Turkish F-16 fighter jet fails to hit PKK targets, brings the reliability of F-16 under question
Turkish Air Force F16 jet fighter at an air base in Bandirma, Turkey. Photo: Reuters
Abdul-Qahar Mustafa | Exclusive to Ekurd.net
The contents of this article reflect the author’s personal opinions
F-16 jet fighter is well-known for its reliability and precision in hitting all kind of targets. The jet has the ability to even pinpoint targets on the move with laser precision. It is also very well suited to track and attack small targets with small size Laser Guided Bombs, such as a small group of enemy fighters, vehicles, and other targets of that nature.
According to the manufacturer, the jet can be equipped with small precision bombs which can isolate enemy targets while avoiding damage to nearby civilians or surrounding infrastructure without the need to use big missiles. However, last week, a Turkish military F-16 jet failed to hit a target belong to Kurdish Worker Party (PKK) fighters, and instead the bomb ended damaging property and injuring civilians in Kurdistan of Iraq.
Last week, Iraqi Kurdish media outlets reported that Turkish warplanes bombarded border areas of the Kurdistan Region’s district of Amedi in Duhok province on Thursday, damaging infrastructure and severely wounding three civilians. The report said that the attack targeted a vehicle belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that had infiltrated the village of Spendari and stopped in front of a local shop.
As a result, the bombardment destroyed the militants’ car but also injured three local bystanders. Although, whether the PKK fighters had infiltrated the village, or had deliberately blended in with civilian populations for safety or to complicate targeting for Turkish airstrikes, this incident raises serious questions about the reliability of the F-16 as a precise target striker and about the motive and skills of the Turkish pilot.
The questions that need to be asked is why the Turkish F-16 pilot decided to drop a smart bomb at a car carrying few PKK fighters in a place where it was a populated ? And how come the Turkish pilot of F-16 did not hold back striking until the PKK car drove out of civilian area? Also, why the pilot of the Turkish F-16 jet failed to precisely hit only the PKK car rather than that? In fact, the smart laser guided bomb missed hitting the PKK car by few meters away and instead ended causing minor damages to the car and injuring three civilians. The bomb did not hit the PKK car in total neither did kill any PKK members, who were sitting the car that was stopped by a shop at the small market place of Spindare village.
Scientifically speaking, it is true that adverse weather such as fog, clouds, or rain tend to sometimes reduce the accuracy of laser-guided weapons of hitting a small target. But that was not the case in this incident because the Turkish pilot was flying his F-16 jet in a clear weather of a sunny summer day when he dropped the smart bomb at the PKK car stopped in the Kurdish civilian living area of Spindare village.
Yet, when it comes to striking PKK positions, Turkish military powers hypocritically boast and brag about precision warfare and surgical strikes that distinguish between fighters and civilians. But the reality on the ground is that Kurdish civilians are often targeted where they live, and work in north of Iraq. The Turkish airstrikes forced many Iraqi Kurdish villagers to leave everything behind and move to cities.
The last week attack of Turkish F-16 jet on Spindare village was clearly a serious violation of international human rights because it resulted in hurting civilian and their property. UN Security Council must do more than just posturing and giving empty promises to victims of war crimes and not only in Kurdistan of Iraq but everywhere around the world. Concrete action needed to be taken to reverse course, effectively protect civilians, stop war crimes and end impunity regardless of personal interests.
Abdul-Qahar Mustafa is a graduate student from Saint Louis high school in Canada. He is advocate of justice, democracy and human rights. He currently lives in Sarsang/Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan. Mustafa is a senior contributing writer for Ekurd.
The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Ekurd.net or its editors.
Ekurd’s note: The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict. A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
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