PKK | Operation Expected Consequences

[Jay]

OPERATION EXPECTED CONSEQUENCE
Security Classification: TOP SECRET

SITUATION REPORT

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OVERVIEW Over the past year, intensified surveillance and cross-border operations by Turkish forces have steadily constricted the maneuver space available for Kurdish fighters of the resistance. Now the expanding Turkish ground campaign has put the movement on the back foot. Global support for Turkey is at an all-time high, and the U.S.'s support for the fascist regime in Ankara has reached new heights. Yet, anti-American sentiment remains in Turkey, and the current Prime Minister faces a prolonged political crisis due to her apparent pro-Western sentiments. Sentiments not shared by the larger electorate. It has been decided by Kurdish field operatives that the way forward to put an end to the ongoing campaign against Kurdish independence is to strike at the very heart of the imperial war machine in Ankara. Last year a successful operation brought together the Iranian Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) with the Kurdistan Workers' Party. This operation will bear the fruits of that partnership to allow the successful carrying out of Operation Expected Consequences. Members of the PKK's covert action group with trusted PJAK operatives have been tasked with carrying out Operation Expected Consequences with the goal of expanding the current operation to stop the ongoing Turkish campaign in Iraq.

---

BELLIGERENTS

BLUFOR	OPFOR
Kurdistan Worker's Party HPG YJA-STAR Kurdistan Free Life Party YRK	United States of America Republic of Turkey Security Forces

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ORDER OF OPERATIONS

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• Cover Operations
  • 24 Operatives

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CAMPAIGN REGISTER

Operation	Objective	Status
Phase I	Operatives are to make their way using different transportation routes to Istanbul and Ankara.	Active
Phase II	Take over the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Istanbul with distraction attacks to delay reaction time.	Active
Phase III	SECRET	Active
Phase IV	SECRET	Active

---

 

[Jay]

RESTRICTED

Ankara, April 2009

The morning in Ankara had unfolded as it normally had. Buses climbed the sloped avenues near Kızılay, their engines straining as they wound past kiosks selling simit and tea. Government workers in pressed shirts crossed at Güvenpark, umbrellas tucked under their arms though the sky was clear.

People had walked around as they usually did, with clusters of students weaving toward the metro entrance, backpacks slung over one shoulder. Civil servants went about their day, walking briskly or waiting at crosswalks with their phones in hand.

Vendors called out from behind carts of roasted chestnuts as an elderly man shuffled past, a folded newspaper wedged beneath his arm. A dolmuş pulled to the curb, and passengers filed on one after another, disappearing toward the hills of Çankaya. Near the entrance to the park, a man and a woman stood a few feet apart, both looking down at their watches.


He glanced up first, eyes moving over the square, then back down. She did the same a moment later, adjusting the strap of her bag as she checked the time again. Neither spoke. They simply stood there, calm, watching the crowd thin and gather, waiting for something the morning hadn't yet revealed.

Elsewhere at the U.S. Embassy, a number of people were in line waiting for their appointments. Herdem Basam and Talor Arjîn were amongst those waiting. Herdem looked down at his watch before some American fellow looked over and laughed. "You're gonna be waiting here a while buddy."

Herdem looked up and responded. "Why?"

"I am a citizen and they're making me wait. You think they're gonna let you in before me?" He gave out a hearty laugh.

Talor wanted to say something but Herdem held her back. "No worries, we are in no rush."

The Embassy gates began to open as the Turkish security officials manned the exterior wall. As Herdem and Talor approached the gate they looked back...it should have happened by now Herdem thought. Just then he heard it.

---

Prime Minister's Residence
​

A deafening blast rips through the front gate. A soft fireball consumed the guardhouse, sending glass shattering in different directions. There was a second wave, followed by shocked silence, before the screams began.

The residence gate at the base of the hill had gone from silence to smoke in under four seconds. Erhan Doğan was still turning toward the sound of the blast when the first rounds hit the guardhouse glass.

"Contact, contact, west gate!" he shouted into his collar mic, already moving, already reaching for his sidearm. Beside him, two junior officers dropped instinctively behind the concrete planters lining the drive, one of them fumbling to unclip his rifle from its sling.

Through the haze he could make out two shapes advancing through the gap where the gate had stood, black jackets, rifles held low and steady, moving with the kind of discipline that told him immediately these weren't opportunists. This had been planned.

"Lock it down! Lock the residence, now!" Erhan bellowed toward the inner checkpoint, and a young officer near the door slammed his palm against the alarm panel.

