Propaganda Alert
compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
16 March 2010
1) Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi visits Turkey to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear program (15 March 2009)
from the archives:
2) Israeli army chief Dan Halutz visits Turkey to discuss the Iranian threat (December 2005)
3) Turkey agrees to Israeli exercises near Iranian borders (December 2005)
4) CIA Director Porter Goss tells Turkey to be ready for US air strikes against Iran and Syria (December 2005)
5) General Basbug: Turkey can never welcome an Iran who possesses nuclear weapons (June 2005)
related documents:
6) CSIS report: Turkey would be the optimum route for a possible Israeli attack on Iran (March 2009)
7) Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul says Israeli raid a “closed matter” (November 2007)
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http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=171037
excerpts from: Ashkenazi holds security talks in Turkey
by Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, 15 March 2010
[Israeli army chief] Gabi Ashkenazi flew to Ankara on Monday to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Gen. Ilker Basbug.
Ashkenazi also participated in a NATO terrorism conference on the sidelines where he met privately with Basbug and Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul. […]
Ashkenazi discussed regional security issues with a focus on Iran’s nuclear program as well as the rearmament of Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. […]
Ashkenazi’s trip on Monday is the first visit by an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] chief of staff since the 2005 visit by Dan Halutz. […]
“This visit is on the military-strategic level, not a diplomatic level. The Turks are not hiding it and neither are we,” [said Israel Defense Forces spokesman Avi Benayahu].
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from the archives:
excerpts from: Halutz, Turkish officials discuss Iranian threat during visit
by Metehan Demir, Jerusalem Post, 23 December 2005
During a one-day working visit to Ankara [on December 22, 2005, Israeli army chief Dan] Halutz met with his Turkish counterpart Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, and discussed common concerns such as Islamist terrorism and Iran’s suspicious nuclear activities.
A briefing presented by the Turkish military laid out Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles (the Shihab 4 and 5) which could reach Turkish territory. Halutz was told that Iran causes uncertainty and risk for Turkey as well as the region. […] [T]he international community should step up pressure on Iran to give up these dangerous attempts, members of the Turkish General Staff added.
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from the archives:
excerpts from: UAE daily says Turkey agrees to Israeli exercises near Iranian borders
E’temad website, 28 December 2005 (via BBC Monitoring, 29 December 2005)
According to the agreement reached by the Joint Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Dan Halutz, and Turkish officials, Israel is to carry out various military manoeuvres in the areas that border Iran and Syria. [Dan Halutz] had gone to Turkey a few days earlier. […]
The Israeli side made the request to carry out the manoeuvres because of the difficulty of passage in the mountain terrains close to Iran’s borders in winter. […]
The [Hakkari and Bolu] units are the most important of Israel’s special military units and are charged with fighting terrorism and carrying out guerrilla warfare. Earlier Turkey had agreed to Israeli pilots being trained in the area bordering Iran.
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excerpts from: CIA’s Goss reportedly warned Ankara of Iranian threat
Dunya, 13 December 2005
During his recent visit to Ankara, CIA Director Porter Goss […] asked Ankara to be ready for a possible US air operation against Iran and Syria.
Goss, who came to Ankara just after FBI Director Robert Mueller’s visit, […] Goss first told Ankara that Iran has nuclear weapons and this situation was creating a huge threat for both Turkey and other states in the region. […]
The second dossier is about Iran’s stance on terrorism. The CIA argued that Iran was supporting terrorism, the PKK and al-Qaeda.
The third had to do with Iran’s alleged stance against Ankara. Goss said that Tehran sees Turkey as an enemy and would try to ‘export its regime’.
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http://www.tsk.tr/eng/konusma/gnkurIIncibsk_atckonusmasiogleyemegi_eng__06062005.htm
Luncheon remarks by General Ilker Basbug, Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff
“Like other countries and especially the United States, we have been following Iran’s nuclear efforts with serious concern. Turkey can never welcome an Iran who possesses nuclear weapons. The nuclear states axis starting from North Korea, passing through Iran and extending to other possible powers in our region poses sensitivity on part of Turkey.”
