General Staff’s announcement that there was no military neglect in the Aktütün assault received support from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), organizers of the assault.

Murat Karayılan, one of the PKK leaders (Kurdish Democratic Society Confederation -KCK), told the Fırat News Agency that he did not think the commander of the Aktütün military post had made a terrible mistake, that he believed he had acted in accordance with military tactical principles.

Karayılan also added that the assault was a success from their perspective and an unsuccessful resistance for the Turkish army.

General Staff’s Announcement

Seventeen soldiers had been killed in the PKK assault to the Aktütün border post and the military unit on Bayraktepe in the province of Hakkari on October 3.

After the assault, the military had to face a barrage of critiques regarding the mistakes allegedly made in defending the area against the PKK and the aerial intelligence reports showing the advancing PKK units were not taken into consideration.

In return, the Chief of Staff had attacked the media, accusing the newspapers for trying to show the PKK as the victor in the assault.

The investigation report about the assault has just been revealed, in which Işık koşaner, Commander of the 2nd Army, states there was no neglect in the operation and the PKK forces were not successful in the assault.

“400 PKK guerillas participated”

Koşaner estimates the number of the PKK guerillas who participated in the operation as 150.

But Karayılan claims that the number was 400. According to the description given by Karayılan, the PKK forces were placed around the post the night before, but had to start their attack at 12.00 instead of 14.00 since their position was compromised the next morning. Karayılan claimed they were in control of the three mountain tops in five hours and damaged the Aktütün post. (EÜ/TB)