Attack in Ankara: Kurdish party PKK as mastermind?

A bomb attack rocked the Turkish capital Ankara on Sunday morning. Both attackers involved were killed and two police officers were slightly injured, said Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. He condemned the attack as “terrorism.” In view of an alleged letter of responsibility, the banned Kurdish workers’ party PKK is probably behind the attack. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a “final throes of terror.”

Explosion in front of Parliament

According to media reports, the explosion also occurred not far from an entrance to the Turkish parliament. One of the two attackers blew himself up, according to the Interior Ministry. Police officers killed the second person involved with a shot in the head. The attackers failed in their attempt to gain access to the ministry.

The action went exactly according to plan and was a reaction to Turkey’s actions in Kurdish areas, the PKK-affiliated news agency ANF quoted from an alleged letter of responsibility from the HPG, the PKK’s military wing.

“Last twitch of terror”

The attack coincided with the opening of the new legislative period of the Turkish parliament and occurred in close proximity to the parliament. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attacks a “final spasm of terror” in his opening speech. The “villains” have not achieved their goals and will never achieve them, said Erdogan, according to the state news agency Anadolu.

Suspected images of the attack showed a car stopping on the street in front of an entrance to the Interior Ministry, with a person moving toward the entrance. A little later there is an explosion at an entrance barrier. Media reported that the attackers stole the vehicle in Kayseri, central Turkey, and killed its driver.

News blackout imposed

The Attorney General’s Office in Ankara imposed a news blackout shortly after the attack. The Ministry of the Interior called for images from the site to be deleted from the internet. It opened an investigation into violations, Minister Yerlikaya announced.

On the parliamentarians’ agenda – although without a specific date – is, among other things, the vote on Sweden’s accession to NATO, which Turkey has been blocking for months. Ankara is calling on Sweden to take tougher action against the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Erdogan also recently hinted at making approval by the Turkish parliament dependent on combat drone deliveries from the USA.

According to the state broadcaster TRT, the extension of the Turkish military’s missions in Iraq and Syria will also be voted on in parliament soon. Turkey regularly takes action against the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the PKK in northern Iraq and northern Syria. Ankara sees both as terrorist organizations. Erdogan also said on Sunday that his threat to suddenly attack one night was still valid. The President had repeatedly said this in the past with reference to Syria and Iraq.

Decades of conflict

Thousands of people have been killed in the decades-long conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state. Ankara regularly carries out military operations against the PKK in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. This in turn repeatedly carries out attacks, especially on Turkish security forces. But civilians also die. Turkey accuses the PKK of endangering national security and unity through terror. The PKK argues that it is fighting, among other things, for the “rights of the Kurds” and against oppression. In 2015, a peace process between Türkiye and the PKK failed.

There have been repeated attacks in Turkey in the past. In November 2022, a bomb exploded on Istanbul’s Istiklal shopping street. Six people were killed. According to the Turkish government, the attacker had connections to the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which the Turkish government sees as an offshoot of the PKK. The YPG denied being behind the attack.

Get well wishes from Nehammer

Numerous politicians condemned the attack. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Platform X that NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism. He wishes the injured police officers a speedy and full recovery.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) condemned the attack on Sunday “in the strongest terms”: “We stand by Turkey in these difficult hours. I wish the injured a speedy recovery,” said the Chancellor on Twitter (X).

The Austrian Foreign Ministry also condemned the “heinous attack” and wished the injured a speedy recovery. “We reject all forms of terrorism and stand in solidarity with Turkey,” the ministry said in a statement distributed via Twitter (X).

The explosion came almost a year after an attack in a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul on November 13, 2022, in which six people were killed and 81 injured. Turkey blamed Kurdish activists for this. Ankara has been spared attacks in recent years. The last attack occurred in 2015, when more than 100 people were killed in bomb explosions at the main train station. The terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) is said to have been responsible for this.

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