Steel barriers began rising from underneath the ground as alarms blaired around the complex. A round cracked off the planter inches from his shoulder, spraying concrete dust across his cheek. He returned fire without fully aiming, forcing the nearest gunman to peel back toward the shattered gatehouse for cover. Beside him, Officer Kaya finally got his rifle up and loosed three rounds down the drive.

"Where's the second team?!" Erhan shouted.

"Ninety seconds out, they're coming from the eastern checkpoint..."

"Tell them to hurry the fuck up." Erhan shouted laying down another wave of surpressive fire.

The second gunman broke from cover and sprinted along the treeline bordering the gate that had just been blown through, firing in short bursts toward the residence's main entrance, where two more guards had taken position behind an overturned reception desk dragged into the doorway.

Glass rained down from an upper window as a round went wide and high. Erhan keyed his mic again, voice tight. "All units, all units, the Prime Minister is in the east wing, repeat, east wing, get the secondary detail moving her to the shelter now."

Inside, the Prime Minister's chief of security and the rest of the detial were rushing her out of the study, past startled aides frozen mid-step in the hallway, down the service stairs toward the reinforced room beneath the residence.

Outside, the gunman near the gatehouse popped up again, and this time Erhan was ready. He put two rounds into the frame of the gate beside the man's head, driving him back down, buying Kaya the half-second he needed to reposition. The wail of approaching sirens climbed over the gunfire now, Ankara police, and behind them, the unmistakable heavier thrum of a response vehicle.

"East gate is breached, I say again, east gate breached, all available units converge on the residence..."

A grenade, or something like one, arced from behind the gatehouse and landed short of the drive, detonating against the stone wall in a burst of white smoke and flying grit. Erhan felt the heat of it against his face and went down hard behind the planter, ears ringing, vision swimming for half a second before training pulled him back up onto one knee, weapon still raised.

Through the smoke he saw the second team arriving at last, four officers fanning out along the perimeter wall, rifles up, moving in pairs toward the gatehouse.

"Hold your position, do not let them push past the drive," Erhan called out his voice hoarse now.

Just then Erhan saw one of the gunmen emerge to take a shot at the officers from the eastern gatehouse. Raising his service weapon he put two rounds into the chest of the man who slumped over and fell. The fighting lasted another minute or two before officer Hayri raised her rifle and put half of her mag into the body of the second gunmen who slumped over and fell.

They waited a moment before officers Bugra and Ozakar walked over to check that the two gunmen were dead. Nobody approached too close to the body in case there was a deadman switch in them. Erhan leaned into his collar radio and told his superiors. "Two gunmen at East Gate neutralized."

Erhan let out a relieved sigh, then heard a distant explosion and turned instinctively toward the residence, fearing someone had gotten in. Sirens wailed closer, converging on the Prime Minister's residence. But back at the U.S. Embassy compound, the real attack was just beginning.

​

Officers Çağla, Anar, and İnan of the Ankara Metropolitan Police Diplomatic Unit and the Gendarmerie Diplomatic Security Command manned their post near the American Embassy, watching as people walked in and out throughout the morning.

Çağla nudged Anar, grinning. "Three weeks. Three weeks and I'm done being on my feet all day for this."

Anar laughed. "You say that like the wedding isn't gonna have you on your feet all night instead."

İnan didn't join in. She just hugged her rifle a little tighter against her chest, eyes on the street. She'd asked for a deployment in the south, Gendarmerie postings near the border, somewhere that felt like it mattered. Instead she'd gotten Ankara, standing outside a gate all day watching diplomats, expats, and everything inbetween come and go. It ate at her more than she let on.

A soft thud rolled in from somewhere behind them.

Çağla turned. "Thunder?"

"Supposed to rain today," Anar said, shrugging.

They kept talking, but a moment later their radios crackled to life, voices overlapping, urgent. Attack on the Prime Minister's residence. All units, stand by. Somewhere to the east, sirens rose, and above them the low beat of helicopter blades.

"That's not thunder," İnan said quietly.

Çağla's smile faded. "You think it's connected to..."

She didn't finish. A truck was coming, fast, swinging wide off the road and straight for the embassy gate. Çağla threw herself sideways, hitting her head hard on the pavement as the truck tore past where she'd been standing. İnan spun toward the sound of it and watched the truck plow into the guardpost, steel folding, concrete shearing away as it punched a hole clean through the wall.

"ÇAĞLA, MOVE!" İnan screamed.

Car doors were already opening along the curb. Ten, maybe more, men and women stepping out in a line, rifles coming up, opening fire on the embassy guards and on the three of them without hesitation.

İnan grabbed Çağla by the collar and hauled her behind a concrete barrier as rounds chewed into the stone above their heads. Çağla was frozen, eyes wide, hands shaking around her rifle like she'd forgotten how to use it.

