WASHINGTON - U.S. and Turkish military officials were working Wednesday to streamline procedures for any future attacks against rebels in northern Iraq after top American officials in Baghdad were angered about how Sunday's Turkish bombing unfolded.
Americans have been providing Turkey with intelligence to go after the Kurdish rebels, and a "coordination center" has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information, officials have said.
But State Department and Defense Department officials in Washington and Baghdad said top U.S. commanders in Iraq didn't know about the incursion until the first of two waves of Turkish planes were already on their way — either crossing the border or already over it.
The Turkish military did not inform the American military as quickly as had been agreed. That meant the U.S. had to rush to clear air space for the incursion, two defense officials and a State Department official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
One Washington official said the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, was angered by the development. Another said American diplomats complained to the Turks about it.
The Turks replied they were chasing rebels and there hadn't been time for notification earlier, according to a senior State Department official. "They said it was hot pursuit," the U.S. official said.
"There are supposed to be coordinating mechanisms for this kind of thing with us and the Iraqis, and whatever happens in the heat of the moment, they have to tell us in a reasonable and timely manner," the official added. "We have told them it would be extremely helpful if they were more forthcoming on the notification."
Turkey's ambassador to Washington, Nabi Sensoy, said Wednesday the strike against targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was made possible by intelligence from the U.S.
"There's no doubt that this operation was due to the information shared by the United States of America," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Under an agreement between the countries, Turkey is to analyze U.S. data, decide whether it will take military action, then notify the U.S. of its plan, one official said. Sensoy said he was "not aware of any direct complaint" over the timing of Turkey's notification.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman Wednesday disputed there was a problem, saying "the right people knew at the time." He declined to elaborate.
None of the officials gave details about precisely what procedures had been agreed to. But one noted that the process is complex because it involves Turkey, Iraq, the U.S. and potentially neighboring governments such as Tehran because some PKK camps are near the Iranian border.
For the U.S. alone, the issue cuts across two military commands — the European Command that takes in Turkey and the Central Command, which is managing the war in Iraq.
"It starts in Ankara (with the Turkish military informing the U.S. military) ... then goes up the chain, then the air space is de-conflicted," or cleared, one Washington official said. "It was the Turks who on the first go-around did not give the desired lead time."
It was the American military in Baghdad that ended up notifying the Iraqi government that planes had already been sent to strike rebel positions inside their country.
The Iraqi parliament on Monday condemned the bombing, calling it an "outrageous" violation of Iraq's sovereignty that killed innocent civilians.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government thought Turkey would coordinate with it before striking the rebels inside Iraq.
Sensoy dismissed the Iraqi complaint, saying Turkey has been unhappy with cooperation from Iraq's central government and its regional Kurdish government in the north. The process for coordinating among the United States, Iraq and Turkey is not working, he said.
Some reports said there were up to 50 planes involved Sunday, which would be the largest aerial attack in years against the outlawed rebel separatist group. Others put the number at a much less and Sensoy said there were 24 aircraft.
The Turkish army also sent soldiers about 1.5 miles into northern Iraq in an overnight operation on Tuesday, Kurdish officials said. Kurdish officials said the Turkish troops left Iraq about 15 hours later.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Lolita C. Baldor and Desmond Butler contributed to this report.
the real information is that 50 aircraft's 24 F-16 from 161 sqn and 181 sqn took off from airbases and some F-4 and KC-135 joint to this group and before the operation the F-4 phantom on Sunday at 12 hours make some recce operation on day time and take some pictures than at night F-16 and F-4 took off F-16 attacked to the targets whit LANTIRN pods and F-4 makes after attack again recce operation to confirm the kills and damage on target site the strike begun on 00.12 clock night and take almost 3 hours strike sow kc-135 was on air to refuel the aircraft's the us was informed F-4 first was on day light sow i think that generals of the us will now that turkey was planed to make strike i don't think that generals of us did now till the strike packed arrived is target sow it will informed early thx
saladin
Posted: Dec 21, 2007 - 05:46 AM
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I have watched a news clip from Turkish Star TV. The clip is uploaded today to an affiliated newspaper. It mentions that F-16s from Merzifon and F-4s from Malatya took of at 6am and bombed the targets around the west of Qandil mountain. The video doesn't specify the date but refers that the events happened yesterday so I believe it was either December 19th or 20th.
