 |
| infognomonpolitics |
The recent statements by former Turkish premier Mesut Yilmaz, who told the “Birgun” daily in Turkey that during the leadership of his arch rival Tansu Ciller, (from 1995 to 1998) secret
service agents from his country were responsible for the fires that
literally wiped out many of Greece's forests certainly caused a raucus
in Greece, but it was an issue that was known in diplomatic circles for a
very long time. The news shocked the international community,
triggering strong reactions, while in Greece it angered many citizens
(especially those who lost their homes and their loved ones). At the
same time an unprecedented amount of information began to surface about
this "grey period" in recent Greek history and many stories about
espionage and a secret wars between the two countries were published
that if examined carefully create the perfect Hollywood movie.
Hellasfrappe
was following the flood of information and recently watched a televised
news show which hosted author and publisher Savas
Kalenteridis. The latter is probably the most knowledgeable man on this
subject and we were shocked and horrified when he bluntly said that
this operation was executed because of the Greek stance of the Kurdish
issue.
Who is Kalenteridis.
Ok... in February 1999, Savas Kalenteridis had the rank of colonel and
was part of the Greek secret services. His mission, claims a separate
report on the filologos10 blog
was to collect and process information that concerned Turkey. He was
also the man that accompanied Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish
liberation movement PKK, from Greece to Kenya. Ocalan was later
arrested and when the case ended, Kalenteridis resigned from the
Hellenic Armed Forces, as well as from the secret services.
As
an expert in his field, Kalenteridis recently published a book that
analyzes the Turkish secret services (MIT). The book is described as
being the only book of its sort globally.
Kalenteridis
gave the most simplistic and realistic reasons why the fires were set
and who was responsible for them. According to him, in the mid 90s the
Turkish forces were battling with Kurdish rebels in what was known then
as the so-called Turkish Kurdistan (now known as northern Kurdistan) and
because it was difficult for the Turkish army to defeat the Kurdish
rebels, they set fire to thousands of villages and communities in this
area forcing millions of people to flee the region for safety.
The
rebels obviously put up a strong fight, and when the Turkish army could
not face off with them, they once again went on a rampage setting fires
to many forests in the framework of smoking out the rebels who had
sought refuge there. In retaliation the Kurdish rebels began to set fire
to forests in the Western part of Turkey that were close to military
compounds hurting top security facilities.
Turkey
did not take this very well and concluded that these fires were set by
Greek officials (never once considering that it could be another force)
and thus a secret operation was set up that later set ablaze several
islands in the Eastern Aegean as well as in Athens, and a little later
on in Thessaloniki and destroying thousands upon thousands of acres of
Greek forestland.
He
says the fires had two goals. The first was to make the relevant
islands in the Aegean barren of forestland for operational purposes
(forests are an obstacle for Turkish designs on these islands). The
second aim was to make them "unattractive" to tourists so that tourists
can rather choose the coastal resorts in Turkey instead. (It must be
noted that during the 90s Turkey was just beginning to develop its
tourism industry).
But
to better understand who and what sort of actions were involved here
and what sort of groups took part in these operations, you have to first
understand Turkey, claims Kalenteridis. He claims that the whole operation was under the absolute control of
the Turkish State with the written approval of the National Security
Council (EPC) (whether this involved the smuggling of narcotics, illegal weapons, or even human trafficking).
These mechanisms, involving notorious members of the Turkish mafia and
the radical group "Grey Wolves", as will be discussed below, were used
by
the Turkish government to burn forests in the Eastern Aegean,
Athens and Thessaloniki as well as for intimidating and even
assassinating thousands of prominent Kurdish personalities.
(Please
watch the videos to get a better understanding of this case, after you
read the article. Of special interest is what is said in videos 1, 2 and
6)
WHY YILMAZ DECIDED TO SPILL THE BEANS
Afchan Tsarkin is one of the bodyguards of MP Sedat Entip Boutzak, a
special unit of the Turkish police, who according to his own
confession participated in hundreds of killings of ordinary Kurdish
citizens, and was accused of being involved in the assassination of Omer
Lioutfou
Topal, King of Casino Turkey.
In early 2011,
Tsarkin, began to speak out about the operations of the Turkish secret
services which he said murdered ordinary people and celebrities from the
Kurdish national
liberation movement. As a result, a prosecutor ordered
the arrest of several of his colleagues, and has opened a new round of
investigations into this case as well as the length of involvement
of the Turkish state.
Within these
discussions, a journalist by the name of Birgkioun Enver Afsever,
interviewed Yilmaz, who attempted to present himself as an opponent of
such methods and practices, and the issue of the fires were revealed, as
was the cover-up that followed.
