General Staff Confirms Ground Operations

On its official website, the General Staff has confirmed that Turkish Armed Forces passed the Northern Iraqi borders and carried out an operation.

The military statement reads as follows:

“The air operations carried out in the North of Iraq and in the Kandil Mountain region on 16 December 2007 has been announced to the public."

"PKK has sustained heavy losses" 

As the evaluations of the air operations are still continuing, it is impossible to say in numbers at this point how many PKK terrorists have been neutralised."

"Because the air operations struck many sites where PKK members were sheltering, the number of neutralised terrorists is unknown. The truth is, the PKK has sustained heavy losses, both in terms of infrastructure and human resources.”
The statement further restated that “the target list used during the operations only included sites used by the terrorist organisation; no civilian settlements were targeted.”

"No civilian targets"

The text on the website categorically denied reports of a woman’s death and other destruction:

“Despite this, following the operations, news from the North of Iraq say that  ‘10 villages have been bombed, a woman has died, Turks have destroyed hospitals, bridges and villages and ‘Turkey is creating a buffer zone’; a campaign to mislead the world has been started. These kind of news are the result of a panic and they are a clear indication of the support given to the PKK by some in Northern Iraq and by the central Iraqi government.”

The text continued, “thus denigrating the Turkish Armed Forces means serving the terrorist organisation PKK. It is saddening that some of our valuable press take those unfounded statements by PKK supporters as reference points.

Ground operation carried out

The General Staff further confirmed that a ground operation had been carried out:

“In the night from 17 to 18 December, a group of terrorists trying to pass the Turkey-Iraq border was spotted. Ground units based in the area carried out a small operation as part of the hot pursuit, and the goup was hit hard. The fact that this operation, which took palce a few kilometres away from the border in the Semdinli/Yesilova area, made the headlines in many countries is significant.”

“The Turkish Parliament made a decision and gave the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) authorisation on that issue. The TAF are aware that this authority is at the same time a responsibility  and will fulfill this responsibility. (NZ/AG)