I have not read this in newspapers so I don't know the validity of this report.
saladin
Posted: Dec 22, 2007 - 05:45 PM
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Turkish military announced that there was another strike today between 14:25-15:00 local time. The announcement says air strike is followed by the artillery shelling. It also says the visual results of recent operations are going to presented this week.
JochemP
Posted: Dec 24, 2007 - 01:26 AM
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saladin wrote:
Turkish military announced that there was another strike today between 14:25-15:00 local time. The announcement says air strike is followed by the artillery shelling. It also says the visual results of recent operations are going to presented this week.
I found that The TuAF made four attacks between those hours on positions of PKK in northern Iraq, However, no more details are immediately available.
Last Updated: Saturday, 22 December 2007, 23:12 GMT
Turkey has launched fresh air strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the Turkish military says.
Fighter planes attacked positions held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a 35-minute raid, the army said.
Similar air strikes last Sunday were followed two days later by an incursion into Iraq by Turkish troops.
Iraq's Kurdish regional government condemned those raids, but Turkey says it has a right to defend itself from PKK attacks on its territory.
Operations 'to continue'
In a statement on its website, the Turkish military said: "Turkish Air Force warplanes struck important targets of the PKK/KONGRA-GEL terror group in northern Iraq... between the hours of 14:25-15:00 (1225-1300 GMT).
"The PKK will understand through experience that northern Iraq is not a safe place and they will understand once again that they have no chance against the Turkish military."
The air strikes were followed by shelling from inside the Turkish border, army officials said.
Ten planes were involved in the raid, senior military sources told Reuters news agency.
Officials did not disclose the location of the raids, although Iraqi Kurdish authorities said the target was in a mountainous region north of the town of Dohuk.
The US administration confirmed that it had been informed of the attacks in advance.
No casualties were reported by authorities in northern Iraq.
"The aerial bombardment didn't result in any people killed because the area is almost deserted because of fear of aerial and mortar attacks from the Turkish side," Reuters news agency quoted Jabbar Yawer, an Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga spokesman as saying.
Turkish military officials pledged to continue operations "no matter how the conditions are", the Associated Press news agency quoted the army statement as saying.
Stability threat
Turkish officials said the PKK "suffered heavy losses in terms of its infrastructure and its human resources," during the military operation earlier this month.
Iraqi officials said the air strikes on 16 December targeted 10 villages and killed one woman, while the PKK reported seven deaths.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman told the BBC the United States "supplied actionable intelligence" for that operation.
The US is opposed to any major cross-border incursion into the only relatively stable region of Iraq but has agreed to share intelligence with Turkey - a vital strategic ally - on the PKK.
The PKK - which is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and the EU - is thought to have about 3,000 rebels based in Iraq.
Turkish warplanes have again bombed Kurdish rebels across the border in northern Iraq, Kurdish officials say.
Jabbar Yawer, a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish security forces, said the raid lasted more than three hours but "there was no damage or loss of life".
Turkey has carried out two other air attacks on north Iraq in the past week, as well as a small ground incursion.
Turkey blames rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of launching attacks on Turkey from bases in Iraq.
Turkish fighter jets first carried out reconnaissance in the Qandil mountains near the border with Iran, before bombing certain positions in north Iraq, the Turkish Anatolia news agency cited Mr Yawer as saying.
Mr Yawer also told Turkish television channel NTV that three jets took part in the raid in the uninhabited Rawanduz area.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Turkish military.
Ankara approved cross-border raids on PKK bases in October, saying the Iraqi government and its US backers were not doing enough to halt attacks.
The PKK - which is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and the EU - is thought to have about 3,000 rebels based in Iraq.
The Turkish government believes that many of these rebels are holed up in the Qandil mountains.
