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Former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Işık Koşaner confesses a number of the military's flaws in Turkey's fight against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorism in a voice recording posted online on Tuesday that allegedly features his voice, which comes to confirm earlier claims that the Turkish military had serious deficiencies when it came to counterterrorism.
The recording, posted online on dailymotion.com was removed from the website shortly after it was posted, includes a series of confessions allegedly made by Koşaner, who says during a speech addressing a group of military officers that the situation in the military is shameful. One issue that gets us in trouble is that we are failing to ensure unity of command. Wherever there is an operation or an ambush or whatever, a commander should charge. He should be responsible for that region. We have the very big advantage of being able to receive intelligence from [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs. A commander who sees images from an UAV should immediately intervene in the situation, he said.
The person speaking also admits that the military failed to prevent a 2010 terrorist attack on the Hantepe outpost in Çukurca although UAVs detected the terrorist group in the area 15 minutes before the attack. We should not commit this fault again, he said.
Six soldiers were killed when the terrorist PKK attacked the outpost in mid-July. In early August a Turkish daily claimed that Herons informed 30 security units -- including the General Staff -- of every second of the attack, but that security forces failed to take action against the terrorist group.
Koşaner says in the recording that small military units are too weak and lack training when it comes to fighting terrorists, complaining about the inadequacy of some commanders as counterterrorism commanders. Two terrorists are scaring away 30 soldiers. This is a scandal. We cannot go forward if my colleague whom I assigned as the commander of a military unit leaves his weapon and escapes. Two guys are coming and scare away 30 of our soldiers. This is impossible. We cannot work with these guys, he says.
The voice in the recording also criticizes the way border outposts were constructed and says they are not safe. When protecting a base or a critical area, the point is to hide somewhere that has been hollowed out. We are putting sandbags on each other and this creates a huge target. In the Hantepe case, for example, it is even obvious in the UAV images. They [terrorists] easily entered the outpost, right? Is there anyone who watched them? There should be. The man came and threw the hand grenade over the sandbags. Our situation is really a shame, he says.
We shot our own soldier due to lack of training'
The recording, which allegedly features the voice of Koşaner, also confirms earlier claims that a soldier was killed by another soldier due to a lack of military training provided to the soldiers. One soldier opens fire after seeing a shadow and others too as they thought they were being raided. Did we shoot one of our privates in the head? Yes, we did. Do you know that? Yes, you do. We are at fault, he says.
The voice in the recording says after mentioning a series of mistakes that the military has begun working more logically since last year. Formerly, we used to deploy battalions to search large areas. We were searching and ten of them were stepping on landmines, whatever was happening to five of them and we found nothing. We just had casualties. So, we decided to take action after receiving real intelligence, contacting the governor, etc., and then taking action, he says.
Koşaner also confesses that the military planted landmines in an uncontrolled way in areas near military outposts and along borders. He says now the military is having difficulty explaining to civilians why these mines were planted. We should now base everything we do on a legal basis. All eyes are on us. Even minor mistakes are being covered in the media. So, we have to do everything within the law. Our laws, over which we sometimes get angry, in fact gives us the authority we need, he says.
He refers to the Protocol on Cooperation for Security and Public Order (EMASYA), which gave the military the authority to gather intelligence against internal threats and to conduct operations in cities without the approval of the civilian administrations. Signed by the General Staff and the Interior Ministry in 1997, the protocol was abolished on Feb. 4. However, Koşaner says it can be still made use of.
Koşaner, who took over as head of the armed forces in August 2010 and is regarded as a hardline secularist, resigned last month one day before the beginning of the annual Supreme Military Council (YAŞ
meeting in protest of the government's refusal to promote members of the military who stand trial on coup charges. He was replaced by Gen. Necdet Özel.
Former military chief confesses flaws in fighting terror in recording
---------------------------
Didnt surprised. This what happens when the army cares about everything but its duty.
The recording, posted online on dailymotion.com was removed from the website shortly after it was posted, includes a series of confessions allegedly made by Koşaner, who says during a speech addressing a group of military officers that the situation in the military is shameful. One issue that gets us in trouble is that we are failing to ensure unity of command. Wherever there is an operation or an ambush or whatever, a commander should charge. He should be responsible for that region. We have the very big advantage of being able to receive intelligence from [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs. A commander who sees images from an UAV should immediately intervene in the situation, he said.
The person speaking also admits that the military failed to prevent a 2010 terrorist attack on the Hantepe outpost in Çukurca although UAVs detected the terrorist group in the area 15 minutes before the attack. We should not commit this fault again, he said.
Six soldiers were killed when the terrorist PKK attacked the outpost in mid-July. In early August a Turkish daily claimed that Herons informed 30 security units -- including the General Staff -- of every second of the attack, but that security forces failed to take action against the terrorist group.
Koşaner says in the recording that small military units are too weak and lack training when it comes to fighting terrorists, complaining about the inadequacy of some commanders as counterterrorism commanders. Two terrorists are scaring away 30 soldiers. This is a scandal. We cannot go forward if my colleague whom I assigned as the commander of a military unit leaves his weapon and escapes. Two guys are coming and scare away 30 of our soldiers. This is impossible. We cannot work with these guys, he says.
The voice in the recording also criticizes the way border outposts were constructed and says they are not safe. When protecting a base or a critical area, the point is to hide somewhere that has been hollowed out. We are putting sandbags on each other and this creates a huge target. In the Hantepe case, for example, it is even obvious in the UAV images. They [terrorists] easily entered the outpost, right? Is there anyone who watched them? There should be. The man came and threw the hand grenade over the sandbags. Our situation is really a shame, he says.
We shot our own soldier due to lack of training'
The recording, which allegedly features the voice of Koşaner, also confirms earlier claims that a soldier was killed by another soldier due to a lack of military training provided to the soldiers. One soldier opens fire after seeing a shadow and others too as they thought they were being raided. Did we shoot one of our privates in the head? Yes, we did. Do you know that? Yes, you do. We are at fault, he says.
The voice in the recording says after mentioning a series of mistakes that the military has begun working more logically since last year. Formerly, we used to deploy battalions to search large areas. We were searching and ten of them were stepping on landmines, whatever was happening to five of them and we found nothing. We just had casualties. So, we decided to take action after receiving real intelligence, contacting the governor, etc., and then taking action, he says.
Koşaner also confesses that the military planted landmines in an uncontrolled way in areas near military outposts and along borders. He says now the military is having difficulty explaining to civilians why these mines were planted. We should now base everything we do on a legal basis. All eyes are on us. Even minor mistakes are being covered in the media. So, we have to do everything within the law. Our laws, over which we sometimes get angry, in fact gives us the authority we need, he says.
He refers to the Protocol on Cooperation for Security and Public Order (EMASYA), which gave the military the authority to gather intelligence against internal threats and to conduct operations in cities without the approval of the civilian administrations. Signed by the General Staff and the Interior Ministry in 1997, the protocol was abolished on Feb. 4. However, Koşaner says it can be still made use of.
Koşaner, who took over as head of the armed forces in August 2010 and is regarded as a hardline secularist, resigned last month one day before the beginning of the annual Supreme Military Council (YAŞ
meeting in protest of the government's refusal to promote members of the military who stand trial on coup charges. He was replaced by Gen. Necdet Özel.Former military chief confesses flaws in fighting terror in recording
---------------------------
Didnt surprised. This what happens when the army cares about everything but its duty.
