Note the Difference in Mines!

The Initiative for a Turkey without Mines has corrected the terminology that journalists have used to describe the explosives used in PKK attacks.

The difference in terminology is important, because Turkey has signed the Ottawa Convention which holds states responsible for clearing the land mines, which kill or disable 15 to 20 thousand people worldwide every year, and protecting civilians against them.

According to the website of the Initiative, the differences between land mines and the explosives controlled remotely are as follows:

Anti-personnel mines wait for victim

* Anti-personnel land mines (APLM) wait for their victims, rather than actively seeking them out.

* APLMs are activated by the victim itself.

* APLMs do not distinguish between different people. Whoever comes close to or touches the mine, woman or man, old or young, soldier or rebel, is hurt or killed.

* APLMs remain active under the ground for 75 years.

When an APLM is converted into a remote-controlled explosive (RCE), it loses the above-mentioned characteristics and should thus not be termed an APLM anymore.

Remote-controlled explosive actively seeks out victims

* RCEs do not wait for victims but actively seek them out.

* RCEs are activated not by the victim, but by another person, just like other weapons.

* Victims are differentiated.

* RCEs can be affected by various factors.

Radikal newspaper journalist Ismet Berkan had drawn attention to this distinction on 13 June, writing that the RCEs that the PKK used in its attacks were called "Improvised Explosive Devices".

Every year 180 people affected by landmines

According to the Initiative for a Turkey without Mines, an average of 180 people are killed or disabled by land mines or unexploded military arms in Turkey. A third of this number are children. In 2005, 220 and in 2006, 145 people were killed or disabled in Turkey.

There is insufficient health care and there are not enough rehabilitation facilities for those rescued from the explosions.

According to the Ottawa Convention, Turkey is obliged to destroy its land mine stock by 2008 and to clear all the planted land mines by 2014. (TK/EÜ/AG/EÜ)