'Where were UAVs during today's attack?' Turkish opposition asks
Hurriyet.com.tr
Turkey's main opposition leader has asked the government to explain why unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were not utilized to detect militants before they staged a deadly attack on a military outpost in eastern Turkey earlier today. Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu commented on the attack, in which members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed eight soldiers at a military outpost in the eastern province of Hakkari’s Dağlıca district, during his party's weekly meeting.
Kılıçdaroğlu asked the government why UAVs were unable to detect an apparently large number of militants amassing around the outpost. "In Uludere, they bombed civilians detected by UAVs. Now take a look at Dağlıca. The militants travel with heavy weapons, get into position, surround the outpost and launch an attack. Are we not to ask: What happened to your UAVs?"
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç had earlier said that the soldiers in the outpost were "outnumbered and outgunned" by the PKK militants who attacked them. Earlier reports had said the militants used heavy weapons against the outpost.
Kılıçdaroğlu said the militants "practically walked away" from the scene after the attack and asked whether the military received any intelligence before the incident.
Thirty-four civilians were killed in a botched air raid in December 2011 in Şırnak's Uludere district after they were mistaken for PKK militants. The civilian group, who were smuggling goods from northern Iraq into Turkey, was detected by UAVs.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
