Saturday, May 30, 2009

SOROS is CIA/MI6, CHANG and McKINNEY...


SOROS is CIA/MI6, CHANG and McKINNEY...

In May 2009, we read an article by Cynthia McKinney, who was the Green Party candidate for president, of the USA.

The Economy, From Soros and Greenspan to Napoleon's Waterloo, And a Tip of the Hat to Haiti, Too

Cynthia McKinney refers to the theory that a group of "Shadow Money-Lenders", including George Soros and Alan Greenspan, is trying to destabilize the world economy and install a "one-world government".

McKinney quotes Matthias Chang author of "The Shadow Money Lenders" :

"A policy of 'controlled chaos' will be implemented and we will witness in major cities of the USA, UK and Europe ... street battles, orchestrated by the Intelligence Services, between the white folks and the immigrant population.

"In the USA it will be against the Latinos and then the blacks . . .

"In the UK and Europe, it will be against mainly immigrants from Turkey, the Northern Mediterranean states and Pakistan and they are essentially Muslims.

"There is therefore, the added fuel of Islamic radicalism, which in the first place, was the creation of the Western intelligence services."


Matthias Chang, author of "The Shadow Money Lenders", is a Malaysian lawyer who was an adviser to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir's made a famous speech in 2003, in which 'he accused the Jews of world domination'.

Chang was behind a visit of a delegation of "9/11 truth" advocates to Malaysia in 2006.

The delegation was led by Michael Collins Piper, who has claimed that Israel was behind the JFK assasination.

Matthias Chang wrote:

"This War on Terror is the greatest military sideshow that distracted the American people from the financial rape and plunder of their economy and the destruction of their Constitution."

The Shadow Money Lenders: The Real Significance of The Fed's Zero.



The USA would be fine if it copied a country like Malta; or Switzerland.

The Maltese and Swiss are generally happy and do not waste money on wars.

The Maltese produce interesting beer and the Swiss make interesting cheese.

But, the USA has allowed itself to be run by people with names like Kissinger and Rockefeller.

What do they make?

Drive out the money lenders.

Matthias Chang, at Global Research, 26 December 2008, wrote: The Shadow Money Lenders: The Real Significance of The Fed’s Zero-Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP)

Among the points made (and this is a very rough paraphrase):

1. There are people we shall call the shadow money lenders, who make their money from lending money.

Wars, including the 'War on Terror', are launched to preserve the shadow money-lenders' political and military power.

The shadow money lenders are involved in financial manipulation.

They control the political leaders.

2. Central bankers can create money and this gives them power.

When there is large spending on armies and wars, lots of money is involved.

But there is always a danger that the system will collapse if people think that the dollars or pounds they hold have become worthless.

In the 1960s, the Vietnam War led to a fall in the value of the dollar.

3. In the early 1970s, Henry Kissinger got the Saudis and other Arab states to push up the price of oil.

The deal was that the oil had to be bought in dollars and the oil profits invested in the USA.

The dollar was saved for the time being.

4. In the 1980s, it was clear that US manufacturing had been neglected and that the Japanese and the Koreans were often more efficient at making things.

The shadow money lenders decided that industries could move to China and that the profits would be invested in bonds in the USA.

This propped up the dollar.

5. From the 1990s onwards, the shadow money lenders encouraged people to borrow vast sums of money and get deeper and deeper into debt.

Various fancy financial schemes were devised to make things look good.

It was like a giant pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme or 'fraud'.

Some bankers became very, very rich.

A lot of people owed too much money, considering their low incomes.

Imagine a family earning $400 a month and having to pay $500 a month in interest.

6. The bubble has now burst.

7. The interest now paid on US government bonds is almost zero.

So the Chinese, Japanese, Europeans and Arabs who have put vast sums of money into US government bonds are earning virtually no interest and they are seeing the possibility of a big fall in the dollar.

The low interest rate also encourages more borrowing and debt.

8. "The Shadow Money-Lenders and its military partner will impose martial law...

"Soon it will be the nationalization of the big corporations like GE, GM, Ford and Chrysler, all too big to be allowed to fail."

9. Henry Kissinger and others have talked of a New World Order.

10. "The shadow money lenders are in a desperate situation and they will start a world war to avoid the collapse of their system."

