KurdistanObserver.com
Terrorist Turkey Goes After Kurdish Guerrilla ... And Kill
200 Sheep?
By Gordon Taylor
31, 2007
HNN
Mr. Taylor is a former teacher in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan the author of
Fever and Thirst: An American Doctor Among the people of Kurdistan. Academy
Chicago Publishers, 2005.
Two weeks ago, the Turkish Air Force launched fifty jets, most of them
Lockheed-Martin F-16s, toward targets in the Kandil Mountains of Southern
Kurdistan. In the following hours, according to bianet.org, some $20 million was
spent for fuel, bombs, and missiles, twelve villages were damaged, and five PKK
Kurdish guerrillas were killed along with two civilians. Doing the math, we see
that ten F-16s were needed to kill one guerrilla, giving us a cost of $4 million
per guerrilla.
For veteran Turkey-watchers none of this was a surprise; nor should it be for
anyone who monitors our own “defense” spending. The Turkish Armed Forces have
been doing exactly this sort of thing to Kurdish villages for decades, sometimes
with planes and helicopters, but most of the time with forces on the ground.
This time, however, because they crossed into Iraq, American newspapers took an
interest. In a Tuesday 2/18 editorial, the Boston Globe called the Turks' attack
"worse than useless," and similar editorials have appeared in the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer. In Istanbul, the pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur Gundem, now
confined to an Internet-only edition after repeated closures by the Turkish
government, has made good use of the Globe editorial, especially its conclusion
that: "Bush ought to urge Turkey to make the PKK superfluous by granting full
cultural and linguistic rights to the Kurds and developing the impoverished
Kurdish region of southeast Turkey." (Hey, it's a start.)
The civilian casualties, by the way, have been confirmed by the UNHCR, so you
don't have to worry about believing the Turks when they say that no civilians
were harmed. About 1800 villagers have been displaced. And there were other
casualties. Agence France-Presse added: "According to the HCR, more than 200
head of animals also perished in the raid."
Now this is interesting. In other words, the F-16s killed only 7 people, but
they blasted more than 200 animals. [Q: Does PETA know about this?] Most of
these animals would have been sheep and goats. Keep in mind the fact that,
despite Christmas legend, no shepherd in the Middle East would be caught dead
"keeping watch over his flocks by night" in the middle of December. It's just
too cold. Those 200 animals were not outside: they were underground, and
probably in the peasants' houses.
The latter is important, as night temperatures in those mountains now hit -15 C.
All traditional houses in Anatolia and Kurdistan contain subterranean stables
that are directly attached to the human living quarters, which are also
earth-sheltered. The massed animals (sheep, goats, cows) are thus a vital source
of heat for the human beings who live with them. In fact, the testimony of
19th-century travelers makes it clear that peasant houses during the winter
become like a steam bath, so efficient is this method of heating.
Here is another consideration. The American military has been giving the Turks
"real-time" intelligence about the PKK locations. Prior to the Turks' air
strikes, our guys reportedly detected "movement" and evidence of "meetings," and
it was on that evidence that the Turks struck. What kind of sensors provided
that evidence? We can assume that the Americans use infrared sensors, which
detect heat. Thus the more warm bodies detected, the greater the threat,
especially if those warm bodies are walking together to a central meeting place.
Are we beginning to get the drift?
Try this scenario. The scene: Ops HQ, Diyarbakir Air Base, Turkey. The phone
rings. Capt. Mehmet Fubar, Turkish Air Forces, picks up. It is Col. Bart
Guanaco, USAF, calling from an orbiting AWACS:
Fubar: Hello!
Guanaco: That you M'met?
Fubar: Bart dearest! How does scope look?
Guanaco: Incredible, amigo. A real bingo party down there.
Fubar: Binko? What is?
Guanaco: Bandits all over the screen: one o'clock, three o'clock, you
name it.
Fubar: Please speaking English, dearest Bart.
Guanaco: M'met, I think we got us a PKK meetin' goin' on.
Fubar: Really! Tell me!
Guanaco: Amazing. They think they can go underground and hide, but these
dudes are givin’ off so much heat they must be havin’ an orgy. Listen: here's
the coordinates...
And the rest is history.
Far-fetched? You tell me: how else you manage to kill only seven human beings
and over 200 sheep?
