VZCZCXRO6158
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAK #4999 2411430
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291430Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
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UNCLAS ANKARA 004999 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER TU IZ
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PKK VIOLENCE REPORT -- FOUR DEAD AND 
SCORES INJURED IN LAST WEEK 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 4885 AND PREVIOUS 
 
     ¶B. ANKARA 4953 
 
¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on 
PKK violence in Turkey (see reftels).  Our primary sources 
for these reports are mainstream Turkish press services, such 
as the Anatolian News Agency, and international wire 
services.  While these sources are more reliable than most 
Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily 
unimpeachable.  Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such 
as Neu-Isenburg People's Defense Forces and Firat News 
Agency, tend to report higher numbers of Turkish Security 
Forces casualties. 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary.  A string of bombings, in addition to other 
incidents of possible PKK-linked violence, occurred over the 
August 21 - August 28 period, resulting in four deaths and 
scores of wounded civilians.  According to press reports, one 
of the four civilian deaths during this period occurred 
during a clash with the PKK in Bitlis on August 24 that also 
injured one member of the Turkish Security Forces and a 
civilian.  On August 21, one civilian was wounded by a 
homemade bomb exploding in Izmir.  Fourteen PKK suspects were 
arrested, including an individual suspected of planning a 
bomb attack in Izmir.  A woodcutter was kidnapped in the 
eastern province of Bingol.  In the same period, Turkish 
forces seized 9.2 kg of plastic explosives. End Summary. 
 
¶3. (U) Two bomb explosions in Adana August 25 resulted in 
four civilians injured.  Three bombings late in the evening 
of August 27 and in the early morning hours of August 28 
resulted in 21 injured civilians in Marmaris, among them 10 
British tourists.  Two bombs in Istanbul resulted in six 
injured.  On August 28, an explosion in the resort town of 
Antalya left three Turkish citizens dead and up to 87 
wounded.  Among the wounded are reportedly 13 foreign 
tourists, including four Israelis, three Germans, three 
Russians, two Dutch, and a Jordanian.  The Antalya bomb 
exploded near motorcycles parked in front of a business 
center located approximately 80 meters from the Russian 
Consulate.   The total number of civilians reportedly injured 
in the Adana, Istanbul, Marmaris, and Antalya bombings could 
be as high as 118.  The Kurdish Freedom Falcons (TAK), a 
group affiliated with the PKK, has taken responsibility for 
the Marmaris and Istanbul bombings (ref b). 
 
¶4. (U) Commenting on the explosion in Antalya, the head of 
the Russian State Duma International Relations Committee 
Konstantin Kosachyov remarked to Russian press on August 28 
that "There are no grounds to conclude that the Russian 
Consulate was the target of the blast" or aimed at damaging 
Russian-Turkish relations.  Instead, Kosachyov stated his 
belief that the recent series of bombings in Turkey have been 
protests against the GOT's policy of closer integration with 
the European Union.  The European Commissioner for 
Enlargement Olli Rehn released a statement condemning the 
bombings on August 28. 
 
¶5. (U) We estimate that so far in 2006, approximately 
twenty-eight civilians and up to 196 members of the Turkish 
Security Forces have perished as a result of PKK violence. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON