Van Security Chief talked to Milliyet

Ercument Isleyen


Van Security Chief Zike Catalkaya who was accused of being unprepared
during the Hizbullah operation which ended with death of five police
officers talked to Milliyet and said, "The militants were waiting for us in
front of their leader Velioglu's photos. We were under fire as soon as we
opened the door."
Stating that 6 different operations were organised against Hizbullah since
the January in Van, Catalkaya sair 62 people were arrested since then.
"We evaluated the information that we have collected in the operations we
made against Hizbullah since today. This was our last and most important
operation. The regional responsible had run away together with his family.
We determined the house he was hidden soon before the operation."
"There were suspects from Izmir, Diyarbakir and Elazig with us. We knew that
the regional responsible and the military responsible were inside. However
there were five children, whose ages were ranging between one to seven.
First we took the environmental security measures. We were planning to make
a sudden raid. But the militants were in fact prepared and waiting for us in
front of their leader Velioglu's photos taken from the newspapers. We first
knocked the door. They immediately opened fire and threw hand grenades," he
said.