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Hood event

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Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade detaining suspected Iraqi insurgents in Operation Bayonet Lightning in December, 2003. The raid on Sulaymaniyah would have probably looked similar to this.

The Hood Event (Çuval Olayı in Turkish) was an incident on July 4 2003 following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq where a group of Turkish military personnel operating in northern Iraq were captured, led away with hoods over their heads, and interrogated by the United States military. The soldiers were released after 60 hours, after Turkey protested to the United States.

Though neither side ever apologized, a US-Turkish commission set up to investigate the incident later issued a joint statement of regret. In addition, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote a letter to the Turkish Prime Minister expressing sorrow over the incident. The "Hood Event" damaged diplomatic relations between Turkey and the United States and marked a low point in US-Turkish relations. While the incident received comparatively little coverage in the United States, it was a major event in Turkey, many of whose citizens saw it as a deliberate insult and nicknamed it "The Hood Event". It later became the basis for the 2006 Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq.

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[edit] Background

Turkey had long viewed northern Iraq, with its large Kurdish population, as a possible national security threat. During the 1980s and 1990s, Turkey fought against the PKK, a terrorist faction of Turkish Kurds advocating independence for Kurdistan. More than 30,000 Turks and Kurds were killed and millions more were displaced. During the war, the PKK established multiple bases outside Turkey in Iraq and Syria.<ref name="Washington Post 1999">Who Are the Kurds? Washington Post.</ref> While Turkey was able to suppress the guerillas, the insurgency left the government worried about future uprisings among its Kurdish population.

Turkish fears intensified after the creation of the Kurdish enclave following the 1991 Gulf War. In 1996, after a civil war had broken out in the Kurdish enclave, Turkey deployed troops there to monitor a ceasefire between the two main Kurdish factions.<ref name="Economist 2003">The Economist. A partnership at risk? 2003-07-10</ref> In 1998, Turkey was able to use military threats to force neighboring Syria to expel PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. However, because of the United States, it was never able to move decisively against the Kurds in northern Iraq.

Under American protection, Iraqi Kurdistan had evolved into a successful semi-autonomous region. US pressure helped lead to a peace deal in 1999 between the major Iraqi Kurdish factions, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq. While both parties officially swore off independence, the Turkish government remained sufficiently concerned, and continued to keep troops in northern Iraq.<ref name="Washington Post 1999"/>

[edit] The Iraq War

By 2003, many Turks had come to see American foreign policy in the region as a threat. Matters were not helped by the election in 2002 of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a right-wing, moderately Islamist party. The election of the AKP led to an immediate increase in tensions with America, especially after a massive back bench rebellion by the opposition Republican People's Party prevented the government from allowing the United States to launch a Northern offensive in Iraq from Turkish soil. The Parliament's decision not to send any Turkish troops to Iraq further eroded US-Turkish relations.

On April 24 2003, only two weeks after the Fall of Baghdad, a dozen Turkish special forces were arrested near Arbil. According to Time Magazine, they were wearing civilian clothes and travelling with a convoy carrying humanitarian aid. However, they were intercepted by American forces, who claimed they had received prior knowledge of the group. The Americans commander of the 173rd Airborne, Colonel William C. Mayville, claimed that the Turks were there to "create an environment that can be used by Turkey to send a large peacekeeping force into Kirkuk."<ref name=Time>Ware, Michael. The Turks Enter Iraq. Time Magazine. 2003-04-24</ref>

Mayville accused the Turks of having links to the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF), an ethnic-Turkish militia. However, US forces made no effort to incarcerate the Turks, merely detaining them for a day and then escorting them back to the Iraqi-Turkish border.<ref name=Time/> In the following months, Turkey continued its policy of sending small groups of soldiers into Iraqi Kurdistan, ostensibly to search for PKK bases. According to The Economist, Turkey also began covertly arming the ITF as a lever against the Iraqi Kurds.<ref name="Economist 2003"/>

[edit] Raid on Al Sulaymaniyah

On 2003-07-04, soldiers from the United States Army's 173d Airborne Brigade raided a safehouse in the Kurdish-held Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah. They claimed they were acting on an intelligence tip that there were individuals in the safehouse plotting to assassinate the Iraqi-Kurdish governor of the province of Kirkuk. What they found instead were a group of Turkish special forces, including a colonel and two majors, whom they promptly arrested.<ref>Donovan, Jeffrey, "U.S./Turkey: Ties Hit New Low After Raid On Turkish Forces", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2003-07-07.</ref> Turkish sources refer to 11 soldiers commanded by a major. <ref> http://www.hurriyetim.com.tr/haber/0,,nvid~327392,00.asp </ref> An unknown number of other individuals were also detained during the raid, although thirteen were later released.<ref name=CNN>U.S. releases Turkish troops. CNN. 2003-07-06.</ref> Apart from these, and the Turkish soldiers who were to be released after intense diplomatic activity, a British citizen named Michael Todd who was by chance in town to seek his daughter was also put in custody and kept for a fortnight under trying conditions (Mr. Todd later sued the US Government).<ref>Briton held by US troops in Iraq. BBC. 2003-07-22.
http://sfimc.net/mail.php?id=1672991</ref>

[edit] Negotiations

The Turkish military immediately threatened retaliatory measures, including closing Turkish airspace to US military flights, stopping the use of the southern Incirlik air base and sending more troops into northern Iraq.<ref>Turkish fury at US Iraq 'arrests'. BBC. 2003-07-05</ref> A delegation of Turkish military and diplomatic officials immediately left for Sulaymaniyah on Saturday to discuss the matter with the Americans, but according to the Turks most of the American commanders were off celebrating Independence Day.<ref>Turks protest soldiers' detentions. BBC. 2003-07-06.</ref> Following direct protests by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to US Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Turkish soldiers were released after sixty hours in captivity. <ref>US releases Turkish troops. BBC. 2003-07-06.</ref>

[edit] Aftermath

Image:2003July24 Donald Rumsfeld Abdullah Gul.jpg

Not surprisingly, the Hood event made a much greater impact in Turkey than in the West, which by and large agreed with the US government's interpretation. While the story received comparatively little coverage outside of the Middle East, Turkish newspapers loudly condemned the raid, referring to US forces with nicknames such as "Rambos" and "Ugly Americans". On the last day of the incident, General Hilmi Özkök, Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army, declared that the hood event had caused a "crisis of confidence" between the US and Turkey.<ref name=Guaridian>Howard, Michael and Suzanne Goldenberg. "US arrest of soldiers infuriates Turkey", The Guardian, 2003-07-08.</ref>

[edit] Footnotes

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[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

tr:Çuval olayı

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