President Abdullah Gül was responding to questions from the press at Esenboğa Airport, prior to his departure for the NATO Security Summit, when he remarked upon recent allegations surfaced in the Wall Street Journal that the bombing in Uludere was based on imagery obtained by the U.S.
Reminding that the Turkish Armed Forces have since refuted the Wall Street Journal's claims, Gül stated, "We first need to trust our own national resources. If our government or any of this nation's establishments, including the General Staff have released a written announcement that states otherwise, then that is what we first and foremost need to trust in. If it is just hearsay, or gossip, well that is another issue, however when a clear written statement is presented on the matter, then we first need to believe in that content. This is an issue that deals with our collaboration with the United States in the fight against terrorism. We have been benefitting from their capabilities for a long time now.
Therefore, according to our own announcement, the initial imagery was obtained from our own resources. When there is imagery of something present then others can also capture it. In the end all of this intelligence would of course be sent to Turkey. Therefore, I don't think its right to embark upon a useless polemic. There was an incident that transpired. It wasn't a one-second incident. There was a convoy of people. Anyone observing this situation could take a photograph. Therefore, it is extremely possible that we first obtained imagery from our own resources and then later received information from other sources. This is quite normal."