Turkey blames Kurdish rebels PKK for Ankara terror attack: Who are they?

Turkey targeted over 30 sites of the PKK militant group in Iraq and Syria after suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire at state-run defence company TUSAS in Ankara

Turkey targeted Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, hours after five persons were killed in an attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries’ headquarters on Wednesday. At least 14 people were injured in what Turkey described as a terror attack on the state-run defence company TUSAS at the site near Ankara.

 

In retaliation, Turkey launched airstrikes on over 30 sites of the militant group in an aerial defensive. A loud explosion and gunfire were reported during the attack on the defence firm, after suspected Kurdish militants detonated explosives and opened fire, the Turkish interior minister said. Four victims were employees of the firm while one was a taxi driver, the BBC reported.

 

 

Two attackers and a civilian woman were also killed in the incident, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The minister said that they believed that militants of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was suspected of being behind the attack but they are in the process of confirming the assailants’ identity. Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at the PKK.

What is Kurdistan Workers’ Party?

PKK is a Kurdish rebel group listed as a ‘terrorist’ organisation by the United Kingdom, the United States and European Union. The leader of the rebel group, Abdullah Ocalan, has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999. 

 

Ocalan’s PKK launched an armed conflict with Turkey 40 years ago. Tens of thousands of people have died since the start of the conflict in 1984. PKK has bases in northern Iraq and its affiliate Kurdish militia group, People’s Defence Units, or YPG, is based in Syria.

 

Established in 1978, the outfit seeks the creation of an independent Kurdish state in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Turkey. The Kurdish community, mainly Sunni Muslims, are based on the borders of five nations: Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

 

The history of Kurdish nationalism dates back to the 1890s, coinciding with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Kurds were promised independence in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which redefined the territorial boundaries of Turkey after World War 1.

 

However, Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk tore up that accord three years later. Subsequently, the Kurds were divided among the Middle East countries through the Treaty of Lausanne, ratified in 1924. Kurds make up about 20 per cent of Turkey’s population.