The Yeşilova incident refers to an armed stand off that took place in April 1991 between the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 and the Turkish Armed Forces

Turkish Armed Forces

The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy , and the Air Force...

 at refugee camps for Kurds

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

 and Assyrians

Assyrian people

The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...

 in Yeşilova

Yesilova

Yeşilova is a town and a district of Burdur Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey....

 (also seen spelled Yasilova), a small town in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 located 25 kilometers west of Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Background

In March 1991, with the end of hostilities between Coalition

Coalition of the Gulf War

The Coalition of the Gulf War were the countries officially opposed to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait during the 1990 / 1991 Persian Gulf War.-Coalition by number of military personnel:-United States:*Norman Schwarzkopf*Colin Powell*Calvin Waller...

 forces and the Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i military, then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

 sought to quash the rising Shiite and Kurdish insurgents who were rebelling against his regime

1991 uprisings in Iraq

The 1991 uprisings in Iraq were a series of anti-governmental rebellions in southern and northern Iraq during the aftermath of the Gulf War. The revolt was fueled by the perception that the power of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was vulnerable at the time; as well as by heavily fueled anger at...

. Saddam managed to put down the rebellions with little resistance but continued to persecute the Kurds in northern Iraq. Consequently, thousands of Kurdish civilians were displaced, most of them finding shelter in refugee camps in Turkey. Though the coalition forces chose not intervene, they did launch a massive humanitarian relief effort to at least help alleviate their plight.

The incident

The British Marines were tasked with distributing relief supplies to 3,000 Kurds and Assyrians in Yeşilova under the Turkish military's auspices but found themselves in direct confrontation with the Turks themselves. The Turkish soldiers, instead of cooperating with the British Marines in the relief distribution, were stealing blankets, bed linen, flour and food, including sixty boxes of water, intended for the refugees, forcing the Marines were forced to intervene. British forces asked to transport the refugees out of the country but the Turkish commander refused to grant this request. 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 and CIA

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 agents attached to the United States Embassy in Ankara

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

 arrived in Yeşilova to help defuse the situation. They found that various diseases, including cases of acute diarrhea

Diarrhea

Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...

 and cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

, had spread amongst the civilians in the camp and that the refugees were deprived of medical services by the Turkish military.

British journalist Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...

, the only reporter present in Yeşilova filed an article for the newspaper The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

on April 30 from Diyarbakır

Diyarbakır

Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...

, describing the confrontation between the Royal Marines and the Turkish soldiers' actions in the camp. Fisk's report incensed Turkish authorities, who detained him in Diyarbakır. 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."

Reactions

The European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

and numerous journalists protested and demanded an explanation from the Turkish government. Turkey's foreign ministry and the army's Chief of Staff, General Doğan Güreş, denounced Fisk's article, claiming it was "planned, programmed propaganda."