Operation Claw-Eagle 2
10.02.2021
PKK tried to blackmail the Turkish State by using the leverage of the military, law enforcement and civilian personnel it had kidnapped trough the years. The State activated different approaches and channels so negotiations can start. PKK tried to negotiate the releasing of leader cadres from the Turkish prisons in return for the hostages, but despite everything, the State did not back down from its stance and no agreement was reached.
For years the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, MIT was gathering intelligence on the hostages and their whereabouts. MIT managed to gather intelligence about the transfer of 13 hostages to a cave in Gara Mountain, Iraq. The names in the list included:
Civilian Erhan Pekcetin (Chief of MIT Ethnic and Separatist Activities Department)- abducted in 2017 in the north of Iraq
Civilian Aydin Gunel (Chief of MIT Human Resources Department)- abducted in 2017 in the north of Iraq
Police Officer Serdar Abalak- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakir-Bingol road, Turkiye
Police Officer Vedat Kaya- abducted in 2016 in Lice, Turkiye
Non-Commissioned Officer Semih Ozbey- abducted in 2015 on the Tunceli-Erzincan road, Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Huseyin Sari- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakır-Bingol road, Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Mevlut Kahveci- abducted in 2016 in Hakkari, Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Sedat Vardar- abducted in 2015 in Sirnak Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Umit Gicir- abducted in 2016 in Hakkari, Turkiye
Private Adil Kavakli- abducted in 2015 on the Tunceli-Pulumur road, Turkiye
Private Muslum Altuntas- abducted on the Tunceli-Pulumur road, Turkiye
Private Sedat Sorgun- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakir-Bingol road, Turkiye
Private Suleyman Sungur- abducted in 2015 in Turkiye
Erhan Pekcetin (Chief of MIT Ethnic and Separatist Activities Department) and Aydin Gunel (Chief of MIT Human Resources Department)
It was decided that a Hostage Rescue operation will be conducted in order to save the Turkish citizens in capture.
Due to the fact that there was no direct land connection, a chance for support or reinforcements this was very different than the operations conducted in the north of Iraq at that time. Intense preparation started, detailed terrain mapping was started, the forces needed for the operation were determined and detailed work on identification and classification of the targets in the area of operations started.
The area of operations was with the size of 75x25km. The cave where the hostages were located is stationed on the eastern side of a valley of which the slopes are with a steep angle of 60 degrees. The cave was specially chosen to prevent the vision of fighter jets and prevent a possible airstrike as much as possible.
It was determined that the Special Forces Command will conduct the operation. The task was given to the Special Forces battalion led by Captain Burak COSKUN.
The cave in which the hostages were kept had 3 entry points, 9 rooms, and network of zig-zag corridors which were separated by 7 steel doors. The door at the entry point is an outward opened, solid 2cm wide steel construction with another jail bar door 30cm next to it. There was a curtain in the middle of the one of the corridors, the majority of the corridors are in a zig-zag shape and on places there were corridors only 120cm high where a man can only crawl in order to move forward. The cave was reinforced with concrete.
Model of the topography and the facilities that were going to be targeted were specially designed and built for the preparation of the responsible units and exercises were held in preparation for the operation. The advancement of the Special Forces towards the cave had to be done exclusively on foot.
Prior to the operation the needed coordination with friendly and ally countries was ensured. Extreme attention was given to the prevention of civilian casualties, civilian property and damage to the nature.
Detailed planning was conducted and coordination was ensured between the Land Forces Command, the Air Forces Command, the Land Forces Aviation elements and the Special Forces Command.
Green light was given for the start of Operation Claw-Eagle 2 by the Ministry of National Defence. The command for the commencing of this operation was given. The Special Forces team was transferred to the area and waited for a green light. On 10.02.2021, at 2.55 local time, predetermined targets were hit simultaneously by the Air Forces everywhere within the area of operations. The Air Forces Command participated in the operation with 41 fighter jets, AEW&C aircraft, tanker aircrafts and UCAVs.
Only 48 from more than 50 predetermined targets were hit due to a high risk involved to friendly elements and the nature. In 4.55 in the morning the Air Assault operation of the Special Forces started. The Special Forces were inserted within the area of operation and a perimeter was established in order to prevent terrorist infiltration by using routes leading to the cave. Special Forces teams were dropped at the top of the both of the surrounding hills and the helicopter with the main assault force positioned itself in close proximity to the cave, so it can drop the assaulters. A terrorist opened fire from the main exit of the cave at the helicopter and despite of the crew returning fire, unfortunately Captain Ertug GULER was hit during the exit from the helicopter and Captain Burak COSKUN was hit just next to him, trying to protect the team in the helicopter with his body. Both of the soldiers fell martyr at the scene and Non-Commissioned Officer Harun TURHAN lost his life during the evacuation due to a bullet that hit him in the encounter.
The rest of the assault team reached the main entrance of the cave. In result of reconnaissance made at the place two more entry points towards the cave were found. The Special Forces team breached the entries and were welcomed with automatic fire and hand grenades. The Special Forced had to refrain the usage of heavier weaponry and returned fire by small arms and CS grenades. While the assault team advanced they saw that there are very low/tight spots and additional steel doors were discovered. The team was stuck.
The Special Forces team periodically made calls for surrender towards the terrorists and two days later in the evening of Friday,12.02.2021 a terrorist with a code name "Servan Korkmaz", Osman Acer responded positively to the call by saying "Do not shoot! I surrender" and surrendered to Special Forces team in the cave. The captured terrorist said that there are 7 more terrorists, 12 hostages which are Turkish citizens and 1 hostage which is an Iraqi citizen inside. He testified that the commander of the unit in the cave, code name "Sorej" Kamuran Ataman gave the order for the execution of the hostages just after he understood that there is an ongoing Air Assault operation towards the cave. Despite that Osman Acer called his comrades to surrender none of the remaining terrorists responded positively.
In the morning of 13.03.2021 a terrorist trying to escape the cave was captured alive. He was identified as code name "Merkez Botan", Dogan Gecgel. He confirmed that the commander of the cave unit executed all of the 13 hostages with a bullet in their heads. He later testified that after a meeting held in Erbil by the Gara field commander of PKK, they expected an operation on Malikiyah (Syria), Sinjar or Gara. It was discovered that the terrorist with code name "Sorej" Kamuran Ataman was very active in Turkiye prior to 2017 and in the period between 2017 and 2018 he took an important position within the PKK/YPG ranks in Qamishly, Syria. Due to an injury or a health condition he was transferred to a hospital in Malikiyah, Syria and later in 2019 he was tasked as a "Prison Commander" in the Gara Mountain in the north of Iraq. This is a clear evidence for the connection between the PKK branch in Iraq and YPG in Syria.
After enough information was gathered from the two captured terrorists by the Special Forces in the cave, the assaulter team decided to advance. In the mean time PKK harassed the teams securing the perimeter around the cave with munition carrying mini-drones. Despite the heavy conditions and the darkness inside the cave, In result of the fighting the remaining terrorists were killed. The assault team also reached the bodies of the 13 executed hostages. After the needed security precautions were taken the bodies of our 13 hostages were transferred to Malatya, Turkiye.
After the SE activities were concluded the Special Forces teams were exfiltrated in phases to Turkiye.
In result of the Claw-Eagle 2 operation, after approximately 4 days, 51 terrorists were killed including 4 leaders, 2 terrorists were captured alive. Intelligence pointed out that the number of neutralized terrorists is higher. After the initial airstrike wave a couple more targets were hit including 3 terrorists trying to evacuate trough a paramotor. Three of our soldiers were martyred and three were wounded in the course of these 4 days.
It was determined that the initially provided list by the National Intelligence Organization, MIT regarding the identities of the hostages is not correct and after the forensic examination of the bodies ended it was concluded that the bodies of 13 men were retrieved, their identities were confirmed trough DNA tests and are as following:
Specialist Sergeant Huseyin Sari- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakır-Bingol road, Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Sedat Vardar- abducted in 2015 in Sirnak TurkiyePolice Officer Serdar Abalak- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakir-Bingol road, Turkiye
Non-Commissioned Officer Semih Ozbey- abducted in 2015 on the Tunceli-Erzincan road, Turkiye
Private Adil Kavakli- abducted in 2015 on the Tunceli-Pulumur road, Turkiye
Police Officer Vedat Kaya- abducted in 2016 in Lice, Turkiye
Private Suleyman Sungur- abducted in 2015 in Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Mevlut Kahveci- abducted in 2016 in Hakkari, Turkiye
Private Muslum Altuntas- abducted on the Tunceli-Pulumur road, Turkiye
Private Sedat Sorgun- abducted in 2015 on the Diyarbakir-Bingol road, Turkiye
Specialist Sergeant Umit Gicir- abducted in 2016 in Hakkari, Turkiye
Civilian Aydin Kose (MIT field operative)- abducted in 2015 in Cizre, Turkiye
Civilian Muhammet Salih Kanca (MIT field operative)- abducted in 2015 in Cizre, Turkiye
Civilian Cotyar Muhsin (MIT collaborator, Iraqi citizen)- abducted in 2020 in Amediye, Iraq
The PKK released video in which they showed the main cave entrance, some equipment left by the Special Forces teams and part of their MREs.
