Army announces new border units amid negligence allegations

“The target is to professionalize the personnel who serve in operational activities at border units, starting from the Iraqi border, within a certain time period,” said the head of the internal security operations department at the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Fahri Kır, at a press conference yesterday.

He also provided information on the level achieved thus far as part of professionalizing six commando brigades, a project Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ promised to launch when he was the commander of the land forces in 2007.

Kır said they have trained 84 percent of all personnel necessary for those brigades and with the 1,032 special sergeants who are currently in the final phases of their training and who will graduate this August the project will be complete.

A group of 63 terrorists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who slipped into Turkish territory through the Iraqi border attacked an outpost in the southeastern province of Hakkari's Şemdinli district on June 19 and killed nine soldiers. Two more soldiers from the backup force died when a land mine planted by the terrorist PKK exploded as they were on their way to help the unit under attack.

Experts say the fact the terrorists were able to open fire on security forces from close range with heavy weapons without their approach being noticed indicates a serious failure in intelligence.

“If that many terrorists can crawl up to the outpost without leaving a trace, then there is an intelligence deficiency,” said International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) general coordinator Sedat Laçiner, in an interview with Today's Zaman. He noted that the weapons the terrorists carried that day were, in fact, very heavy and visible and should have certainly been noticed by military forces. Two of the anti-aircraft weapons the terrorists used against the security forces in Şemdinli last Saturday weigh 157 kilograms.

Laçiner went on to argue that this attack was not carried out on impulse -- there was a preparation phase and there were clues but the military were unable to interpret them.

“A group of that size should have definitely been tracked by the military. But when we examine the attacks within the last month, it is clear that similar groups could plan and undertake assaults without fear of being followed. They certainly communicate between themselves while planning such an attack through walkie-talkies, phone, by writing or directly. If you can't intercept the information at communication points, you could do so at the preparation phase.

Weapons, ammunition and carriers necessary for such an attack and even the food stashed beforehand could give clues about an assault. It is impossible for such an attack to happen without leaving a trail behind,” he said, adding that the military should not take these words as an attack but as constructive criticism to help them detect their deficiencies.

In a briefing he gave to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the attack, the commander of the Hakkari battalion, Gen. Gürbüz Kaya, said they spotted the terrorists but thought they were shepherds or smugglers since they did not respond to the military forces' first round of fire from heavy artillery.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Gen. Kır also stressed the significance of obtaining timely intelligence for the success of security operations.

In that regard, he said six unmanned Heron aircraft have been in operation along the Iraqi border since the beginning of this month as part of the Gözcü-1 project, which was agreed by the Defense Ministry and Turkish aircraft engine manufacturer Tusaş Engine Industries Inc. (TEI) on April 24, 2004. The project has a budget of $80.9 million.

Four more Herons will be put into operation as part of Gözcü-1 after test flights that started on Wednesday, Gen. Kır said.