After the attack in Ankara: Türkiye carries out air strikes in northern Iraq

“Terrorists neutralized”
After the attack in Ankara: Turkey carries out air strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq

A few hours after the bombing Ankara, the Turkish military has carried out air strikes in northern Iraq. The Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday evening that “a large number of terrorists were neutralized”. The attacks targeted the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and other “terrorist elements.” The ministry invoked the right to self-defense. The PKK has its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.

PKK apparently claims responsibility for the attack in Ankara

On Sunday morning, an attacker blew himself up in front of the Turkish Interior Ministry. The Turkish government said police officers killed another attacker with a shot in the head. Two police officers were slightly injured in connection with the attack. In the evening, the PKK-affiliated news agency ANF distributed an alleged letter of responsibility from the PKK.

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. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attacks a “final spasm of terror” in his opening speech. The “villains” have not achieved their goals and will never achieve them, said Erdogan, according to the state news agency Anadolu.

On the parliamentarians’ agenda – although without a specific date – is, among other things, the vote on Sweden’s accession to NATO, which Turkey has been blocking for months. Ankara calls on Sweden to take tougher action against the PKK. Erdogan also recently hinted at making approval by the Turkish parliament dependent on combat drone deliveries from the USA.

The culmination of a year-long 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.

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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 Turkey and the PKK failed.

Numerous politicians condemned the attack. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Platform X that NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. “Our solidarity goes out to our Turkish partners,” the SPD politician wrote on X in German and Turkish on Sunday evening.

lz
DPA