"Çağla, Çağla, look at me!" İnan shook her once, hard. "Fire your weapon! FIRE YOUR WEAPON, NOW!"

Anar was already up on one knee beside them, returning fire toward the breach, teeth gritted. "Anar to command, the Embassy, they're hitting the Embassy, we need everyone, NOW" She keyed her radio between bursts, voice cracking with the effort of staying steady. "Multiple shooters, breach at the main gate, they're pushing inside!"

The gunmen barely broke stride. Bullets sparked off the barrier and the guardhouse around them, but the men kept moving, stepping over their own suppressive fire, driving deeper through the smoking gap in the wall toward the embassy compound beyond.

Çağla finally raised her rifle, hands still trembling, and fired, wide at first, then steadier as she saw dozens of civilans running in different directions, İnan's voice still in her ear telling her where to aim, telling her to breathe, telling her they were not going to die behind this wall.

The gunmen pushed through, moving fast. Turkish units outside scrambled toward the compound, but heavy suppressive fire from the breach point kept them pinned at the perimeter, unable to close the distance.

Inside, the Kurdish commandos split into teams, sweeping the halls room by room. Anyone they found was herded at gunpoint toward the consular section. Just the barrel of a rifle and a hand gesturing move.

Herdem felt the muzzle press briefly into his shoulder blade. "Yürü," the gunman barked. Walk.

He kept his hand laced with Talor's, pulling her along as they were pushed into a wide waiting room already filling with people, Turks, Americans, a cluster of embassy staff still in their lanyards. Someone was crying quietly near the back wall. No one was talking above a whisper.

"Sit. Everyone, sit down. Hands where we can see them." The gunman's English was accented but clear. A second gunman moved along the windows, yanking blinds shut one by one, while a third dragged a filing cabinet in front of the main door.

Around them, more people were pushed in every few minutes, stragglers found hiding in bathrooms, in supply closets, under desks. Each time the door opened, the room went rigid, everyone's eyes flicking up and then quickly back down, worried this was the end for them.

Once the last of them had been gathered, one of the gunmen stepped to the center of the room and looked around slowly. He said something low to another man near the door, who nodded and moved to take position at the window, rifle angled toward the courtyard outside.

​

---

Istanbul, April 2009

The morning in Istanbul had unfolded as it normally had. Ferries in the bay floated through the Bosphorus, their horns low as they made port to unload people and cargo. Street trams inched past shuttered storefronts with their doors already half-open.

People had walked around as they usually did, with a number of tourist groups trekking through the streets observing many different historical sites of the once mighty Ottoman Empire. Turks went about their day, walking around or commuting to work.

Students with earphones tucked into hoodies hunched beside older women lugging floral suitcases as a bus came by. One by one they all hopped onto the bus and drove away to their terminal. Across the street near the American consulate, a woman in her twenties paused to adjust her scarf. She looked around, eyes scanning the crowd, calm as she stepped forward.

She looked at her watch and then back up to walk around having left her bag near a house. Then a deafening blast ripped through. A massive fireball consumed the benches, sending glass shattering in different directions. There was a second wave, followed by shocked silence, before the screams began.

"Secure the perimeter!" barked Sergeant Murat Demir. He motioned to his team as he drew his service pistol. They fanned out swiftly.

Just then he saw a number of people rushing toward them. Thinking they were civilians, he waved them over. A round punched through his chest, sending him backward onto the pavement.

Officers Zeynep and Akkerman rushed to grab their superior and drag him back behind a parked car as officers Aytek and Burcu raised their rifles and returned fire.

"Contact, contact, this is Istanbul consulate requesting help!" Aytek shouted into his collar mic, squeezing off successive shots at the gunmen rushing toward them.

Zeynep pressed both hands against Murat's chest, trying to stop the blood pulsing out between her fingers. Akkerman knelt beside her, hands hovering, unsure where to press, what to do. Murat's eyes were open but unfocused, his breath coming in short, wet gasps that slowed, then slowed again.

"Murat...Murat, stay with me..." Zeynep's voice cracked.

Akkerman leaned in close, searching for a pulse at his neck, for any rise of his chest. Nothing. He looked up at Aytek, and something in his face already had the answer before he said it. "He's not breathing. He's gone."

Aytek's jaw tightened, but there was no time to grieve. He grabbed Akkerman by the arm and hauled him upright. "LEAVE HIM. FIRE BACK. NOW."

Akkerman stared at his hands, Murat's blood still wet on them, frozen. Aytek shoved a rifle into his arms. "FIRE YOUR WEAPON, DAMN IT."