.

German American Bund 1938

Many of our top people are crooks.

Many are as evil and destructive as Hitler.

Many support a cruel form of feudalism.

It has taken some time for the mainstream media to reveal even a small part this situation.

What is going on?

Are most of our leaders paid for by the CIA?



German American Bund parade in New York City 1939.


scunnert-nation.blogspot/ drew our attention to John Pilger's article, 28 may 2009, entitled: THE DEPTH OF CORRUPTION

Among the points made by John Pilger (our comments in italics):

1. In the UK, there is currently a scandal concerning Members of Parliaments' tax evasion and fake mortgages.

This hides a deeper corruption which is linked to the politics of the USA.

2. British parliamentary democracy has been gradually destroyed.

As in the USA, the two main parties have almost identical policies

(eg support for the CIA, the Pentagon, Israel, American corporations, American Imperialism)

3. Many politicians are now revealed as personally crooked.

Their accomplices have been certain journalists and editors.

The public has been deceived by dishonest journalism and by opinion polls based on absurdly small samplings.




4. The lawless attack on Iraq, in 2003, was backed by the two main parties and by most of the media.

BBC journalist Andrew Marr (reportedly an agent of MI6) told BBC viewers that Blair had "said they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath, and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating. And on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right."





5. "When Blair’s army finally retreated from Basra in May, it left behind, according to scholarly estimates, more than a million people dead, a majority of stricken, sick children, a contaminated water supply, a crippled energy grid and four million refugees.

"As for the 'celebrating' Iraqis, the vast majority, say Whitehall’s own surveys, want the invader out."

6. "And when Blair finally departed the House of Commons, MPs gave him a standing ovation – they who had refused to hold a vote on his criminal invasion or even to set up an inquiry into its lies, which almost three-quarters of the British population wanted."

7. Blair committed the crime of deliberately planning the invasion of a country.

This is 'the supreme international crime' for 'which the Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was hanged at Nuremberg after proof of his guilt was located in German cabinet documents.'

In February 2009, Britain’s 'Justice' Secretary, Jack Straw, blocked publication of crucial cabinet minutes from March 2003 about the planning of the invasion of Iraq.

8. Parliament, the police and journalists are involved in the anti-democratic process.

On 9 April 2009, the BBC’s Newsnight programme "promoted the guilt of 12 'terrorists' arrested in a contrived media drama orchestrated by the Prime Minister himself."

All were later released without charge.....

Friday, May 29, 2009

Political storms more like Tsunamis...to come


Google search suggestions say it all about men and women (US version, run the UK ones for yourself)


"Netanyahu wants some sort of trade-off that links his concessions to the Palestinians to the U.S. dropping their soft line towards Iran," Dahlia Golan, professor of Government at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, told Xinhua.

"But she noted that Netanyahu and Obama's meeting in Washington made it very clear that Obama was not willing to agree to any trade-offs."

According to the correct and focused Chinaview, 29 May 2009-05-29, US-Israeli interests in the Mideast are mostly aligned

Obama and Netanyahu: Storm Clouds Ahead? ......NO way, it's pure fabrications and lies for the gullible......

"US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are mulling over a plan to impose sanctions against Israel if the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu implements its long-sought policy of countering Iran's nuclear activities by taking military action against the country." - US to abandon Israel over Iran?

US-Israel relations sink to new low



One Bilderberg attendee stated that, "Equity losses in 2008 were worse than those of 1929,” and that, “The next phase of the economic decline will also be worse than the '30s, mostly because the US economy carries about $20 trillion of excess debt. Until that debt is eliminated, the idea of a healthy boom is a mirage." - Investigative Author, Daniel Estulin Exposes Bilderberg Group Plans / The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy

The CIA is Destabilizing Pakistan, according to Col. (Retd.) Shuja Khanzada, writing in the Pakistan Daily, on 29 April 2009.

Among the points made:

1. Various forces are causing trouble in Pakistan, and these forces include the CIA.

2. The CIA is assisted by RAW (Indian intelligence), MI6 and Mossad in Balochistan.

3. Former Russian KGB people are involved, as they have scores to settle with both ISI (Pakistan intelligence) and the CIA.

