Turkey Hits PKK Sites In Iraq And Syria After Deadly Attack

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ANKARA/KAZAN/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Turkey’s military struck dozens of targets of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and northern Syria late Wednesday following a deadly attack on an aviation site in Ankara, Defense officials said.

The strikes came after Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that “likely PKK members” hit Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) in the Turkish capital, leaving five dead and 22 injured.

Assailants set off explosives and opened fire against the Turkish state-run aerospace and defense company, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed in separate remarks.

“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Russia’s city of Kazan.

Turkish Interior Minister Yerlikaya told media that two assailants had been killed and offered condolences to the relatives of the attack victims.

“Two terrorists were neutralized in the terror attack on the TUSAS Ankara Kahramankazan site,” Yerlikaya said, using the Turkish name for the company. “Sadly, we have five martyrs and 22 wounded. Three of the injured were already discharged from the hospital, 19 of them under treatment,” he explained.

The assailants were carrying assault weapons, then detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter the complex, Turkish sources said.

SEVERAL GUNSHOTS

Several gunshots were reportedly heard after Turkish security forces entered the site while helicopters hovered above the complex.

“We were told it was an act of terrorism and that we should not leave our positions,” a TUSAS employee told media on condition of anonymity, adding that security forces and the perpetrators of the attack exchanged fire.

European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the attacks. “Today, the headquarters of a Turkish aviation company in Ankara was attacked by terrorists, resulting in deaths and injuries. We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms,” he said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The EU expresses solidarity with Türkiye in this difficult time,” Borrell said, referring to the other spelling of Turkey recognized by the United Nations.

Kurdish politicians also denounced the violence. Russian President Putin, too, expressed his condolences.

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey said it “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack.” Iraq’s Embassy in Ankara also rejected terrorism and expressed solidarity with Turkey.

Soon after the bloodshed, at least some 32 PKK targets were destroyed in retaliation in Iraq and Syria, and air operations are ongoing, Turkish officials and media said.

ARMED FORCES

The defense ministry said Turkey’s armed forces would “continue the fight against terrorism with determination and resolve until not a single terrorist remains.”

It claimed that “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent civilian harm, but it was not immediately clear whether casualties had occurred.

The latest strikes by Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, added to mounting tensions in the Middle East, which already faces the prospect of a broader regional armed conflict over Israel.

The PKK is viewed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and most of its allies, including the United States, European Union, and Britain.

Terrorism experts say the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state but later changed its goals to seeking autonomy and more political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.

The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, resulting in the killing of tens of thousands of people since the 1980s.

It likely targeted TUSAS as it designs, manufactures, and assembles unmanned aerial vehicles that have been instrumental in Turkey’s fight against Kurdish militants, observers said.

RELEASE UNCERTAIN

Wednesday’s attack came a day after Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli, allied with Erdogan, raised the possibility that the PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan could be granted parole if he renounces violence and dissolves his group.

However, the latest violence made his release less likely.

Ocalan was captured in February 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya, and extradited to Turkey, where he was sentenced to death after a brief trial.

Following his conviction, Ocalan successfully appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that he did not have a fair trial and demanded a retrial.

The Court of Cassation confirmed the death sentence in November 1999, and Turkey denied Ocalan a retrial.

Yet amid Western pressure, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in October 2002.

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