A suicide attack occurred on Sunday in the heart of the Turkish capital Ankara, just hours before the opening of the new parliamentary session that was supposed to confirm Sweden’s accession to NATO.
According to Turkish media, Head of State Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to give a speech during this session.
The Interior Ministry said that two police officers were slightly injured in the attack carried out by “two terrorists,” one of whom “blew himself up” and the other was “neutralized.”
The attack has not been claimed at this time. The huge explosion could be heard several kilometers away, the AFP correspondent reported.
AFP
“Two terrorists appeared in a commercial vehicle at the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of our Interior Ministry at around 9:30 a.m. local time (2:30 a.m. Eastern Time) and carried out a bomb attack,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
“One of the terrorists blew himself up and the other was neutralized. Two of our police officers were slightly injured by the flames of the explosion, Mr. Yerlikaya said on X (formerly Twitter).
The Ankara Prosecutor General’s Office announced the opening of an investigation and imposed a ban on access to the attack area.
AFP
The private television station NTV reported shootings after the explosion in the completely cordoned off district, where numerous police vehicles and ambulances were deployed.
The target district is home to numerous ministries as well as Parliament, whose opening session is scheduled for Sunday from 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Eastern Time).
This parliamentary year, Parliament must confirm Sweden’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance.
AFP
Since May 2022, Turkey has kept the Scandinavian country waiting by pleading for its mercy towards “terrorists” and Kurdish movements.
President Erdogan takes an ambiguous position, arguing that parliament is sovereign and that only it can decide whether or not to override this veto.
Ankara was the scene of numerous and violent attacks by Kurdish separatists from the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Islamic State group in 2015-2016.
AFP
The most recent bomb explosion in March 2016 in the central district of Kilizay killed 38 people and injured 125. The attack was attributed to TAK, a small radical group close to the PKK.
In October 2015, 109 people were killed in an attack attributed to IS outside Ankara’s main train station.
The last recorded attack on Turkish territory on November 13, 2022 in a shopping street in Istanbul (six dead, 81 injured) was not claimed but was attributed to the PKK by the authorities.