Friday, 09 April 2010
Northern Kurdistan- Van: That was confirmed by the Turkish Military that the mines that killed seven Turkish soldiers last year belonged to the military and were not planted by Kurdish guerrillas, Turkish media reported Friday.
According to prosecutors in the Kurdish city of Van, the mines that killed the Turkish soldiers on May 27, 2009, were made of materials manufactured by a state-owned weapons manufacturer. They were produced by the Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK).
The investigation into the incident, which was originally blamed on the members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) started after the revelations that came out of the recordings of conversations between two commanders. In the recordings, one commander was telling the other one that the mines had been positioned for the security reasons. Several former and serving high-ranking officers are now being held on suspicion of planning a coup against the AKP governemnt.
It should be noted that the explosion occurred just before a scheduled meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Kurdish politicians including Ahmed Turk the co-chair of Kurdish Democratic Society (DTP). The meeting was seen as a fundamental step toward the solution of the Kurdish issue. Even since then Erdogan cancelled the meeting after the explosion and he has failed to invite the Kurdish representatives for the meeting.
