Matt Porter, who was a Fulbright teaching fellow in the Turkish town where Furkan, who dreamed of taking care of poor Africans after going to college to become a medical doctor, attended high school, said
Ahmet Dogan and his family were just one of those families. He is an associate professor in Erciyes University’s economics department, where I also teach English. Although I don’t know him personally, he seemed to me like any faculty at my university, someone working hard in their career in order to provide a better education for their children.
Turkey Buries Flotilla's U.S. Teen, Wall Street Journal.
Nineteen-year-old Furkan Dogan was born in Troy, N.Y., and spent his first two years there, his father said. For the first time since, his father said, Furkan was planning to return to the U.S. this summer. But first, he signed on with a Turkish aid group to cruise toward blockaded Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.
"He [Furkan] thought his American passport would protect him—he thought the Israelis wouldn't harm an American," said Mr. Dogan, interviewed in the yard behind the family's apartment block as his elder son, Mustafa, stood behind his chair and stroked his hair.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D - NY):
"The passengers aboard Turkey's flotilla either are considered terrorists or at the very least willfully aided terrorists" ... "Our existing laws are clear and we ought to follow them -- anyone that aids and abets terrorism cannot be issued a visa."
Rep. Eliot Engel (D - NY):
"The United States must stand with Israel as it seeks to carry out legitimate acts of self-defense" ... Those aboard the flotilla "should be condemned by the world as supporters of the Hamas terrorist organization, not celebrated as humanitarian activists."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D - NY):
The IHH, the flotilla's sponsoring organization, has long been known for its affiliations with terrorist organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaida...It is the responsibility of our government to ensure that terrorists, and those who support terrorist activities, not be allowed to enter the United States
Other Congressmen calling for an investigtion of the flotilla passengers are Carolyn Maloney (D - NY) and Charles Rangel (D - NY).
No other country, but Israel, considers the IHH a terrorist organization.
Over 23,000 people have signed a petition written by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Inc., to investigate Gaza flotilla participants and not give them visas to enter the U.S. The petition states:
In 2006, a report issued by the Danish Institute for International Studies stated that during the 1990s the IHH maintained links with al-Qaida and a number of "global jihad networks."
The report also stated that the Turkish government launched an investigation into the IHH starting December 1997 after receiving intelligence that the IHH had bought automatic weapons from Islamist terrorists. According to the report, the Turkish government launched a raid on the organization’s Istanbul offices where they found weapons, explosives, and instructions for bomb-making. The report added that an examination of documents found at the IHH office indicated that the group was planning to take part in terrorist activities in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Bosnia. In addition, a French intelligence report found that in the mid-1990s IHH leader B’ulent Yildirim recruited soldiers for jihad activities in a number of Muslim countries and that the IHH transferred money, firearms, and explosives to jihadists in a number countries.
As Pro-Palestinian Flotilla Activists Gather in NYC, Jewish Group Urges State Dept. to Probe Links to Terrorism, CNS News, Patrick Goodenough.
Tensions in the Middle East over the recent Gaza flotilla incident could surface in New York City on Thursday evening, when a pro-Palestinian group hosts flotilla activists at a public meeting Jewish activists have tried to thwart.
An organization called Al-Awda (The Palestine Right to Return Coalition) is holding a meeting in a Brooklyn church featuring a leading official in IHH, the controversial Turkish organization behind the attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Pro-Palestinian, left-wing and anti-war organizations are co-sponsoring the event.
Also scheduled to speak are two people who were onboard the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which deadly clashes between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists left nine activists dead. The two are U.S.-based filmmaker Iara Lee and left-wing British activist Kevin Ovenden.
‘Terror’ smear against IHH springs from a familiar source, Marsha Cohen, June 4, 2010 for Mondoweiss, The War of Ideas in the Middle East, which is a division of The Nation Magazine, disputes the assertion that the IHH is affiliated with terrorists. She points out that the article cited in the Danish Institute for International Studies report was written by Evan Kohlmann, who Spin Profiles described:
Like other 'terrorism experts' Kohlmann tends to demonise Islamists groups, and to link disparate groups and individuals into an encompassing narrative of international terrorism. His 'expertise' are therefore very useful to prosecutors who seek to demonstrate the malevolent intent of a defendant in the absence of convincing evidence of their preparation or planning of acts of terrorism. As Kohlmann himself explains: "There are a lot of people who know a lot about the world, but they don’t know what every terrorist group represents...I am able to bring this to life for the court." What in particular Kohlmann tends to "brings to life" is connections linking defendants to Al-Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden. This, in the political climate of the United States greatly increases the prosecution's chances of a conviction.