MOUNTING BORDER TENSION
7 Oct PKK rebels kill 13 Turkish troops near Iraqi border
17 Oct - Turkish MPs allow military operations in Iraq
21 Oct - 12 Turkish troops die in PKK ambush near Iraqi border
30 Nov - Turkish cabinet backs PKK pursuits in Iraq
13 Nov - Turkey shells PKK targets in Iraq, Baghdad says
1 Dec - Turkish army targets rebels in Iraq, inflicting "heavy losses"
16 Dec - Turkish jets bomb PKK targets in Iraq for the first time
18 Dec - Some 300 Turkish troops cross over into northern Iraq
22 Dec - Turkish jets bomb PKK targets in Iraq a second time
23 Dec - Turkish planes strike for a third time
Following December 16th attacks in northern Iraq, Turkish warplanes completed a second bombing run against PKK forces yesterday. The operation, which lasted 35 minutes, concentrated on the Zap Camp, where the PKK had demonstrated in November while Turkish soldiers abducted by PKK forces in Dağlıca the previous month were being handed over. Other PKK bases targeted were Cemço, Metina, Haftanin and Hakurk.
Yesterday´s operation followed a visit from northern Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani to mountainous areas where last weekend´s attacks took place.
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This, I mean terminating pkk threat in total, is not a simple operation. It is not military only, our government and civil organizations doing whatever they can to stop terror. It is a great amount of money we spend to counter-act terrorism. Dont we want to spend it for education or employment? We certainly do. There are certain groups, which do not want Turkey to flourish, obviously, and supporting pkk is one os the alternatives.
Though, military operations are one strong and initial way to act. Eye for an eye as you say, to suppress a terror group, which still holds its weapon in hand and oppose Turkish nation for autonomy and land, a land that we fought for in WWI, a land that we live on for nearly 1000 years. And it is the democracy, they defend themselves with.
Pls do not forget: Turks was the one and only government and nation, who opened the borders for over 2 million Kurds fleeing from Baas Regime and Saddam. Turkish government was the only government to give political red passport to Barzani, who now shouts that last air raids were intended on civillian Kurds in northern Iraq. One way or another, Barzani will learn Turks are not a threat as long as he behaves and keeps a peaceful manner.
Otto
Posted: Dec 25, 2007 - 05:29 PM
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An official statement from the Turkish General Staff on the cross-border air raids:
December 16th, 2007
Terrorist camps hit:
22 target groups in Metina, Zap, Avaşin and Hakurk camps
11 target groups in Zap camp.
A total of 33 target groups, a total of 200 specific targets, including 3 command centers, 2 comms centers, 2 training centers, 9 logistics centers, 182 hide-outs and blocks, 10 anti-aircraft artillery with crew, 14 arsenals.
On December, 22nd anti-aircraft artillery and depots in Zap camp were hit.
Stated that damage assessment works continuing but in the first raid 150 to 175 terrorists killed on open areas. This number does not include the ones hit in the caves.
Viva post no.100...
warrior1
Posted: Dec 25, 2007 - 06:38 PM
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An aerial combo photo provided by the Turkish military in Ankara, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2007 shows a camp used by the PKK , in northern Iraq before, left, and after it was bombed by Turkish jet fighters on December 16, 2007. Turkey's military has hit more than 200 PKK Terörist targets in northern Iraq since Dec. 16, killing hundreds of PKK Terörist, authorities said Tuesday. Up to 175 PKK Terörist were killed on Dec. 16 alone in the mountainous areas in northern Iraq, the military said.
JochemP
Posted: Jan 04, 2008 - 04:47 PM
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Did the operation ended or still going on?. Probably those bomb attacks recently will make TuAF launch more raids soon.
Battle_Hymn
Posted: Jan 05, 2008 - 09:24 AM
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Mostly for control around of Qandil Mountain and Northern Iraq..About bombin attack in Diyarbakir its lookin like they start to finish and aimin civilians..Especially in winters they startin to livin in caves and tryin to find safe places..This air strike been really good about morale too..Also seein experience of TUAF and seein national systems at our Anatolian Eagles
Only wanted to give info about alliedship and about slaughterin etc..
Who dont know anythin about can have idea with readin this..
BH.
JochemP
Posted: Jan 11, 2008 - 04:40 AM
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JochemP wrote:
Did the operation ended or still going on?. Probably those bomb attacks recently will make TuAF launch more raids soon.
Any updates on this matter? Ops ceased?
Otto
Posted: Jan 13, 2008 - 11:57 AM
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TuAF made the third operation in December 26th. 8 caves and barracks in Zap region were hit. Yet again, no numbers and model of equipment were declared. When required, special ops units (especially the Red Berrets - Para-Kross 2005 No.1) operating in northern Iraq. Turkish President Gul stated that the operations will be continued if necessary.
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