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ANKARA, Turkey A Turkish official has confirmed that 35 people killed in Turkish air strikes in Iraq are civilians working as smugglers whom the military mistook for Kurdish rebels.
Ruling party spokesman Huseyin Celik says Thursday the victims "were not terrorists" but people smuggling cigarettes into Turkey from Iraq.
Celik says officials are investigating possible intelligence failures that led to the strikes.
He expressed regret for the deaths and suggested the government would compensate the victims.
Earlier, the military said its jets had struck an area of northern Iraq frequently used by the rebels to enter Turkey after drones detected a group approaching the border.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkey's air force attacked suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in Iraq, the military said Thursday, but Kurdish officials claimed many of the roughly 35 people killed were teenage smugglers mistaken for guerrillas.
If that allegation is true, it would be one of the largest one-day civilian death tolls incurred during the military's 27-year-old drive against rebels, who are fighting Turkey for autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast. It also is the latest example of how the government's efforts to grant cultural and other rights to aggrieved Kurds have been eclipsed by escalating violence this year.
The Turkish military confirmed the Wednesday night raids, saying its jets struck an area of northern Iraq frequently used by the rebels to enter Turkey after drones detected a group approaching the often unmarked mountainous border. It said an inquiry has been launched, but did not say whether there were casualties.
The governor's office for the province of Sirnak which borders Iraq said 35 people were killed and one person was injured in the aerial operation.
Pro-Kurdish legislator Nazmi Gur said most of those killed were teenagers who were carrying diesel fuel from Iraq into Turkey on donkeys or horses often the only livelihood in local villages. He claimed that officials would have known that Turkish smugglers would be operating in the area.
Video footage provided by the Dogan agency Thursday morning showed mourners, some crying, as they surrounded dozens of bodies that lay side-by-side and wrapped in blankets in the Turkish village of Ortasu.
Border troops had been placed on alert following intelligence indicating that Kurdish rebels were preparing attacks in retaliation for a series of recent military assaults on the guerrillas, the military said. It said drones had detected a group approaching Turkey, apparently at a mountain pass that the rebels have used to smuggle weapons into Turkey, and that the military conducted strikes in areas where the rebels have bases far away from civilian settlements.
Ahmet Deniz, a spokesman for the rebel group, put the number of dead at 28. He said they were among a group of about 50 people who were attacked on their way back to Turkey from Iraq's self-ruled northern Kurdish region. Most of the survivors were injured, he said.
"Those who were killed yesterday had no links to PKK. They were only smugglers who were on their way back to Turkey from Iraq," Deniz said, referring to the Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
In an annual report released on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the top judicial body to rule on human rights violations in Europe, found that Turkey is by far the worst violator of human rights among the 47 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Human rights violations in Turkey « European Court of Human Rights
Illegal border crossing is dangerous, especially if there are terrorist activities in that area.
the pathetic remnant of the defeated sick man of europe ottoman empire = Worst human rights violator in europe
the pathetic remnant of the defeated sick man of europe ottoman empire = Worst human rights violator in europe
The Airforce did what many Americans want the US Army to do on Mexican border.
Either use border gate, which is official entrance point into country where Police can check who you are, and what you have with you.
Enter illegally and risk a bomb being dropped on you on Mexican side.
Unlike Iraq-Turkish border, there's no terror activity on US-Mexican border.
The pathetic remnant of the sick man of europe
The Airforce did what many Americans want the US Army to do on Mexican border.
Either use border gate, which is official entrance point into country where Police can check who you are, and what you have with you.
Enter illegally and risk a bomb being dropped on you on Mexican side.
Unlike Iraq-Turkish border, there's no terror activity on US-Mexican border.
The Airforce did what many Americans want the US Army to do on Mexican border.
Either use border gate, which is official entrance point into country where Police can check who you are, and what you have with you.
Enter illegally and risk a bomb being dropped on you on Mexican side.
Unlike Iraq-Turkish border, there's no terror activity on US-Mexican border.
Really?
This is a first for me
BTW, You are very predictable.
I saw this remark a mile away, and it is absolutely STUPID.
Really?
This is a first for me
BTW, You are very predictable.
I saw this remark a mile away, and it is absolutely STUPID.
When you are a man who fucks sheep like ekrem here, you tend to not be very smart.
When you are a man who fucks sheep like ekrem here, you tend to not be very smart.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz15NVfrXZI]DMX barking - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz15NVfrXZI]DMX barking - YouTube[/ame]
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey will compensate the families of 35 civilians mistakenly killed in an airstrike meant for Kurdish rebels, the deputy prime minister said, even as he insisted that military officials followed proper procedures, including firing warning shots.
The airstrikes, guided by intelligence from drones and fired by Turkish F-16 jets, hit a group of Kurdish smugglers in northern Iraq last week. The loss of life was one of the highest single-day civilian death tolls in Turkey's decades-old conflict with the rebels.
The incident set off violent protests in mostly Kurdish cities and further undermined Turkey's attempts to address the grievances of the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of its 74 million people and some of whom want autonomy in the southeast region where they dominate.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc did not specify late Monday how much money will be paid to the families of the victims, but said the payments would come within days. He also said the government was exploring ways to increase the amount of the compensation.
Arinc noted that an investigation into the botched airstrike is underway. But he added that artillery units fired warning shots ahead of the airstrikes but the civilians did not stop. The area was illuminated, he said.
"The occurrence of the incident was in no way intentional," Arinc said. "All the findings here were determined as warranting an operation."
Kurdish rebels have routinely used the border region to launch attacks on Turkish targets, slipping into Turkey on some of the same rugged paths used by fuel and cigarette smugglers.
