Nice Try Azerbaijan!

[bell-the-cat]

PS - it rained on me yesterday. Who can I blame? And I got mild sunburn on my nose last week - who can I blame? MHP did it, I bet.

[Joseph]

It would be so laughable if it were not so pathetic.

And the nonsense is spreading. Turkey blaming the PKK for the numerous fires that burned out of control along the Aegean coast this summer.

Don't the poor Greeks have anyone they can blame for their summer fires and their inability to control them?

Last week there was a big fire on the Armenian side of the border opposite Ani. The whole border area was jet-black by the time I saw it. I was told that much fun was had on the Turkish side watching the Russian border guards struggle to put it out while their compatriots struggled to breath atop their watchtowers. 'They will be blaming us for starting it', knowingly joked one of the locals to me.

What I find really interesting about the Azeri accusations are the following:

1. The areas of Aghdam that were in flames this summer had already been destroyed in 1993 during the war. There's really not much left of Aghdam and it environs to burn and I would not think it's likely that a single Azeri has remained within Aghdam to witness the fires firsthand much less how they started.
2. Armenians would have just as much to lose by starting fires in areas where they are now planting crops (in close proximity, just west of Aghdam)
3. Armenian forces do not control the wind and a change of direction could have spelled disaster to Armenians. Why would they put their own in danger?
4. The OSCE has come to the same conclusion with the above.

[Hovik]

Nonsense is spreading true, but you are the one that is spreading it. First PKK's side-kick Kurdistan Freedom Fighters-TAK has already claimed the attacks on the forests. Besides even if they did not, it does not take a genuis to comprehend that a forest can not start to burn from seperate 40 places without the intervention of a force expect nature. Please speak some sense or do some research before you talk for god's sake.....

El,
can you post a link (english) to the TAK's claim of responsibility in the news... if so, there's nothing further to discuss on the Turkish fires

[elendil]

One from Kurdish Media to be unsided

http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=13160

Targets and tactics of the TAK

The top priority targets are the military bureaucracy, economy and tourism, while terror of state is not stopped . The TAK stated that they will revenge the murder of 13 thousand people, Semdinli, the killing of the young boys in August and the oppression of the Turkish state.

The military bureaucracy is seen as the oppressive system against the Kurds. And therefore is justified as a target. This can also be seen in the attacks of the PKK. The economy is seen as the main supply basis for weapons of the oppressive system. Since the Turkish military can buy weapons because of the Turkish tax payers, the economy is seen as a justified target. This was shown in the attacks on OYAK Bank, a pension fund for the Turkish military[9].

Tourism is seen as ‘one of the most important sources which feeds the dirty and special war, so it is one of the first targets that we will attack’ by the TAK. Therefore the TAK warned tourists to visit Turkish area’s in Turkey. The Turkey earns about one-third of it’s export income from tourism[10].

TAK justify their actions by stating that the Kurdish people are in a risk of destruction and are at war. It looks the TAK wants to fight against the Turkish state by all means.

The TAK operations mostly consists of bomb attacks with IED s (Improvised Explosive Devices)[11] . TAK is even giving instructions on their website how to make bombs and call the Kurdish youth for doing everything they can to destroy Turkey. Until now they used IED s in trash cans, banks, police stations, water bottles, civilian busses. They also claimed 23 forest fires in Turkey and an arson attack on the Ataturk airport in Istanbul.

But according to TAK only a part of their attacks were reflected in the press, but were shown as short-circuits of electricity or as compression of gas. This had the goal to mislead the public opinion.

TAK also states that it fights against Turkish assimilation. The ironic thing is that their website is in Turkish. Why not in Kurdish?

Another from Turkish media

http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-13422.html

Terrorist group claims responsibility for forest fires

The New Anatolian / Ankara
25 August 2006

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A terrorist Kurdish group yesterday claimed responsibility for the recent fires that have engulfed Turkey's southern forests.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claimed responsibility for the fires that started over the weekend in several different locations in the country's southern forests.

The TAK is a terrorist group and a volatile, hard-line subordinate of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), operating throughout Turkey. Most TAK attacks have been directed against tourist areas in Istanbul, Ankara, and southern coastal resort areas. In the first three months of this year they claimed responsibility for eight bombings that killed two and injured 47.

