Turkey's bombs do most of the talking
By Burak Bekdil
On April 12, chief of the Turkish General Staff Yasar Buyukanit said a
cross-border operation into northern Iraq was necessary to better fight the
rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It took eight months, over 200
Turkish casualties and several very important meetings in and outside of Turkey
before the Turkish military fired its first shots across the border.
The Turkish General Staff announced on December 1 that it staged a cross-border
raid into northern Iraq and inflicted "significant losses" on a group of 50 or
60 Kurdish guerrillas. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have been massing
commandos,
artillery and missile units on the border, possibly for a larger offensive.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul announced in Brussels that the raid only
involved air force strikes, not land forces. The military did not reveal the
site of the attack. The General Staff said in a statement posted on its
official website on December 1 that it could launch further strikes using
different firepower when deemed necessary, an apparent reference to the use of
ground troops and artillery units.
In another air raid on Sunday, Iraqi officials said bombs from Turkish F-16s
hit 10 villages near the border, killing one woman. The PKK reported seven
deaths.
Earlier, a 70-truck military convoy carrying commandos in white snow pullovers
and some ground-to-ground missile units was seen traveling toward the border
area near the town of Cukurca on December 8, according to Dogan News Agency.
The deployment of troops comes despite warnings by the United States and Iraq
against a large-scale attack on rebel bases in northern Iraq, warning that such
an offensive could destabilize what has been Iraq's calmest region.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government came under pressure to order a
cross-border raid against the PKK after a string of rebel attacks killed dozens
of Turkish soldiers and outraged the public. The December 1 attack against the
rebel group was apparently carried out after the United States shared
intelligence about the rebel positions in the rugged area. A government
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on December 10 that US-made
Super Cobra helicopter gunships were used in the December 1 raid.
While the TSK is preparing for further incursions into northern Iraq -
apparently based on the availability of real-time intelligence - ground troops
are trying to seal paths used by the rebels to infiltrate into the country
along the mountainous 320-kilometer border. The troops killed 14 Kurdish rebels
in a two-day clash on Mount Gabar, near the Iraqi border. The clash occurred as
thousands of Turkish troops combed the rough terrain to find and destroy rebel
bases, hideouts, ammunition caches and winter food stocks.
Erdogan, meanwhile, announced a new plan to try to convince Kurdish rebels to
lay down their arms and prevent the outlawed group from recruiting restive
Kurdish youths in southeastern Turkey. Erdogan said an existing amnesty under a
Penal Code article - which promises no punishment for rebels who voluntarily
surrender without having participated in any fighting, or who voluntarily lay
down their arms and share critical information about the group - has failed to
lure most of the rebels and that the government was working on a new amnesty
plan together with the military.
"With a new effort, we can minimize [and] stop recruits," said Erdogan.
Military helicopters have dropped thousands of leaflets on the Iraqi-Turkish
border, calling on the rebels to benefit from an already existing amnesty and
lay down their arms. Erdogan said he believed the time is ripe for a new
amnesty and that it could convince many disaffected rebels to surrender. "We
are telling those who are on the mountains and have not engaged in bloody
terrorist acts: return to your mother and father," Erdogan said in a speech to
members of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
The military has made it clear, however, that it is determined to destroy any
infrastructure in remote mountain camps. Turkish special forces could stage
pinpoint raids in an attempt to capture or kill rebel leaders. A ground
incursion is also not ruled out, but the infantry could come under attacks by
small bands of Kurdish rebels who are skillful in the use of improvised bombs -
a technique which the rebels have developed in similar fashion to
al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in Iraq. The rebels are reported to have withdrawn
deeper inside the more rugged areas in northern Iraq.
Snowfall could limit the movements of both sides but could especially isolate
the rebels in caves. The Turkish military has greater ability to move and
operate under harsh weather conditions and with the help of real-time
intelligence supplied by the United States, Turkish commandos could find and
destroy small pockets of Kurdish rebels in their hideouts with superior fire
power.
"The operation should be carried out in two dimensions. The camps must be
bombed with the help of intelligence reports and the infrastructure in
evacuated camps must be destroyed," wrote Mehmet Ozcan, an analyst with
International Strategic Studies Institution. "The planes should also stage
low-altitude flights to demoralize the rebels."
The PKK has some Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons but they are not likely to
pose a serious threat to Turkish aircraft. The PKK, however, could order its
militants to stage bomb attacks in big cities to trouble the Turkish government
and open another front deep inside the Turkish homeland.
The Turkish military is aggravated not only by the PKK's conventional and
asymmetrical warfare tactics, but also by the foreign political support it
alleges the organization receives. TSK General Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of
the General Staff, has complained that several European countries are still
being too tolerant of the PKK, although the European Union and the United
States categorize the PKK as a terrorist organization.
"PKK activities in many European countries are being tolerated," Saygun told a
press conference in Ankara. He singled out Denmark, saying that the Danish
government still refused to close down Roj TV, a Denmark-based broadcaster seen
by Turkey as a mouthpiece for the PKK.
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in the largely Kurdish southeastern
Turkey, bordering northern Iraq, since 1984 when it first launched an armed
attack on a military outpost in the southeastern town of Eruh. The TSK is eager
to bring the regional conflict to a conclusion in concert with political
efforts from Ankara.
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