Izmir school expected to reopen;
relocation possibilities discussed
By Terry Boyd, Turkey
bureau
IZMIR, Turkey — After Sept. 11, even Americans in traditionally tranquil Izmir are
feeling under siege. Air Force officials — and officials with the Department of
Defense Dependents Schools — are scrambling to find a more secure location for Izmir
American School.
That’s the first step, those officials promised, to finally establishing a base
and consolidating a cluster of buildings spread out across the city’s crowded
commercial center.
"No one in this room got us into this problem," said Lt. Col. Dwight Harris,
speaking at a town hall Wednesday night.
"But we’ve got to get us out. We have to work as one family, one team,"
said Harris, 425th Air Base Squadron deputy commander.
Officials of the Air Force support squadron called town hall meetings for Wednesday and
Thursday nights to announce that school will resume after a three-day suspension, and to
discuss a number of options for relocating it.
But there seems to be little consensus about what the threat level is, the appropriate
response or what the next step should be.
During the Wednesday night meeting, Maj. Brian Holmgren, acting 425th school’s
officer, laid out plans to relocate the DODDS school to one of four locations, which Stars
and Stripes will not identify for security reasons.
Holmgren added that legal and funding details mean that any moves will take time:
"We can’t guarantee a brand-new Izmir Air Station in the next two years."
However, officials at Joint Command South East, the NATO subregional command
headquartered about five miles from the Izmir school, say JCSE officials have proposed
relocating the school immediately to a vacant building on the secure Vecihi Akin
Garrision.
A JCSE official said that Lt. Gen. Oktar Ataman, JCSE commander, would approve the
proposal.
DODDS top district official said that option would be a temporary one.
"We looked at that, but that is a very temporary situation, a few months at
most," said Thomas Ellinger, superintendent of DODDS’ Mediterranean School
District, which includes Turkey.
"We really don’t want to make two moves," Ellinger said from his office
in Italy. He emphasized that DODDS has funds to relocate the school.
"Money is not going to be a stopper," Ellinger said. "The safety and
security of the kids is the No. 1 priority."
Force protection officers recommended that the school relocate, he said, and the
district will act on that recommendation quickly.
He rated as a strong option getting prefabricated buildings from the Izmir subsidiary
of an American firm, then putting them on leased land. DODDS is sending two officials
— Fred Murphy and Greg Page — to Izmir to work on the plan, Ellinger said.
An advance team of three colonels from United States Air Forces in Europe — the
deputy commanders of civil engineering and force protection, and the director of personnel
— are due in Izmir Monday.
Their recommendations will go to Gen. Gregory Martin, USAFE commander.
"All the major players are moving toward a resolution," Ellinger said.
"The whole team is in constant contact."
Many parents are unconvinced.
During the town hall meeting, several parents said that they wouldn’t be sending
their children back to Izmir American School right away.
"I have no intention of putting my child on that bus tomorrow," said Peggy
Clark, adding that her 5-year-old won’t return to school until she has more
information. That was the common sentiment among the crowd of about 250 people —
about a quarter of Izmir’s 1,000 total U.S. military population.
While she doesn’t expect to get "the briefing the general gets," Army
Sgt. Amber Couch said that the information that she and other parents received has been
sketchy and contradictory.
"How do you make an informed decision without information?" Couch said.
One parent asked why the school was open when Izmir went to Threat Condition Charlie
after the October 2000 USS Cole bombing, but closed now.
Capt. James Zirkel, security forces flight commander, said before Sept. 11,
transnational terrorists had never targeted anything but military sites or embassies.
Just why classes were suspended remains unclear. In his opening remarks, Harris
referred only to "information that caught our attention."
Pressed by the audience, Harris said that there have been no direct threats against
Izmir, a point confirmed by other U.S. officials in Ankara and Washington, D.C. Those
officials, who asked not to be identified, said that media reports last week of thwarted
attacks on American buildings in Turkey were baseless.
Harris acknowledged his audience’s frustration.
"We’re telling you as much as we can tell you," he said. "I know
that it seems like we’re jerking you around when we tighten things up,"
elevating threat conditions, closing facilities, then reopening them again. But Holmgren
said that after Sept. 11, life will never again simple. Command must act on whatever
information it has, perhaps elevating security postures, then relaxing them if
there’s no new information.
"But there will never be," he said, "a time when you can say it’s
all safe again."
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