However the PKK yesterday denied any connections with the TAK and the recent forest fires. Top PKK figure Murat Karayilan said his organization has no connection with the TAK.

The fire in Antalya's southern Kas district has continued to burn furiously through a national park famous for its wildlife for six days, as conditions have made it hard for firefighting teams to reach the fire. Officials said conditions only allow them to work to extinguish the fire by helicopter, which, they said, has hindered their efforts to put out the fire quickly.

Police are investigating the possibility of arson, but Environment Ministry officials have said that the fires were due to the high temperatures.

There were earlier claims by several political parties that the fires were set by terrorist groups. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy head Mehmet Sandir on Wednesday claimed that the fires were started by terrorists.

"The fires are the activities of the terrorist organization. The PKK, encouraged by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and the prime minister's remarks, is challenging Turkey," argued Sandir.

Greenpeace's Mediterranean spokesperson Yesim Aslan, regarding the PKK claims of responsibility for the fires, said, "Whatever the cause, crimes committed against the environment can't be forgiven. Environmental crimes can never be justified."

Nihat Gokyigit, head of the Turkish Foundation for Reforestation, Protection of Natural Habitats and Combating Soil Erosion (TEMA), said, "It's not right to believe the claims of the terrorist organization before the probe into the incident is completed."

The fire in Kas yesterday continued into its sixth day. Officials said that the fire in Bodrum had been extinguished and six helicopters and numerous teams are fighting other continuing fires.

Main opposition: Govt failing in fire fighting

Visiting the region, Republican People's Party (CHP) Izmir deputy Turkan Micoogullari claimed that the government hasn't taken necessary measures against the fires.

"There were more planes and helicopters in the region previously. But because the government didn't renew the contracts, they couldn't be deployed in the region this year," said Micoogullari.

Asserting that previously there were five firefighting fleets in the regions, Micoogullari asked why those fleets had been deployed to other places.

[elendil]

it rained on me yesterday. Who can I blame? And I got mild sunburn on my nose last week - who can I blame? MHP did it, I bet.

Simply read my last post and talk again....

[Gavur]

Don't forget TAC also claimed this which turned out to be false.
http://www.armeniangenocide.com/foru...ead.php?t=1759

[elendil]

Don't forget TAC also claimed this which turned out to be false.
http://www.armeniangenocide.com/foru...ead.php?t=1759

I give up. 40 forest fires were caused by the symetric ignorance of Turkish fire fighters and the allied assault of camp makers of Turkey at the same time.
Let's just close the subject I apologize for trying to explain....

[Joseph]

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=26340

Azerbaijan’s fuss over fires is merely propagandistic
16.06.2008 17:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Azerbaijani side has made it a rule to accuse the Karabakhi side of committing arsons in the near-border territories, as a result of which the fires allegedly spread over to the Azerbaijani side.

“Actually, everything is to the contrary. One of the main reasons of early fires is the burning of the harvest remains by Azeri farmers. On the Azerbaijani side the harvest ripens two weeks earlier than in the NKR, which is conditioned by the climatic zone. In dry and hot weather the anabatic wind prevailing in our zone quickly spreads the fire from the Azerbaijani territory to the territory of the NKR. It is no coincidence that every year the fires start when the harvest of the grain crops in Azerbaijan’s flat regions bordering the NKR is over,” said NKR Minister of Agriculture Armo Tsaturian, the NKR permanent representative office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

“The fuss made by the Azerbaijani side over the fires is merely propagandistic. If Azerbaijan were really anxious about the early fires, it wouldn’t have rejected the recommendations worked out as a result of the visit to the region of the OSCE-led Environmental Assessment Mission to fire-affected territories in 2006. The mission refuted all the accusations of the Azerbaijani side and gave some recommendations on prevention of fires and joint struggle against them. However, neither of them was implemented through Azerbaijan’s fault. Moreover, official Baku even refused to participate in the meeting to discuss the results of the mission and the report prepared by it. Such a stance of the official Baku convincingly demonstrates Azerbaijan’s real motives in initiating the discussion of fires in political organizations,” he said.