Through the haze, Zeynep could make out two shapes advancing on their position. She raised her rifle and fired in short bursts, one man dropped and didn't move, the second staggered and pulled back behind a stone pillar, out of her line of sight.

Of the eight gunmen pressing the attack, one was already down. The four remaining officers held their position and kept firing.

Then a grenade landed a few feet from Zeynep. She threw herself sideways behind a low wall on instinct, ears ringing as it detonated. Akkerman, still catching up, wasn't fast enough, the blast threw him backward and he hit the ground hard and didn't get up. Aytek turned to check on him and saw his lifeless body.

He looked over to see Burcu pinned down, gunmen closing from two directions. Aytek laid down covering fire as Zeynep pushed herself up, head still ringing, vision swimming back into focus. She'd barely gotten to a knee when a round slammed into her back plate and dropped her flat.

"ZEYNEP!" Aytek shouted. He kept firing for a moment.

Burcu ducked in and out of cover, snapping off shots between breaths, and managed to put down a second gunman before a round cracked past her ear. She keyed her radio, screaming for backup, but the response crackled back too slow, too far. She fired again, then a round caught her square in the face, and she dropped where she stood.

Aytek roared and turned his rifle on the now-exposed gunmen who'd pushed forward to the consulate gate, cutting down two of them before he had to stop and reload, hands shaking as he thumbed a fresh magazine home.

Behind him, he heard movement, seeing Zeynep, cursing under her breath, hauling herself upright against the car. The plate had taken the bullet. She snatched her rifle back up and dropped in beside Aytek, breathing hard.

"How many left," she said.

"Three. Maybe four."

They didn't get time to count. Marines from the consulate reached the gate, weapons up, pushing into the fight alongside them, and one went down almost immediately, caught in a crossfire from the last defenders behind an overturned kiosk. The narrow slope leading up to the consulate worked in their favor, a natural chokepoint that funneled the remaining gunmen into a killing lane. Police reinforcements arrived minutes later, sealing the street from both ends.

By the time it was over, all eight gunmen lay dead. Aytek sat back against the car beside Zeynep, chest heaving, and didn't say anything at all.

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

ANKARA, TURKEY
United States Embassy
April, 2009
9:04 A.M. TRT​

​

The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Aiden Hawkins, was sitting in his office behind a solid wood desk as he went over his morning briefing regarding the current state of affairs in Turkey. Sitting on his desk was paperwork, his third cup of coffee, a half-eaten banana, and a book on the history of the late Ottoman Empire. Hawkins thumbed through the twenty-page briefing and did his best to keep his focus. He reached for his cup of coffee to sip it, but before he could he felt a rumble and watched as a small, circular pattern of waves formed in his coffee, starting from the edges and moving inward.

---

Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant Chuck Campbell had been up since exactly 4:45 in the morning. Compared to the average person, the 45-year-old had incredible discipline. Whether he got 90 minutes of sleep or six hours, he always woke up at 4:45 A.M. He ran a tight ship at the embassy - he was in charge of the nine other Marines Embassy Guards who were assigned to the American Embassy in Turkey. Campbell, his men, and the five Diplomatic Security Service special agents at the embassy were the entire American detachment of security there. After all, diplomatically, a host nation is ultimately responsible for the safety of embassies that it hosts.

Campbell formally had black hair, but not it was a mix of salt and pepper. While he didn't like the color change, he was thankful that he wasn't losing his hair. He was a strong and muscular with a square jaw. While some Marine Embassy Guards ended up hating their "tours," Campbell had loved his. Turkey was a relatively safe country, at least until recently, and on the few precious days off he had spent touring historic sites in Asia Minor and in Istanbul. He and his 14-year-old son, who lived at home with his mother in Iowa, had trouble relating to each other sometimes, but what they could bond over was a shared fascination for history. Campbell only had to be in Ankara for another year before he could return home to Iowa to return to his family.

Campbell was holding a cup of coffee in his left hand as he walked outside to one of his Marines who was standing at a guard station. Lance Corporal Ross saluted, which Campbell returned immediately, and then Campbell handed the coffee he was holding to Ross.

"Thanks, Gunny," Ross said.

"Enjoy it," Campbell replied. Both of the Marines looked out from the guard post when they heard a distant boom followed by a rumble on the ground. From their vantage point, neither one of them could see the smoke now billowing from the general vicinity of the Prime Minister's residence in Ankara.

"What was that?" Ross asked.

"No idea," Campbell said. "Call it in."

"Citadel this is 209."

"Go ahead 209.

"We just heard a boom outside, followed by a rumble."

