A civilian died and five people were injured, including three police officers, in an attempted attack on the Istanbul courthouse on Tuesday February 6, announced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The interior ministry previously reported the deaths of two attackers in an attack “terrorist” of the radical Marxist-Leninist organization Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). The attack targeted the police station at the entrance to the courthouse. The injured were hospitalized.
“I commend our security forces who eliminated this treacherous attack through timely intervention. Two terrorists, a woman and a man, were neutralized »declared the Head of State during a ceremony commemorating the earthquake of February 6, 2023 in Kahramanmaras (South-East), near the epicenter. “Turkey will continue to fight with determination against all terrorist organizations and their supporters, without any discrimination”he promised.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, the two attackers were “identified as members of the DHKP-C terrorist group”. Qualified as “terrorist” by Ankara and its Western allies, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front has claimed responsibility for several attacks in the past in Turkey. The minister did not specify what weapons were used in the attack but a witness, met on the scene by Agence France-Presse, assured that he had witnessed an exchange of fire.
“I saw two people, a man and a woman, shooting at the police. The man was shot first. Then the woman fired a few more shots.”said a 25-year-old witness, referring to the ” panic “ which took hold of those present. “I heard twenty to twenty-five gunshots. There was great panic and fear at that time. We didn’t know which way to go.”, he added. The Minister of Justice, Yilmaz Tunç, announced the opening of an investigation into terrorism. All entry and exit to the Caglayan Courthouse has been temporarily suspended.
DHKP-C attacks in 2013 and 2015
The DHKP-C, a far-left armed group founded almost fifty years ago, does not generally attack the Turkish armed forces, but rather targets the interests “imperialists” Americans and NATO.
It appears in particular on the official list of terrorist organizations of the European Union and the United States, which offered 3 million dollars in 2014 for the capture of its leaders. A suicide bomber blew himself up in 2013 in front of the United States embassy in Ankara, killing a Turkish guard. The group also carried out an attack on the Istanbul courthouse in 2015, killing the then prosecutor, Mehmet Selim Kiraz.
Several attacks attributed to or claimed by different armed groups have recently targeted Istanbul and Ankara. A man was killed at the end of January in Istanbul during mass in an Italian Catholic church during an attack claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State. And two police officers were injured in October during an attack claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) against the headquarters of the Turkish Interior Ministry in Ankara.