan personnel working with them were left in the country.
It came to the fore that the Swedish staff even blocked the corporate e-mail accounts of Afghans working with them and did not answer their phones.
A group of local Afghan employees e-mailed the Swedish newspaper Expressen yesterday, explaining that they were dumped by former Swedish colleagues who blocked their email addresses and did not answer their calls.
“We don’t know what’s going on and they left us at the office while we were working. We tried to contact them but they didn’t answer our calls and they blocked our email addresses. Please write about us, our lives are in danger. Sweden should abandon its bureaucratic system and “put our lives first before its laws,” statements were included in the email.”
I give 1 points to Swedish government’s movie. I took off 4 points because while artistic concern draws attention in classical Swedish cinema generally, commercial success is in the background, but here on the contrary here, artistic carelessness draws attention, commercial success is in the foreground.
Fifth, Germany, movie name “Dosenbier und Weinflaschen” – “Cans of beer and bottles of wine”
“Merkel on Afghanistan — ‘Bitter, dramatic and terrifying’ “It is a terrible development for the millions of Afghans who want a more liberal society,” she said.
She paid tribute to the 59 German soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan, as well as those who were injured in action.
“I am thinking of the pain of families of soldiers who lost their lives fighting there. Now everything seems so hopeless.”
With the headline “Beer and wine removed – local personnel remain”, “There was a carrying capacity for alcohol, but not for local personnel in Afghanistan.” evaluation was made.
In the news, it was reminded that at the beginning of June, when Germany was preparing to leave Afghanistan, it took out 65,000 beer cans and 340 wine bottles belonging to the German army from the country.
Although this is a coincidence in terms of timing, the German government’s priority given to people who worked for Germany for years and risked their lives in Afghanistan, the report said, “For the German government, they are less valuable than beer cans.” expression was used.
I don’t want to impress anyone who reads these lines, but I give this movie of the German government 5 full points! It was built on the love of beer, which is mostly identified with the German people in the world, and processed the brain work of the Germans, who are mechanical geniuses. Especially if we had been able to watch those drinks being loaded onto the planes in a systematic and disciplined Germans way, it would have been a visual feast! Congratulations to Merkel and her team, bravo!
If you want to give a rating or comment about these movies, you’re always welcome my earthling friends!
U.S. President Joe Biden gave a speech yesterday to both US public and world. How about checking the accuracy of what he said? One of the headlines of his speech was the sentences in which he blamed the Afghan army.
“I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight…We gave them every chance, but we could not provide them the will to fight for their future.”
Here, Biden gave the impression that the Afghan army was too cowardly or inert to even do the homeland defense, which is their primary duty, leaving their weapons in their hands without firing a single shot. In reality, what was the reason why the Afghan army left without firing a single shot? And did they really suddenly drop their weapons?
As Joe Biden praised in his speech in Washington DC on 08.07.2021, so about one month ago, the Afghan army that the US armed and formed in Afghanistan for 20 years was 300,000 people, and there was a Taliban militant force of 75,000 people. And the Afghan army was form not only with manpower, but also equipped with the technically advenced weapons and military equipment that the US had given them.
In the video he is mentioning about this in 13:45-14:00 minutes
What is the truth of behind this? The Afghan army actually did not lay down its arms when it suddenly saw the Taliban army in front of it. They have already started to abandon their weapons gradually from the middle of July and even started to leave the country. The proof of this can be understood by looking at the number of Afghan men who entered Turkey illegally, especially since 20 July. Turkey public has been speaking about Afghan men who have smuggled into Turkey with big numbers for about 1 mounth. Turkish people are very worried about this. Because some Afghan men, who have come to Turkey in previous and have no records, have a high rate of involvement in crime in Turkey, and Turkish people feel stuck with both the economic crisis, the pandemic and the recent big natural disasters, like forest fires and floods. In fact, the situation in Turkey has become so sensitive and serious that in the last month, a survey has started to be conducted almost every day, and the rate of those who do not want both Afghans and Syrians in Turkey has reached 80%-82%. The vote rate of Tayyip Erdogan and his party now seems to be fixed in the band of 30%, again due to these reasons in the polls.
Now, there is a male Afghan invasion from Afghanistan, that does not have a border with Turkey, and the Turkish government did not take any precautions, even mostly allowing them to pass. Especially after July 20, 2021, thousands of Afghan men started to enter Turkey from the Turkish-Iranian border every day. Although the Turkish public was curious and asked both Tayyip Erdogan and the government, no response was received. Who were these young Afghan men? On August 15, it was understood and learned that these people are soldiers of the Afghan army. In other words, if they fall into the hands of the Taliban, they will be executed or tortured to death.
This information was confirmed by the information received from both journalists in the field and some academics in Turkey, who gave information from Afghanistan.
Without going into depth what agreements were made in the background in that briefing, in short, it is said that “we(US) will expel the people with whom we fought together against the Taliban in Afghanistan, because we will no longer be in Afghanistan. We will give them a special visa. They will come to America with that visa. Exit from the country has already begun. We told Pakistan to keep the borders open. (Apparently they told Turkey as well) We will bring these people between 12 and 14 months.”
Here, only Iran’s situation is not explained. A relationship with Iran in this context seems to have been transferred to Turkey. Why Iran? Because there is no border between Turkey and Afghanistan. Afghan men arriving in Turkey by entering Turkey through the Iran-Turkey border. And actually, according to international law, Iran is committing a crime. Because if a person is leaving his country, if there is no war situation in the country he first entered, that country cannot deport that person. But Iran is deporting Afghan men. And no Iranian official has made a statement on this issue, nor Iran was condemned at the United Nations, nor has the Turkish government given Iran a note on this matter. This already makes the opposition in Turkey ask the questions.
Like, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, CHP, main opposition party’s leader in parliament of Turkey tweeted.
“Yol geçen hanı” mı Türkiye Erdoğan? Sınırı koruyamadığını, Biden’a verdiğin sözü yerine getirdiğini itiraf ediyorsun. Bunca sığınmacıyı bu topraklar kabul edemez. Kapalı kapılar ardında hangi taahhütlerde bulunduğunu söyle artık millete. Yine mi mal varlığınla tehdit edildin!
Tweet translate in English: «Erdogan, is Turkey an inn where passengers frequently stop by? You admit that you failed to protect the border, that you kept your promise to Biden. These lands cannot accept so many refugees. Tell the people what commitments you made behind closed doors. Have you been threatened trough over your property again!»
The people of Turkey currently do not know what negotiations were made in this closed-door meeting between Joe Biden and Tayyip Erdogan in July 16, 2021 and in what context Iran was included the issue. Since the questions of the opposition and the majority of the public have not been answered in Turkey by government, maybe American journalists can ask about between Tayyip Erdogan and Joe Biden closed door interview content and get an answer.
Biden also had announced that the US would withdraw from Afghanistan in early September. However, according to the news, the Afghan people were told followings.
The interview here belongs to an Afghan academic who has been living in Turkey for 13 years and published in dw.com in 16 August. Many members of her family still live in Afghanistan. And Dr. Zakira Hekmat, she said that:
“Nothing is being disclosed to the public… Actually, they said that they(US) would leave (complately) in September, there are still two weeks until September. The US Embassy in Afghanistan said, “The Taliban can come to Kabul in 72 hours or within a week,” by publishing an article. But it didn’t even take 72 hours. They arrived in Kabul within 8 hours. Right now, all the people of Afghanistan are in a state of unease. Especially women. I follow social media. The activists I know there, people working in the field of women’s rights, journalists, they are all nervous. Most of them were crying yesterday, sharing their latest status on WhatsApp or Facebook, saying “Today is our last day at work”. Most of what happened there is not in the media at the moment. Many women committed suicide in Afghanistan, unfortunately. By saying “Don’t let the Taliban take us, this death is more honorable for us”, they jumped off the roofs.”
One of the headlights of the Biden’s speech yesterday was: “If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”
He says that the right decision is the beginning of September at first, then the Afghan people are given a written statement saying they are leaving in 1 week or 72 hours by the American authorities in Afghanistan, but then within 8 hours the Taliban approaches Kabul, and the US begins to withdraw.
Which one was the right decision, Mr. President?
