Key developments
since March 1999: In December 1999, Turkey reported that a military
directive banning the use of AP mines on Turkish territory has been in place
since January 1998. In May and December 1999 Turkey stated its intention to
join the Mine Ban Treaty in the near future. In March 1999 Turkey signed an
agreement with Bulgaria to demine and prohibit future use of mines on their
common border. Turkey reported on similar negotiations with Georgia and
Azerbaijan, and a similar proposal to Greece. Through the Stability Pact of
South Eastern Europe Turkey is proposing a region-wide agreement to clear common
borders. The PKK rebel forces apparently continue to use AP mines in Turkey and
Northern Iraq.
Mine Ban Policy
Turkey has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty
(MBT), but did attend the First Meeting of States Parties (FMSP) in May 1999 as
an observer. The Turkish delegate stated that "the security situation around
Turkey so far preclude[s] my country from signing the Ottawa Convention." Upon
closing his speech, however, he announced the government's intention "to sign
the Ottawa Convention at the beginning of the next decade if present conditions
would not change
adversely."[1]
In its report to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) Turkey noted on 15 January 1999 that "a comprehensive study is underway
to reassess the country's security requirements and to develop alternative
strategies to the use of anti-personnel landmines.”[2] In its 14 December 1999 OSCE
report Turkey reaffirmed its intention to join the MBT at the beginning of the
next decade if the situation does not “change
adversely.”[3]
In a meeting with ICBL members in Geneva in December 1999, Turkish officials
noted that landmine policy had changed dramatically in the past two years. They
stated Turkey hoped to be in a position to join the treaty in two or three
years, assuming the security situation did not
deteriorate.[4]
Turkey has attended nearly all of the intersessional meetings of the Standing
Committees of Experts of the MBT. Turkey has taken part in regional landmine
conferences in Zagreb, Croatia, in June 1999 and in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in June
2000. After abstaining from voting on the 1996 and 1997 UN General Assembly
resolutions in support of a landmine ban, Turkey voted in favor of the 1998 and
December 1999 pro-ban resolutions.
Turkey's delay in signing the MBT can be attributed to ongoing armed conflict
with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), long-standing concern about the
security of its borders in the context of regional rivalries, and the situation
in Cyprus where a heavily mined buffer zone divides the Turkish and Greek
Cypriot forces. In recent years the conflict with the PKK and some regional
rivalries appear to have lessened.
The Turkish government has undertaken bilateral negotiations with some
neighboring countries regarding demining of common borders. The first agreement
was concluded with Bulgaria on 22 March 1999, prohibiting the use and mandating
the removal and destruction of landmines in common border areas. This agreement
has been approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly and was ratified by the
Bulgarian Parliament on 15 March 2000, where the hope was expressed that the
bilateral agreement was paving the way for Turkey to join the
MBT.[5] There have been
numerous reports of Turkey's desire to conclude similar agreements with its
other neighbors. According to the Turkish delegation’s statement at the
Ljubljana Regional Conference on Landmines on 21 June 2000, negotiations are
underway with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while a response to Turkey’s
proposal is awaited from
Greece.[6]
Turkey has also pursued this idea within the framework of the Stability Pact
of South Eastern Europe, where its submission to Working Table III (Security
Issues) is entitled “Regional Agreement for Common State Borders to be
Kept Free from Mines.” The objective of this proposal is “a legally
binding agreement between the states in the SEE region to eliminate all
anti-personnel mines placed and/or stored along common border
areas."[7] The importance of
these initiatives is increased by the fact that, of the nations bordering
Turkey, only Bulgaria is a party to the MBT and only Greece is a signatory.
Turkey is a signatory to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and
announced in June 2000 that ratification of the CCW and its Amended Protocol II
was underway.[8] It also
participated, as an observer, in the First Conference of States Parties to
Amended Protocol II in December 1999.
As a member of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), it continues to support
the CD as an appropriate forum for addressing the landmine issue, stating that
"a global regime against antipersonnel mines would be enhanced if a transfer ban
in the CD is pursued."[9]
Production, Transfer and Stockpile
Turkey is not known to have exported antipersonnel
mines but has produced and imported
them.[10] In June 2000, Turkish
officials told a representative of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
that Turkey no longer produces AP mines, but there has been no formal
confirmation of this
information.[11] Its 1996
moratorium on the sale and transfer of AP mines was extended on 15 October 1998
for a further three years from its expiry on January
1999.[12] Turkey will not
reveal details about its current stockpile of AP mines, but past production and
import of AP mines suggests that stockpiles are substantial.
The United States is believed to maintain a stockpile in Turkey of 1,100 U.S.
Air Force Gator antipersonnel
mines.[13]
Use
From the recent initiatives with Bulgaria,
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Greece, it can be concluded that these borders have been
mined, although the extent and exact locations of minefields have not been made
known. The borders with Syria, Iran and Iraq are also mined, and it is in this
southeast region where there has been the most widespread use of mines by both
sides in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK (For more detail, see
Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 821-823). Confirmation of mine use by
either side in the PKK conflict is difficult, as access to the southeastern
region is often severely restricted.
