A Turkish arms manufacturer is attacked in Ankara. The government announced in the evening that it suspected the PKK was behind it and launched air strikes shortly afterwards.
After the attack in Ankara that killed at least five people, Turkey attacked targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq from the air. The Turkish Defense Ministry said “32 terrorist targets were destroyed,” according to the state news agency Anadolu. “Our air strikes will continue in a determined manner,” it said. A few hours earlier, the Turkish government had linked the attack to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey regularly takes action against the PKK, which has its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, as well as against the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG in northern Syria, which it sees as an offshoot of the PKK.
At least 5 people were killed and 22 injured in Wednesday’s attack on one of Turkey’s most important arms companies. The two suspected attackers were also killed, said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. The attack bore the hallmarks of the PKK, said the minister. A little later, Anadolu reported on the air strikes in neighboring countries. The Turkish broadcasting authority Rtük had imposed a news blackout in connection with the issue.
Erdogan: Attack on the driving force of the Turkish defense industry
The target of the attack, the Turkish Aerospace Industry (Tusas), is a subsidiary of the state Defense Industry Agency and four of the five victims were employed by it. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a “cowardly attack” on a key figure in the Turkish defense industry. The company is, among other things, a major producer of combat aircraft and drones. According to analyst Murat Yetkin, Tusas drones are used by Turkey in the fight against both the PKK and the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.
Attacks by several groups in the past
The current attack occurred shortly after the ultranationalists of the MHP party surprisingly discussed the possible release of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. The MHP is Erdogan’s government partner. However, their boss Devlet Bahceli had linked this to the disarmament of the terrorist organization. Observers see this as a sign that there could possibly be a new peace process between the government and the PKK. The last attempt failed in 2015.
In Turkey, both IS, the left-wing extremist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front DHKP-C and the PKK have carried out serious attacks in the past, including in Ankara. The PKK has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s. It is classified as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the European Union and the USA.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