He also does not mention what 5,000 US troops made he mentioned earlier in his speech. According to the local people and some of the observers and journalists working in the field there, stated that the reason for that chaos at the Kabul airport was the US troops of 5,000 people at first. While the Afghan people are trying to reach the planes that can take them, they say that they could not reach their planes due to the interference and chaos of the US troops creating. Many planes waited for this reason and could not take off. Afghan people, who have fallen into despair with this long wait, cannot endure and try to reach the planes. I think this is true, because the fact that the US troops opened fire on the civilian Afghans at the airport in the morning of August 16 and killed 5 civillian people seems to confirm the accuracy of the information. In the coming period, when these people reach safe places, the truth will emerge.
There is also this tweet by Ajmal Ahmady, DAB Governor, Economic Advisor to the President of Afghanistan,TAPI Board Member, Former Minister of Industry & Commerce
3/There were multiple rumors that directions to not fight were somehow coming from above.
This has been repeated by Atta Noor and Ismael Khan.
Seems difficult to believe, but there remains a suspicion as to why ANSF left posts so quickly. There is something left unexplained https://t.co/1VnNl7QpRI
Who gave the order ANSF to not fight? If there are someones above made this, can you believe these ones giving this order actioned by themself without US authorities’ knowledge there?
In addition, this article published in Time yesterday can give an idea of the behavior of the US troops in Kabul airport.
“The White House had envisioned thousands of Afghan interpreters, journalists and contractors boarding commercial flights and safely heading toward their destinations. Instead, they are huddling behind blast walls under the protection of armed U.S. troops at the Kabul airport.
The White House had envisioned withdrawing 2,500 U.S. forces and leaving behind a contingent of 650 service members to secure the embassy. Instead, about 6,000 troops are being rushed to the airport for protection; the embassy was fully evacuated by Sunday evening.”
However, Biden does not mention the civilian Afghans killed by the US troops at the Kabul airport, nor the actions of the 5000 American military force at the Kabul airport in 15 August and 16 August in his speech.
In conclusion, equipping a people with modern guns in your rhetoric, Mr. Biden, in the best possible way does not create an army if you take actions that will break their will to war much earlier, and reinforce it with some promises (written or verbally disseminated), and no action is expected from them. Then, if you look into the eyes of the American people in front of the whole world and show that these people as a scapegoat, you will only be a perception manager, not the president of a big country.
To say that “we did this for the safety of the American lands and people,” when you realize that you cannot present yourself as a savior in an occupied territory by US, confusing Afghan people with declarations such as “We will withdraw in a week, we will withdraw in 72 hours,” with their ever-changing decisions, is simply twisting the words.
Not revealing the actions of the 5000-man US troops at Kabul airport in 24 hours, and their consequences, is a very good example of black humor, as you know this is not going to make a Hollywood heroic movie.
The truth behind the question of from whom are you protecting and the actions you said you have taken to protect the American lands and people, namely, US governments’ actions against the terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and ISIS, which have been created by the American governments for proxy wars and to create instability both in the middle of Asia and the Middle East, for almost the last 40 years, are perverted in your speech. It is a disgrace to present the facts that these organizations were created and financed by US governments for decades, as if it were the opposite.
I believe that the people of the planet earth are now seriously bored, overwhelmed and do not want to hear the speeches and to see the actions of Biden and similar leaders anymore. Hiding the truth, not talking about it, distorting it, are the ways of lying. And you lie to both the American people and the world public, Mr. President. How long do the peoples of the planet, who are already struggling with the pandemic and economic crisis, have to listen to the lies of you and leaders like you? This is a question that I think everyone should ask themselves on the planet.
“A person who does not want to be torn from this soil; The heart is stubborn; it throws itself into water and fire, but its foot does not move two steps. I did not go and I am still in Kabul; I am in my corner and we are crying in pain. It was sad to see the scene of the airport, the influx and the begging of the people and the fact that no one took their place on any flight.”
This post is perhaps the shortest post in my blog. I just wanted to make a note of the history for the night that connects August 15 to August 16, 2021. Afghanistan was destroyed again tonight. Let’s not forget that today the people are stuck between escaping from their country and not fleeing; while the foreign governments, at first US, that made their own country this way have literally devastated a country as they fled. For, it to rise again…
In fact, for the entire planet, this order must change!
Edit 16.08.2021:
Today this tweet was deleted, I do not know why. But with a little research I have seen same tweet content, in her, Sahraa Karimi’s instagram account, here, https://www.instagram.com/sahraakarimi/
In July 28, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 22,291 people, number of death for this day was 76. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows. “The cases are at a level that makes it difficult to control the epidemic. We must stop this risk with a common will and decision that will benefit all of us. Precautions should be followed and those who are not vaccinated should be vaccinated. The first dose is immediately, the second and third dose as soon as it’s time!”
On the same day, news of forest fires started to come in several of the similar spots from the south of the country. Forest fires started in the 4 provinces in the south of Turkey. Three of these provinces are on the Mediterranean coast, and one is in the same region just inside. Especially 2 of them have attracted the attention of all rulers throughout history with the forests at back and the sea in front. In Manavgat, Antalya province at 4 different forests, in Aydincik, Mersin province, Osmaniye province in 2 forests, Adana province in 21 different places.
Image taken from zoom.earth, date 2021-07-28,12:00 with fire layers option
Especially the fires that broke out in 4 forest areas in Manavgat and then spread to settlements/villages would continue for days…
On the very same day, a law was enacted about tourism promotion and forest areas, but it’s echos would emerge in a day or two, and some professional chambers, some professors teaching in this field, opposition media and political parties would raise their voice againts issue.
As the journalist Murat Yetkin mentioned in his article in July 31, with title, “Forests and coasts open to new looting before the fires extinguishing“
“…Interestingly coincidence, the Law No. 7334 on the Amendment of the “Tourism Promotion Law and Some Laws” was published in the Official Gazette on July 28, 2021, when the forest fires started. According to paragraph “d” of Article 1 of the Law, the forest lands “Even if it is outside the Cultural and Tourism Development Zones” will be included in the scope of public interest and can be opened to tourism investors. All state immovables in these areas, location, places and borders will be determined and announced by the President’s decision, will also be included in the scope of tourism…”
Again on the same day, on July 28, there were news on the newspapers that a new influx of refugees from Afghanistan could come. Some of these news included interviews that showed that “Afghan families” no longer want to live under the oppression of the Taliban mentality in Afghanistan. They said that their aim was to go to Europe via Turkey. Some newspapers, on the other hand, had news of close to 3.5 million Afghans will be at the Turkish border in near future.
Actually a video was released about 10 days ago before July 28, Afghans were unloaded from a truck on a highway connecting two cities in the middle of Turkey, and they were left in the middle of the road. How could the people who were viewed while crossing the border recently come to the middle of Turkey? ie about 1000 km.
Video from 17 July 2021 Cumhuriyet newspaper news with title “The Ministry denied it, but… Dozens of people were left on the highway like this” “Although the Ministry of Interior denies the claims of uncontrolled immigration to Turkey, controversial images are still emerging. continues.”
People started to talk that it was no surprise, that Afghans could easily cross the borders. However, the Afghans issue would be delayed for a few more days. Because the ruling party AKP Deputy Chairman and Head of Local Administrations, Mehmet Ozhaseki, had said the day before, “In some cities, they(Syrians) keep the industry alive“.
One of the comments on this subject came from a journalist, Murat Muratoglu.
In video between 3.25-5.00 minutes:
“Look, if the economy of this country is in this situation today, and if it will get worse tomorrow, one of the most important reasons for this is the refugees. Why? Because you have 12 million unemployed citizens in Turkey. You have 12 million unemployed and you make refugees work. Now there is an argument that “Turks don’t want to work”. Why do Turks not want to work? Because if you make the Turks work 16 hours a day, if you don’t pay their insurance, if you don’t allow them, (these are the problems) you can’t easily dismiss them when you want to fire them. But when you recruit Syrians, none of this is available. After making Syrians work like slaves for 16 hours, they say to Europe, “Look, we are teaching humanity to the world” (he is talking about the government sayings). Isn’t the biggest immorality in this world to take advantage of people’s plight? The men(Syrians) have no place to stay anyway. 20 people stay together in containers, they work for half the minimum wage, they do not provide food them, their social rights are not given (by the employer). They don’t even bother to fire them. But Turks have to take care of their house. “Have three children, have five children” (referring to the phrase that Recep Tayyip Erdogan often speaks to the Turks), is easy when you say it, you do it, you live in palaces. But for the people, will you pay the rent of the house or pay the bills like electricity? Refugees are already using illegal electricity, in containers that stay at companies’ construction sites. They don’t have an expense like the Turks. But the Turk has to look after his house. But, school is free for Syrians, and hospital (health services) is free. However, if the Turkish citizen does not pay the Social Security premium to the state, they are not allowed to enter the hospital.”
