With a bomb attack on Sunday morning in the political heart of Turkey, just before the reopening of parliament after the summer recess, the Kurdish Workers’ Movement (PKK) signaled to the Turks that it is not giving up its fight, even though the terrorist movement has largely been expelled from Turkey itself. .
It was the first time since 2016 that the PKK, which is banned in Turkey and is also listed as a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union, committed another attack in the capital Ankara. Both perpetrators died: one by blowing himself up, the other was shot dead by the Turkish police. The material damage was minor. Two police officers were slightly injured.
Although there was initial confusion about the perpetrators, the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack during the day through ANF, a small news agency affiliated with them. She wanted to give the politicians “a warning”, said in a statement, that they had to stop their “crimes” against the Kurds. They were referring to the often violent repression of the Kurds by the Turkish army and the Turkish authorities.
President Erdogan, who was re-elected this spring, strongly condemned the attack in a speech in parliament a few hours later. “Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their goals and never will,” the president predicted. “We will continue the fight with determination until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
Bombings in retaliation
As has often been the case in the past, Turkey immediately hit back hard with aerial bombardments of PKK positions in northern Iraq. According to a Turkish spokesperson, twenty targets and many fighters were “neutralized”, usually a euphemism for ‘killed’. How much exactly was not immediately clear.
Turkey regularly carries out military actions against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, but sometimes also in Syria. Turkish police also arrested about twenty Kurdish political activists in Istanbul and several other cities.
Analysts loved it been taken into account for some time that the PKK would commit new attacks. In this way she would like to convince the Kurdish population and the Turks to continue their struggle. The PKK has been fighting for self-determination for the Kurds since 1984. A total of at least forty thousand people have been killed in that battle.
The oppression of the Turkish Kurds has been in recent years increased further under Erdogan. Many Kurdish politicians, especially from the pro-Kurdish HDP party, are in prison. Since 2019, the Erdogan government has suspended 48 of the 65 elected HDP mayors. Many Kurdish journalists have also been detained, whether or not because they are said to have “terrorist” sympathies. The Kurdish language is still not allowed to be taught in public schools. Turkish governors rarely authorize protest demonstrations or public gatherings.
The PKK itself has been operating for years from the Qandil Mountains, an inhospitable area in northern Iraq. There they are not only exposed to Turkish air attacks, but they sometimes also have to fight off Turkish ground troops. The local Iraqi Kurdish rulers turn a blind eye to such Turkish actions. The PKK also maintains close ties with the YPG, which controls large areas in northeastern Syria and is considered the Syrian branch of the PKK.
Also read: ‘Turkey can win the battle against the PKK, not the war’