Many speculations were spread at the time by various people regarding how the 13 hostages were martyred. Many people tried to imply that the Turkish Air Forces bombed the cave. In order to disprove the claims, a mechanism was formed where the relatives of the martyred hostages were let to see the martyrs and disproved the baseless claims of these people. Many of the relatives of the 13 martyrs claimed that they saw the bodies of their close ones and confirmed that, they were martyred by one bullet in the head and no other visual deformations were seen.
The operation was a theme of talk and a part of the dynamics of the Turkish internal politics for some time. There were many critiques towards the operation, because of the low chances for the hostage rescue to be successful.
On the 8th of February, two days before the operation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "I recommend you to watch my address to the nation on Wednesday. I will reveal to you many good things there." However, apart from the group meeting on February 10, the previously mentioned address to the nation was not made.
Thereupon, various opposition parties expressed various reactions, stating that the incident announced on February 8 was related to operation Claw-Eagle 2, but that no statement was made because the hostages were killed as a result of the operation.
DEVA Party Law and Justice Policies Chairman and Istanbul Deputy Mustafa Yeneroglu submitted a parliamentary question in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, requesting the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu to answer, regarding the good news to be announced by President Erdogan and its relationship with operation Claw-Eagle 2.
On February 15, President Erdogan said at his party's Rize provincial congress that the ministers related to the Gara operation would explain the details of the operation in the Parliament.
After the operation and before the parliamentary speech on February 16, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar and Minister of Internal Affairs Suleyman Soylu visited İYİ Party and CHP and informed them about the operation. However, after the talks, Ozgur Ozel (CHP) said that the statements were not sufficient.
Statements regarding the operation from Turkiye:
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that cross-border operations would continue after the massacre, and said about the soldiers and civilians massacred in Gara:
"We could not see anyone on Turkey's side, except for a few weak voices in the execution of thirteen innocents, which would have made the whole world stand up if it had happened to another country. O, West , where are you? Why don't you speak out? Why did you remain silent? When something like this happened to you, you were making a fuss. The July 15 incident happened and you didn't speak out. Now this incident, you don't speak out again. Whether you speak out or not, we know our duty. With the help of God help we will not give a chance to the terrorists in this country."
Minister of Internal Affairs Suleyman Soylu, in his post on his personal Twitter account, said, "If we do not catch Murat Karayilan and cut him into a thousand pieces, this nation and our martyrs will spit in our faces."
Republican People's Party Chairman Kemal Kılıcdaroglu said in his statement: "Our Gara martyrs were in the hands of the PKK for five or six years. What was done in five or six years? We constantly reminded them, we constantly brought their abduction to the Parliament. We constantly reminded them, it hurts our hearts. It has come to such a point that it is almost like wee have become Turkey, settling scores over martyrs. I call out to my AK Party brothers: The blood of our thirteen martyrs is on the ground. Those people could have been saved and brought back to their country. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is responsible for our thirteen martyrs."
He also said about the operation, "He was supposed to make a statement on Wednesday and say that we saved 13 people. (...) Can hostages be rescued by hitting drums and blowing pipes? Recep Tayyip Erdogan is responsible for our 13 martyrs."
IYI Party Chairman Meral Aksener said, "Giving the good news of successful operations and leaving the explanation of disasters to the governors and ministers is a management of perception, not how the management of a State is supposed to be. (...) We would like to understand why our heroes encountered such a result this time. Is there a role of politics in this? We want to know."
HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar said, "This is a massacre. It is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. What we need now is the truth, to reveal beyond doubt how the deaths occurred."
Nationalist Movement Party Chairman Devlet Bahçeli said after the massacre that Turkey's counter-terrorism strategy would not be the same and said, "The barbarism in Gara is a breaking moment." He said that HDP should be closed down.
Some statements by international actors:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the massacre and expressed his condolences to Turkey.
Baghdad Amreyev, Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council), published a message condemning the attack.
Hamas Movement Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the massacre and said, "We pray to God to protect Turkey and its people from all kinds of evil." he said.
Statements from State actors:
United States of America In the first statement made by the US State Department, "If it is confirmed that the PKK is responsible for this attack, we will condemn it in the strongest terms." It was said, and after the statement, the United States Ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reacted to the statement. Subsequently, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price condemned the massacre and said that they stood by Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AK Party spokesman Omer Celik, and many Turkish bureaucrats and politicians reacted to the controversial statement.
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan conveyed condolences and made a statement saying, that it stands by Turkey in its fight against terrorism.
Germany Deputy Spokesperson of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrea Sasse, responded to a question at the government's regular press conference regarding the Turkish citizens murdered in Northern Iraq and said, "We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims."
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev condemned terrorism and expressed his condolences.
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Ersin Tatar said, "On behalf of myself and my country, I condemn the treacherous terrorist organization and its supporters who committed this atrocity."
