BY TAHA AKYOL
MILLIYET- Let's have a look at the landing marks of the course of events in our fight against terrorism. A crowded group of terrorists coming from northern Iraq attacked the Daglica military outpost, killed 12 and injured 17 soldiers with heavy weapons on November 21, 2007. The terrorist PKK kidnapped 8 soldiers and 32 PKK terrorists were killed in the conflict that lasted for many hours during the same day. At that day, the weakness of intelligence was being discussed. The government took authorization from the Parliament and gave the task order to the General Staff for a cross-border operation on November 28, 2007. The first cross border operation of this period occurred on December 1, 2007, when the General Staff announced that an operation was made against 50-60 PKK terrorists within the Iraqi border and that targets were hit upon an information which was received. Speaking in Diyarbakir on September 5, 2008, Gen. Ilker Basbug said that the separatist terrorist organization was moving towards the breaking point and that the situation which was reached since December was a source of pride. The PKK attacked Aktutun military outpost from northern Iraq, again with heavy weapons, killing 15 and injuring 21 soldiers on October 4, 2008. By the way, the terrorists' loss is 23. Alas! Is the fight against terrorism changing for worse? Are the commanders' words empty?
Firstly, there is the geographical factor. Almost all these attacks occurred in the Hakkari region! Steep mountains and deep valleys make even the electronic intelligence harder. The US which mobilizes all of its militarily and technological possibilities can't even control the wide and mountainous geography on the Afghan-Pakistani border, either. The second factor is the problem of border. The terrorist organization can attack from northern Iraq with heavy weapons also with Kurdish leader Barzani's support from a distance of 5-10 km! It's not easy to clean that land completely with cross border operations. The difficult land conditions which were indicated by Second Chief of General Staff Gen. Hasan Igsiz at a briefing yesterday surprised even the journalists who have visited the region for many times before. Yes, as Gen. Basbug indicated, the PKK has lost its dominance of land greatly, compared to 1990s, but it still can carry out such attacks to point targets by benefiting from the geography and Barzani.
Of course, there are things to be done. As far as I heard, the place of five military outposts which were attacked was being changed. I wish it had been changed earlier. The special electronic intelligence and tactical defense structures can also be established for the point targets which were attacked by the PKK. None of us have the specialized information. Even a retired general talked on the TV with outdated information. If the people get suspicious that our soldiers were killed due to technical, intelligence or tactical mistakes in the fight against terrorism, terrorism would win! While talking or writing about this issue, one should be very careful. The army should answer the questions on these issues. The briefing which was made yesterday was useful, but I wish it was broadcasted live. If some people have defects in the tactical area, the army shouldn't hesitate to find and punish them. This would increase the confidence. Besides the complicated and long-termed sociological and political dimensions of the issue, we shouldn't forget that the party which gets terrified firstly will lose the long-termed struggle on the land.