Jigs
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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sevil KÜÇÜKKOŞUM
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n....-offer-more-assistance-against-pkk-2010-06-20
The United States is ready to offer more assistance to Turkey in the fight against terrorism, an embassy spokeswoman said Sunday, denying allegations of a drop in actionable intelligence in response to Turkey’s stance on Iran.
“We stand ready to review urgently any new request from the Turkish military or government,” Deborah Guido, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Ankara told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.
Allegations that Washington has slowed its sharing of actionable intelligence with the Turkish military following Turkey’s U.N. Security Council vote against new sanctions on Iran were brought back to the country’s agenda with the weekend’s deadly attacks, which killed a total of 12 Turkish soldiers.
The Turkish press had speculated that the attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were carried out by a group of around 250 terrorists whose crossing of the border would surely have been noted by American intelligence. Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ corrected the news reports Sunday, saying the attacks were committed by 57 terrorists.
Guido made clear there has been no change in the level of intelligence sharing with Turkey, and noted that American troops have been facing similar attacks. “Despite our best intelligence efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of our forces there, we experienced similar attacks conducted against Turkish forces [Saturday],” she said, adding that the U.S. shares Turkey’s grief over the deaths.
Foreign Ministry sources told the Daily News on Sunday that they had not seen “any signal of a breakdown with the U.S. either in political or military terms.” Military officials publicly confirmed Friday that the cooperation with the United States remained the same.
A tripartite mechanism between Turkey, the U.S. and Iraq has been established in recent years with the aim of addressing the security issues in northern Iraq. A joint command center in the northern Iraqi province of Arbil was also formed to facilitate intelligence sharing for operational purposes against the PKK.
Diplomatic sources drew attention to the problems experienced in this sharing process, saying Turkish officials had complained several times to their American counterparts about long delays in delivering real-time intelligence regarding movements in the region and had requested more assistance.
Retired Gen. Necati Özgen said the recent tension with Israel and the U.S. could have played a part in the latest terrorist attacks. “Did the U.S. provide intelligence on this incident? No. It did not give the intelligence about this big group of terrorists,” the former corps commander said Saturday in an interview with NTV.
Security summit today
A security summit is expected to be convened in Ankara on Monday following the weekend’s bloody attacks. Under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gül and with the participation of top civil and military officials, the summit will focus on ways to prevent such acts of terror in the country.
The fight against terror will also be on the agenda of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is expected to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the G-20 summit June 26 and 27.
Sevil KÜÇÜKKOŞUM
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n....-offer-more-assistance-against-pkk-2010-06-20
The United States is ready to offer more assistance to Turkey in the fight against terrorism, an embassy spokeswoman said Sunday, denying allegations of a drop in actionable intelligence in response to Turkey’s stance on Iran.
“We stand ready to review urgently any new request from the Turkish military or government,” Deborah Guido, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Ankara told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.
Allegations that Washington has slowed its sharing of actionable intelligence with the Turkish military following Turkey’s U.N. Security Council vote against new sanctions on Iran were brought back to the country’s agenda with the weekend’s deadly attacks, which killed a total of 12 Turkish soldiers.
The Turkish press had speculated that the attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were carried out by a group of around 250 terrorists whose crossing of the border would surely have been noted by American intelligence. Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ corrected the news reports Sunday, saying the attacks were committed by 57 terrorists.
Guido made clear there has been no change in the level of intelligence sharing with Turkey, and noted that American troops have been facing similar attacks. “Despite our best intelligence efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of our forces there, we experienced similar attacks conducted against Turkish forces [Saturday],” she said, adding that the U.S. shares Turkey’s grief over the deaths.
Foreign Ministry sources told the Daily News on Sunday that they had not seen “any signal of a breakdown with the U.S. either in political or military terms.” Military officials publicly confirmed Friday that the cooperation with the United States remained the same.
A tripartite mechanism between Turkey, the U.S. and Iraq has been established in recent years with the aim of addressing the security issues in northern Iraq. A joint command center in the northern Iraqi province of Arbil was also formed to facilitate intelligence sharing for operational purposes against the PKK.
Diplomatic sources drew attention to the problems experienced in this sharing process, saying Turkish officials had complained several times to their American counterparts about long delays in delivering real-time intelligence regarding movements in the region and had requested more assistance.
Retired Gen. Necati Özgen said the recent tension with Israel and the U.S. could have played a part in the latest terrorist attacks. “Did the U.S. provide intelligence on this incident? No. It did not give the intelligence about this big group of terrorists,” the former corps commander said Saturday in an interview with NTV.
Security summit today
A security summit is expected to be convened in Ankara on Monday following the weekend’s bloody attacks. Under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gül and with the participation of top civil and military officials, the summit will focus on ways to prevent such acts of terror in the country.
The fight against terror will also be on the agenda of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is expected to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the G-20 summit June 26 and 27.