During the First Meeting of States Parties to the MBT in May 1999 the Turkish
delegation disputed information in the Landmine Monitor Report 1999 about
mine use, stating that “the report contains incorrect, inaccurate and
misleading information with regard to my country.... [N]ew antipersonnel mines
were not laid by my government, more precisely by the Turkish Army, between
December 1997 to early 1999 as alleged in the
report."[14] In a January 2000
letter to the ICBL, Turkey's Permanent Mission to the UN stated that "not even a
single mine had been planted in Turkey since January
1998."[15] In December 1999,
Turkey reported to the OSCE that “with humanitarian considerations in
mind, a directive has been issued by the Chief of Turkish General Staff in
January 1998, banning the use of APMs on Turkish territory. A phased demining
initiative in Turkey is also intended by this
directive.”[16]
Landmine Monitor has no evidence and has received no allegations of new use
of AP mines by Turkish forces in the current reporting period of March 1999 to
May 2000.
PKK
Landmine Monitor Report 1999 also reported use of AP mines by PKK
forces, and it appears that use has continued. There are frequent accusations
of landmine use by the PKK. Turkish officials maintain that "APM's are being
indiscriminately used by the PKK terrorist
organization."[17]On 17
July 1999, the Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan radio claimed that the PKK emplaced
landmines in July along roads in the Chaman border area. A local man was
reported injured by one of these
mines.[18] A United Nations
report in June 2000 noted that the UN Office for Project Services “remains
concerned about the incidences of freshly laid mines being found in previously
cleared minefields” in Northern
Iraq.[19] The report does not
identify the user of mines.
Turkey states that during operations against the PKK the security forces
"regularly recover AP
mines."[20] According to an
Italian press report, since 1994, a total of 14,025 devices have been
seized, 11,339 of them across the Turkish border with Iraq where the PKK has
bases. This total includes over 12,000 Italian AP mines, alleged to have been
supplied by Saddam Hussein from Italian exports to Iraq in the
1980s.[21] This press report is
based in part on material supplied the Turkish military, and also a dossier
prepared by the municipal authority in Florence,
Italy.[22] Another report
apparently based on the same data stated that Turkish security forces captured
15,000 landmines from the PKK, of which 3,250 were seized in Turkey's South
Anatolia region and the remainder found in Northern Iraq. Of the 3,250 mines,
2,866 were reported to be AP mines and 384 were antitank
mines.[23]
Representatives of the PKK attended a conference on non-state actors and
banning landmines in Geneva on 24-25 March 2000. While several non-state actors
attending the conference declared they will not use landmines, the PKK was not
one of them. At the conference the PKK representatives spoke only of how
Kurdish civilians have suffered from
mines.[24]
There has also been one report of a cache of landmines seized during a series
of raids against the militant Islamic group Hezbollah in February 2000; the
number and types of mines seized were not
reported.[25]
Mine Clearance
Turkey has engaged in mine clearance operations,
ostensibly along the Bulgarian border and perhaps elsewhere. Details of the
“phased demining initiative” noted above have not been reported. At
the FMSP Turkey spoke of unspecified demining operations, and these were
described as "ongoing" in January
2000.[26] In a report
submitted to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, the Southeast Industrialist and
Businessmen's Association called for the demining of the border with Northern
Iraq to allow for trade across the
border.[27]
Turkish Parliamentarians reported in 1996 that mined areas have not been
properly mapped and marked.[28]
Landmine Casualties
There are reports of landmine casualties in
Turkey, concentrated in the southeast and east where conflict between the
Turkish government and the PKK has been most intense, as well as in border
areas. The casualties involve both military personnel and civilians. In August
1999, Prof. Serdar Necmioglu, chairman of the Medical Faculty Orthopedic and
Traumatology Section of Dicle Hospital, stated that the number of patients
admitted to that hospital for landmine-related injuries had reached 1,000 for
the period between 1990 and 1999. He reported that the rate had increased
during 1992-93, but slowed again following 1995. The injuries listed included
chest trauma, abdomen, blood vessel and eye injuries in addition to orthopedic
damage.[29]
Following the discovery of Italian-made mines in PKK stockpiles, legal action
ensued, in the names of those killed or wounded as a result. It was estimated
that between 1984 and 1999, 368 people died and 1,560 were injured due to these
mines in particular.[30] The
Sovereignty of Law Associationcharged that "the Italian government
should therefore be held responsible for the consequences of selling them to an
illegal organization."[31]
Migrants are frequent casualties of Greek minefields having crossed the
Turkish/Greek border
illegally.[32]
Mine Action Funding and Assistance
Turkey has not contributed to the UN Voluntary
Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance. Turkey reports a donation of
$50,000 to mine-clearance activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also that
Turkish military units take part in mine clearance
there.[33] During the regional
conference in Ljubljana the delegation indicated Turkey has participated in mine
clearance, contributing funding and personnel, in Kosovo and other countries.
