Turkey's premier defines incident along Iraq border as unfortunate

ISTANBUL (A.A) - Turkey's prime minister Friday defined Wednesday's incident along Turkey-Iraq border that killed 35 people as unfortunate. Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the incident was unfortunate and saddening. "We will do what we have to do at the end of the investigation," Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. Erdogan said there was a four-hour footage regarding the operation, and not only the Turkish Armed Forces but also other concerned departments were investigating them.  The premier said unmanned ariel vehicles had noticed that almost 40 people were moving in a region where the terrorist organization mainly took shelter and where the terrorist organization set up its camps, and F-16 jets hit the area. "Naturally it is not possible for unmanned ariel vehicles to identify the group exactly. In a further identification, it is revealed that the group was comprised of cigarette and diesel oil smugglers," Erdogan said. Thirty-five people were killed and another was wounded when Turkish jets hit a group of people who were seen in an area across Turkey's border with Iraq on Wednesday evening.  Following the operation, a General Staff statement said Turkish military had raised its surveillance and controls across Turkey-Iraq border as it had received an intelligence that the terrorist organization was planning to attack military outposts after their recent losses. "Unmanned aerial vehicles found out that a group was approaching Turkish border from the north of Iraq on Wednesday evening, and Air Forces jets hit the targets between 9:37 and 10:24 p.m. as the group was seen in an area mostly used by terrorists," the statement said. The statement said the incident occurred in Sinat-Haftanin region in the north of Iraq where the main camps of the terrorist organization were situated, and where there was no civilian settlement.  Later in the day, Deputy Chairman of the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party, Huseyin Celik, said that the group hit by Turkish jets were not terrorists but smugglers. Chief public prosecutor with special authority in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir launched an investigation on Friday regarding the killing of 35 citizens along Turkey-Iraq border. The prosecutor launched a full investigation after 35 citizens were killed in a bombing by the jets of Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Sinat-Haftanin region in the north of Iraq which is near Uludere town of Turkey's southeastern province of Sirnak. Turkey's southeast is used by PKK terrorists to illegally sneak into Turkey to stage terrorist attacks.  Since 1984, PKK's terrorist acts resulted in the death of more than 30,000 Turkish citizens, among whom were innocent civilians, teachers and other public servants, many deliberately murdered, and large amount of economic loss. In its history, the terrorist organization also employed suicide-bombing methods, waged mainly by women terrorists in Turkey; and kidnapped foreign tourists in southeastern Anatolia in the early 1990s. In order to damage Turkey's economy, the organization also set forests in Turkey's tourist resorts on fire. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.  (BRC-MS)