General tells media: Comply or else!

In a rare appearance with commanders of the land and air forces, the gendarmerie and the education and doctrine unit, an angry Başbuğ said the military was taking legal action over the leak of reports on the attack of Oct. 3, which killed 17 soldiers. Liberal newspaper Taraf published classified aerial images on Tuesday showing outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists preparing for the attack hours before they hit the outpost with heavy weaponry.

“This is my last word: I invite everyone to be careful and to stand in the right position,” Başbuğ told a hastily arranged press conference in the northwestern province of Balıkesir, where he was attending a routine military ceremony. Journalists were flown to Balıkesir from Ankara on two planes, and the brief conference was broadcast live on television. “Those who present the actions of the separatist terrorist organization as successful acts are responsible for the blood that has been shed and will be shed.”

“This is a threat, and we reject such threats,” said Ahmet Abakay, who heads the Contemporary Journalists Association. “Such interventions are meant to tell the press not to do its job. ... The media have no lesson to learn because we only have the universal principles of independence and objectivity to comply with. Any institution can be praised or criticized.”

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ spoke at a hastily arranged press conference yesterday in the northwestern province of Balıkesir. Başbuğ’s unusually strong words against the media sparked criticism from many circles across the country.

Başbuğ said the military was under systematic attacks but emphasized that these attacks will “do nothing but strengthen the determinedness” of the military. “The Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] are stronger, more determined and more decided than ever today,” he said.

Oktay Ekşi, head of the Press Council, agreed with Başbuğ that the military was faced with a "campaign aimed at undermining the TSK," but criticized his style, which he said appeared to disquiet the media world. "It is a duty for everyone attached to this country with bonds of love to support the chief of staff in his rightful struggle. But fulfilling this duty is possible only when freedom of expression is respected by all," Ekşi said in a statement.

Others, however, questioned Başbuğ's assertion that the military is under attack. "I don't understand why democratic criticism is considered an attack. Gathering the top commanders and holding conferences to scare people like that will only upset everyone," said Mehmet Altan, chief columnist for Star daily. "Everyone should do their job in the best way they can. We, however, have very serious indications that the job was not done in the optimal way."

The images published by Taraf clearly showed figures approaching the area through the northern Iraqi border. Images from Oct. 3, taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), show a group of individuals laying mines at around 9:35 a.m. local time, about three-and-a-half hours before the attack. The group gets larger in the following images as more and more of these individuals -- who eventually attack the outpost -- take their positions on hilltops in preparation for the attack. The UAV camera then switches to the Aktütün military outpost, where the attack occurred. The terrorist raid, which killed 17 young soldiers, was literally broadcast live on General Staff monitors. Taraf said this is concrete evidence that the security forces had been informed about every move made by the PKK terrorists.

Taraf also claimed that the General Staff actually had intelligence about the plans for the attack one month before it occurred. On the day of the attack, live UAV images were transmitted for hours to the Electronic Systems Command of the General Staff, as well as to a monitor in the office of the deputy chief of general staff in the capital.

Başbuğ said an investigation into the claims is under way, overseen by the commander of the 2nd Army, deployed in eastern and southeastern Anatolia, and that the military will share the results with the public "as any institution with full self-confidence would do." He however, declined to respond in his brief statement to Taraf's claims. He also received no questions from the press.

Analysts say the furious criticism of the media following the Oct. 3 attack raises questions instead of removing serious doubts raised by the report. "It is true that documents regarding the Aktütün attack should not have been leaked, but it is the chief of general staff himself who should have prevented this," said Sedat Laçiner, who heads an Ankara-based think tank. "In addition, we find out that Taraf's documents are reliable. The general is furious but does not clarify if there was an intelligence failure or not. There are so many question marks, but he only gets furious instead of answering them."

The statement came a day after a high-level anti-terror board, bringing together civilian and military officials, agreed to establish a body to coordinate police and gendarmerie action against the PKK. The new body will be headed by a civilian, sparking comments that a new era is beginning in Turkey's anti-terror policies.

"One should be careful not to turn the determinedness to fight terror into desperation," said Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan. "But Turkey is a free country, and it has a free press," he added.

Turning point in media-army relations

The controversy is reminiscent of a debate that erupted after a similar attack on a border outpost in Dağlıca last year, when Taraf published documents showing military negligence in the attack. Although the military took legal action over the leak of the documents and criticized the reports, the tone of its statements has never been this strong.

"The tone was extremely strong. We are witnessing a turning point in relations between the media and the TSK," said Ruşen Çakır, political analyst and columnist for the Vatan daily. "It seems the Aktütün controversy was the straw that broke the camel's back. Başbuğ upped the ante so high that I can't imagine how things will get back to normal again."

Başbuğ said it was natural for any army to stand against "attacks like this," which he said were not even based on accurate information. He did not elaborate.

The controversy comes amid calls for a new strategy to combat PKK terrorism, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives over the past three decades. Başbuğ himself has called for new ways to discourage people from joining the terrorist group. Critics say deadly PKK attacks, usually followed by toughened anti-terror laws and tougher security measures in southeastern Anatolia, create a vicious circle of more violence and more radicalization.

In both the Aktütün and Dağlıca raids, there was evidence suggesting that military commands had intelligence about the plans of the terrorists to attack. The investigation into the Dağlıca attack, which took place in October 2007, revealed that the General Staff had been tipped off about the plan nine days ahead of the assault. According to Taraf's reports and earlier allegations raised in the Aktütün raid, military units had been informed about the plans at least 10 days ahead of the incident.