The Turkish Ministry of Defense has denied any negligence in the death of 12 soldiers from methane gas exposure in a cave in northern Iraq on July 5, in its report submitted to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The report, obtained by the T24 news website, detailed the search operation inside the cave to recover the remains of 1st Lt. Nuri Melih Bozkurt, who was killed on May 28, 2022, during the Turkish Armed Forces’ Operation Claw-Lock, which targeted the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Due to information received from a PKK informant on the whereabouts of Bozkurt’s body, a battalion was sent to an 852-meter-high hill in the Metina region. On July 4 a team led by the battalion commander conducted an initial search using a specially trained dog with a camera, which safely entered and exited the cave.
On July 5, after the dog returned unharmed again, a first team of six soldiers was sent inside, during which a soldier’s scream was heard. Following a situation assessment, the battalion commander ordered a second team of six soldiers into the cave. Some of these soldiers managed to exit, but affected from the methane gas, they also died.
The report also included a crucial detail, that although the dog had twice reached the far end of the cave, the soldiers instead took a separate route via stairs on the right side of the cave. The incident occurred at the end of these stairs, where methane gas had accumulated.
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler during a visit to the site met with miners brought in to retrieve the soldiers’ bodies who told him that methane had long been present in the cave. He attended a military funeral ceremony at Yüksekova Selahaddin Eyyübi Airport near the Iraqi border for six of the fallen soldiers and said the incident would be “investigated in the finest detail” through an administrative inquiry.
The deaths have sparked public debate in Turkey amid a growing number of reports of soldiers dying due to alleged negligence in recent years. Opposition parties accused the authorities of acting irresponsibly and lacking good judgment. Despite widespread criticism, no officials have resigned, and the authorities have not provided a convincing explanation. Minister Güler has made no additional statement about the details and those responsible for the incident, while then-Land Forces Commander Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu was recently promoted to chief of general staff.
The shortage of competent and experienced officers has been a serious concern in the Turkish Armed Forces. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that out of a total of 32,189 military officers, 10,468 were dismissed, including 1,524 of 1,886 staff officers, following an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016, over terrorism-related charges due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
The Gülen movement is a worldwide civic initiative rooted in the spiritual and humanistic tradition of Islam and inspired by the ideas and activism of the late Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who was living in exile in the US. It is known for its network of educational institutions and interfaith dialogue initiatives across the globe. After originating in Turkey as a grassroots community in the 1970s, the movement spread its activities to various regions worldwide, establishing schools, hospitals and charities in over 150 countries.
President Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as some of his family members and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following the abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Due to the severe staffing shortages, a bill was recently submitted to Turkey’s parliament that would raise the retirement age of force commanders to 72 and allow the promotion of non-staff officers to the rank of general. In presenting the bill, the defense ministry informed lawmakers that “following the coup attempt, 95 percent of staff officers were dismissed for alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement.”