By the way, it should be noted that like Murat Muratoglu, both the majority in Turkey and everyone outside of Turkey who comment on this issue uses the word “refugee” for those who come to Turkey from Syria or other east countries. However, this is wrong. Being a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees, Turkey has narrowed the general geographical definition in this convention and only a person from European countries can become a refugee if they want to come to Turkey for reasons specified in the convention. In other words, Turkey only accepts those who come from European countries as refugees, as the party it has declared to its domestic law and to the United Nations. Because of those who came from Syria cannot be accepted as refugees, “Directive on Admission and Accommodation of Citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic and Stateless Persons Residing in the Syrian Arab Republic Coming to Turkey for Mass Asylum” was published as a circular in 2013. And “temporary protection status” applies to those coming from Syria. If they have not acquired Turkish citizenship during this period, none of those coming from Syria are refugees, nor asylum seekers. They are only under “temporary protection” status. Also, another point to be noted here is that this circular was issued only within the scope of Syrians. In other words, just like Syrians, unless a circular is added to the law for Afghans coming to Turkey and those coming from other eastern countries, it occurs currently a situation of unlawfulness.
In July 29, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 22,161 people, number of death for this day was 60. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“The number of cases today is 22,161. It is not possible to be protected from the epidemic without following the precautions without vaccination. Let’s get back to the fight with vaccines and measures.”
On the same day, forest fires continued. There were really bad images coming from Manavgat, Antalya. Moreover, forest fires started not only in that region, but also in Mugla, which is Aegean coastal city in the south-west of the country. And again, as in the others, forest fires were seriously threatening the settlements.
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on July 29.
The serious threat of forest fires to both nature and settlement areas, and especially very few aerial firefighting planes and helicopters drew attention, disturbing both the residents of the region and the people in other parts of the country. Because the people of Turkey had gained the experience that whenever there was a forest fire, the Turkish Aeronautical Association had the experience of dealing with fires in a much shorter time with the intervention of firefighting planes.
The Turkish Aeronautical Association was established in 1925 by the order of Ataturk. It was an institution that survived through donations. While its function is to provide firefighting aircraft or ambulance helicopters, it has also provided the pilot training for years. According to its own web page, there are eleven M-18 Dromader and nine CL-215 Bombardier type firefighting aircraft in the fleet of the Turkish Aeronautical Association. For years, it evaluated the donations given by the people of Turkey and these services together with the tenders it received from the state. When we say donations, we are not talking about small donations. A significant number of real estate or land in many parts of Turkey are included in these donations. I am using the past tense about the institution, because it was learned that, in fact, a trustee was appointed to the Turkish air institution by the government. In other words, Turkish Aeronautical Association could not pay its debts and the state appointed a manager of its own choice to head the institution.
Now it may be asked, “yes, this institution somehow went bankrupt, but what happened to the firefighting planes it has?” This was the question that almost everyone started to ask that day. On the second day of the forest fires, which especially threatened the country’s south coastline, everyone was looking at the sky and rebelling with angry desperation, saying: “Where are our firefighting planes, why are they not coming to help?” The people of Turkey were right to say “where are our firefighting planes”. Because, as I explained above, this institution has come to this day in line with the donations made by the Turkish people for almost 100 years. The answers to these questions and more would emerge the next day.
On the same day, the following news appeared in the press. “NATO starts training Afghan special military units in Turkey” The entry of the news is as follows: “After the end of the training program in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of international troops, NATO is preparing to start its first training program abroad for Afghan security forces in Turkey. According to the information obtained by the German news agency dpa, a group of Afghan special military units flew to Ankara for training purposes. NATO plans to regularly train Afghan troops outside Afghanistan…”
Turkish government had already announced that it wanted to take on the task of protecting the Kabul airport in Afghanistan by meeting with the authorities in US about a month ago. According to the news in the press, Turkey was very keen on this issue, but the American side was cautious, constantly stating that it was of great importance to protect the Kabul airport.Despite the contradictory situation, US authorities on the other hand finds “Turkey’s protection of Kabul airport ‘vital’ for diplomatic presence in Afghanistan”, according to news. As if it was an undiscovered source of energy had been found on the planet, and this source was located right under the Kabul airport, and America wanted an election very carefully about who will protect this area. When we say an election, there is actually no election. Again according to the news in the press, there is no one who wants this job outside of Turkey. Every country wants to sever their ties with that place as soon as possible.
If you google why Kabul airport is so important, you will meet the followings.
“This airport has a vital role in establishing a connection between Afghanistan, which is located in a mountainous region, has no sea transportation and has a serious security problem on the roads, with the outside world.” According to this importance, since no one other than Turkey is willing to do this job, in this case, no country other than Turkey wants the people living in Aghanistan to contact the outside world.
“Kabul Airport is one of the priority places in terms of ensuring security after the withdrawal.” According to this importance, it is Turkey that wants the withdrawal of NATO troops to be carried out in the healthiest way possible. The 27 countries in ISAF are NATO countries, but inside them only Turkey wants to send everyone home safely.
“Some countries assert airport and air transport security as a prerequisite for holding their diplomatic missions in Afghanistan. Moreover, international aid organizations deliver the necessary humanitarian aid to this country using this airport.”I guess, again, any country other than Turkey does not concern about the security of diplomatic elements or international aid organizations.
Considering these importance items, Turkey seems kind of being more royalist than the king.
By the way, I came across another information about Kabul airport recently. The video below is a video published by Coskun Aral. He is Turkish war correspondent, photo journalist, television journalist and documentary film producer, according to wikipedia. But for the many Turkey people, he is the brave heart with his news from the battlefields in many parts of the world for many years, he is a great traveler because he has the ability to go to places you can never imagine and introduce and teach them, he’s a great photographer because the shots he captures feel alive. He is shortly one of the few good men for many Turkey citizens, and his comments about the issues he knows have high percent truth.
In video between 9:35-10:35 minutes “Well, even if Turkey is not in a combatant position to control Kabul airport, would it be a problem for Turkey to secure that airport? I think it does, because Kabul airport is a place where one or two airlines of the world operate, one of which is Afghan airline Ariana, I don’t know how many planes of its are left, and the other one is our Turkish airlines; it is an airport where only private planes land and take off for special purposes. Let me tell you what they are. Drug trafficking. Because Afghanistan is one of the leading countries in heroin production in the world, defined as the golden crescent this country due to this feature, only the Taliban’s income is close to one billion dollars from this. In the meantime, guess where that $1 billion worth of heroin reaches in the world markets. Because of such a market, the use of that airport brings other problems.”
In July 30, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 22,083 people, number of death for this day was 69. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“We have not yet been able to keep the rate of increase in the number of cases under control. The way to do this is prevention and vaccination. Get your vaccine without wasting time, no matter day and night or the weekend, and follow the precautions.”
The General Directorate of Forestry announced that 70 of the 81 forest fires in 24 cities that broke out between 28-30 July were brought under control. According to the table published by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli on his social media account, 21 fire extinguishing works were continuing in 7 different provinces.
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on July 30.
Regional directorate of forest firefighting teams, firefighters sent to the cities where there were fires from many provinces, the people of the region, the volunteers who came to help by hearing the fire, non-governmental organizations and almost everyone were struggling with all their might to overcome the fires with the least damage. At the same time, everyone had the same question, “Where are our firefighting planes?” In response to these questions, on 30 July 2021, the Minister of Forestry made a press statement in Antalya, Manavgat. According to the statement, 3 firefighting planes were leased from Russia.
What matters is not what we fly in the air, but what we throw on the ground. No matter how much water we throw on the ground, whether it’s the Russian planes or helicopters we’re currently using, there’s nothing more capable than that. Now we are making purchases with the tender system. So we don’t have firefighting planes, we don’t have helicopters in our inventory. This has been the case since eternity, and we started to work on the purchase of aircraft in our inventory upon the instruction of our President.
He claimed, “We don’t have a problem with the Turkish Aeronautical Association, we can’t. The problem with the aircraft is not the capacity to fly, it is not capable of performing even if it flies.”
Pakdemirli continued his words by saying, “Helicopters were chosen according to the geography of Turkey. The planes of the Turkish Aeronautical Association are not capable of flying, but there are still making explanations like we should use planes from the 1960s like an antique shop.”
