Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
turkish daily news, January 8, 1994
Turkey mobilized for
Southeastcrackdo~
Military says freezing of army
discharges aims to preserve trained
soldiers to combat terrorism
Massive forces buildup reported in
troubled Southeast with new troops
deployed from western Turkey
Sources argue upcoming buildup of
troops does not violate CFE treaty limits
Turkish Daily News
AN KARA- The govemment's.recent
decision to freeze all army dIscharges
for three to five months is a
move towards national mobilization
to crush the Kurdish separatist campaign
in the Southeast, military sour.
ces said on Friday.
Prime Minister Tansu Çiller, under
fire from her own party for making a
move which would lose the party
electoral support, said the deCISion
was taken at the request of the Chief
of Staff. She said, "The issue was put
in front of us at the National Security
Council as an absolute demand."
Military sources told the T~r~ish
Daily News that had the deCISIOn,
which was dated Dec. 20 and revealed
on Thursday, not been taken, at
least 40,000 soldiers would have been
discharged in the Southeast region
next March.
They
months
said
were
that the next three
crucial for Turkey,
which needed all the trained commandos
ilhad to fight the separatists.
Observers believe the decision is
designed to increase the manpower of
the Turkish Armed Forces at an accelerated
rate, with new conscriptsto
be added to those not being discharged.
Officials said, however, that the
extension of military
not violate Turkey's
service would
responsibilities
under the Treaty on the Reduction of
Conveniional Forces in Europe
(CFE). They said that had this country
managed to reach the ceiling of
530,000 troops that the CFE required,
such a deciSIOn would not have been
taken.
One official openly said that Turkey
could not even reach this level,
let alone exceed it.
A senior military source, who asked
not to be identified, explained
that Turkey, under normal conditions,
had nine divisions in the troubled
Southeast region, meaning some
90,000 to 95,000 troops.
"But we now have around 160,000
troops there. If they were discharged,
some 40,000 trained soldiers would
have left service. It is not easy to train
commando fighters," he said. He
added, however, that among the discharged
were soldiers other than commandos
but said, "It was impossible
to say the others were operationally
useless, and let them leave while we
kept only the commandos."
Another officer explained that the
most difficult thing was to train commando
soldiers which were a vital
part of Turkey's campaign against the
guerrillas. "The deCISion was taken
because itwas required," he said.
"Now there is the time and there are
the conditions to 'put more trained
personnel in the region." In Ankara, a
military officer disclosed that a decision
had already been taken to send a
majority of Turkey's fresh conscripts
. to the Southeast. Some Il,000 people,
including 2,000 security personnel,
have been killed in ten years of a
guerrilla war waged in ten provinces
of southeastern Turkey by the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
and branded by Turkish
as a "low intensity war."
commanders
A four-star retired army general,
based in Istanbul, likened the recent
development to what happened in
Turkey dunng Wort.; War I~. "Then
we needed troops and we increased
the number
called.
of divisions to 52," he re-
The cabinet decision, announced
by milit.ary sources on Thursday, comes
amId a massive
in the Southeast.
buildup of forces
Sourc~s said there were military
preparatIOns throughout the region
a.na that new armoured personnel caroers,
tanks, attack helicopters armoured
vehicles and warplanes h~d been
deployed. The Turkish Southeast is
currently excluded from scope of the
CFE. .
Unconfirmed reports have it that
gendarmerie depots are so loaded that
newly deployed equipment, including
Russian-made BTR-SO armoured vehicles
were now being stocked at depots
of the Land Forces Command.
A senior $eneral told the TON that
"trained unIts from everywhere around
Turkeyare
from Istanbul."
being sent there, even
Political
crackdown,
observers believe a major
about which there has
been considerable speculation in recent
months. is about to begin and
may coincide with the local elections
that are due to be held on March 27. Ankara
is concerned that the PKK. which has popular
backing in the region, may turn the election
into a de facto referendum of sUPprt.
According to the cabinet deCIsion, which
was taken WIthout consultation with the Parliament
National Defense Commission, discharges
of 72/4 and 73/1 conscripts have been
frozen for four months, 235 penod short-term
soldiers for three months and 231 and 233
period non-commissioned officers, 231, 232,
233 and 234 period health-class non-commissioned
officers for five months.
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