EVALUACIÓN FINANCIERA DEL PROYECTO

Bloody clashes, operations and raids were witnessed in the Emergency State Region and its surrounding during 1994. On the one hand, military power in the region was increased several times, on the other hand, the PKK increased the dose of its attacks. There was a consi-derable rise in the number of security officers and PKK militants who died during the clashes, when compared

to the previous year. Turkey conducted many air and ground operations against PKK camps and units within or outside its borders. During the operations, civilian settlements were sometimes destroyed. Some people died who had no connections with either the PKK or other Kurdish organizations.

In 1994, there were numerous clashes between security officers and armed groups all over Turkey, particularly in the Emergency State Region, in Istanbul and Adana. A total of 1737 militants or armed people died during the clashes and attacks, including raids against military stations and units in the Emergency State Region. The total number of security officers or people who died during clashes, and of the people who were accidentally killed in those clashes, is 1077. Following is the breakdown of the security officers, militants and other people who died during the clashes (*)_:

Enlisted man 574 PKK 1598

NCO-Specialized sergeant 88 DHKP-C 33

Military officer 54 TIKKO 44

Police of.-Watchman 44 TDKP 13

Village guard 253 TDP 1

Bank officer 3 Hezbollah 3

Repentant 1 Unknown 18

Other 60 Smuggler 27

TOTAL

1077 TOTAL 1737

PKK : Partiye Karkeran Kürdistan (Kurdistan Worker’s Party)

DHKP-C : Revolutionary People Liberation Party/Front (Revolutionary Left) TIKKO : Workers’ Peasants’ Liberation Army of Turkey

TDKP : Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey TDP : Revolution Party of Turkey

During the clashes and attacks many security officers were wounded and became crippled. Some officers were also captured. For example, enlisted men Mehmet Nuri Aykut and Yalçın Yaşar were captured by PKK militants in June, and second lieutenant Mustafa Öz-güleler in September. The captured soldiers had not been set free by the end of 1994. Official authorities did not show any interest in the captured soldiers and their relatives. Demands by the families of the captured soldiers for assistance were returned. Thus, relatives of those sol-diers asked the IHD for assistance and applied to certain international organizations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International and the United Nations.

In the meantime, non-commissioned officer Mustafa Çelik, who was captured by PKK militants in July 1992, was given the status of war prisoner, and his wife Hülya Çelik was assigned a salary within this framework. It was stated that since there was no regulations about payments for personnel abducted by terrorist organizations, the non-commissioned officer had been assessed as a prisoner of war. In the inscription concerning the case sent to Hülya Çelik and to the Mardin 70th Mechanized Infantry Brigade Commandership and Midyat 2nd Infantry Battalion Commandership, where the non-commissioned officer was in charge, it was stated: “With the aim of not making aggrieved families, it has been decided to assign salary to

(*)_{A total of 218 people who died during armed attacks and assassinations and whose chronological}

legal heirs of military officers, non-commissioned officers and specialized sergeants who are definitely known to have been abducted by terror organizations, until it becomes certain that they will not return, that they have died or have disappeared.”

The funerals of the soldiers killed in the clashes became scenes for various events. The funerals attended by thousands of people turned into demonstrations against the “PKK” and the “Kurds”. At the ceremonies, slogans were chanted demanding execution of the DEP deputies, and calling the government to resignation. No serious efforts were made to prevent incidents that took place during the funeral ceremonies or even to prevent repetition of similar events. For example, the funeral held on 21 January in Erzurum for second lieutenant Kadir Kılıcı, who lost his life in January in an attack against the Pirinçeken Gendarmerie Station around the Çukurca district of Hakkari, turned into a demonstration in which 5,000 people participated. Those who participated in the funeral shouted slogans including “Damn the PKK”, “Government Resign”, “Çiller Resign” and “Boo to Güreş”.

The reactions of relatives of soldiers who lost their lives in clashes were not limited to funerals. Relatives of second lieutenant Nizamettin Şensoy, who lost his life during a clash which broke out in 1993 around the Hamur district of Ağrı, found the TL 130 million paid them insufficient. Demanding virtual and corporal compensation of TL 1.5 billion, they launched a trial against the Ministry of Interior. The provision “The administration is obliged to pay the loss originating from its acts and procedures.” in Article 125 of the Constitution was argued as legal justification for recompense in the trial held at the Military Supreme Adminis-trative Court. In the application made on behalf of Şensoy family, the following was stated: “Nizamettin Şensoy was a petroleum engineer. He became a martyr while carrying out his duty. Although any faults that can be attributed to the administration cannot be mentioned, it is obvious that the loss which occurred while executing duty, stemmed the from duty. In accordance with the principal and theory of irreproachable responsibility, the administration is required to compensate the loss virtually and corporally.” In the answer given by the Ministry of Interior to the court, the following was said: “The incident occurred during service for main-taining security and order. We considered the incident within the framework of the Law on Compensation in Cash and Salary Assignment, numbered 2330, and compensation of TL 130,851,000 was given to litigants Çağatay Şensoy and Zehra Şensoy provided that it will be equally divided between them. Since there is nobody in need of the income of the deceased, the demand for salary assignment is not proper and therefore it should be rejected.”