"Copy that... We don't have any news for you."

A van pulled outside of the embassy and ten or so armed men and women got out of it. They immediately began shooting at Turkish police outside. Ross grabbed his rifle and ran out to the side of one of the guard boxes. He aimed is rifle and opened fire at any terrorists that he could within risking friendly fire on the Turkish police.

Campbell jumped inside the guard tower. He hit the GENERAL ALARM button and got on the radio. A distant, blaring alarm could be heard outside the embassy.

"Citadel 201 with priority traffic. We have ten armed individuals outside of the embassy shooting at police. Code red, initiate lockdown!"

Ross got off ten shots before he was shot twice - once in the chest and another time in the shoulder. Campbell unholstered his sidearm and ran towards Ross. He dropped down to one knee next to Ross and shoot six times in the general direction of the gunmen to put up some cover fire and hopefully buy him a few more seconds. Campbell grabbed Ross under both of his shoulders and started dragging him back the twenty or so feet to the guard tower. Campbell made it ten feet until, by sheer luck, one of the terrorists managed to shoot him in the head, killing him instantly. Ross, who was still conscious, died firing his rifle at the insurgents as they ran up towards him and the embassy - he was shot in the head as well.

---

Ambassador Hawkins was caught off guard when the embassy was put into general alarm, he also spilled his coffee. He could hear gunshots from outside of the embassy. He didn't even bother to turn around and look outside - he unlocked the bottom left drawer of his desk and pulled out his Glock 17. He inserted a magazine and racked it just as a DSS agent threw open his door. Hawkins was escorted down into the safe room of the embassy while he argued with his security detail. Meanwhile, the 8 Marine Embassy Guards who were still alive inside were in the barracks, gearing up and arming themselves as they prepared for an assault. The Marines had boy armor, automatic weapons with plenty of ammo, and flashbangs.

Once it was confirmed that the Embassy's security perimeter was compromised, an internal speaker system gave the sobering message on repeat: "Code Black, Code Black, shelter in place. Code Black, Code Black, shelter in place." The other high-ranking members of the embassy's staff were escorted into the safe room below in the basement as well while Marines and four DSS agents worked together as two fireteams to clear the embassy of any threats. They would, no doubt, come into several firefights with insurgents.

Two encrypted distress messages were sent: one to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and another to the State Department in Washington. The message to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were properly formatted, however the body of it simply said: URGENT: U.S. EMBASSY UNDER ATTACK, SECURITY PERIMETER COMPROMISED. MILITARY RESPONSE REQUESTED IMMEDIATELY.

The message to the State Department was below:

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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO TÜRKIYE​

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ENCRYPTED MESSAGE​

URGENCY: CRITICAL​

TO: U.S. Department of State Operations Center​

FROM: Ankara Embassy Operations Center

Operations Center,

Ankara Embassy under attack, security perimeter compromised. Ambassador Hawkins and VIPs are in basement panic room. Marine and DSS engaged with heavily armed insurgents. Emergency response is needed.

Ankara Operations Center.​

---

In Washington, it was approximately two in the morning when the incident took place. The State Department's Operations Center was designed for situations like this, and always had individuals on standby to receive and transmit messages. Immediately upon receipt of the message from the Ankara Embassy, protocol dictated that the Secretary of State be informed immediately. Secretary of State Justin Franks was woken up by his security detail fifteen minutes after the message was received. Meanwhile, news of the attacks in Ankara and Istanbul began seeping in to other federal departments and agencies as well, including the CIA, Diplomatic Security Service, and the Secret Service. Secretary Franks dressed hastily dressed himself while his security detail prepared to take him to the Harry S Truman Building, which was the State Department's headquarters.

Later that morning, the DSS and Secret Service closed off all of Massachusetts Avenue from Rock Creek to Sheridan Circle. A heavily armed, uniformed presence of DSS agents and Secret Service could be seen outside of the embassy as a deterrent to any potential planned plot against the embassy. Because the plot had also involved a coordinated attack on the Prime Minister's residence, the Secret Service beefed up security at the White House by temporarily closing the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue that ran in front of the White House, putting a dozen snipers on the White House roof, and tripling the security presence around White House grounds. President LaFleur, who was still asleep at the time, had his entire day's schedule reduced to being held prisoner in the White House by the Secret Service.

Once Secretary Franks arrived to his office and received a briefing from his team on what the State Department knew about what was occurring in Ankara, he ordered a heightened security stance for American embassies and consulates around the globe. Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Brock Washington had been awoken in a similar fashion. The distress message to the State Department also triggered one to the Pentagon. Washington's first order of business was to make a secure call to the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. He asked to be directly patched in to Lieutenant General Alvin Daniels in England, who was the Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. It took five minutes to connect the call, but General Daniels did answer. He confirmed the sobering information that Washington dreaded to confirm: the United States had no available special forces in Europe.

Once Secretary Washington arrived to his office at the Pentagon, he ordered that a Delta Force unit be mobilized in the event that the President would choose to order forces to head to Europe to retake the embassy, regardless of whether or not that was viable choice to make. Also, an emergency message was sent to the British Ministry of Defense in the event that they had special forces were present in Cyprus which could be used to retake the embassy if the Turks were, for some reason, unwilling to do so.

Jay Jamie​

 

[Jay]

SECRET

The gunfire at the Prime Minister's residence had lasted less than four minutes before the last of the visible attackers went down. By the time the residence's Close Protection Detail had the compound locked down, two of the gunmen were dead, but the gate officer said he had scene a third gunmen vaulting the garden wall into the residential streets behind the property as the first responding police units arrived.

That single missing gunman pulled resources like a magnet. The heavier response, the armored personnel carriers, the Gendarmerie's own tactical reserve, two additional JOH teams that had been staged nearby as a rapid reaction force, all of it redirected into an expanding cordon around the residence, sealing off side streets, going door to door through a cluster of apartment blocks a suspected witness had pointed toward. Helicopters that might otherwise have been overhead at the embassy within minutes were instead running grid patterns over rooftops half a kilometer from Kavaklıdere.

It meant that when the first calls came in about gunfire at the U.S. Embassy less than six minutes later, the units best equipped to respond fastest were already committed elsewhere, chasing a man who, in reality, did not exist.

---

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the duty officer was holding a flash alert from the Interior Ministry about the attack, reaching for the phone with his other hand, when a second message from the U.S. Embassy arrived.

The Diplomatic Protection Units raised the alarm immediately. Alert rosters were called both in Ankara and Istanbul. Every officer in the unit was now dispatched to every diplomatic mission in Ankara and Istanbul in case there were other targets. Meanwhile, the heavy response units of the Gendarmerie were rerouted from the hunt for the third gunman to the Embassy.

The first JOH vehicles, two armored Kirpi MRAPs, one Cobra MRAP, and a pair of unmarked Gendarmerie SUVs raced in the Turkish streets to make it ot the Embassy. They turned onto the street fronting the embassy less than eleven minutes after the flash alert went out, nosing past the chaos of Turkish traffic police who were already trying to push civilian vehicles back from the block.

POH units arrived not far behind, their own vehicles marked in the blue-and-white of the National Police's tactical arm. However, no other JOH unit would be making its way there for another thirty minutes as they had been helping with the hunt for a third gunmen at the Prime Minister's residence.

The units did arrive at the Embassy and joined the beleaguered security detachment that had secured the perimeter with only twelve officers. With additional officers, Officers Çağla, Anar, and İnan led the reinforcements around the facility and showed them where to set up.

An ambulance was treating the other six officers who had been injured in the gunfight. Within twenty minutes, the embassy compound was surrounded by Turkish security forces.

Command of the scene fell to JOH. As the Gendarmerie's special forces arm, they held primary responsibility for diplomatic security incidents, and their commander on-site, Captain Muhsiun, arrived in the second wave of vehicles and began organizing the perimeter into sectors, assigning POH elements to reinforced positions alongside his own men.

​

The main entrance to the consular section had been sealed for the better part of forty minutes before the first heavy Turkish response unit had arrived. After another ten or so minutes, the smaller side door, the one visa applicants used to exit after their appointments, clicked and began to swing open; every JOH operator within thirty meters pivoted toward it.

Door! Door's opening! someone shouted.

A JOH commando behind the nearest armored vehicle dropped to a knee and centered his reticle on the widening gap. Around him, the other commandos did the same, raising their rifles and hugging the armored vehicles for protection.

An elderly woman stepped out into the daylight, blinking against the sun, a headscarf slightly askew. She froze the moment she saw the wall of rifles pointed at her, and her hands shot up above her head.

"Stop! Don't move!" Muhsin, the senior officer on the scene, started screaming.

She didn't move. An unaccompanied person walking out of an active hostage site was, by every rule these men had trained under, a potential threat, willing or not.

Muhsin looked over to the team closest to him and pointed at Corporal Elif Kaya and Sergeant Onur Demir.

Corporal Elif Kaya was already moving. She slipped from her position at the corner of the MRAP and jogged low and fast toward the woman, a rifle slung low by her abdomen as behind her came Sergeant Onur Demir, hauling the ballistic shield up and angling it forward.

