Red Lines

BY YILMAZ OZDIL
SABAH- Another statement has been posted on the General Staff's website. It was a notice prohibiting civilian air traffic in the airspace of the southeastern Hakkari, Siirt and Sirnak regions. The statement made a big splash in the Turkish media. Some agencies carried it as breaking news, while newspapers scrambled to change their headlines at midnight to say that the Iraqi border region was declared a security area from June 9 (tomorrow) to Sept. 9 and its airspace a restricted zone. It was also topic A on TV channels, where analysts called it a clear declaration of red lines. Some even said that we were lashing out at the US. This development was something quite new and full of frenzy.

However, this notice, encompassing the very same area, was in fact issued nearly a month ago, on May 5. You can even look at the statement dated April 5 for yourself. What does it mean, then? Two months ago our border was declared a security area from April 7 to May 7. So actually, we lashed out a while ago. Then May 7 came and this declaration expired, but then it was extended for another month, and covering a wider area. Later, on June 8, when the second month expired, it was seen that the danger wasn't over but instead had grown much bigger. Thus, another notice was issued and the restrictions were extended for three months as of June 9. That is what happened.