Ankara attack, latest chapter of the 'war' between Erdogan and the Kurds
Turkish security forces arrested 90 people in 18 provinces suspected of links with the PKK, responsible for last Sunday’s attack in Ankara. For the Kurdish group, it was a way to show the flag, but Turkey’s harsh response risks generating an escalation that will involve Syria and Iraq. In the first half of 2023, Turkey carried out more than 665 air strikes against Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq.
Milan (AsiaNews) – Turkish security forces have arrested at least 90 people in 18 provinces, suspected of links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which carried out an attack in Ankara on Sunday that left two attackers dead and two police officers wounded. The PKK is fighting for an independent state that includes Kurdish areas in Turkey, Syria and Iraq
According to official state media, the operations were concentrated in the south-eastern province of Sanliurfa, a PKK stronghold. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT)[*] announces the death of a PKK commander, Muzdelif Taskin (codenamed "Aslam Samura", considered the mastermind of the 2007 Daglica bombing in which 12 Turkish soldiers died), in an operation in Qamishli in northern Syria.
Government sources confirm that air strikes were carried out in the past few hours against PKK targets in northern Iraq, and that security forces have arrested scores of people across the country in response to the attack.
A PKK sleeper cell of suicide bombers called the Immortals Battalion is said to be ready to strike on command with government buildings in the capital as their target.
Before they carried out their operation, Sunday’s attackers – codenamed Rojhat Zilan and Erdal Şahin – killed a 24-yer-old man and stole his car, which they used in the terror attack.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said that security forces "neutralised", i.e. killed, several militants.
Turkish planes carried out several operations against Kurdish bases in Iraqi Kurdistan destroying least 20 caves, shelters and depots used by the PKK in Metina, Hakurk, Qandil and Gara.
Ankara claimed to have conducted the stirks as self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
The attempted suicide bombing took place on İsmet İnönü Avenue, one of the capital’s main streets, near the Parliament and ministries, especially the Interior Ministry, which was the apparent target.
Few doubt that the PKK was behind the attack. Founded by Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.
He is serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison, following the 2002 moratorium on capital punishment that commuted his death sentence to life.
A long trail of blood
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project estimates that at least 40,000 people, both Kurds and Turks, have died since the PKK launched its struggle for a separate state in the late 1970s.
During its 40-year war against Turkey, with brief truces and ceasefires, the movement has been accused of terrorism for its methods of struggle (bombings and suicide attacks against civilian - and military targets).
As Turkey intensified its crackdown, especially under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, so has the PKK escalated. On several occasions, the Turkish leader pledged to wipe out and erase the PKK.
Conversely, the PKK is suspected of using criminal networks, particularly drug trafficking, to finance its activities.
In the first half of 2023 alone, more than 665 Turkish air and drone strikes were reported in Iraq and Syria against PKK targets, evidence of Erdogan's aggressive policy even outside Turkey’s borders, with scores of civilian dead and wounded.
This comes after three years of relative calm, both in and outside the capital, until this weekend.
Since 2015, Turkey’s military has killed at least 129 civilians and injured 180 in Iraqi Kurdistan alone, the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) reported. This is a harsh response to a long list of Kurdish attacks.
The violence reached a crescendo in 2015-2017, when at least 11 attacks were reported by the PKK as well as the Islamic State (IS) group. In July 2015 at least 30 people died and over 100 wounded, mostly young people and students, in Suruc, a town in southeastern Turkey on the border with Syria.
Two months later, 15 policemen were killed in two bombings in the eastern provinces of Mardin and Igdir. In October, two blasts tore through downtown Ankara killing 95 people and wounding almost 200 in an operation blamed on the Islamic State, at its height in Turkey.
In February 2016 a car bomb near a military base in the capital killed 28 and wounded 60 more, followed by more in March, May, June and August (51 dead in an IS suicide attack at a wedding in Gaziantep).
The last attack was in November 2022, when six people died and dozens more were wounded by a bomb in a crowded street in Istanbul, the country’s economic and financial hub.
On X (ex-Twitter), Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who reported 466 operations against terrorists involving 13,440 security personnel, stressed that terrorism would not be tolerated and that the fight would continue thanks to the commendable efforts of the security forces.
Such words exclude any dialogue. For its part, the PKK’s military wing, the People’s Defence Centre (HSM), said that it timed the attack last weekend to avoid casualties.
For the Kurdish movement, the attack was meant to show the flag, and restart its struggle against what it considers Turkey’s disregard for human rights and its genocidal and fascist" crimes.
This is the start of a new chapter in a war bound to escalate, with President Erdogan rejoicing for the "neutralised" militants, fuelling more bloodshed and terror.
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[*] Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı,
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12/02/2022 17:33