An increase in the number of clashes and operations in the Emergency State Region and its surroundings occasioned extension (*) _{of the compulsory military service period once more.}

Discharges were suspended for a period of time with a decision unexpectedly taken by the Board of Ministers on 6 January. As a result of the decision, second lieutenants were discharged 5 months later, enlisted men 4 months later and short-term enlisted men 2 months later. In addition, demands by military and non-commissioned officers for resignation or retirement were shelved. In the statement made concerning the suspension of discharges it was expressed that political developments experienced in the countries neighbouring Turkey, particularly in Greece and the Russian Republic, played a role in taking such a decision. Relatives of those rendering military service, reacted strongly to the decision.

(*) _{At the beginning of 1992, just after receiving vote of confidence, the DYP-SHP coalition government}

In a statement she made on 7 January, Prime Minister Tansu Çiller said that the deci-sion to suspend discharges would only be taken once. Reminding that a similar decision had been taken during the Gulf War, Tansu Çiller said: “At least 110,000 soldiers are needed for the region. During the winter, militants replenish themselves. This year, we will not allow such a replenishing.” However, the events proved Tansu Çiller’s statement “Discharges will only be suspended once.” false. The Board of Ministers also suspended the discharges in July and September. Colonel Nedim Tetik, Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence, explained on 11 July the reasons of the suspension as follows: “The operations against the terrorist organiza-tion which has activities against the integrity of the country are continuing successfully. We are about to reach the aims previously determined. Continuation of the operations uninterruptedly by experienced personnel is vital from the view of securing the entire integrity and security of the country. Therefore, the experienced personnel are required to be on duty for a longer period of time in order to perpetuate our success against the terror organization, to punish the organi-zation without letting it replenish itself and to continue putting pressure on it.”

The discharges were suspended 3 times in 1994, and then suspension became perma-nent. The Board of Ministers decided to extend the period of the military service on 26 Decem-ber. According to the decision, military service periods will be 18 months instead of 15 months for enlisted men, 16 months instead of 12 months for second lieutenants and 8 months instead of 6 months for short-term enlisted men. Thus, the DYP-SHP coalition government relinquished its decision which shortened the military service and which was one of its several positive performances. The suspension of discharges and extension of the military service pe-riod brought a burden of more than TL 1.5 trillion on the budget. The suspension decision affected about 100,000 enlisted men (monthly cost for each of whom is TL 3 million) and 3,500 second lieutenants (monthly cost for each of whom is TL 10 million) in 1994.

Other consequences of the bloody clashes in the Emergency State Region were the development of enmity in the society and grudges which became a kind of gangrene. In his ar-ticle entitled “Return of the Second Lieutenant” published in the newspaper Cumhuriyet on 11 November 1994, journalist Mustafa Balbay demonstrated an impressive example of this:

They enrolled the Faculty of Dentistry of Istanbul Çapa University in the same year. They became familiar with the university life, together. While they were only school mates, then they became good friends. They smoke their first cigarette together. One could guess what the other was thinking on any subject which was on the agenda. They graduated. They met with “life”. After graduation, Aydın decided to start his professional life. After several insignificant experiences, he settled down in Van. There he met dental technicians, he had a good working relationship with them. Mehmet had a rest for a while, and then the military ser-vice. Fundamental military training, subsequently military conscription. Çukurca fell to him.

At the end of the 17 months, he received his discharge papers and went to the central gathering place, that’s to say Van. Is it possible not to visit his friend in Van? “Hullo, Meh-met...”, “Oh! Aydın...” After embracing each other, they asked:

- What are we doing tonight?

- Let’s chat like we did during the years at the university. They took the road to Çem Restaurant.

After running about and tiring me during the whole day in Van, on the evening of the same day I asked, “Where may I go to have dinner with enjoyment?” and was told “In Çem

Restaurant.” I thought about the two youths who were sitting across me“They must be doctors. Perhaps, they came here because of the compulsory service.” After a while, I said “Hello”, and sat at their table. The focal point of chat was military service, Turkey, terror... Mehmet could hardly understand Aydın, and Aydın could hardly understand the former.

MEHMET- Well Aydın, villagers take your side, if you beat them. AYDIN- Oh, No! Mehmet. How do you think so?

MEHMET- I saw. The PKK has terrorized them. If there are young men in a house, the PKK takes one of them to the organization. It obtains food by beating. If soldiers behave kindly, the people side with the PKK. They think that soldiers are kind to them in any case.

AYDIN- Well, how is the case worked out by this way, Mehmet? Didn’t we talk about humanism while studying at the university?

MEHMET- Anyway, Aydın. I will ask something. Have you ever come face to face with death? Have you ever lived death?

AYDIN- I am trying to understand you, but I am afraid of the course of events. If such an understanding prevails the whole world... The end of the course of events will be the return of the Middle Ages. The course of events is bad in the whole world. We are beginning the Mid-dle Ages again.