"Keep your hands up, stay just like that!: Kaya called out as she closed the distance.

The woman complied, trembling, tears now visible on her face. "Please... please don't shoot.," she managed to say through the weeping.

"No one's going to shoot," Kaya said, this time softly trying not to scare the old woman. Kaya, now at the edge of the Embassy gate, then motioned for the woman to come forward so that she would be on Turkish soil.

The old woman complied and walked slowly over. When she was over the line, Demir leapt a half-step behind her and swung the shield around them. Facing the shield at the consulate windows and doorway.

Kaya let her rifle go as it slung itself low. She ran her hands quickly along the woman's arms, then her sides, then patted down her chest, feeling for anything rigid or wired.

"Clear!!" Kaya screamed over her shoulder.

"Let's go, let's go, behind, behind!" Demir said, already moving, keeping the shield between the woman and the building as they half-walked, half-jogged her back toward the line of armored vehicles. Other hands reached out once they cleared the vehicles, helping the elderly woman behind the engine of an armored car parked hull-first toward the compound, out of any conceivable line of sight or fire.

The woman was shaking badly now, her composure gone the moment she was out of view of the building. Corporal Sera Buker crouched in front of her, holstering her weapon, and took the woman's hands in hers.

"Auntie, you're safe now. My name is Corporal Buker I am with the Gendarmier you are safe. Don't worry. You are safe."

Sera watched as the woman let out a deep sob. Giving her a hug Sera stroked her back softly. "It's okay. It's okay."

The woman nodded rapidly, wiping at her face with the back of one hand. "I had a visa appointment." She said. "I wanted to visit my daughter in Virginia..."I was inside, waiting to go to the guy in the window, and then gunshots... men came in...they came so quickly..."

Sera nodded. "How many did you see?"

The woman shook her head. "They told us not to look around I was so scared."

"It's okay." Sera said gently, still holding her hand." It is okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

The woman took a shuddering breath. "They gathered us into a room. They said we were hostages. They said there were more than thirty of us, maybe more. Her hands tightened around Sera's. "They sent me out. They said, they said if anyone tries to come in, they'll kill all of us. All of us."

Sera's expression didn't change, but Muhsin's, still crouched beside the shield a few feet away, went very still.

"Are you sure? More than thirty?" Sera asked carefully

"That is what they told me before they sent me out." The woman said, taking a tissue Muhsin had offered her.

"What language did they speak?" Muhsin asked as Sera looked up at her commander.

"English." The woman said, almost choking. "English."

Before Muhsin could say anything else. "And Turkish." Raising an eyebrow amongst the Turkish commandos around her.

"Turkish?" Muhsin asked, seeking to confirm it.

"Yes Turkish. They sounded like some of the boys who fix my apartment. They are from Cizre." Muhsin looked around as they all shrugged, not knowing the town.

Kaya keyed her radio as Muhsin took it from her. "Command, this is Captain Muhsin of Alpha Section. I have information from the evacuated civilian. Thirty-plus hostages confirmed, Americans among them inside. Hostage-takers are threatening to kill all of them if there's an entry attempt. Repeat, thirty-plus hostages. Requesting permission to plan hostage-rescue."

Commander Enver Inonu of the Diplomatic Protection Service responded from the command center. "Negative, Captain. Secure the perimeter. We need to ask Washington for permission before doing anything. I am sending counter-terrorism units and hostage negotiators to beef up your service."

Foreign Minister Sümeyye Boz was in a briefing when her chief of staff opened her office door without knocking.

"Minister. The American embassy. There's been an attack, gunfire, active, right now." He was already holding out a phone, the secure line already connected. "And they are saying there was a bombing at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul."

Boz took the phone immediately and got up to walk with Elif, her chief of staff.

"We don't know much," Elif admitted, opening the door for Sümeyye. Sümeyye had one ear to the phone as no one said anything for a while.

"What we do know is that the two diplomatic missions were attacked within minutes of each other. Just then, a voice on the other end spoke. Causing Sümeyye to raise her hand for Elif to stop speaking.

"Is this Foreign Minister Sümeyye Boz?" the voice on the other end asked.

Sümeyye looked at Elif, who mouthed Commander Inonu at GMKDD. "Yes, it is."

"Madame Foreign Minister, we have secured a perimeter around the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, and my men are telling me that we have an active hostage situation."

"Fuck" Sümeyye said softly, rubbing her eyes. "Are you sure, Commander?"

"Yes, ma'am. The gunmen let out a hostage who relayed that there are at least thirty hostages, including U.S. diplomatic officers and citizens."