Yilmaz probably inadvertently made
the
reference to the burning of Greece's forests and following the reaction
his statements made in Athens he was forced to "reword" his initial
statement.
This
of course does not erase how and why the fires occurred. But to
understand this, and the mechanisms used to execute these fires you have
to first come to grips with how the mafia and the Turkish secret
services worked back then. We will refer to some indicative cases, as
noted by Kalenteridis, where the
players have participated in various missions that were assigned to them
by the Turkish state, including burning Greek forests, as they
themselves admit.
MEHMET AGAR AND THE GREEN PASSPORTS
Mehmet
Agar, was General Manager of Security in Turkey and later became the
Minister of
Interior and Minister of Justice. He was Tansu Ciller's right hand man
as well as served on the side of her husband
Ozer Ciller (who coordinated the activities of all the para-state
mechanisms in Turkey). As General Director of Security in Turkey, and as
Minister of Interior, Agar allocated more than 200 permits for firearms
to
many members of the Turkish mafia, as well as issued a number of green
passports to senior officials. He also gave them badges to help them
across Turkish territory, while passports allowed them to get visas
easily and not become a suspect of the countries they visited. The same
tactic was adopted by MIT and the
General Staff for their operations abroad. These very same documents
were found on the Turkish agents
who planted bombs and eventually set Greece ablaze.
THE CASE OF YASAR OZ
The case of Yasar Oz is indicative of the methods
used by the Turkish state to recruit and assign tasks to members of the
Mafia. In a separate report on infognomonpolitics Kalenteridis
tells us that he is an executive
of the notorious Grey Wolves Mafia group used by the Turkish state for
the movement and
trade of narcotics to many European countries. Yasar Oz, was one of the
henchmen of Mehmet Agar, and although he was on Turkey's most wanted
list for drug trafficking, he suspiciously had official state documents,
a gun license as well as a green passport.
He was arrested in January 1994 by Costantinopole authorities for carrying a firearm and for the passport that was issued in his name as well as for being associated with the most notorious drug merchant and official partner of MIT, Tariq Oumit.
He was arrested in January 1994 by Costantinopole authorities for carrying a firearm and for the passport that was issued in his name as well as for being associated with the most notorious drug merchant and official partner of MIT, Tariq Oumit.
When
Mehmet Agar found out about Yasar Oz's arrest he personally telephoned
police deputy Mesta Sener, and asked that Oz be released immediately
because
he had to execute important missions that were entrusted to him by the
state.
One of the missions, says Kalenteridis
was to organize the assassination of a dissident. In his testimony,
Tzouneit Signteniz (a
member of the terrorist Turkish Revenge Brigades who was later
arrested) said that he gave Yasar Oz a passport and organized the
attempted murder
of Turkish Alevi political refugee Nazif Bostantzi in London, in
December
1994.
Yasar Oz was also assigned other tasks. On December 6, 1995, while trying to sell a large quantity of heroin to buyers, who were members of the US Anti Narcotics Squad (DEA), he escaped arrest while his colleagues Erdal Aydın, Mehmet Ercengiz and Metin Dokur were arrested. According to Kalenteridis, Yasar Oz was released after the Turkish secret services intervened and came into agreement with US officials.
Yasar Oz was also assigned other tasks. On December 6, 1995, while trying to sell a large quantity of heroin to buyers, who were members of the US Anti Narcotics Squad (DEA), he escaped arrest while his colleagues Erdal Aydın, Mehmet Ercengiz and Metin Dokur were arrested. According to Kalenteridis, Yasar Oz was released after the Turkish secret services intervened and came into agreement with US officials.
After
the accident in Susurluk on November 9, 1996 which killed Abdullah
Tsatli (a relative by marriage to Oz and team
leader of the mafia, who had an office in the building of the National
Assembly of Turkey (!) ) a prosecutor finally issued a warrant for his
arrest "for possession of weapons and explosives" and for "drug
trafficking", etc.
Eventually Yasar Oz voluntarily surrendered on March 8, 1997.
Eventually Yasar Oz voluntarily surrendered on March 8, 1997.
Just before he gave himself in, he showed reporters on live television his firearms
license that was signed by Interior Minister Mehmet Agar, a valid
identification with photograph in the name Turan
Altınörs, a valid driving license in the name Cenap Aksan and green
passport that was issued in his name. And it was here that he said the almighty line that sent the whole case ablaze... "When we
were sent to burn Greek forests we were useful, now we have to go jail."