MEHMET- Aydın, please don’t speak philosophically. I am telling you about what I experienced. There is a clash at the foot of a mountain in Hakkari. The soldiers give the back to the mountain and are fighting against terrorists. Gun fire was opened from Hakkari at soldiers. What do you do? Turning to Hakkari, do you say “Please, we kindly ask you not to open fire.” or “Bring that terrorist, otherwise we will ruin the city”? Of course, you have to say the latter.

AYDIN- Mehmet, haven’t you told that half of the people in the region are on the mountain, and the other of them side with the state. How can soldiers settle the case? Killing, how long? What I mean is that. Those who are village guards, and drug and arm smugglers collaborating with the PKK become rich in the region. Will those guys allow the end of terror in the region?

MEHMET- In some places, soldiers are trapped. When we examine the region, we find village guards there. That’s to say, terrorists should have clashed with the village guards before the soldiers, but they did not. We do not understand how it happened.

AYDIN- Let’s talk about democracy.

MEHMET- In Turkey, there is much democracy. More than should be. AYDIN- No, democracy is deficient. This is the problem.

The chat lasted throughout the night. I do not want to write most of the things said by Mehmet since it is necessary to write them with evidence. The hypocrisy of the regional people and the relations of smugglers with the state authorities, who are agents and buyers in the weapon trade.

Following are examples of the operations, attacks, clashes and similar incidents inside or outside Turkey in 1994:

The Cizre district of Şırnak was raided on the night of 22 January by PKK militants. A police officer was killed and 6 others were wounded during the raid the target of which was the

Security Directorate building. The clash that arose because of the raid lasted for about 2 hours. About 150 houses and shops were damaged during the clash. Most of the houses and shops were reportedly damaged in the bullets randomly shot by the security forces. Şırnak Deputy Or-han Doğan’s house and the office of Mehmet Ali Dinler, Cizre representative of the IHD, were among the damaged houses.

On 28 January, Turkish war planes carried out a comprehensive air attack against the PKK and bombed the Zaleh Camp, which was an important base for the PKK. The bombard-ment, in which 50 war planes participated, lasted half an hour. During the operation, a trans-portation plane and 5 helicopters were also used. The General Staff Office stated that the Zaleh Camp had been completely damaged and about 500 PKK militants had been killed. The state-ment made by the PKK, on the other hand, said that the camp had been evacuated because they had been informed about the operation before. The following was claimed in the statement: “The attack aiming at a complete extermination of our existent force failed. We have 7 deaths and 7 injuries. Our air defence was very effective and 2 planes were shot down. The operation was carried out in order to disguise the latest economic measures and devaluation decision.” Just after the operation, the General Staff Office gave a briefing to Prime Minister Tansu Çiller. After the briefing, Tansu Çiller said: “This camp was substituted for the Bekaa Valley. We had intelligence that there were 1600 terrorists there, including leaders of the organization. We know that about 300 of them are armed female militants. The operation started at 8.10 a.m. and the camp was bombed at 9.00 am. We were informed that the operation was fully successful. This is a political decision.” Murat Karayalçın, then Deputy Prime Minister, stated that the operation had cost TL 1 trillion. During the operation some settlements in the borders of Iran were also damaged. In the Şene village, one of the damaged settlements, 9 persons died and 17 persons were wounded. First, Turkey did not admit that the incident had taken place. However, upon strong reaction from Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement on 3 February and asked Iran to be excused for the incident. The following was stated: “Turkey will strive to help heal wounds caused by this sorrowful incident. It has been determined that several frag-mentation bombs which were thrown at anti-aircraft positions on a hill alongside the Iranian border broke into pieces in the air and the pieces ricocheted towards Iran and caused casualties. We are deeply sorrowful that Iranian citizens sustained losses because of this incident.” Turkey paid a compensation of US $ 273,000 to Iran for the damaged settlements.

An operation in which planes and helicopters were used was carried out on 6 February against PKK militants based in the Mezi and Keryaderi regions of Northern Iraq, which are very close to the Turkish border. On the one hand, the General Staff Office asserted in its statement that the bombardment inflicted great losses on the PKK. On the other hand, a state-ment made in the name of the PKK alleged that PKK militants did not suffer any losses during the bombardment.

The Silopi district of Şırnak was raided by PKK militants on the night of 11 February. A clash arose when security officers reciprocated to the PKK militants who opened fire with auto- matic guns at the state buildings and some military targets in Silopi. One police officer and 5 PKK militants were killed during the clash that lasted until the morning of 12 February. In addition, 2 children who were in a house hit by a cannon in the Karşıyaka quarter and a woman living in the Cudi quarter, died. The Emergency State Region Governorate stated that 18 PKK militants, one of whom was female, had been killed during the clash. On the contrary, in a statement made in the name of the PKK it was said that 13 security officers and 3 PKK mili-tants had been killed during the clash. Sources in the region reported that many houses and shops had been destroyed by the

security officers after the clash had ended, 3 buses had been set fire to, some civilians who had been in the destroyed buildings had died and they had been attempted to be introduced to public as “PKK militants killed during the clash”.

During a clash which broke out in the woodland between the Şenkaya district of Erzurum and the Göle district of Kars on 1 March and continued until 6 March, 3 non-commissioned