The General Staff announced in its weekly meeting that the photographs published by daily Taraf with its article about the Aktütün assault of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) did not show the region where the assault took place.
Taraf’s Editor-in-Chief Alev Er told bianet that they had already published these allegations and therefore there was no need to comment about the latest statement of the military sources. He added that everyone needed to wait for tomorrow’s Taraf.
According to daily Hürriyet, head of the Communication Bureau Brigadier General Metin Gürak said one of the photographs was from the Kandil region 125 km away from Bayraktepe, one of the hills where the assault took place, and the other two pictures said to be one kilometer from Aktütün were actually from Keritepe, a hill 20 kilometers from the assaulted post.
Gürak said they reached this conclusion from the coordinates on the photographs. The photographs were shown to the journalists, but the publishin ban was reminded, too.
It was stated that the commander of the 2nd Army was still conducting his investigation in the region.
The main critique that upset the General Staff came from daily Taraf on October 14 as it published the gendarmerie report about the Aktütün assault. According to Taraf, the intelligence about the ambush was not taken into consideration. Taraf also had the images taken by the unmanned aerial vehicles published.
In return, Chief of Staff İlker Başbuğ said, without naming anyone, “The confidence of the Turkish Armed Forces in itself is complete. Those who leaked this information, those who used classified information will be punished. Those who show the separatist terrorist organization victorious are responsible for the blood that was shed. The systematic attacks in the recent days will only increase the strength, resolve and determination of the Turkish Armed Forces. I invite everyone to be careful, to be on the right side. ”
Seventeen soldiers had died in PKK’s Aktütün assault. (EÖ/EÜ/TB)