According to news “The description of the aircraft of the Turkish Aeronautical Association as “antique” also drew a reaction. Former THK Central Supervisory Board Chairman Bayram Duman said, “Turkish Aeronautical Association is not an antique shop. Our fire planes, on the other hand, are not antiques, they are world-class planes used by all Western countries. Our aircraft are capable of flying and have high performance. There are no old planes in aviation, there are neglected planes. These planes can intervene in fires when they are maintained within 4-5 days.”
A couple days later, according to the statements of the pilots who had previously worked at the Turkish Aeronautical Association, 11 pilots were going to say they are ready for the mission if the call comes. Also 4 million dollars is needed to prepare these planes. Russian planes were leased for 1.3 million Turkish liras for 153 days, or about 150 thousand Turkish liras per day.
In total, 203 million Turkish liras, or about 25 million dollars, was going to pay for the rental of 3 Russian planes. According to the following news in May 2021, “They rented planes from Russia for 1.3 million liras per day, while domestic facilities were available.” “The Ministry of Forestry opened a firefighting aircraft lease contract. The five ready-to-fly aircraft of the Turkish Aeronautical Association were not put into the tender this year either. 4 companies participated. The tender was given to the firm that submitted the most expensive bid. Turkey, which rots the planes of the Turkish Aeronautical Association in the hangar, will pay 1.3 million liras per day to 3 Russian aircraft, and 203 million liras in total for 153 days.”
And it would come out that the tender specifications of the Ministry of Forestry for fire extinguishing aircraft were changed and the capacity limit of 5000 liters was introduced. The Turkish Aeronautical Association could not get the tender with its 4900 liters fire planes, that is, because of the difference of 100 liters. However, it was very interesting that one of the Spanish planes that came to help a few days later was the same model as the Turkish Aeronautical Association inventory planes.
On the same day, in Konya, one of the provinces in the middle of Turkey, news came that 7 people belonging to a family of Kurdish origin Turkish citizens were killed…
On the same day, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu was with Minister Pakdemirli, who made a press statement on the Forest Fires. And according to the news: “Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, while talking about the continuation of forest fires in Antalya, stated that an account will be opened by the Antalya Governorship for “cash aid” and said, “Our nation is generous. They always do what they can for support.”
Mevlut Cavusoglu’s announcement that an aid account was opened in this way caused immediate reactions. In previous natural disasters, the authorities in Turkey opened an aid account and Turkish citizens used to donate money to this account. However, there was a situation like this. For example, the public had serious doubts that the aid money collected for the previous earthquake or the tax paid by every citizen under the name of earthquake tax were actually given as aid to earthquake victims. As stated in this news:
“Among the six taxes that were enacted after the 1999 earthquake to reduce economic losses, SCT is the only tax that continues to be levied until today. That’s why it was named ‘earthquake tax’. According to experts, approximately 70 billion liras of earthquake tax was collected between 2002 and 2020. This is estimated at more than $30 billion at annual exchange rates. CHP Istanbul Deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu’s asked question “Where were the earthquake taxes used between 2002-2020?” Answering the question, Minister of Treasury and Finance Lutfi Elvan reminded the principle of unity of the Treasury in the law and stated that it could have been used for any expense in the budget. Elvan, stating the Special Communications Tax (OIV), known as the ‘earthquake tax’ in the public, is used within the scope of the ‘Treasury union’, “It may have been spent on any expense,” he implied.
There are actually 7 basic tax types in Turkey. However, the tax types under these 7 basic taxes are listed according to their codes and there are more than 7 tax types according to the current list of the Presidentship of revenue management. In total, in 17 laws, 53 taxes, fees and shares. In other words, some kind of tax of tax is also paid.
There is a calculation of the collected taxes as follows:
In video between 6:56- 7:46 minutes: Ozlem Gurses: Murat, how much public loss do you think in Turkey? Murat Muratoglu: Haha, very good question. In which area? O. Gurses: It doesn’t matter at all, in total. M. Muratoglu: You mean what did they eat? O. Gurses: I don’t mean it in that sense. I mean, how rich we could have been get? What is done with these tender laws, irregularities, unnecessary expenditures, pomp. M. Muratoglu: If we calculate it this way, the tax collected since 2003 is 2.5 trillion dollars. Look around you, you could build 2-3 countries with 2.5 trillion dollarsfrom scratch. O. Gurses: $2.5 trillion dollars? M. Muratogu: Yes, taxes were collected. O. Gurses: So this is equal to Turkey’s income? M. Muratoglu: No, Turkey’s annual income is 750 billion dollars.
In many of the social media and public interviews this day, Turkish citizens was angrily asking where and when these taxes would be used, if they are not used in times like these.
Today, there were also news of “Afghan families” who want to go to Europe from Afghanistan via Turkey.
In July 31, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 22,332 people, number of death for this day was 79. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“The number of cases is above the 20 thousand limit despite the weekend. It is possible to reverse this. If we comply with the measures and gain immunity with the vaccine, the situation will turn in our favor.”
The latest situation in the forest fires was not encouraging. Although the fires were extinguished at many points, the fires continued rapidly in some districts and villages on the southern line.
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on July 31.
The fires that started in the forests had also engulfed the settlements. People started to be evacuated from some parts of towns such as Manavgat, Marmaris, Bodrum and Fethiye.
By the way, I should point out that I am not adding the videos and images of the fires in this post.Those, who want see the level of disaster, can access all the images and videos if they write the names of these districts that I mentioned and write forest fire on google translate and translate them into Turkish, after google them. Why I don’t add it? Because I have never witnessed such a disaster in my life on this planet. Hundreds of years of forests were burning, animals, houses, the desperation of people, but the efforts to save every living thing until the last moment under this desperation, how rapidly the flames threaten life, were all more frightening than a chaotic movie.And adding these visuals would have made it very difficult for me to write this post as it would affect the reading of the readers by focusing.
For example, in the images of today that I have not included here, there are villagers in Mersin Silifke trying to dig a trench by digging the ground with their hands to prevent the progression of the fire 3 meters in front of them. Yes, with bare hands. Kazdaglari Istanbul Solidarity @kazdaglariist tweet on this subject was as follows: · “We will not be able to prevent this fire if you do not send a rake, a pick, or gloves to help us, and WATER. We are on fire!”
Or, in the images that I have not included here, there are citizens in Marmaris trying to fill the fire truck with 5 liters of water to make it move forward. Or, in the images that I have not included here, there is a man with his cows surrounded by flames, screaming for help. Or there are images of frogs and even butterflies escaping from the fire drinking water from people’s hands. You heard right, even butterflies!
And among all these and others, what was worse affecting was a burning forest video with a sound recording. The cries of animals, wild boars, birds and many other animals could be heard.
On the same day, according to the news of dw turkish, Turkey had a 10 million dollar mosque built in Ghana. Hearing that the mosque in Ghana was built by Turkey at a cost of $10 million, the citizens of Turkey were thinking of the $4 million needed to make the Turkish Aeronautical Association’s firefighting planes available.
Meanwhile, on the same day, while forests continued to burn in the south and south-west of the country, Baskale district of Van province in the east of the country flooded. While many houses were destroyed, a woman was also swept away by the flood waters.
In the evening of the same day:
Erdogan in the disaster area: “He threw tea to the people in Marmaris, that was fighting fires!” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is AKP member, said about the forest fires in Marmaris, “We will not leave the square to provocateurs.” After his speech, Erdogan threw tea to the people, as he did in flood areas.
In August 1, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 20,890 people, number of death for this day was 96. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“What will stop the rise in the number of cases are the will we demonstrate and the measures we will accord with. Get vaccinated, stay away from crowds.”
That day, forest fires were continuning…
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on August 1.
And that day, the government, which was critized about fire-fighting, put the responsibility for forest fires to municipalities at first hand, so by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. All of the provinces’ municipalities on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts where forest fires occur in Turkey these days are governed by opposition parties not by government party AKP.
News: “Minister Pakdemirli: The responsibility in the forest areas that I see belongs to the municipalities.”
