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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005398 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL TU IZ
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PKK VIOLENCE REPORT, 11 CIVILIANS KILLED 
 
REF: A. ANKARA 5269 
 
     ¶B. ANKARA 5249 
     ¶C. ANKARA 5228 
     ¶D. ANKARA 5125 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on 
PKK violence in Turkey (ref a).  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.  The 
Turkish Armed Forces' General Staff (TGS), however, has 
recently introduced a product on its website documenting each 
contact/clash with the PKK (www.tsk.mil.tr/guncel/index/htm). 
 This information will serve as an additional source for 
these reports. 
 
¶2.  (U) SUMMARY: One bombing occurred during the September 
4-13 period, with a total of 11 killed, including the person 
thought to have been carrying the device; at least 15 were 
wounded.  During that same period, a 12-year old girl was 
killed by security forces firing at a vehicle in which two 
alleged PKK members were riding.  The PKK members were also 
killed.  Turkish security forces defused a bomb set to blow 
up a bridge in Hatay province and reported recovering 
additional explosives, RPG rounds, hand grenades, rifles, and 
ammunition in several different locations.  Turkish PM 
Erdogan officially named retired General Edip Baser as the 
country's Special Envoy to counter terrorism, specifically 
the PKK threat.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Eleven people were killed and at least 15 wounded 
by an explosion that occurred in the evening hours of 
September 12 in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir (Ref a). 
According to a statement issued by the Diyarbakir governor's 
office and to police sources, the bomb was made of C-4, 
consistent with other PKK explosive devices, and was 
concealed in a thermos-like container.  According to these 
reports, the bomb exploded while being moved, killing the 
person carrying it.  Of the remaining ten who perished, seven 
were children.  No organization has claimed responsibility 
for the attack; however, the overwhelmingly Kurdish 
population of the city has rejected the official explanation 
of PKK involvement.  Instead, many are comparing the incident 
to the November 2005 Semdinli bookstore bombing and blaming 
elements of the security forces, who they claim wish to 
sabotage an initiative announced September 11 by the 
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party to encourage the PKK to 
launch a unilateral ceasefire. 
 
¶4.  (U) Three people were killed and one injured September 5 
in the southeastern city of Batman when security forces 
opened fire on a vehicle reportedly carrying two PKK 
militants.  A 12-year old girl was among those killed, while 
the girl's mother was injured.  After a search of the 
vehicle, Turkish security forces reportedly recovered 2 KGs 
of explosive materiel, four electronic detonators, two 
kalashnikov rifles, cartridges and four grenades. 
 
¶5.  (U) According to press reports, two PKK members were 
arrested in Istanbul September 10.  Security officials quoted 
in the press stated that the two were allegedly involved in 
bomb attacks that occurred on April 5, 2006 and August 27, 
¶2006.  Five individuals were arrested at the same time for 
aiding and abetting PKK operations in Istanbul.  On September 
5, one PKK militant surrendered to Turkish Jandarma in Agri 
Province.  That brings the number of PKK militants who have 
surrendered to Turkish security forces this year to 36. 
 
¶6.  (U) During the reporting period, based on information 
from the TGS website, security forces discovered land mines 
and other explosives in several locations.  Land mines were 
found in five separate locations in Bingol Province; grenades 
 
ANKARA 00005398  002 OF 002 
 
 
and RPG-7 shells near Cukuca; and 6.7 kilograms of C-4 
explosives, 15 fuses, and 7 grenades in Baskale near Van.  No 
arrests were made in conjunction with these discoveries.  On 
September 11, security forces defused a bomb mechanism 
consisting of 2 kilograms of explosive materiel under the 
Bedirge Bridge on the Hatay-Serinyol highway. 
 
¶7.  (U) On September 13, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan 
officially appointed retired General Edip Baser as the 
country's Special Envoy for countering terrorism.  Baser met 
that same day with U.S. Special Envoy for countering the PKK 
General (ret'd.) Joseph Ralston in Ankara (ref b). 
 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON