WORLD TRIBUNE: Turkey military reports major gains against terror
ANKARA — The Turkey military has determined that the Kurdish insurgency was heading for a breakdown. Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, has been severely harmed by a Turkish military offensive over the last year. Basbug, who assumed his new post in August 2008, said the PKK has sustained hundreds of casualties in 2008 in Turkish air and ground operations. “The PKK is moving towards the breaking point now,” Basbug told a briefing on Sept. 16. “I do not say they are at the breaking point. How can we benefit from this? If we can succeed in it, then we can reach at breaking point.” Officials said the Turkish military has urged the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to extend permission for the campaign against the PKK in northern Iraq. Parliament has approved Turkish military operations in Iraq until Oct. 17. [link]
JAMESTOWN: TGS still the ultimate guardian of secularism in Turkey, Basbug insists
The Turkish military is as committed as ever to defending the principle of secularism enshrined in the country’s constitution but will resist attempts to be dragged into party politics, General Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), told journalists in Ankara earlier this week (NTV, CNNTurk, September 17). Basbug was speaking during the second of what the military called “Communication Meetings.” On September 16 Basbug met for three and a half hours with leading Ankara-based members of the domestic and foreign print media. On September 17 he held a similar three-and-a-half-hour meeting with representatives of radio and television channels. [link]