Turkish Daily Accuses CIA of “Crimes Against Humanity”

“A sort of human smuggling sponsored by governments is gradually becoming a nightmare for the entire world… Are we going to cover up operations, unlawful acts, and crimes against humanity committed by the CIA or on its behalf in this country”, Yeni Safak, quoting foreign media on alleged secret CIA interrogation centres abroad, says. It adds: “State-sponsored unlawful acts and abduction of people have been institutionalized just like state-sponsored terrorism”. It also says that the “secret torture centres” in Eastern Europe will be recorded in history as “the United States’ Auschwitzs”. The paper also asks questions about Turkey’s role in the events. The following is the text of a column by Ibrahim Karagul entitled “Who were aboard a CIA plane which took off from Istanbul?”, published by Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak website on 3 November:

A plane, which had taken off from Istanbul, landed on Copenhagen airport in Denmark on 7 March. It waited there for 23 hours before taking off for Keflavik airport in Iceland. It later departed to fly to an unknown destination in the United States.

It was later revealed that the plane belonged to the CIA, which created uproar in Denmark. Frank Aaen, defence policy spokesman of Union Party, a left-wing opposition party, asked Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller to explain the reason for the CIA plane’s arrival in the capital city.

The Danish Communications Minister said that the plane with tail number N221SG, had arrived in Copenhagen at 9 A.M. local time on 7 March after a flight originating from Istanbul. He noted that the plane took off at 8:04 A.M. on the next day for a flight to Keflavik, Iceland, adding that they had received no information about the reason for the plane’s arrival in Denmark. It was later revealed that those planes had been using the Danish airspace since 2001.

A state-controlled television station in Sweden later reported that Turkish security units had handed over some people, who the United States believed were terrorists, to the CIA after apprehending them in operations they carried out in Turkey and abroad. It cited an operation carried out in March as an example. The report said: “There were a group of terrorists, who were being hunted by the United States and captured on Turkish soil, aboard the plane. It was a CIA cargo. They were first taken to Copenhagen via Turkey and then sent to the United States via Iceland for being interrogated by the CIA.”

Many reports have appeared in newspapers in the United States and other countries about the CIA’s secret torture camps across the world. Reports issued by some human rights organizations alleged that people kidnapped from certain parts of the world had been taken to around ten countries, where they had been questioned and tortured. They claimed that some of those people were killed and that US military bases and warplanes were used as torture camps. The reports also noted that the intelligence agencies of many countries of had collaborated with the CIA in committing those crimes against humanity.

The identities of the people, who were aboard that Gulfstream 5 VIP plane, remain a secret. They are denied all legal rights and it is not possible to track their whereabouts and get information about their conditions. Thus, a sort of human smuggling sponsored by governments is gradually becoming a nightmare for the entire world.

These operations are carried out by Premier Executive Transport Services, a front company, by using its planes. The Washington Post reported that the tail number of one of those planes was N3779P. The planes operated by the CIA’s front company secretly arrived in Baghdad, Kuwait, Karachi, Riyadh, Dubai, Tashkent, Baku, and Rabat, Morocco in order to carry smuggled people after 2001.

It is known that the CIA has used 23 planes and formed seven front companies for that purpose. The plane, which flew from Istanbul from Copenhagen, belongs to Path Cooperation, one of those companies.

Why does not anybody make some comments about that issue? Are we going to cover up operations, unlawful acts, and crimes against humanity committed by the CIA or on its behalf in this country? Let me cite a passage from my article entitled “Offshore Torture Centres,” which appeared on 6 July: “We must take an interest in and inquire about the whereabouts of many people smuggled out of tens of countries located on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and seek answers to those questions. We know that American military bases are used as interrogation and torture bases. We also know that ships belonging to the US Navy are used as interrogation centres. Where are hundreds or probably thousands of people, who have gone missing? What kind of a tragedy are the families, spouses, children, and parents of those people experiencing? Who could they turn to for help? What are those people actually accused of? Why are not legal proceedings brought against them? Why are not they formally charged with committing a crime? There are hundreds of unsubstantiated allegations and many people were apprehended at their homes, streets, schools, workplaces, and mosques and then taken to unknown places due to those allegations. Some of them were abducted while they were at their stores or walking in the street. Those who have legitimized torture and state- sponsored terrorism have also institutionalized kidnapping people. State-sponsored unlawful acts and abduction of people have been institutionalized just like state-sponsored terrorism. Intelligence units teams were set up, methods were devised, and secret areas were allocated for that purpose.

It was reported that the CIA had taken people it abducted to ships sailing on oceans. Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, has said that there were very serious allegations that the United States had secret prisons such as the prison ships sailing across the Indian Ocean. They are ghost ships. The United States is using international waters in order to avoid law, moral values, and humanity.

Diego Garcia, a 1,600-km long island on the Indian Ocean from which B-52s that rained bombs on Afghanistan and Iraq took off and was not affected by tsunami waves that hit all countries in south Asia, has turned into an island of torture and terror where missing people are being kept and ghost shops are anchored. It was reported that US warships were constantly carrying prisoners to that island, which is described as the biggest offshore centre of torture.

Events taking place in a variety of prison and torture camps located in various places ranging from the centre of Paris to rainforests of Thailand and from ghost ships on the Ocean to deserts in North Africa are dragging humanity towards a dark future.

Did you know that prisoners being transported to Guantanamo are kept at Incirlik Air Base for almost two hours?

The Washington Post yesterday reported that the majority of secret torture centres were located in the eastern European countries, which are the United States’ new allies. I have no doubt that the biggest camp is in Poland. Those camps will be recorded in history as “the United States’ Auschwitzs.”

I was not planning to write about unpleasant things today, which is the first day of the religious holiday, but I could not help writing about this matter. I wish you a happy holiday and apologize to my readers for not being able to respond to their messages.