As far as the French Intelligence Report was concerned, Cohen, explained:
All Bruguiere apparently said was, "Some members of an international terrorism cell known as the Fateh Kamel network then worked at the IHH." Kamel was an Algerian-Canadian who Bruguiere claimed had ties to then nascent al-Qaida.
Bruguiere was not certain whether they continued to do so.
Cohen pointed out the irony that:
Bruguiere also ordered the raids on the Mujehidin e-Kalk (MEK) in Paris in June 2003. An odd hybrid of Marxism and radical Islamism at the time of the Iranian revolution, MEK broke with the Khomeini regime after the latter gained control of Iran in 1979. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, MEK fought on the side of Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s.
Cohen then exposed the hypocrisy:
Although it [MEK] has engaged in terrorist acts and has the status of a quasi cult centered on its leader, Maryam Rajavi, it has nonetheless been championed as a possible instrument for regime change in Iran by many pro-Israel neoconservatives. Many MEK members are presently detained at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, US policymakers debate how useful these terrorists might be in achieving American strategic goals Unlike IHH, MEK is indeed considered to be a terrorist organization by the US government, despite the repeated efforts of the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Relations Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, to rehabilitate MEK's reputation.
Cohen asked:
Shouldn't pro-Israel neocons supporting the MEK should also be exposed for their own "links to terrorism."
US Stands, and Lies, With Israel, Op-Ed, Ira Chernus.
There's a similar move brewing in Congress, this one aimed at discrediting the flotilla movement by keeping all its participants out of the US because they are "terrorists." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are circulating a bipartisan letter calling on Obama to put the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) on the US "terrorist" list.
Reid-McConnell letter: Consider IHH for terror list
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), its minority leader, circulated a letter last Friday among their colleagues that would press Obama to investigate the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
[snip]
"Israeli forces were able to safely divert five of the six ships challenging the blockage," the letter says. "However, video footage shows that the Israeli commandos who arrived on the sixth ship, which was owned by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (the IHH), were brutally attacked with iron rods, knives, and broken glass. They were forced to respond to that attack and we regret the loss of life that resulted."
[snip]
The letter alleges that IHH is affiliated with Hamas.
"We recommend that your administration consider whether the IHH should be put on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, after an examination by the intelligence community, the State Department, and the Treasury Department," it says. Placement on the list makes it a crime to fund-raise for the cited group.
The letter also encourages Obama to continue to support Israel "before international organizations such as the United Nations."
I emphasized in bold, "Placement on the list makes it a crime to fund-raise for the cited group, because Richard Perle was a keynote speaker at a "A Night of Solidarity with Iran," [Charity Event May Have Terrorist Link, Washington Post, January 29, 2004] which may have raised funds for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)! The Red Cross decided not to attend the event, after being informed of the possible link to MEK, which is on the terrorist watch list in the US, but the Prince of Darkness spoke anyway.
The Web site for the $35-a-person event, billed as "a night of solidarity with Iran," flashed between references to support for "the Iran earthquake victims" and "a referendum for regime change in Iran." One administration official said that the FBI determined that at least three of the sponsoring organizations were associated with the MEK, while a senior Treasury official said "there were general indications the MEK may have an interest in the event," but it could not yet prove it.
Although the UN wants an independent investigation of the raid of the Mavi Marmara, the White House issued this statement:
We believe that Israel, like any other nation, should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security. Israel has a military justice system that meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation, and the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation. But we will not prejudge the process or its outcome, and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.
[Furkan's father] He said the cautious U.S. response, in which it has avoided criticizing Israel over the incident, has made him begin to think: Had Furkan been a Christian living stateside, what would the U.S. response have been? "I lived in the U.S. I know what people do there when a cat gets stuck in a tree," he said.
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