4. The region is infested with a variety of Taliban, CIA Taliban, Mullah Omer Taliban, KGB Taliban, Punjabi Taliban, ISI Taliban, warlords of the Mujahideen, drug cartels, 'al Qaeda' terrorist CIA groups, extreme religious Saudi financed fanatics, mercenaries and foreign troops all interlinked to one another, each trying to rule, plunder, loot and kill...

5. The CIA dominates Pakistan's and Lebanon's ruling class....for decades.....

Secret Iraqi prisoner 'rape' photos Obama wants blocked

U.S. Military Investigator Confirms Women and Children Were Raped At Abu Ghraib

Active and retired top military brass met to discuss what really happened on 9/11

World Markets Freak Out After Treasury Yields Spike

Sotomayor's Jewish ties

Arab+Muslim Politicking.....

Among many major misconceptions pertaining to Arabs and Muslims is the common belief that they are a weak-willed, irrelevant collective, easily influenced and effortlessly manipulated. This mistaken assumption underscores the very ailment that has afflicted United States foreign policy in the Middle East for generations.

As media pundits and commentators began their drum-rolling in anticipation of US President Barack Obama's speech in Egypt on Thursday, very few paid attention to the fact that Arabs and Muslims are not so naive as to be wooed by mere rhetoric, but that they are significant players in their own affairs, capable of resistance and change.

To begin with, it's underhanded and foolish to speak of one Arab and Muslim polity, as if geography, class, language and politics, among many other factors, are irrelevant attributes which are easily overlooked. Why is there an insistence on addressing Arabs and Muslims as one unified body - that is, the so-called "Muslim world" - that behaves according to specific rationale; predisposed to respond to the same stimuli? True, various groups within the Arab and Muslim collective share common history, language and religion, but even the same groups differ in historic interpretations, dialects and religious sects and frames of reference.

Why the reductionism? Is it true that a struggling North African immigrant in a French slum carries the same values, expectations and outlook on life as an wealthy, SUV-driving Arab in the Gulf? Does a poor Egyptian, grappling for recognition within a political body that has room for only the chosen few, relate to the world the same way as does a Malaysian Muslim with a wide range of opportunities, civic, economic and political?

Even within the same country, among the same people, adhering to the same religion, does the world mean the same, and will Obama's words in Egypt represent the unifying lexicon that will meet every Arab or a Muslim man or woman's aspirations? Can one lump together those who collaborated with those who resisted; those who exploited others and those who were exploited; those who had plenty and those who had none?

As the countdown to Obama's visit nears the highly anticipated day, pundits and polls are pouring in. A recent survey conducted by Shilbey Telhami and Zogby International was carried out in six Arab countries, each representing unique collective experiences that cannot be compared. The poll declared that Obama is popular among Arabs, yet Arabs are still skeptical of the US. It was learned that Iraq matters the most, followed by the Arab-Israeli conflict.

There is no denial that Arabs in various countries have major perceptions and expectations in common. But who is to say that there are not more commonalities between the poor of Egypt and Mexico, than the elites of Egypt and Pakistan? However, such assertion would be irrelevant for one main reason: Arabs and Muslims have been demonized collectively, targeted collectively and at times, victimized collectively. In other words, it's US foreign policy towards various Arab and Muslim collectives that largely explains the constant lumping of all Arabs and all Muslims into one single category.

Arabs and Muslims seem only relevant as a collective whenever the US is interested in carrying out a rhetorical policy shift, a war, a self-serving "democracy" campaign, and so forth. They are available as a collective to be duly demonized as "terrorist" or readily shunned for subscribing to the "wrong" religion.

David Schenker, writing for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy website was honest enough in explaining the significance of Obama's speech in Cairo. He pointed out that Iran is a major issue that Obama and moderate Arabs have in common. His explanation is straightforward: "Tehran's progress toward a nuclear weapon and its provision of material and ideological support for moqawama, or resistance, across the region is of grave concern to Washington and its moderate Arab allies."

According to the poll cited above, only a fraction of Arabs surveyed seem concerned by the Iranian nuclear program. This leaves Iran posing one major "threat", its support of resistance.

It's ironic that resistance, which is a universal right for any oppressed individual or collective, is being dealt with as a "grave concern". This explains, in part, the lingering illusion that continues to mar US foreign policy, and also highlight the common strength that Arab and Muslim masses continue to wield, their ability to resist. Amid the democracy programs that have appeared and disappeared in recent years - George W Bush's Middle East democracy project being one - none was an outcome of genuine and collective movements in Arab and Muslim nations. Such genuine movements, although in existence, are unpopular in Washington, for they seem inconsistent with US interests.

This leaves one last aspect of collective self-expression, again, resistance, in all of its manifestations. It's the root causes of Arab and Muslim resistance that are most deserving of analysis and understanding, as opposed to mere dismissal on the grounds that it's a "grave concern".

If Obama continues to approach Arabs and Muslims as one single collective, ready to be manipulated and wooed with bogus promises, fancy rhetoric and impressive body language, then he will surely be disappointed. Highly politicized, skeptical and, frankly, fed-up societies refuse to be reduced to a mere percentage in some opinion poll that can be swayed this way or that, whenever the US administration determines the time and place.

It's that incessant lack of depth that has caused the US so much grief in the Middle East, and will cost it even more if such imprudence persists. ......

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Humint Intelligence and Art






Wired magazine recently highlighted Kryptos, the James Sanborn sculpture sitting in the middle of the CIA (see the image on the right). While most intel professionals are very familiar with the story behind Kryptos, the article got me thinking again about intelligence and art. I don't mean to suggest anything as highbrow as "intelligence art" and certainly am not talking about the largely meaningless discussions that tend to revolve around the question "Is intelligence an art or a science?" I mean the resonance I feel with a certain piece of art when I look at it and contemplate the profession I study. Probably the most direct example of this is the work of Mark Lombardi. Lombardi is famous for his hand-drawn link diagrams of real events and supposed connections (see the image on the left). It is hard to look at his pieces and not sense that, at least for a while, you have been walking the same path together. He reportedly committed suicide due to the depression and anger he felt after one of his creations was destroyed when the sprinkler system unexpectedly went off in his apartment (a sentiment shared by any Mercyhurst students who have ever lost their link diagram to a bad flash drive or a computer crash...). Similar in some ways to the work of Lombardi are the intricate and wholly abstract three dimensional artworks of Janice Caswell. I love the way her work flows across walls and corners. It is almost as if she has developed an intricate analysis of all of the connections represented by some real world event and then removed the names of all of the actors and actions. Her work (see an example on the right) goes directly to a point I try to teach my students, though. We tend to hyperfocus on the facts and assumptions and logic -- the hard data -- inherent in whatever we are attempting to analyze. Whenever we try to visualize that information and analysis, however, we are also tapping into the nonlinear and largely inarticulate parts of our brains. Why did you put that in the center of your diagram? Why is his picture so large? Most of the connections seem to go around the sides of your nodes. Is that significant? Caswell validates, for me, the potential importance of listening to that subconscious voice, to try to hear what the quiet parts of my brain are trying to tell me. (By the way, if you like Caswell's art as much as I do, you should check out the 57 other artists featured at VisualComplexity.com). Another artist whose sculptural art echoes some of my own emotions when working on intelligence products are the paper-cut models of Jen Stark. These are really quite amazing constructions using nothing more than colored paper, patience and enormous creativity. I think I find them appealing because of the intricate layering and the odd angles and turns her works take (see an example to the left). The relationship of the last two artists, Paula Scher and Timothy Hutchings, to intel is easy to see -- its geographic. Scher, who I first saw at The Serious Play Conference last year, does these magnificent renderings of geography that are both very close and very distant to what it is that I study. To get a sense of this tension, I suggest that you take a look at some of the closeups of her work (see the map of South America on the right). Hutchings, on the other hand, does many different things with all sorts of materials (much of it abstract). The parts of his work that draw me closest, however, are the very familiar terrain tables (see an example below) he builds. It is hard to imagine, for most old Army guys like me, that the humble terrain table can be a work of art but Hutchings, in my mind, has done just that....

Saturday, May 9, 2009

58th Bilderberg meeting to be held in Greece, May 14-17



58th Bilderberg meeting to be held in Greece, May 14-17



The 2009 Bilderberg Group Conference will be held at the five-star Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece, May 14-17, according to author Daniel Estulin.

Insiders have told Estulin that rooms have been booked and flight plans made. He has also confirmed the location and dates with sources in Greece.

Estulin is the world’s foremost investigative authority on this annual secretive and exclusive assembly, having investigated and infiltrated their meetings for over 10 years. His books and reporting have helped to bring the powerful group out of the shadows, even directly affecting the very conduct and timing of the meetings . . . and encapsulating them in an even deeper shroud of secrecy.

The Bilderberg Group started meeting in 1954, with funding from the CIA, to gather together the top Western bankers, politicians, media barons, corporate CEOs and European royalty in annual gatherings for frank discussions on important issues of the day.

Promoting the first edition of his best-selling book, The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, Daniel came to the United States in the fall of 2007 and told audiences about the upcoming housing mess and resulting financial turmoil, with many homeowners owing far more than their properties were worth. On a similar tour in the spring of 2008, he announced that we were just a few months from financial calamity. These predictions were based upon his understanding of the international maneuvers of the Bilderberg Group. Though the people responded, the press was largely a no-show.

The same press then “failed” to report the year’s largest gathering of elites: the royalty, bankers, CEOs, media bigwigs and high government officials at the 57th annual Bilderberg meeting in June 2008. Daniel’s coverage of that meeting provides additional material for the new North American Union edition of The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, which has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide in 48 languages.

According to Estulin’s sources, here are a few of the talking points and concerns for this year’s meeting:

  • The future of the US dollar and US economy: The plan is for the Bilderberg Group players, through their allies in Washington and Wall Street to continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy. They are about to be set up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead. The bank “stress tests” now being conducted by Washington are little more than a shameless hoax based on the irrational assumption that the economy won’t get as bad as it already is!
  • US unemployment: Solutions and assumptions. (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.)

    Bilderberg is quietly assuming that US unemployment numbers will hover around 14 percent by the end of this year, far higher than the official numbers released by the US government.
  • Depression or a prolonged stagnation? (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.) Bilderberg is looking at two options: Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty . . . or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.
  • There will be a final push for the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty, pending on the Irish voting YES on the treaty in Sept or October. One of their concerns is addressing and neutralizing the anti-Lisbon treaty movement, called “Libertas,” led by Declan Ganley. One of the Bilderberger planned moves is to use a whispering campaign in the US media suggested that Ganley is being funded by arms dealers in the US linked to the US military.

Friday, May 1, 2009

General Staff denies any link with unearthed munitions

General Staff denies any link with unearthed munitions

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ held a press conference yesterday, discussing the hidden stockpiles of munitions that have been discovered during the course of the Ergenekon investigation.

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ has denied any possible link between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and various caches of munitions that have been found in shanty houses or buried underground since the start of the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow the government.

At a press conference he called yesterday at General Staff headquarters, Başbuğ said the ammunition and weapons unearthed so far in a number of cities do not belong to the TSK. “None of the weapons and ammunition found in excavations as part of a probe being conducted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office are registered in the TSK’s weapons’ inventory,” he stated.

Since the start of the Ergenekon investigation in July 2007, hand grenades, explosives, light anti-tank weapons (LAW), rocket launchers, Kalashnikov rifles, assault rifles, thousands of bullets and various other munitions have been discovered in secret depots or buried underground in various cities, including Eskişehir, Ankara and İstanbul. The latest discovery came when caches of arms were uncovered last week in İstanbul’s Poyrazköy area during excavations to uncover more ammunition and weapons as part of the Ergenekon investigation.

Claims emerged that these weapons and munitions were taken out of the arms depots of the TSK. Başbuğ, however, strongly denied the claims yesterday, saying that the TSK does not even have the slightest relation with the weapons and munitions discovered, adding that it has not buried any munitions underground since 1986, when a General Staff decision banned such practices.

“We started to move our weapons and munitions buried under the ground to arms depots in 1986 and completed the task in 1999. The TSK has no arms caches buried underground,” he remarked.

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ held a press conference yesterday, discussing the hidden stockpiles of munitions that have been discovered during the course of the Ergenekon investigation.