While the laws in Turkey were clearly written and in front of everyone, the debate on whether the primary responsibility for forest fires belonged to the municipalities or the government lasted for four days. By law, responsibility for forest areas belonged to the government. In other words, to the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. According to news on 4 August, Muharrem Ince a former deputy from the main opposition party, was going to respond to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who put the responsibility on the municipalities in the same way as the minister of his own government, as follows on Twitter:
“You can’t escape responsibility, Erdogan! You’ve been in power for 19 years, you haven’t bought a fire-fighting plane! You left the ours in the hangar. It’s a shame to say “fire is the responsibility of municipalities”! The fire that started in the forests came to settlements as a result of your incompetence. Tell the right, tell the truth.”
On the same day, apart from the coastal provinces, there was another province where the fire started. That was the province of Tunceli, that is, the province ruled by Turkey’s only communist mayor, Fatih Mehmet Macoglu.
A fire broke out in Hozat district of Tunceli province and when Macoglu set out to go to that area with his team, police forces prevented them from entering the fire area. Just on the day when the Minister of Forestry Pakdemirli said that the responsibility belongs to the municipalities, a dilemma arose such as preventing the fulfillment of the responsibility they had imposed on the municipalities.
Hozat Belediyesi'nin yapmış olduğu çağrı üzerine şuan Hozat girisindeyiz ve bir müdahale ile karşı karşıyayız. Tek derdimiz doğamız. Özel güvenlik gerekçe gösterilerek müdahale edilmesini doğru bulmuyoruz.
Tweet translate in English: “Upon the call of Hozat Municipality, we are now at the entrance of Hozat and we are faced with an intervention. Our only concern is our nature. We do not find it appropriate to intervene on the grounds of private security. We call on all our people to embrace our nature.“
Turkish journalist and columnist Ismail Saymaz made the following assessment on the situation in his column on this day: “…Reputation is burning furiously The President, like his minister, says that the Turkish Aeronautical Association does not have an airplane. If it has, he would surely have known. He recently flew eight planes to visit Cyprus. The last time Ercan Airport saw so many planes at the Cyprus extraction operation(in 1974). If the Turkish Aeronautical Association had a plane that could fly, it would have landed in Cyprus with the president’s fleet before extinguishing the fire. While Erdogan explains that having a complex with 1115 rooms, building a summer palace in Okluk bay and a winter palace in Malazgirt as “It’s not be retrenched on reputation”, he sees a fleet of 13 aircraft as a requirement of the state governing (mentioning presidential fleet). Turkey’s reputation has been on fire for three days, since the firefighting planes, which can be repaired with the income from the sale of one of these planes, are covering a spider web on the ground….”
Meanwhile, the flooding in Van province continued, according to news, thousands of animals died and dozens of houses were destroyed.
This day, also the following video about Afghans approaching the Turkish border were shared on social media.
Son 4 gündür tüm sınır hattını gezdim. Yapılan haberler sonrası mevcut rotalardan geçişler azaldı ancak devam ediyor. İran sınırında artan göçmen sayısı, yeni rotalara kayıyor. Görüntüler 3 gün önce yeni rotadan geçen göçmenlere ait. pic.twitter.com/WKhaLvWqsO
Translate in English: “I have traveled the entire border line for the last 4 days. After the news, crossings from existing routes decreased, but they continue. The increasing number of immigrants on the Iranian border is shifting to new routes. The images are of immigrants who passed the new route 3 days ago.”
In the first three days of press news that I included in this post, it was stated that those who were coming were always Afghan families. However, these images and many more images that would appear later showed that there were no women and children among those who came. It was only young Afghan men who came.
In August 2, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 22,898 people, number of death for this day was 91. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“The rate of increase in the number of cases tends to decrease. We are the ones who will make it permanent. Get your vaccine without compromising the measure.”
Today, the fires in the Cokertme neighborhood of Mugla province and the Bodrum district were very large. For Cokertme, the mayor of Mugla wrote the following tweet on the night between August 1 and August 2: “Last look at our Cokertme neighborhood. We are in great sadness…” #weareonfire #Milasfire #wewantairintervention
Also today, the mayor of Antalya metropolitan wrote the following tweet: “The fire in Gundogmus has come to the city. Planes and helicopters are needed. As the Metropolitan Municipality, we are intervening on land with our relevant institutions and organizations. We are evacuating with our buses. Our lives are hurting. Let’s put out this fire together now.”
Marmaris Mayor told the authorities, “Hisaronu is on fire! Flames have reached the settlements, houses are being evacuated. Emergency air support is a must! Hear the screams now!” by making call on Twitter.
Bodrum Mayor‘s tweet about today was as follows: “Please hear our voice, we need urgent help. To defend the last remaining forests in Bodrum, to protect life.” # wewantairintervention #Bodrumonfire
By the way, I would like to add that these mayors and others didn’t just tweet during the fires, of course. They were helping by trying to coordinate between the people and the rescue teams in the constantly fire areas, almost 24/7 every day.
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on August 2.
While the news channels known for their closeness to the government were making news like “Turkey’s fight against fires set an example to the world,” the mayors of the districts where the fires broke out were tweeting pleadingly and asking for help.
Besides, according to the news on the same day: “Citizens chased the TRT (Turkish state television) crew in Hisaronu, which was still on fire: ‘Yesterday you said Hisaronu was saved!’
In Mugla Marmaris, fires continue in many regions for 5 days. One of the places most affected by the fires was Hisaronu in terms of the number of settlements.
As the flames started to rise again in the Hisaronu District, the citizens living in the area reacted to the TRT team by saying, “Yesterday, you said Hisaronu was saved,” saying that they saved their homes with their own efforts. Meanwhile, the NTV reporter said, “Who said it?” replied.
Citizens who said, “There is no intervention, we are burning here, the nation has come to this point,” demanded the TRT team to leave the region.
‘There is no police?’ A citizen said, “Then why is he distributing tea in Marmaris?” said. After the reactions, the TRT reporter yelled, by saying “Isn’t there a policeman?”
TRT crew had to leave the area by getting into their cars.
The main reason why the state’s emergency fire rescue teams and the firefighters of the provincial municipalities are insufficient, and the mayors of the districts especially ask for air support, is that these forested areas are on very rough and steep lands. Therefore, it is very difficult to reach by road. In addition, the fact that the burning pine cones jumped a few kilometers away from its place, like a firecracker, with the effect of the strong wind, made the intervention efforts from the land insufficient. That’s why endless efforts of the civilians, the firefighters from many provincial municipalities also forestry directorates were not enough.
Also during the day, news of a terrible murder came from Antalya. A young woman, 21-year-old college student, was brutally murdered and thrown into the forestland…
“Loan offer from Erdogan to villagers whose house was burned: ‘It’s like paying 500 Turkish Liras rent after 2 years…” Mustafa Cansız, the headman of Kalemler village, where was affected by the fire in Antalya’s Manavgat district, where also 7 people lost their lives in fires, stated that when President Erdogan who is member of AKP came to their village, and he promised that “everyone’s house would be built”.
Headman Cansiz said:
Mr. President said that for example, “if there is an expense of 500,000 Liras, we will cover 300,000 Liras of it, you will pay 200,000 Lira as a loan after 2 years, as if you are paying 500 Liras rent after 2 years.” But if our sensitive and helpful people pay for the remaining 200,000 Lira here, we will be pleased.
Emphasizing that there are citizens in their villages who will not be able to afford to pay for the rest of the loan of their houses, Cansiz said, “There are many people who will not be able to afford it. Everyone here is low-income. They’ve been victimized. Their houses and tractors burned down.
Meanwhile, on the night bewteen August 1 to August 2, Twitter users in Turkey started to add the hashtag #helpturkey to their tweets. With a kind of global call, they stated in tweets that air response planes were requested for fires to countries that wanted to help. According to analysis, around 2.5 million #helpturkey hashtags were used in one day. Immediately afterwards, government officials made statements that this hashtag made the country look weak. In this statement, they claimed that the twitter accounts using this hashtag were of foreign origin bot accounts.
Teyit.org (Confirmation org), which is investigating the accuracy of internet news on web, shared the following article on this subject:
Case study: The story of the #HelpTurkey hashtag
It can be suspected that the #HelpTurkey campaign was started artificially to show Turkey in powerlessness. But the scattering of shares was organic. There are dozens of multi-follower and verified accounts that cause the campaign to become massive.
Turkey has been coping with forest fires, which are constantly being added in the last few days. For the Mediterranean basin, this is normal to some extent; However, it is also the case that global climate change and other human factors increase the number of these fires and the areas they affect every year.
