VZCZCXRO9540
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAK #1202 1381210
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181210Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2163
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHAK/USDAO ANKARA TU
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP:PDUSDP/ISA:EUR/ISA:NESA//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5//
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFIUU/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/425ABS IZMIR TU//CC//
RHMFIUU/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU
RUEPGAB/MNF-I C2X BAGHDAD IZ

UNCLAS ANKARA 001202 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV TU IZ
SUBJECT: Update on PKK Violence (May 1-15, 2007) 
 
REF: ANKARA 1160 and previous 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) This is another in a series of periodic reports on PKK 
violence in Turkey.  Our primary sources for these reports are 
mainstream Turkish press services, such as the Anatolian News 
Agency, and international wire services.  While these are more 
reliable than most Turkish press sources, they are not necessarily 
unimpeachable.  A major source is the Turkish Armed Forces General 
Staff (TGS) website which documents contacts/clashes with the PKK. 
Press services sympathetic to the PKK, such as Neu-Isenburg People's 
Defense Forces and Firat News Agency, tend to report higher numbers 
of the Turkish Security Forces casualties and are often otherwise 
unreliable. 
 
¶2. (U) From May 1-15, 2007, six security personnel died in clashes 
with the PKK or in IED explosions in Diyarbakir, Sirnak and Hakkari 
provinces.  During the same period 19 security officials were 
wounded. 
 
¶3. (U) The TGS website for the first half of May did not refer to 
any PKK terrorists being killed, but did report that security forces 
arrested 27 PKK terrorists.  Among those 27, three were turned over 
by the KDP at the Turkey-Iraq border, and another three by Iranian 
authorities. 
 
¶4. (U) The Turkish military reported 20 clashes between security 
forces and PKK terrorists in the region.  Security forces unearthed 
dozens of PKK shelters and caves and seized booby-trapped land 
mines; other explosives, including A-4 and TNT; Kalashnikov rifles; 
cartridges; hand grenades; pistols; night vision binoculars; TV 
sets; satellite antennas; and radios. 
 
¶5. (U) Quarterly statistics: 
 
--NOTE: May 2007 figures are for May 1-15 only. 
 
CLASHES    NUMBER 
 
May 2007   20 clashes 
April 2007  38 clashes 
March 2007  13 clashes 
 
CASUALTIES 
 
Security Forces 
 
May 2007   6 KIA, 19 WIA 
April 2007  18 KIA, 16 WIA 
March 2007  5 KIA, 4 WIA 
 
PKK 
 
May 2007   0 reported KIA, 27 captured/arrested 
April 2007  2 KIA, 47 captured/arrested 
March 2007  9 KIA, 18 captured/arrested 
 
 
CACHES RECOVERED 
 
May 2007    76 
April 2007   109 
March 2007   61 
 
WILSON