According to a news report published in the Taraf daily yesterday, photographic and video evidence retrieved from the persons of operatives of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed in clashes with the Turkish military in two separate incidents last year had foretold the deadly İskenderun attack, which marked the first time the PKK had targeted a naval base. Military authorities reportedly examined photographs and video footage retrieved from the bodies of PKK members and then established a military commission to visit the bases connected to the footage. The commission members spoke with the chiefs of each base, showing them the imagines and stating that there was a possibility of raids on their bases. This all took place more than five months ago, on Dec. 16, 2009, when minutes detail that the base commanders and commission members participated in “brainstorming over what kind of preventative measures could be taken against the present threat of terrorist action.”
The official report prepared by the commission is undersigned by Hatay Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Col. Vedat Çolak, staff officer Lt. Col. Agah Çelik and Gendarmerie 1st Lt. Gökhan Bakışkan. The report notes that evidence found on the bodies of PKK terrorists killed in clashes on July 17 and Aug. 7, 2009, indicated that two military locations were under threat of attack. The commission conducted official visits to the two locations on Dec. 16, 2009, and later to other commanding officers in charge of security.
Despite the advance warning, the attack took place, leaving seven Turkish soldiers dead when the PKK fired rockets and other long-range weapons during a change in guard shifts on May 31. Taraf says there was another warning ahead of the deadly attack which military authorities also failed to take sufficient note of: Güzelköy village residents M.B. and C.B. told Taraf that on May 28 six armed individuals had been sighted three to four kilometers from the village and that the village head (muhtar) had gone along with some citizens to report the incident to the gendarmerie. The gendarmerie official they spoke to reportedly told them, “If you explain what you’ve seen, it’s going to stir things up in Turkey.”
Meanwhile, a team of intelligence and terrorism experts have traveled to İskenderun to investigate the acts of violence in İskenderun in recent weeks -- both the naval base attack and the June 3 stabbing death of Roman Catholic Bishop Luigi Padovese by his driver. The team was led by Osman Çapalı, deputy police chief responsible for counterterrorism operations, and Intelligence Department Vice President Hüseyin Özbilgin. Following a meeting in Hatay to evaluate the intelligence on the incidents, Çapalı and Özbilgin conducted meetings with local intelligence and counterterrorism police experts, traveling to the base that was attacked as well and investigating there for one-and-a-half hours. Çapalı is to prepare a report on the delegation’s findings upon his return to Ankara, reports said.