Aside from the claims that do not rely on any concrete evidence – at least for now – as the fires were caused by systematic arson, one of the main agenda items for the last four days has been that Turkey is unprepared for the fires that can be considered “predictable”, that it is incapable of managing the crisis and that its political priorities are inaccurate.
Moments of crisis can lead to tremendous collective panic. For example, 50 infernal images that an ordinary social media user sees in a row on his timeline can make it difficult to maintain common sense.
Cries for help in times of crisis and panic are also understandable. However, the post in English, which we think you have seen frequently on social media in the last few days and shared with the hashtag #HelpTurkey, brought up another delusion. When the text requesting help from abroad to Turkey was shared millions of times within hours, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun claimed that the campaign was deliberately launched by foreign powers who wanted to show Turkey incapable. Altun did not support his claim with any concrete evidence.
Of course, it is necessary to be organized in order to create a digital or daily campaign. Being an organized effort is not a good starting point for declaring a campaign “malicious” or “foreign-powered”. However, the claim that the campaign was produced “artificially” can be examined…
First of all, it is not unusual for countries to help each other for free during disasters such as earthquakes, floods and great fires. Countries with high per capita income may also need help in the face of such unexpected crises, no matter how prepared they are. Moreover, the offer and acceptance of help does not necessarily correspond to a physical need. It also means a mutual declaration of goodwill. As a matter of fact, Turkey has sent aid to many countries in similar situations and has received offers of assistance from many countries.
In the early days during the ongoing fires, Turkey did not request any assistance. The demand of the public has strengthened and new fires have been added to the fires with the effect of the air temperature. Finally, on August 1, Turkey asked for help from the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, the relevant unit of the European Union. Spain, which is part of the program, announced that it will send two planes and Croatia one…
In other words, first of all, Turkey offered foreign aid itself, and we have no reason to think that the motivation of their offer was to “show Turkey weak”.
So, many real Twitter users in Turkey used the hashtag #helpturkey, but asking for help from foreign countries was not something they did in the first place, as claimed. The government had already sought help from foreign countries before they did. However, this fact would not prevent an investigation into this hashtag by the prosecutor on August 5, 2021.
There is a phrase used by Turkish journalist Fatih Yaslı for situations like this about the government: “They invented a very interesting way of lying, they claim the exact antithesis of what they are, what they’re doing, whatever they think.“
Many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members are at risk due to these U.S. affiliations and are not eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa because either they did not have qualifying employment, or they have not met the time-in-service requirement to become eligible; however, they may be eligible for a P-2 referral, and thus, to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Once we begin processing these cases, we will work with our resettlement partners in the United States to welcome these Afghan refugees to their new communities. Refugee resettlement would not be possible without the support of state and local governments, our resettlement partners and affiliates, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, and the tens of thousands of volunteers across the United States who participate in this program….
This is [Senior State Department Official Three]. I’ll just add that in a typical refugee outflow, when refugees arrive at the border they would present themselves also to UNHCR, which is our primary partner on the ground. And they would be providing the international protection in addition to whatever protection might be provided by the government in which the refugee is seeking asylum.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Yeah, and this is [Senior State Department Official Two]. I’ll just add one other thing, and that is that we’ve already been in discussions with neighboring countries as well as UNHCR to be prepared for potential outflows. So in a place like Pakistan, it’ll be important that their borders remain open. Obviously, if people go north or if they go via Iran to Turkey – we’ve already seen some arrivals in Turkey – that people have an opportunity both to enter the country as well as to register with either the government or with UNHCR.
QUESTION: Hi, thank you very much. Two quick clarifications. So just to be clear, the 12 to 14 months, that is from the time someone is referred until potentially accepted? Is that correct? Number two, you mentioned – sorry I’m out of breath, I’m running – you mentioned that these – these other countries that they could go to. Are there any countries where you’ll provide them any housing or any kind of support? And three, you just mentioned that you’ve already seen an influx into Turkey. Can you give us any sense of how many people have gone to Turkey who may be eligible or applying for this new visa? Thanks.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thanks, Courtney. So first question on the time horizon, no, it’s not 12 to 14 months from the time they’re referred. The clock really doesn’t start ticking until somebody has left Afghanistan and we can begin their case processing. So the time horizon is really dependent on when they get out and when we can start the processing of their case.
In terms of assistance in other countries, as in any other refugee situation where people are fleeing the country and showing up in other countries, as I believe my colleague [Senior State Department Official Three] mentioned, there is an international response for that that is organized through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, where people can present themselves either to the government or to UNHCR to seek international protection while they wait for our program. And as part of that protection that is offered it oftentimes includes humanitarian assistance, and so that would be the mechanism by which we would look to have us and other donors support people who are fleeing.
I don’t have numbers on Turkey. I would say we haven’t seen major large outflows of people yet, but we have seen some numbers of people crossing, but not large numbers yet.
In short, it is said that “we(US) will expel the people with whom we fought together against the Taliban in Afghanistan, because we will no longer be in Afghanistan. We will give them a special visa. They will come to America with that visa. Exit from the country has already begun. We told Pakistan to keep the borders open. (Apparently they told Turkey as well) We will bring these people between 12 and 14 months.”
Only the number is not clear. US, which keeps account of everything, did not keep a record of who it worked with.(!) And although these people and their families are mentioned, there are no families as mentioned in the propaganda news, there are only young men.
In August 3, 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of Health statement, number of Covid-19 cases for this day was 24,832 people, number of death for this day was 126. The tweet of the Minister of Health about today’s Covid-19 table was as follows.
“The number of daily cases approached 25 thousand. If we follow the rules of combating the epidemic and get our vaccinations, we will take action to end the epidemic. Like first-dose vaccines, second and third-dose vaccines are also extremely important.”
The fires continued. Especially in Mugla province and Antalya, many settlements and natural areas were under threat. In one video, a beekeeper who lost most of his hives was saying these words. “Suddenly, flames were starting in another place. It was as if the flame had feet.”
Here is the link of the zoom.earth image like I added at the beginning, showing the fires in Turkey on August 3.
The people of these regions live by olive production, generally small cattle breeding, and citrus production. Now many people’s olive or orange trees were burned. Animals likewise. As the beekeeper I mentioned above said: “If my bees were still alive, there wouldn’t be a plant left to land upon anyway.”
Speaking in a BBC News Turkish video about today, a young woman in Manavgat said: “Firefighters came to us from all provinces and districts. But nobody directed the fire brigades. We burned here right under everyones nose. While we were burning like this, a person did not come and give us a glass of water. Where did all these people’s years of hard work go? These people earned by farming.”
Some districts of the provinces in the region are municipalities belonging to the AKP government party. The president of one of them would say I was misunderstood the same day, for his speech the day before. In his speech he said:
Mayor of Antalya’s Gundogmus district, Mehmet Ozeren, praised the fact that TOKI(Housing Development Administration of Turkey) would build a reimbursed house in return for the houses damaged in the forest fires that caused great damage in the county.
Broadcasting the interview with a YouTube channel called “Alanyalı TV” live on his Facebook account, Ozeren talked about the support to be given to citizens whose houses were burned. Stating that a total of 50 thousand TL, 35 thousand TL and 15 thousand TL, will be provided to the citizens whose houses have become unusable, Özeren said that 10 thousand TL will be given to the citizens whose houses were damaged by the fire.
Ozeren said, “For our citizens whose houses have become unusable, TOKI will build a house with payment for 20 years. Maybe it is not right to say this, but those who have very old houses will wish that our house burned down too. The consolation grant of the state for them is too much,“.
At those hours time when the mayor said he was misunderstood, an elderly citizen was having a nervous breakdown in the middle of the road of Marmaris in an interview on KRT TV by saying followings:
“Now he tells me to evacuate the house. How can I evacuate my house? Is it easy? Where were you, where were you five days ago! I call the forest department, they say to me, we will send, we will send. They’re making fun of me! Is there such a thing! Damn them all! Damn those who run this country! Is that so? They say everything is on fire. Yes it can burn, but if it burns you will put it out. You stepped aside. You call The Turkish Aeronautical Association’s planes “antiques”. But the pilots say that give us a task and let’s put it out. It was so simple to put out that fire. There was a fire in the same place 18 years ago. I called then, a fire-fighting plane had arrived, water poured out. I’ve been begging for five days, begging for last breath. It’s been 5 days now, they just arrived, there wasn’t even a fire brigade. Do you know what the fire department said to me? Let us know when the fire come to the houses, we will intervene that time. Come on, intervene! Such an administration, such a system! No, not for me! I have served this country for 77 years. This must not like that! First, this country was burning without flame, it has been burning without flame for 20 years, now it is burning with flames. It must not like that!