BOMBS IN RHODES AND ATHENS
Surprisingly
through Kalenteridis we also discovered that these operations in Greece
were not only confined to setting fires, these mobsters apparently also
executed other missions as well, such as setting off a bomb explosion
on the island of Rhodes and in Athens at a busy railway station stop.
The
"groups", he says, were used in Greece to hurt Armenian and Kurdish
targets in Europe and since Ankara used these men in other "secret
operations" they had an immunity in Turkey that permitted them to do
other things such as develop their narcotics smuggling business. At some
point though, he notes, Turkish officials lost their control over them
and therefore began making massive arrests.
ASSASSINATIONS
Turning
to other types of operations, Kalenteridis claims that a personality by
the name of Gelsint (phonetic spelling) who was used by Turkish
officials for hundreds of assassinations of prominent Kurdish
personalities, entered Greece with his associates and decended to Athens
to assassinate navy official Mr. Naxarchi (who was involved with the
Kurdish rebel movement). Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) these men
were stopped by the Greek traffic police, and for reasons which are
still unknown Greek authorities allowed them to return to Turkey even
though they discovered illegal weapons and other such devices in their
poccession.
Other
assassinations linked to these "operational organs" in Greece, notes
Kalenteridis are the case of the head of Asala (the Secret Armenian
Liberation Army) Agkop Agkopian (phonetic
spelling) who was murdered in Athens in 1988. And there is also the
case of Theofylos Georgiadis, says Kalenteridis who was murdered by
members of the Cypriot mafia who sold their souls to these very same
Turkish mobsters for a few kilos of heroin.
THE CASE OF KAHRAMAN
A long-standing columnist for the Hurriyet and Milliet newspapers, a beloved personality of Turkey's "para-state" and protige of Tsolasan Emin (Emin Colasan), said in his book "So I did journalism: What I experienced," (published in 2005 by Doga version under "Kahraman) mentioned a discussion he had held with an agent of MIT, who was codenamed Sabah Ketene.
After talking about his participation in the struggle against the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and the group that placed bombs in Erbul (the capital of the autonomous state of Soth Kurdistan or northern Iraq) Ketene, also spoke about his participation in terrorist activities organized and performed by MIT in Greece
A long-standing columnist for the Hurriyet and Milliet newspapers, a beloved personality of Turkey's "para-state" and protige of Tsolasan Emin (Emin Colasan), said in his book "So I did journalism: What I experienced," (published in 2005 by Doga version under "Kahraman) mentioned a discussion he had held with an agent of MIT, who was codenamed Sabah Ketene.
After talking about his participation in the struggle against the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and the group that placed bombs in Erbul (the capital of the autonomous state of Soth Kurdistan or northern Iraq) Ketene, also spoke about his participation in terrorist activities organized and performed by MIT in Greece
Emin says in his book that: "After we sent the materials separately, we moved
to this country (Greece). We put some bombs in tourist areas, which are
emptied of tourists immediately after the explosions. In the capital, a
bomb exploded in front of the subway and people panicked. Then, if you
noticed, in this country many fires broke out." The writer continued by saying "what a shame to our beautiful
forests. But with all this, our neighbor, which sabotages us will find our that the
price for sowing what it reaps is expensive."
Although recruited and trained by MIT, Ketene, who was a Turkmen from Southern Kurdistan, was killed by Kurds in Kirkuk in 2006!
Although recruited and trained by MIT, Ketene, who was a Turkmen from Southern Kurdistan, was killed by Kurds in Kirkuk in 2006!
ASYMETRIC THREATS
Was Mr. Vyron Polydoras right when in 2007 he spoke of "asymmetric threats"? Kalenteridis
says that this term is not without merits. "In 2007, when there were
ongoing fires in the Peloponnese and Evia, some tried to burn Hymettus."
He says that a barrage of parallel and misleading phone calls were made
to the fire department and every time forces arrived on the scene, they
were shocked and horrified to discover that the fires were
non-existent. This created a havoc in the fire department's attempt to
battle the flames that summer since forces were disbursed all over
Greece and were not centered in one area together. The calls were not
traced but Kalenteridis says that officials believe that there was a center which directed
these actions with the expertise not to leave any traces.
Therefore, he says, it was an organized attack/plan.
In his expert opinion, he says the plan was developed and implemented by an enemy of the state, or by a
foreign country.
CONCLUSION
We
propose that you watch all six videos. We guarantee you that you will
be numb with awe...as we are. In a democratic society and with
everything that
Kalenteridis as well as all these other men have described in the
videos, issues such as these would be handled
politically (at the highest level), but in Greece there were just
several statements made and aside from the blogs the mainstream media
more or less buried the subject right away.
No further words are necessary.... we here at hellasfrappe are still in shock.
References
Posts