[Turkey’s Deputy Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug, speech at the American-Turkish Council’s annual conference, Washington DC, 6 June 2005. On August 2008, General Basbug became the head of Turkey’s armed forces ]
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related documents:
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/csis-report-turkey-would-be-the-optimum-route-for-a-possible-israeli-attack-on-iran/
excerpts from: Study on a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear development facilities
by Abdullah Toukan, Anthony H.Cordesman and Arleigh A. Burke
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 16 March 2009
“A military strike by Israel against Iranian Nuclear Facilities is possible and the optimum route would be along the Syrian-Turkish border then over a small portion of Iraq then into Iran, and back the same route. […]
If the Israeli aircraft do actually fly over Turkey that would constitute a clear Turkish – Israel and even U.S. conspiracy to attack Iran, so the Political risks could be high with Turkey.
Operationally, the risk from Syria would be low, whereas the risk from Turkey could be of medium level if Turkey deems it necessary to react militarily.”
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL06691733
Turkey‘s Gul says Israeli raid a “closed matter”
Reuters, 6 November 2007
“It is no easy thing to discover that combat jets from a friendly state [i.e. Israel] have penetrated your skies overnight. It is good that you apologised, even though the apology was late. As we see it, the matter is closed and we hope that it will not be repeated in the future”
[Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul, commenting on the September 2007 Israeli Air Force bombing raid on Syria through Turkey, interview with Israel’s Maariv newspaper, 6 November 2007]
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Dandelion Salad 
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It’s truly shocking to see that even supposed friends to Iran, such as Turkey and Russia, are busy stabbing Iran in the back. To help Israel prepare for an attack on Iran and Syria by allowing them to perform military exercises on the borders of Iran is a very, very hostile act.
What is equally shocking is to see that the ‘antiwar community’, assuming that there still can be said to be such a thing, continues to largely reject the notion that we are on the verge of yet another major war based on lies. This is an indication of the utter, crushing defeat that the Left has suffered in America. WE HAVE BEEN UTTERLY DEFEATED AND WE CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE THIS, and as a result we carry on as before, as if there weren’t a gigantic, flaming problem. And what makes this all the more sad is that the potential power of the Left is greater than it has ever been. Vast majorities in society are fully aware that the system stinks. They are looking for answers. They are DESPERATE for answers.
There has never been a time when the Left was more needed, but coopted ‘leaders’, from Markos to Obama (in many cases the Left has accepted as leaders people who NEVER were progressives) has stifled the Left. It seems to be a version of the Stockholm Syndrome. Beaten down for decades now, many FauxGressives have chosen to side with their tormenters. How else does one explain the fanatical lefty and progressive devotion to deep-dyed DLC types like Obama? This man has spit in the face of everything we believe in. He has dared to evoke the name of MLK while making a pro-war speech at Nobel, and still many on the left cling to him with a kind of desperation. And EVEN NOW, those who are aware enough to oppose Obama are smeared as “racist” by their ‘friends’ on the Left. Do you for one moment think that Martin Luther King would not fervently oppose Obama were he with us today? Can you possibly be so delusional that you think King would support this man?
How sad it is that a group has finally made a desperate public plea to the antiwar movement to please, please, finally come to your senses and realize that we MUST oppose the coming war against Iran …
… much thanks to Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) for taking this step, which shouldn’t have been necessary, but which nonetheless was necessary.
Thanks, phil. I posted the CASMII press release and edited the link you suggested. We must speak out BEFORE going into another war.
Good comment!
But this is like, nostalgia. Jerry Rubin was assimilated long ago and died a yuppie, Abbie offed himself perhaps when there was clearly no hope.
Tho it seems one doesn’t have to be born a leftist to be antiwar anymore, that last input by Paul hints that there may indeed be common cause on this one all-critical survival issue in some buried belated limbic self-preservation instinct, even if, as per the right wing, it’s based in selfishness not compassion (tho Dr. Paul is indeed a doctor, OK Lo, I’m trying!).
But back to this geopolitical gastrointestinal glob of ghastly gore, exactly why is Turkey interested in this Trojan Horse against Iran in concert with the pentagon? Didn’t they just disown us over nailing them for their holocaust against Armenians?
This is why I’m retiring from politics, it’s off the hook irrational.
Conservatives just need to be convinced that ‘defense’ is obsolete, waste of revenue and therefore should be cut from the budget.
RIGHT???
Thanks, Natureboy, you’ve come a long way. Congrats on being more open-minded.
We need to put our differences away and concentrate on the most important issues, like ending the wars/military aggression. Who cares what one’s reason is for ending wars.