The statement also noted that it had organized mine clearance training through
NATO Partnership for Peace and various bilateral
agreements.[34]
[1] Statement by Mr. V. Vural Altay, Head
of Arms Control and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the First
Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Maputo, Mozambique, 3-7 May
1999. [2] Reports of the Permanent
Mission of Turkey to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), 15 January 1999. [3] Report to
the OSCE, 14 December 1999, p. 3. This report also noted that a seminar had been
organized on 23-24 December 1998 by the General Staff to brief the Turkish Armed
Forces on the provisions of the MBT and “other international efforts aimed
at the total elimination” of AP
mines. [4] ICBL meeting with members of
delegation of Turkey to the First Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended
Protocol II, Geneva, 17 December 1999. Notes taken by Stephen
Goose. [5] Republic of Turkey, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs web site, Arms Control and Disarmament section, available at:
www.mfa.gov.tr/grupa/ai/01.htm; "Bulgarian assembly ratifies landmine removal
agreement with Turkey," BBC Worldwide Monitoring, BTA (news agency) 15 March
2000.; also “Assembly Ratifies Bulgarian-Turkish Landmine
Agreement,” World News Connection, 15 March
2000. [6] Statement by the Turkish
Delegation, Regional Conference on Landmines, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21-22 June
2000. [7] “Humanitarian
De-mining,” Summaries of Working Table III Projects, The Stability Pact of
South Eastern Europe, available at:
http://www.stabilitypact.org. [8]
Statement by the Turkish Delegation at the First Panel of the Regional
Conference on Landmines, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21-22 June
2000. [9] Statement by Mr. V. Vural
Altay, at the FMSP, Maputo, 3-7 May
1999. [10] For details see, Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, pp. 820-821. [11]
Discussion between Susan Walker, ICBL Government Liaison, and two members of the
delegation of Turkey to the regional conference on landmines in Slovenia, 21
June 2000. [12] Ministry of Foreign
Affairs web site, Arms Control and Disarmament, Statement of Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Turkey, document CD/1559, 21 October
1998. [13] Data as of 1997. Provided to
Human Rights Watch by U.S. government sources, March
1999. [14] Additional Statement by Mr.
V. Vural Altay, FMSP, Maputo, 3-7 May
1999. [15] Erdogan Iscan, Deputy
Permanent Representative to the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, Geneva,
letter to Susan Walker, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 17 January
2000. [16] Report to the OSCE, 14
December 1999, p. 3. Also in December 1999, Turkish officials told the ICBL
that mines had not been laid in 4-5 years. ICBL meeting with members of
delegation of Turkey to the First Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended
Protocol II, Geneva, 17 December
1999. [17] Statement by Mr. V. Vural
Altay, FMSP, Maputo, May 1999. [18] News
Archive, Stratford-Iraq, 17 July 1999,
http://www.stratfor.com/meaf/news/an990717.htm. [19]
UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 5 of
Security Council resolution 1281 (1999), S/2000/520, 1 June 2000, p. 13. The
report addresses distribution of humanitarian supplies throughout
Iraq. [20] Erdogan Iscan, Deputy
Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Turkey to UN in Geneva,
letter to Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, 12 January
2000. [21] Fausto Biloslavo,
“Almost All the Land Mines Used by the PKK Are Italian,” Il Giornale
(newspaper), 1 July 1999, p. 10. [22]
Ibid. According to the latter, in the late 1980s these Italian mines also
reached the PKK via a triangular arrangement involving the Swedish firm Bofors,
Chartered Industries in Singapore, and Iraq. It was also reported that
Italian-licensed mines manufactured in Egypt may have reached the PKK and that
Yevgeniy Primakov when head of the Russian KGB secret service facilitated this
trade. [23] “Over 12,000 Land
Mines Seized From PKK Italian Made,” World News Connection, 8 October
1999. [24] “Engaging Non-State
Actors in a Landmine Ban,” Conference hosted by Swiss Campaign to Ban
Landmines in cooperation with Mines Action Canada, Philippine Campaign to Ban
Landmines, UK Working Group on Landmines, and Zimbabwean Campaign to Ban
Landmines, Geneva, 24-25 March
2000. [25] "Turkey to Continue Fighting
Terrorism: Interior Minister," Xinhua (news agency), 20 February
2000. [26] Additional Statement by Mr.
V. Vural Altay, at FMSP, Maputo, 3-7 May 1999; also Erdogan Iscan, Permanent
Mission of Turkey to the UN, Geneva, letter to Susan Walker, ICBL, 17 January
2000. [27] “People in the
Southeast React Favorably to Ecevit's Comments on Border Trade,” Turkish
Daily News, 13 June 2000. [28]
“Turkey Hindered by own Landmines on Syrian Border,” Reuters News
Service, 6 December 1996. [29]
“Turkey, Number of Wounded in Mine Explosions Detailed," Istanbul
Hurriyet, Ankara edition from FBIS, 9 August
1999. [30] “Over 12,000 Land Mines
Seized from PKK Italian Made,” World News Connection, 8 October
1999. [31] "Lawsuit Against Italian
Government," Turkish Daily News, 14 October
1999. [32] See report on Greece in this
edition of the Landmine Monitor Report
2000. [33] Reports to the OSCE, 15
January 1999 and 14 December 1999. [34]
Statement by the Turkish Delegation, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 21-22 June
2000.
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