Military security flaws under spotlight after Hakkari attack

Although there are contradicting accounts of how the attack took place -- the number of terrorists that attacked the military outpost range between 25 and 200, according to various accounts -- the initial aftermath of the attack clearly signals that the military has some serious explaining to do.

After Sunday's ceremony for the slain soldiers held in Van, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, government ministers and force commanders traveled to the Tekeli Battalion Command, the unit that was attacked by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the early morning hours of Saturday. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also went to the site in the same helicopter as Başbuğ. Erdoğan was briefed on the details of the attack by Gen. Gürbüz Kaya, the commander of the battalion. According to the briefing, figures were first spotted on security cameras at 11:30 p.m. on Friday. The command opened fire with heavy artillery in the direction of the suspected terrorists. Kaya said the battalion commander concluded that the individuals sighted in the security cameras had to be shepherds, villagers or smugglers since the band of figures shown in the camera did not respond to the battalion's fire.

Başbuğ, who spoke to the press during the ceremony in Van, said a band of 57 terrorists had come to the region but just 23 of these terrorists had carried out the attack. He denied news stories that there were 250 terrorists in the area on the day of the attack. The remaining four soldiers were laid to rest yesterday.

According to reports partially confirmed by the military, the band of terrorists in the area divided into two groups. One group went closer to a mobile unit set up in the Mezargediği area for the summer. Gen. Kaya said a soldier on watch with binoculars did spot some figures in the Gediktepe area. The battalion again started to fire at the site, but no response came back. The commander in Gediktepe was not satisfied, believing that it could be a “close infiltration,” and ordered hand grenades to be thrown from all posts into the darkness. On top of that, automatic weapons were fired on the area. Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, the terrorists started attacking the Tekeli outpost and hit the westernmost post with RPG 7 rockets. At this time, the terrorists fired anti-aircraft missiles from two nearby mountains, from a height of 2,600 and 2,100 meters. Under the cover of the bombardment, about 50 terrorists approached the post and started the attack. The clashes continued until the morning. Eleven died and 14 were injured.

All the details of the attack point to serious weaknesses in intelligence. There has not yet been a satisfactory explanation of how such a large band of terrorists could approach an outpost unnoticed. On top of that, Kaya -- who said that they stopped firing thinking the terrorists were shepherds -- still remains at his post.

Kaya was previously in the press for his remarks in a recorded phone conversation last year after it became evident that mines that killed seven soldiers in an explosion two years ago had been planted by the Turkish military rather than the PKK. The tragic background of the incident was revealed by Van prosecutors who launched an investigation into the mine explosion after a telephone conversation between Brig. Gen. Zeki Es and Maj. Gen. Kaya indicating that the mines were planted by the people who were responsible for the soldiers' security came to light. In the recording, Kaya -- speaking about the blast that killed seven soldiers -- can be heard telling Es: “Don't worry. Such things happen. We are doing all that we can.”

In fact, Turkey remembers two similar attacks -- on the Dağlıca and Aktütün outposts -- where security flaws played a huge role in the failure to prevent terrorists from attacking. Shocking evidence including aerial infrared images from thermal cameras and intelligence reports featuring detailed information sent to the General Staff months before on terrorist activity in the region had shown at the time that the General Staff knew about every single move of the PKK terrorists who attacked the Aktütün post in Hakkari on Oct. 3, 2008.

There was also evidence suggesting that the military command had intelligence about the plans of terrorists prior to an attack in another raid in Hakkari's Dağlıca region on Oct. 17 of that year that claimed 16 lives. Eight others were captured by the PKK but later released. They were charged with disobeying orders; one was also charged with aiding and abetting the PKK. However, they were all later acquitted. The investigation into the Dağlıca attack revealed that the General Staff had been tipped off about the plan nine days ahead of the assault. The investigation found that the terrorists had taken an entire week to enter Turkish territory in small groups on mules, confirmed by records of wireless communications between officers and privates as well as their testimony after the attack

Dağlıca Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Onur Dirik had left his battalion at the time of the attack to attend a wedding. His pictures, dancing at the wedding at the time of the attack, were published in national newspapers. According to evidence that surfaced in August 2008, Dirik had e-mailed photos and detailed information about the security of the region to a suspect in the trial of the coup-plotting clandestine organization Ergenekon. These pictures are now included in the 354th folder of evidence backing a 2,455-page indictment into Ergenekon. In both attacks, the General Staff confirmed that they had prior intelligence about terrorist activity in the region. No concrete outcome came out of either investigation and the controversy was covered up. The Hakkari attack might also have the same fate.