| Yeşilova incident | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Yeşilova Yeşilova (Turkey) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  Turkey | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Royal Marines | Turkish Armed Forces | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30 marines | Several hundreds[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| No casualties | |||||||
TheYeşilova incident was a reported armed standoff that took place at a refugee camp in Yeşilova, a smallTurkish town near theborder between Iraq and Turkey, betweenBritishRoyal Marines and theTurkish Armed Forces. Local Turkish soldiers have been accused by reporterRobert Fisk of stealing essential goods and preventing medical care from deprived refugees in dire conditions, with a cholera outbreak ongoing. Other reporters such as Hugh Pope deny this version of the events.
In March 1991, with the end of hostilities betweenCoalition forces and theIraqi military, Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein sought to quash the risingShiite andKurdish insurgents who wererebelling against his regime. Saddam managed to put down the rebellions with little effort but continued to persecute the Kurds in northern Iraq. Thousands of Kurdish andAssyrian civilians were displaced, most of them finding shelter in refugee camps in Turkey. Though coalition forces ultimately chose not to intervene against the crackdown, they did launch a massive humanitarian relief effort to at least help alleviate the plight of the refugees.
According to British journalistRobert Fisk, the only reporter present, in April 1991, a British Marines unit consisting of about thirty men was tasked with distributing relief supplies to 3,000 Kurds and Assyrians in Yeşilova under the watch of the Turkish military, but they found themselves in direct confrontation with the Turks. The Turkish soldiers, instead of cooperating with the British Marines in relief distribution, were charged with stealing blankets, bed linen, flour and food, including sixty boxes of water, intended for the refugees, forcing the Marines to intervene.[2] The British Marines asked to transport the refugees out of the country, a request that was denied by the local Turkish commander. The Marines were thus forced to pile the supplies back into their helicopters to prevent further pillaging but also faced a possible firefight against the Turkish forces. On April 29, a detachment of diplomatic officials andCIA agents attached to theUnited States Embassy inAnkara arrived in Yeşilova to help defuse the situation. They found that various diseases, including cases of acutediarrhea andcholera, had broken out among the civilians in the camp and that the refugees had been deprived of medical services by the Turkish military.[3]
Fisk filed an article for the newspaperThe Independent on April 30 fromDiyarbakır, describing the confrontation between the Royal Marines and the Turkish soldiers. Fisk's report incensed Turkish authorities, who detained him in Diyarbakır.[4] Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the army's Chief of Staff, GeneralDoğan Güreş, denounced Fisk's article, claiming it was "planned, programmed propaganda."[5] He was interrogated but eventually released and expelled from Turkey. Fisk speculated that charges were being prepared by the governor of Diyarbakır for "defaming" the Turkish military and later described the interrogation session as "pathetic and frightening."[6]
Fisk's fellow journalist at the Independent, Hugh Pope stated that his "cavalier treatment of facts seems to be true" in the case, pointing out numerous inaccuracies in Fisk's account.[7]
John Kifner of theNew York Times also covered the story quoting a Royal Marines spokesman, Sgt. N. B. Durant, who described the incident between British and Turkish soldiers as a "Mexican standoff."[8]
TheEuropean Commission and numerous journalists protested and demanded an explanation from the Turkish government.[5]
