Without Naming Him, Turkish Army Chief Attacks Cheney as Terrorist Sponsor

June 1, 2007 (LPAC)--"There are countries directly and/or indirectly supporting PKK terrorism, among our allies", said Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit on Thursday May 31, 2007 during a international symposium on security in Istanbul.

As reported in The New Anatolian, Buyukanit didn't mention any country by name, but he said that terrorism against Turkey is "supported by those who give us lessons on human rights." The New Anatolian concludes that the General was talking about certain NATO countries, but fails to mention the obvious, that the Kurds have been the darlings of Dick Cheney and the Neocons.

Buyukanit continued: "Countries use a double standard in combating terrorism, and turn a blind eye to activities of persons or organizations that do not stage terrorist attacks on their own territories.

He also criticized NATO turning a blind eye to the manipulation by ethnic separatism aimed at dismantling nation-states: "Some of our allies focus on terrorism stemming from fundamentalist trends. Actually, terrorism cannot be defined in this way. Terrorism is also fed by separatist nationalist tendencies. This kind of terrorism is as dangerous as the first one. However, some countries consider such kind of terrorism a domestic problem. This is an extremely dangerous approach since it seriously hampers the fight against terrorism.... The ethnic nationalist fascist terrorist organization PKK is an example of this."

Buyukanit also opposed the American move to handover the security responsibilities of northern Iraq to the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil, saying: "Such special status for the Kurds is noteworthy, and we feel is inappropriate." However, the General denied any military build up in southeastern Turkey by Turkish Armed Forces on the border with Iraq. He said these reports are false and harmful. Buyukanit had said in a press conference on April 12 that there is a need for a cross-border operation into the north of Iraq against PKK bases.