Turkey bombed PKK targets in Iraqi Kurdistan at dawn on Monday, hours after a suicide attack by that organization that left two injured in the center of the capital Ankara. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group considered terrorist by Turkey, the EU and the United States, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday, hours before the opening of the new parliamentary session that will approve Sweden’s accession to NATO should confirm.
During the operation “to neutralize the PKK,” “20 targets used by terrorists” were destroyed, the Defense Ministry said. “Turkish army planes bombed parts (…) of the Bradost region as well as the village of Badran,” Ihsan Chelabi, mayor of Sidakan in Iraqi Kurdistan, near the border with Turkey and Iran, told AFP. Additionally, the Interior Ministry confirmed that police arrested 20 people in raids against PKK-linked suspects in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey.
The attack on Sunday morning, claimed by the Kurds, targeted police headquarters at the Interior Ministry, in an area where parliament and other government buildings are located. The explosion injured two police officers and their lives are not in danger. Video captured by a surveillance camera shows a gray vehicle slowly parking in front of the building. One of the attackers gets out of the car and approaches with a gun in his hand before detonating the bomb in front of the entrance and dying instantly. The second man leaves the vehicle but disappears from the images, enveloped in the swirling smoke and dust. He is later shot dead by the police.
Security forces intervene in the region after two terrorists attacked near the Turkish Interior Ministry in Ankara on October 1, 2023 and one of them blew himself up. Evrim Aydin (Anadolu Agency/Getty)
The parliamentary session continued as normal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his speech to “attack the madmen who threaten the peace and security of citizens.” “They will never achieve their goals,” he said. The focus of the debate was Sweden’s accession to NATO, which has been blocked for months, precisely because of the differences between Stockholm and Ankara over the Kurdish movements. Since May 2022, Turkey has been delaying the Scandinavian country’s entry into the military alliance and accusing Stockholm of being leniency towards the “terrorists” and the PKK movements. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson assured that his country “once again reaffirms its commitment to long-term cooperation with Turkey in the fight against terrorism.”
Warning to the EU
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
Subscribe to
In his parliamentary speech, Erdogan was particularly harsh against the European Union, which he accused of “keeping him waiting at its doorstep for 40 years.” “We kept all the promises we made to the EU, but it has kept almost none of its promises,” he accused. And he added: “I will not tolerate any new demands or conditions for Turkey’s accession process.”
The president’s anger comes after the European Court of Human Rights criticized Turkey for convicting a man of membership in an armed terrorist organization based on simple use of the encrypted messaging application ByLock. The Turkish government views the system as the communication tool most commonly used by those suspected of being responsible for the 2016 coup attempt, which left 250 people dead and led to at least 10,000 arrests and numerous purges.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.