Colonel accuses his superiors

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Former Col. Onur Dirik, who served as a commander during the deadly Dağlıca raid of 2007, blamed his superiors for the bloody outcome in his testimony last week at the chief prosecutor’s office in the eastern province of Van.

According to Dirik’s testimony Dec. 1 and 2, Maj. Gen. Yurdaer Olcan said to him, “In fact, I am dispatching you there as bait. When the terrorists see that you are weak and attempt to attack, we are going to have established contact with them in this manner, and [then] we are going to annihilate them,” during the deployment of a motorized battalion to Dağlıca.

Members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacked the Third Dağlıca Motorized Infantry Battalion on Oct. 21, 2007, killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight.

“I would not even send that man a needle, let alone a Cobra [gunship],” Olcan said in reference to Dirik, according to the testimony.

Dirik was also questioned regarding his meeting with Ayşe Asuman Özdemir, a suspect in the ongoing Ergenekon probe. Dirik denied having sent any photos of strategic military zones and said instead he had merely sent her scenic mountain photos.

Dirik also said Brig. Gen. Süleyman Yüksel had told him not to dramatize his account of events just as he was about to provide information to an administrative delegation several days after the Dağlıca raid, reported the daily Zaman.