Hammer Force Quietly Leaves After Twelve Years in Turkey

Hammer Force was temporarily based in Turkey due to a decision made by the Cabinet on April 5, 1991 at the end of the first Gulf War. Immediately after the war, the Iraqi administration had launched a brutal attack against anti-Saddam groups. Many people fled to Iran and Turkey, which then spurred the United Nations into action. The U.N. Security Council enacted UNSC Resolution 687 dated April 3, 1991 aimed at imposing an economic embargo on Iraq and ridding the country of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Following the U.N. decision, the Cabinet decided that a multilateral force should be temporarily situated in Turkey in order to provide continuity of peace in the region and to prevent another refugee flow into the country. Operation Provide Comfort, hosted by Turkey, was thus undertaken with the initial participation of the United States, France and England.

This operation, which had been conceived with the aims of humanitarian assistance and dissuasion, gave way to Operation Northern Watch in January 1997, with the goal of watching and controlling the northern and southern "no-fly" zones established in Turkey’s neighbor, Iraq. U.S. forces were then stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Adana after the completion of refugee repatriation and humanitarian assistance activities.

In the beginning, activities carried out within the scope of Hammer Force, whose mission was extended every six months since 1991, and immediately following it, Operation Northern Watch, had been performed by 25,000 personnel. In the course of time, the number of personnel dropped to 1,000, while the number of aircraft and helicopters was reduced to 63. Northern Watch’s final extension was granted by a note from Turkey’s 58th government to parliament on December 26, 2002.

Osman Balci / Adana / TURKEY