Başbuğ also stressed that security forces unearthed five already-used LAWs during the excavations in Poyrazköy. “What would anyone do with used LAWs? No LAW or any other munition can be reused once it is used. So, who buried these used LAWs in the ground? Why did they do so? We are also wondering,” he said, but did not, however, comment on around 20 ready-to-use LAWs discovered during other excavations.

TSK’s position on Ergenekon probe

Following an explanation on the munitions unearthed, the chief of general staff responded to various questions directed by members of the press who attended the briefing.

The questions asked largely dealt with the ongoing Ergenekon probe and retired and active duty military members who have been either detained or arrested for suspected links to the clandestine group. When asked what members of the TSK think about the investigation, Başbuğ expressed the military’s commitment to democracy and the regime.

“Among the fundamental values of democracy are the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. Everyone should refrain from any act that may damage our judicial system. The TSK is extremely careful in respecting the rule of law and the judicial process,” he said.

However, he criticized press organs for news reports portraying certain TSK members as culprits in the Ergenekon case. “We respect the principle that everyone is innocent until they are found guilty. Does everyone respect this principle? You don’t have the right to declare anyone guilty unless they are found guilty by the court. So who will repair the damage caused to these individuals? And a second point is respect for the confidentiality of the judicial process. Do all of you respect this principle? You see, heavy responsibility falls on the shoulders of press members in this sense,” he noted.

Gen. İlker Başbuğ said yesterday that ammunition and weapons recently unearthed in a number of cities do not belong to the TSK.

No investigation launched into coup plotters

Upon a question by a journalist, the chief commander also commented on alleged coup plots by active and retired members of the army. He said there is no individual within the TSK who may be engaged in any act against the democratic regime in the country and dismissed the prospect of a military investigation into individuals who are accused of planning to overthrow the government.

Başbuğ was short and to the point when addressing retired Adm. Özden Örnek’s private journal in which the admiral allegedly noted down past plans to stage two military coups.

“The General Staff has no documents regarding such claims. Örnek previously stated that the journal does not belong to him,” Başbuğ said.

Başbuğ not open to contact with DTP members

The chief of general staff stressed that the TSK will not have any contact with members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) unless the party distances itself from the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and terrorist activity.

“The TSK does not aim to protest any political party or group. We will not, however, share the same platform with that party [the DTP] unless they clarify their ties with the terrorist PKK. I am the head of an army, nine members of which were martyred by the terrorist group early this morning. That party cannot distance itself from terrorism,” Başbuğ stated. Nine Turkish soldiers were killed early yesterday morning when a remote-controlled mine exploded in the Lice district of southeastern Diyarbakır province.

Başbuğ also denied any link between the TSK and the transfer of Ergenekon suspects to the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA), which recently became the subject of harsh criticism for accepting several ex-generals indicted in the Ergenekon trial, solely to save them from being imprisoned during the trial and ultimately to get away with the crimes they allegedly committed.

He also added that the military has no plans at the moment for paid military service.

General Staff refutes claims on discrimination against Cihan reporter

Başbuğ also refuted all claims about an army general who refused to bring a Cihan news agency reporter down from a mountain with a military helicopter in freezing cold weather because the journalist did not have press accreditation from the General Staff.

“What we know about the issue is the helicopter in question was carrying TSK equipment and was forbidden to take anything or anyone else on board. And contrary to reports, it was around 13 degrees Celsius when the incident occurred; there was no risk of freezing for any individual. Besides, there were nearly 400 other people on the mountain in addition to the reporter in question, all of whom reached their destination by their own means. A Turkish soldier never leaves anyone in a risky situation,” he said.

Başbuğ’s explanation, however, did not satisfy Cihan. Abdülhamit Bilici, Cihan’s general manager, demanded an investigation into the general who had allegedly refused to allow the reporter to board the helicopter.

“The explanation by Başbuğ on the issue is very different from how the incident occurred according to our reporter. Our reporter [Lütfi Akyurt] said he was not allowed to board a military helicopter by a general who said they could not carry a civilian. However, a reporter from the Doğan news agency was on board. In any case, we are pleased that the General Staff offered an explanation of the incident,” Bilici told Today’s Zaman.