Before Sümeyye could answer, she heard some commotion outside and motioned for Elif to check it out. "Thank you, Commander. I will speak with the State Department. Let's try not to escalate the situation on our part, and please keep me informed."

Elif slipped back in as Sümeyye handed back her phone. "What is going on out there?"

Looking back at the door Elif responded. "The personal protection unit is adding more officers to your detail, and there are some armed guards in body armor outside that door...with orders to not let you out."

"What the fuck. The attack is at the Embassy not here." Sümeyye said in frustration as she walked to the door to have a word with whoever was in charge. Just as she opened the door the head of her security detail Gur Ozkul stood in front of the door startling her.

"Subhanallah." Sümeyye exhaled. "Gur, what is going on here?"

Gur didn't say anything as he let himself into her office and closed the door behind her. "Minister we've just confirmed there was an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister and that she was attacked in her home. We're increasing your security detail and other senior officials the Interior Ministry considered plausible targets. Don't worry. Officers are picking up your children right now, and they are all safe."

Before Sümeyye could protest or say anything, Gur added. "I need you to stay in this office till the situation is resolved. We don't know the exact target or how many gunmen are at large. What I know and I can share is that this attack is coordinated and whoever is behind this is targeting as many people as they can."

Sümeyye nodded. "Okay, Gu. Okay." Sümeyye said, running her left hand through the roots of her hair and placing her right hand by her hips. She then turned back to Gur. "Is the Prime Minister okay?"

"We don't know, ma'am. The Residence was crashed. When I have more, I'll let you know." Sümeyye bit the bottom of her lips. "Thank you. Please call me when my kids are at home. I want to speak with them."

"Of course," Gur said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

Sümeyye looked at Elif. "It is going to be a long day Elif..."

Elif simply nodded as she got a buzz on her phone. She looked up at the Foreign Minister and said they should probably call the Americans.

Sümeyye nodded. "You are probably right as she walked over behind her desk."

The duty officer downstairs had sent out a flash message as a call was placed to the Secretary of State from the Turkish Foreign Minister.

YPTED AND SECURED​ OO IMMEDIATE FLASH FLASH FLASH FM TURKISH MFA ANKARA//SECURITY DIRECTORATE// TO SECSTATE WASHDC//OPERATIONS CENTER// INFO USEMB ANKARA//RSO// TURKISH GENERAL STAFF ANKARA//J3// TURKISH NATL POLICE ANKARA//DPU// TURKISH GENDARMERIE ANKARA//JOH//

CLASSIFICATION: COSMIC TOP SECRET // NOFORN EXCEPT USA PRECEDENCE: EMERGENCY SUBJ: (U) CONFIRMED SIEGE - US EMBASSY ANKARA - HOSTAGE SITUATION - REQUEST FOR ENTRY AUTHORIZATION 1. TURKISH DIPLOMATIC PROTECTION UNITS (JOH/POH) HAVE ESTABLISHED FULL PERIMETER CONTROL OF US EMBASSY COMPOUND, ANKARA, AS OF 071440Z. ARMED HOSTILE ELEMENTS OF UNKNOWN AFFILIATION REMAIN INSIDE COMPOUND. INTERIOR SITUATION NOT UNDER FRIENDLY CONTROL. 2. ONE (1) EVACUATED TURKISH NATIONAL CIVILIAN (VISA APPLICANT) DEBRIEFED BY JOH PERSONNEL. SOURCE STATES HOSTILE ELEMENTS HOLDING MINIMUM THIRTY PLUS (30+) HOSTAGES INCLUDING US PERSONNEL IN CONSULAR SECTION. SOURCE STATES HOSTAGE TAKERS HAVE THREATENED EXECUTION OF ALL HOSTAGES IN EVENT OF FORCED ENTRY. 3. CONSULATE ISTANBUL SITUATION RESOLVED. FOUR (4) US PERSONNEL CONFIRMED DECEASED. EIGHT (8) HOSTILE GUNMEN NEUTRALIZED OUTSIDE CONSULATE PERIMETER BY TURKISH SECURITY FORCES. MINOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO CONSULATE FACADE. 4. GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE FORMALLY REQUESTS AUTHORIZATION FROM GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR TURKISH SECURITY FORCES TO ENTER US DIPLOMATIC COMPOUND ANKARA TO CONDUCT HOSTAGE RESCUE / CLEARANCE OPERATIONS. AWAITING RESPONSE. TURKISH FORCES WILL MAINTAIN CURRENT PERIMETER POSTURE PENDING REPLY. 5. FOREIGN MINISTER SÜMEYYE BOZ REQUESTS DIRECT SECURE CALL WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AT EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY. STANDING BY.

Odinson