The incident came at a special time: there were rumors in Turkey about the release of the PKK leader. Observers believed there was a peace process. Then the attack followed.
The banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed five people in Turkey this week. This is reported by the PKK-affiliated news agency ANF, citing the HPG, the organization’s military arm. The attack was carried out by an autonomous team from the “Immortality Battalion”.
The attack followed shortly after a statement by the ultranationalists of the MHP party. She had discussed the release of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. In the HPG’s communication, a connection was explicitly denied.
The attack on Wednesday was directed against one of Turkey’s most important arms companies. Four of the dead were company employees. In addition, 22 people were injured in the attack on the outskirts of the capital Ankara.
Two suspected attackers were killed, a man and a woman, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The PKK spoke of two dead “heroes”. According to experts, the Turkish government is using the company’s drones in the fight against the PKK.
Turkish government attacks PKK and YPG headquarters
The Turkish government responded a few hours after the attack with air strikes on targets in northern Iraq and Syria. The PKK has its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. In northern Syria, Ankara regularly takes action against the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which it sees as an offshoot of the PKK. Kurdish militias in Syria wrote of civilians being killed, the Turkish government spoke of dead “terrorists”.
The PKK has repeatedly carried out serious attacks in Turkey in the past, including in Ankara. It has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s and is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the USA.
Is a peace process between the government and the PKK imminent?
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.
The HPG statement said that the attack had been planned for a long time and had nothing to do with the current political discussion.
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.
