MEMRI provides a bit of shocking information from Turkey in its latest dispatch of Arabic translations for the West. A Turkish terrorist group has launched a newspaper in Istanbul, Kaide ('al-Qaeda' in Turkish), which it distributes across the entire country:

The Turkish political weekly Tempo, along with some major Turkish daily newspapers including Milliyet,Aksam and Cumhuriyet, reported that the Islamist Turkish terrorist organization Great East Islamic Raiders Front (IBDA-C) has begun publishing a new weekly, Kaide ("Al-Qaeda" in Turkish) which openly praises its namesake and idolizes Osama bin Laden. Kaide, which looks like an Al-Qaeda bulletin and includes all Al-Qaeda announcements, is published legally in Istanbul and sold at newsstands across Turkey. ...

The Turkish weekly Tempo interviewed Kaide executive Ali Osman Zor in Kaide' s offices in the Kasimpasa neighborhood of Istanbul. Following are excerpts: [3]

"[…] Even the plain fact that Al-Qaeda has an office in Kasimpasa, in the middle of Istanbul, where they publish this [Kaide] magazine, is frightening. Despite the publishers' claim that they only have 'emotional ties' with Al-Qaeda, the entire Kaide magazine is formatted like an Al-Qaeda bulletin. On the London attacks, their headline read 'Al-Qaeda is Liberating the World,' and many pages are dedicated to statements by Al-Qaeda. The Kaide magazine boasts of the beheadings in Afghanistan and Iraq by saying 'the jihad fighters continue to behead!' and all its pages are filled with frightening statements and threats. Kaide also shows the ties between IBDA-C […] and Al-Qaeda.

"IBDA-C leader Salih Mirzabeyoglu [Salih Izzet Erdis] is serving a life sentence which is a commutation of a death sentence. The staff of the Kaide magazine is made up of convicts who served long prison terms for their affiliation with IBDA-C, and were released under the government's 'general pardon.'

"[…] Ali Osman Zor speaks of Osama bin Laden and Zarqawi as 'heroes,' saying that the London attacks that killed over 50 people were 'acts of revenge for Allah,' and claims that former ANAP MP Mehmet Kececiler has met with bin Laden.

Subtlety does not arise in this connection between Kaide and its AQ namesake. Ali Osman Zor goes out of his way to emphasize the spiritual and political connection between his newspaper and AQ, praising Osama bin Laden and "our soul-mate, Carlos the Jackal". Zor delights in the London bombing and notes with pride Kaide's headlines proclaiming that "Al-Qaeda Is Liberating The World."

He also asserts that the leader of the Zapatista movement in Mexico, Marcos, has converted to radical Islam. That should wake a few people about protecting the southern border a bit better than its current status. Zor promises more information along those lines in the coming days.

Distribution, however, requires capital and organization. Writing headlines and paeans to Osama bin Laden might come easily enough to Zor and his ilk, but without cash and a support structure for deliveries, all that makes Kaide little more than a blog. How does Zor get his screed to newsstands across Turkey? MEMRI has that information as well (emphases mine):

It is worth noting that according to Aksam, Kaide is distributed by Yay-Sat, which is Turkey’s largest magazine-newspaper marketing and distribution network. Yay-Sat is owned by the Dogan Media Group, which includes mainstream media outlets in Turkey such as Hurriyet, Milliyet, Radikal, Turkish Daily News, Dunya, and Tempo, as well as TV channels such as CNNTurk and Kanal-D.

DMG owns or distributes a number of publications, but its most interesting partnership for Americans is its connection to CNN. How does the publisher of the "official" Turkish newspaper of the terrorist enemy come to partner up with CNN? DMG tells us that the channel is a "joint venture between [DMG] and AOL Time Warner." In fact, CNNTurk is the only such franchise agreement in the world -- the only CNN affiliate controlled outside of Atlanta, according to the DMG website.

Perhaps AOL Time Warner would like to explain why they have partnered up with Osama's publisher in Turkey. I, for one, would love to hear how Kaide fits in with AOL Time Warner's idea of business partnerships to build a stronger America and a freer world.

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