Turkish military disposes anti-personnel mines

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Turkey’s military says it has disposed of half of the anti-personnel mines in its inventory in compliance with the Ottawa convention against land mine use.

Lt. Col. Zafer Akalin, commander of the military’s munitions disposal facility in the central province of Kirikkale, said Friday that half of the mines in the army’s inventory had been disposed of since 2007 were in the military’s inventory.

The commander refused to comment on the size of the inventory; however, it is estimated that Turkey’s military has hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines.

Mine explosions have killed or maimed hundreds of people in Turkey’s southeast where the country’s security forces have been fighting against PKK terrorism since 1984.

Turkey signed the Ottawa convention in 2004.