In another corner of the fire area a peasant woman speaking to DW Turkish was saying: “We had no security other than olives. How are we going to pay the taxes to the state now. We can’t pay them. We couldn’t pay the water bills. We could not get fodder for our animals. We don’t have a pension. We don’t have an annual. No one is thinking about you.”
Also, during the day, the fire in Milas would come within 3 km of a thermal power plant towards the evening hours.
On the same day, Turkey Foreign Ministry replied to the USA about ‘Afghan immigrants’: “
The US statement will cause a major migration crisis in our region and increase the suffering of Afghans on their migration routes.”
…
If you ask how much area was burned in total, in this one week:
547.000 dekar alan yanmis şu ana kadar. Kül olan büyüklüğü kafanızda canlandirmak istedim: 81.398 adet futbol sahası büyüklüğünde bir alan yandı. Hala yanıyor.
Translate in English: “547,000 decares of land have been burned so far. I wanted to visualize the ashes of greatness in your mind: An area the size of 81,398 football fields was burned. It’s still burning.“
When Journalist Fatih Portakal, tweeted this, on August 4, the Minister of Health would add the following tweet for the daily Covid-19 table:”The number of cases is well above the 20 thousand limit, which we accept as the limit. It is in our hands to reduce the number of cases below this limit. Get your vaccine, stay away from crowds.”
Nowadays, time flies so fast and people’s minds and memories are paralyzed by such a powerful mechanism that it becomes a necessity to remind people of the recent history more often than not.
So it is relevant to ask again: where do jihad and jihadists come from?
I am not pointing at the theological origins of the two; this does not necessarily concern the majority. The question and the problem are political. Approaching these two from a theological perspective will not yield any result but “religionalization” of the politics.
For this reason, one should not need to concern oneself with the history of the concept of bellum sacrum (holy war) which itself is old as the religions. The real question, the one that we should concern, is the origins of jihad as a “modern” political tool.
ARCHEOLOGY OF JIHAD
The term archeology was purposefully used to express this article’s main quest in seeking the conditions that gave birth to jihad as a modern political tool, the manner in which this concept/action evolved and how it was incorporated into today’s ruling system.
It can be, rather correctly, claimed that the timestamp of the jihad in its current form shows the 1970s and 80s. It is in Afghanistan where the jihad was evolved into today’s form at this time.
The origins of today’s jihad lie beneath a conspiracy organized against the Democratic Afghan Republic after the Saur Revolution in 1978, which has many similarities with today’s conspiracy against the Syrian Arab Republic in very broad terms.
The Saur Revolution in Afghanistan had many significant internal problems and conflicts. With this revolution, the laws based on sharia were abolished and a secular state was formed whereupon many reforms, to the extent that radically affected the property relations in agriculture, were implemented such as land reform, establishment of government-owned farms, recognition of trade union rights of the workers and equal civil rights to women. Also, Afghanistan adopted a friendly approach towards socialism which resulted in execution of a treaty of friendship between the U.S.S.R. and Afghanistan in December 1978.
The prevailing strategy of imperialism was then to smother all socialist-popular governments that had close ties with the Soviets at any cost and by any means necessary. For this reason, Afghanistan’s “stand” was in compliance with and hence crucial to the strategy of imperialism. Just like what was done against Allende administration in Chile in 1973 and the bloody and dirty war waged against Sandinista in Nicaragua shortly after the operation against Afghanistan started.
Readers should not take the expression “any means necessary” lightly. The most concrete example that I can think of is the scandal called “Irangate”. In 1986, the US sold weapons to Iran underhandedly and used the income from this to fund the counter-guerrillas in Nicaragua.
Let’s go back to Afghanistan… At that time, the means used to ensure the “stand” of Afghanistan was jihad.
In a short time, Pakistan, specifically Peshawar city of Pakistan, became the headquarters of the Afghani counter-revolutionary forces. Said counter-revolutionary forces being various Islamist groups inspired by “Muslim Brotherhood” and relatively smaller Maoist Organizations, such as the “Eternal Flame”.
It did not take long before these groups fell into the radar of the US. In fact, the US had already established close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and its offshoots in the region starting from the 1950s which became tighter during the early 1970s whereupon use of the “Islamism” card against popular/socialist governments or social movements in Middle East emerged as an imperialist strategy.
Afghani counter-revolutionaries, who found asylum in Pakistan, were mobilized through Muslim Brotherhood and Jama’at-i Islami, an organization directly supported by the government of Pakistan. The most notable of such Afghani groups was Hezb-e Islami, founded and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (a figure too well-known in Turkey) which acted in cooperation and collaboration with Taliban and even exchanged/shared members until very recently (September 2016).
In this period “experts” from the US started to visit Pakistan very frequently to train, supervise and guide Afghani counter-revolutionaries providing material and intellectual support in establishing the modern concept of jihad. The term mujahideen hit international headlines during this period and only as a result of these efforts. The mujahideen, i.e. jihadists, were whitewashed as freedom fighters combating the “Soviet invasion” and jihad was merely the name of this war of freedom.
“Modern” jihad and jihadists were categories devised with the funds from the CIA to fight against communism under the Cold War conditions.
In 1979, National Security Adviser to the President of US Zbigniew Brzezinski’s visit to Pakistan was the highest level of U.S. security expert visits to the country. A passage from his speech to jihadists on the Afghan-Pakistani border is quoted below. With his very famous Polish Accent, Mr. Brzezinski, told the following words:
We know of their deep belief in God, and we are confident that their struggle will succeed. That land over there is yours. You will go back to it one day, because your fight will prevail and you’ll have your homes and your mosques back again, because your cause is right and God is on your side.
During the same visit, Brzezinski also said “The purpose of coordinating with the Pakistanis would be to make the Soviets bleed for as much and as long as is possible.”
An enormous, CIA-supported propaganda machine was activated to work for triumph of Afghan mujahideen. Posters, brochures, magazines, newspapers, bulletins and so on… Though there are also materials that make fun of the Soviets and then-ruling Afghan Government, the dominant visual materials were highlights the ideal of “jihad” and the jihadists.
A jihadist with words “Allahu Akbar” on his chest protecting Afghanistan
The jihadists, funded by imperialists, received highest level of attention. Then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (a.k.a. the Iron Lady) is one of the visitors of Afghan jihadists in 1981 on Afghan-Pakistani border. In her speech to 1500 jihadists, she pledges a further support of arms worth 2 Million Pounds and says that “the hearth of the free world is with you”.
Thatcher’s speech receives much applause and many shouting of Allahu Akbar.
In the year 1983, President of the US Ronald Reagan hosts representatives of jihadists in the White House. (1) In fact, the US is so tight with the jihadists that during a visit to Washington, Mohammed Yunus Khalis (once a comrade of Hekmatyar, the spiritual leader of Taliban and whom Osama bin Laden called “Sheikh Father”) invited U.S. President Reagan to embrace Islam.
The US support to jihadists, including Saudi Osama bin Laden, continued for many years.
An article on Osama bin Laden on August 4th 1993 issue of British newspaper The Independent by Robert Fisk
JIHADIST GENERATIONS: “JAMIL WENT TO THE JIHAD”
In the post 9/11 era, the US support to jihadists has become a hot topic in U.S. newspapers. One of the most significant findings of these discussions was that the US did not roll up jihadists from existing Islamists but also raised children to create new generations of jihadists in a way that will “secure” the future of jihad.
How?
Well, education, of course!
The “Education Center for Afghanistan” located in Peshawar, Pakistan and run by Afghan mujahideen was basically an offshoot of the Nebraska University of the US and the Center of Afghan Studies of this university. It was the Ministry of Education of jihadists in exile. The center was publishing books and giving “education.” The textbooks distributed by the center had been prepared by the Nebraska University. In the year 2002, the Washington Post exposed that the university received a funding worth of 51 million USD between the years 1984-1994 solely for this purpose.
What about the contents of these books?
The most notable study on the subject was published by Craig Davis in World Policy Journal in the year 2002. In this study, Davis examined the contents of the textbooks in Afghanistan. From the first-grade alphabet textbook, prepared by US, he shared the following examples of teaching Farsi to future mujahideen jihadi-style(!):
Alif (A) is for Allah- Allah is one.
Bi (B) is for Father (baba)-Father goes to the mosque.
Pi (P) is for Five (panj)- Islam has five pillars.
Ti (T) is for Rifle (tufang)- Javad obtains rifles for the mujahideen.
Jim (J) is for Jihad – Jihad is an obligation. My mom went to the jihad. Our brother gave water to the mujahideen.
Dal (D) is for Religion (din) – Our religion is Islam. The Russians are the enemies of the religion of Islam.
Zhi (Zh) is for good news (muzhdih) – The mujahideen missiles rain down like dew on the Russians. My brother gave me good news that the Russians in our country taste defeat
Shin (Sh) is for Shakir – Shakir conducts jihad with the sword. God becomes happy with the defeat of the Russians…
Zal (Z) is for Oppression (zulm)- Oppression is forbidden. The Russians are oppressors. We perform jihad against the oppressors.
Vav (V) is for Nation (vatn)- Our nation is Afghanistan. The mujahideen made our country famous. Our Muslim people are defeating the communists. The mujahideen are making our dear country free.
How do you think the C.I.A taught counting to the Afghan children? Here are some pages from mathematics book:
First-grade mathematics textbook
Thanks to the mathematics textbook prepared by the Nebraska University, Afghan kids learn their numbers through pistols, bullets, knives, landmines and bombs. What an exemplary pedagogical approach!
Some examples given in the mathematics book about four modes of operation are given below:
If out of 10 atheists, 5 are killed by 1 Muslim, 5 would be left.
5 guns + 5 guns = 10 guns
15 bullets – 10 bullets = 5 bullets
One last example from fifth grade literature arts textbook the text titled “Hikayat” starts with:
Dear students, I will recount the story of crimes committed by atheist Russians who invaded our lands due to carelessness of a group of mujahideen. Listen carefully and comprehend the results of carelessness and indifference.
Once this situation was exposed and given US’s engagement in re-establishment of its hegemony with the “war on terror” concept, various projects were launched to remove the violence elements from these textbooks. UNICEF destroyed more half a million books and new text books were published. Yet, it is reported that the old text books are still used by Taliban even if not by the central Afghan government and can be easily found even in Kabul.
JIHAD AS THE MODERN WEAPON OF IMPERIALISM
Naturally, this was not a project limited to Afghanistan. It is not mere coincidence that names of a series of Central Asian countries, the Region of Caucasia and Eastern Turkistan were mentioned after the recent assault to the Nightclub Reina. Similar “indoctrination” was implemented in all of these regions. It was spread to surrounding countries from Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which are bombed today on a daily basis by the US in the pretext of “war on terror”.
One should not look further than imperialist centers to spot the source point of jihad and jihadists and, in general, Islamism. U.S. journalist Ben Norton explains:
It is not a coincidence that most of the secular countries in the history of the Middle East have been socialist of some sort. In contrast, the most reactionary countries — the countries where women are not granted equal rights and where the rule of law is based on Sharia — have frequently tended to be close Western allies. Why? The West was much, much more interested in preserving capitalism than it was in allowing secularism, gender equality and relative economic equality to flourish under socialism.
Therefore, we can conclude that, even if use of the adjective of “modern” seems oxymoronic, jihad and jihadists are both dirty weapons armed in very recent history of imperialism and unleashed to sustain capitalism.
The article was quoted, and also it is very long article, I could only quote same parts. If you want to full read please continue on this link, Jihad and Jihadists: So where do they come from?
ps: Yes, the article is written in English, my Earthling friends.:)
To be child is very hard in some places on this planet! Get off the children’s back! So that the children can laugh and laugh with happily echo until the end of the universe!
Shukurallah was one of kids in Kabul city that his family punishes him and make him so sad. Sadness, that his family given him, could be vanished by watching cartoons.
Shukurallah, who was in First Grade at “ChilhellDukhtaran” (Forty girls) Public School, used to watch Tom and Jerry Cartoon. Couples of his hour spend on watching of escaping and following of the cat and the mouse that known as Tom and Jerry.
“My favorite cartoon is Tom and Jerry” said Shukurallah.Shukurallah was only eight years old that his mother frequently punished him with beating by woods in his back.
Family punishing is not uncommon for children in Kabul. Wood that Shukurallah’s mother used to punish him was not only case of family violence against children.The Majority of children in Kabul faced hard violence and are under oppression of their families.
By John Vibes The Unites States government has played a crucial role in the development of the complex and volatile political situation that now exists in the Middle East, and they have had a heavy hand in influencing the region since the first world war. From propping up dictators to funding rebel groups for regime change, the U.S. and their […]
At Afghan city of Kunduz, US army has caused the death of at least 19 people by bombing a hospital that managed by Doctors without Borders in early hours in today. 12 health care workers including Chief physician of the hospital and 7 patients has lost life, dozens injured. There are 3 CHILDREN among the dead.
Yesterday, US officials who criticized Russia because of the launching to ISIS on Syrian positions with air strikes, had accused Russia with targeting civilians. Even one day hadn’t passed, US airstrikes killed civilians.
The tragicomic part is, according to the United Nations:
Bombing of hospitals in Afghanistan is ‘possibly criminal’
The UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it was “utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly criminal”.
Rahmat Gul / Associated Press Afghan women march in the street outside the Supreme Court in Kabul demanding justice for a woman who was beaten to death by a mob after being falsely accused of burning a Koran last week.
In fact, the left thought is based on which basis? Freedom, equality and social justice in the basic sense.
What did Europe add over it, after the French Revolution? I’m curious. French revolutionaries have thought that “people ought to eat both bread and cake”, and they initiated change to this revolution. Then, the steps that were taken in the UK on behalf of democracy.
Let’s make a pause in here. I said about the steps in UK. These steps were taken by England because of it has the universal values or just to develop a new class? If UK did that for universal values, then why UK has created colonialism for centuries in the same period? The generated result in here “social justice, freedom and equality are for British,”; doesn’t it? At that time, in reality there is nothing that UK has done on behalf of the left thought.
Another dimension of the exist left thought is the communism which was placed as regime. This has the tough generalizations of left stream more than the western left thought which is soft and avoid of meddling. Even, enough to terrify to the western leftists. Once upon a time, they were terrified that the revolutions have been created in South America, when they watched in dismay. Thanks to them all. While the bombs were poured down to Vietnam, the fishes of fresh water, western leftists have been famous heroes with their protests from afar. But somehow, anyone couldn’t stand by the communists, who were the real hero of Vietnam War. How many people know the name of a Vietnamese Communist hero? Or should I ask like that: How many people know the name of the western leftists against the Vietnam War; may be artists, writers or politicians. Are the names of the Vietnamese heroes remembered and need not be known prior to these western leftist people?
Western left thought is hypocrisy; it is clear. After Greece’s revealed democracy, in fact any of Western leftists did not do anything in reality on universal form. Western leftists have its own norms; they looked at the people, who were not one of them dismissively.
Men and women have been standing for three days in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is oppressed country. There’s a war on its soil for 50 years. People are uneducated. People are poor. Any of them cannot discuss with you marxism, communism, the future of left or over bourgeoisie “at the level what you want(!)”. I do not know have you ever been in Afghanistan? But if you have been at there, you would have seen what is to be incapacitated and poverty in real sense.
These people went out to the streets after the lynching of Farkhunda.
Well, do you think it’s easy that they went out and to revolt.
This is unlike the protests in Europe or America. There are highly suppressed feelings, thoughts and great fears at there. The meaning of this protest is very important for the world revolution history. Look at the faces of the people in the photographs; anger, suppressed, fear, rebellion, conscious and noble stance. They are all in one.
This is unlike to oppose the construction of the building central bank in the middle of Europe.
This is unlike to be on streets to oppose police violence in the middle of United States.
This is Afghanistan.
This is the land forgotten by the world.
This is the place where the people, who are ignored and will be ignored by the hypocritical western leftists, lived. In fact, this is the place where has echoed the thoughts of rebellion of the people, who want ” the freedom, equality of social justice” in the real sense.
That will never understand by the western leftists.
And I’m proud of these people. As same as, I am proud of the Vietnamese heroes “flying aces in Vietnam War”, MIG-17 and MIG-21 pilots; Nguyen Van Nghia, Liu Hui Chao, Nguyen Nhat Trieu, Nguyen Dang Kinh, Pham Thanh Ngan, Vu Ngoc Dinh, Le Thanh Dao.
unnecessary news from earth 