Military Silent on Ownership of Deadly Mine

The General Staff has remained silent over allegations that a land mine that exploded on 27 May was one that had been placed there by the army itself.

The explosion in Çukurca, in Hakkari province, killed six soldiers: Cafer Çelik, Adil Yıldız, and Kemal Özevin from Istanbul, Ziya Bener from Yozgat, Deniz Demirci from Ankara and  Özkan Dumlu from Bingöl died. Eight further soldiers were wounded.

It was claimed that the mine had been planted there by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).

It came at a time when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was considering a first meeting with the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). He said himself in public that the explosion had convinced him not to meet with the party.

"I buried them myself"

Now the Bugün newspaper has put the recording of a telephone conversation onto its website. The phone conversation is said to have taken place between Hakkari Division Commander General Gürbüz Kaya (G.K.) and Çukurca Brigade Commander General Zeki Es (Z.E.):

Z.E.: Commander, it was unfortunately not a remotely controlled mine.

G.K.: Was it not?

Z.E.: No, Commander. I was not remotely controlled. You know, in order to protect them, because they were in trouble here, I risked my own life and came here. I buried them myself.

Z.E.: Commander, you know my intentions. I planted them in order to protect those guys. But this means that despite all my efforts, they did not show the same care. Commander, if you would share this with your commander, because I might get into trouble in the morning, that is, I may have to say what happened. Commander, I am deeply upset that I have given you such trouble.

G.K.: It does not matter, there is no reason to be upset. We will do what we can. People will make small mistakes during this struggle. We may have to pay dearly for this one.

"We wrote something superficial"

Another audio recording that has been published is claimed to have taken place between Zeki Es and Batallian Commander Lieutenant Colonel T:

Z.E. : What did you write in the first accident report to the superiors?

T. : Commander, we wrote something superficial, without going into details, saying that it was likely that members of the separatist terrorist organisation had planted an EEP in order to obstruct operations in the area. The Division Commander also had a special look at it several times...

Reactions of parents

Halil and Raziye Demirci, the parents of Deniz Demirci have filed a criminal complaint with the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecution. According to the Star newspaper, Raziye Demirci said:

"From the first day, they gave us conflicting statements about the death of my son. First they said he was outside of the vehicle, then inside..."

İbrahim Bener, father of Ziya Bener, said that his family had not filed a complaint.

The family of Adil Yıldız said that they will investigate the claims.

Effect on Erdoğan

Following the explosion, Erdoğan said on a programme on atv:

"I was thinking of giving them an appointment, when 10 soldiers died the next day. The members of the DTP have not been able to call the terrorist organisation 'terrorist'. We waited for things to calm down for an appointment, but then there was another mine, with six soldiers dead. Whenever I tried to take a step, bombs exploded." (TK/AG)