According to the Ministry of the Interior, one suicide bomber blew himself up and another was shot. President Erdogan described the attack as the “final spasms of terror”.
The two attackers were killed in a bomb attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he later spoke in Parliament of “final spasms of terror”.
The Ministry of the Interior denounced two “terrorists”, one of whom blew himself up in front of the ministry’s entrance. The second person involved was “neutralized”. Two police officers were slightly injured in an exchange of gunfire.
“Reaction to actions in Kurdish areas”
Early in the evening it was discovered that the forbidden Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK may have been the mastermind of the attack. The move was a reaction to Turkey’s actions in the Kurdish areas, the PKK-affiliated ANF news agency cited a report from the HPG, the PKK’s military wing, on Sunday.
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 against Turkish security forces. But civilians also die.
Turkey accuses the PKK of endangering national security and unity through terror. The PKK argues that it fights, among other things, for “Kurdish rights” and against oppression. In 2015, a peace process between Türkiye and the PKK failed.
© Image: APA/AFP/ADEM ALTAN
“Terrorism issue” resolved
The “villains” have not achieved their goals and will never achieve them, Turkish head of state Erdogan said on Sunday in Ankara, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Erdogan emphasized that the “terrorism issue” had largely been resolved in Turkey, but it was still important to protect the border regions in the south. There the country borders Syria and Iraq.
Message blocking
Turkish media reported on the exact course of the attack on Sunday that the two attackers drove a Renault Kangoo to the Interior Ministry at around 9:30 am local time (8:30 am CEST). Armed with rifles, they tried to get past the guards and enter the ministry, but were unable to do so. One of the two then blew himself up. The other was killed with a shot to the head, the Interior Minister said Ali Yerlikaya.
He asked people to delete images of the incident on social media. Investigations have already been launched against users. The Public Ministry imposed a news block, the Ministry of Justice announced.
Delicate vows
The attack occurred on a symbolically important day: Parliament is announcing the new legislature after the summer holidays. The attack reportedly took place near the parliament building.
On the 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 measures against the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to state broadcaster TRT, Turkish military operations in Iraq and Syria will also be voted on promptly. Turkey regularly takes action against the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the PKK in northern Iraq and northern Syria. Ankara views both as terrorist organizations.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on the short messaging service X (formerly Twitter) that the alliance stands in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism. He wishes the injured officers a speedy and full recovery.
Nehammer condemns attack
Chancellor Carlos Nehammer (ÖVP) condemned Sunday’s attack “in the strongest terms”: “We support Turkey in these difficult times. I wish those injured a speedy recovery,” said the Chancellor on X.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry also condemned the “heinous attack” in central Ankara on Sunday and wished those injured a speedy recovery. “We reject all forms of terrorism and stand in solidarity with Turkey,” the ministry said in a statement distributed via X.
In fact, the explosion occurred almost a year after an attack in a busy pedestrian zone in the center of Istanbul, on November 13, 2022, in which six people died and 81 were injured.
Ankara has been spared attacks in recent years. The last attack occurred in 2015, when more than 100 people died in bomb blasts at the main railway station. The terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) would have been responsible for this.
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