- 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.
- The banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) is believed to be behind the attack. She admits responsibility for the attack.
According to media reports, the explosion 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. In his opening speech, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attacks a “final throes of terror.” The “villains” have not achieved their goals and will never achieve them, said Erdogan.
Suspected images of the attack show a car stopping on the street in front of an entrance to the Interior Ministry, and a person moving towards 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.
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.
Decades-long, bloody 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. 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.
Legend:
A bomb disposal officer works at the crime scene in Ankara.
REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan
In 2016, twelve Germans were killed in a suicide attack by the Islamic State terrorist militia in the historic center of Istanbul. In the same year, more than 60 people died in attacks in Ankara.