| Military covered up responsibility in deadly blast, probe shows | ||
| Today's Zaman April 9,2010 | ||
| The Van Chief Public Prosecutor's office has revealed that a land mine explosion which killed seven soldiers last year was caused by mines planted by the Turkish military, contrary to the earlier widely held belief that they had been planted by outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists. | ||
 The incident was revealed with the aid of an ex-officer who claimed the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) covered up many incidents caused in part by its weaponry and put the blame on the PKK. Following the mine explosion in Çukurca, Hakkari province, on May 27 of last year, Van prosecutors launched an investigation which found that the mines belonged to the Turkish military. The prosecutors, who stated that the mines were planted on the orders of a Turkish commander, demanded that Brig. Gen. Zeki Es, Maj. Gen. Gürbüz Kaya, whose name is also mentioned in relation to the Sledgehammer coup plot, and other people responsible be brought to justice for their role in the deaths of the seven soldiers.
Because the civilian court lacks jurisdiction over the matter, the file for the case was sent to the military prosecutor's office. The Van prosecutor's report included evidence that the mines had been manufactured by the Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) and had batteries used in the military. The report also mentioned a telephone conversation between Es and Kaya indicating that the mines were planted by people who were responsible for soldiers' security. There was also an administrative investigation by the Land Forces Command, which found that the mines were planted on the orders of military commanders. The General Staff, at the time of the explosion, released a statement saying that the mines had been planted by PKK terrorists who crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq. However, after the telephone conversation between the two commanders about the mine blast was made public, the family of Ziya Bener, who was killed in the explosion, filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office. The General Staff's military prosecutor's office can now open a case against the defendants in accordance with Article 85 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which says: "Someone who causes the death of a person due to negligence shall be punished with three to six years' imprisonment. If the act causes the loss of more than one person's life, the punishment can be from three to 15 years." On the other hand, human rights activists are doubtful that the military prosecutor's office will continue the investigation and punish the parties responsible. Abidin Engin, Van branch head of the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER), told Today's Zaman that although the military prosecutor's office should reveal the people responsible for planting the mines and prosecute them accordingly, there are no signs that this will be the case. "We know from too many other examples, like the Ergenekon investigation and the Şemdinli case, that the military prosecutor's office doesn't do what is necessary. There is no supremacy of the law or of justice," he said and added that if the military prosecutor acted in line with the requirements of the rule of law, then the conscience of the public would calm down. "That's why the punishment of wrongdoers is important. We should listen to our conscience, if nothing else," Engin said. The deaths of the soldiers and the supposition that the PKK might be responsible for planting the mines also have prevented efforts for Turkey to find solutions to some of its problems. Because of the indignation in society over the deaths of the soldiers, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cancelled an appointment with the now defunct pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party's (DTP) President Ahmet Türk on possible solutions to the Kurdish problem on May 29, two days after the mine blast. The DTP was believed to have had ties with the PKK. Also in May of last year, there was an ongoing debate in the country about clearing mines on the Turkey-Syria border. The Hürriyet daily's May 29 edition had a headline story about the issue indicating that a bill on clearing and destroying mines along the border with Syria had come to Parliament on the night that "mines were detonated by remote control by the PKK in Çukurca." The debate was marked by disagreements between the government and the opposition. In addition, the military said it would assume responsibility for de-mining the region along the Syrian border, but then said it did not have enough funding, tossing the ball back to the government, which favors hiring a private contractor to carry out the task in exchange for land usage rights. Opposition parties have expressed dissent, asserting that subcontracting the deal could harm Turkey's national security, in the case of foreign companies, especially Israeli firms, being involved in the project. Previously, a mine-clearing tender was canceled by the Council of State over such objections. 'Some military forces do not desire an end to terrorism'Meanwhile, a former gendarmerie officer who lives in İzmir has repeated his claims that no blast scene investigation was carried out after the deaths of the seven soldiers in the land mine blast. "If we had carried out a blast scene investigation, it would have been revealed that the land mines were planted by the TSK; however, we were ordered to attribute them to the PKK," stated İbrahim Kılınç, who was discharged from the military due to alleged anti-secular activities. Kılınç said he was dismissed from the military because his girlfriend wore the Islamic headscarf. Kılınç also claimed that some forces in the military do not desire an end to terrorism. The ex-officer also accused top army brass of being unwilling to end terror in Turkey. Giving examples of incidents that he witnessed in Çukurca, he said gendarmerie intelligence services sometimes planted mines at specific locations and then reported the sites as news to television stations as if they had received intelligence regarding the locations of mines planted by the PKK. Another example Kılınç gave is in regards to a gendarme's death. Kılınç claimed that Pvt. Lokman Tekin, 21, died when he stepped on a land mine previously planted by the TSK. "A report was prepared without even going to the scene of the blast," he noted. The blast was also attributed to the terrorist organization. "We should attach more importance to statements by soldiers who escaped the armed attack in Tokat's Reşadiye district. It is not the work of a terrorist organization to attack a military vehicle from four directions. The aim of the attack was to kill all of the soldiers on the vehicle. The fact that not all of the soldiers were killed may spoil the game. The soldiers who escaped the attack may be able to shed light on the mystery. They may have seen those who attacked them," he said, referencing an attack in December of last year. Seven soldiers were killed in Reşadiye when unidentified armed assailants attacked a military vehicle. Three others were wounded in the assault. The attack came shortly before the Constitutional Court was set to deliberate a closure case against the DTP. | ||
| 09.04.2010 | ||
| News | ||
| METIN ARSLAN, YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, MELIK DUVAKLI, MUSTAFA YÜKSEL | ||
<http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-206836-101-military-covered-up-responsibility-in-deadly-blast-probe-shows.html>
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