Thursday, September 18, 2008
ANKARA — The Turkey military has determined that the Kurdish insurgency was heading for a breakdown.Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, has been severely harmed by a Turkish military offensive over the last year. Basbug, who assumed his new post in August 2008, said the PKK has sustained hundreds of casualties in 2008 in Turkish air and ground operations.
“The PKK is moving towards the breaking point now,” Basbug told a briefing on Sept. 16. “I do not say they are at the breaking point. How can we benefit from this? If we can succeed in it, then we can reach at breaking point.” |
Basbug said the PKK’s operational ability has been sharply eroded. He said PKK operations dropped from 6,446 in 1994 to 1,171 in 2008. Civilian casualties in 2008 were reported at 42, in contrast to 992 in 1994.”This means it is a big mistake to say that we got back to the 1990s in the fight against terrorism,” Basbug said.
Basbug said the PKK has been struggling to replace its dead fighters. He said recruitment, mostly targeting teenagers, takes place in Iran, Syria, Turkey and Western Europe.
“There is an impression that the majority of recruitments from Turkey are from southeastern Anatolia,” Basbug said. “But this is not true. One-third of the organization is comprised of Syrians.”
The chief of staff said the military has sought to foil the PKK in its recruitment stage. He said the Kurdish insurgency group has been targeting youngsters ages 14 through 18.
“If we can save them from the hands of the organization we will do a big job,” Basbug said. “Campaigns should be held to find jobs for unemployed children.”
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