A Kurdish armed group said it was responsible for an attack on the headquarters of a state-owned defense manufacturer near the Turkish capital Ankara that left five people dead.
The PKK said it targeted Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) on Wednesday because the company produced weapons that killed “thousands” of Kurds, including women and children.
The group said in a statement that the attack, which injured 22 people, was “planned a long time ago”, apparently denying that it was an attempt to thwart rumored reconciliation efforts between the PKK and the Turkish government. statement.
TAI is a major supplier to the Turkish military, providing it with F-16 fighter jets.
The Turkish government had previously suggested that the PKK was involved in the attack and identified the attackers as PKK members Ali Orek and Mine Sevjin Alcicek ).
Subsequently launched Dozens of air strikes on PKK strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Türkiye said it killed 59 “terrorists” in the airstrike, but the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said 12 civilians were among the dead, including children.
The Defense Ministry said Turkish troops have since killed more PKK militants.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom, has been fighting the Turkish government since the 1980s to gain more rights for the country’s important Kurdish minority.
The People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, described Orek and Alsicek as “autonomous groups” belonging to the “Immortal Battalion”. It describes them as “heroes.”
HPG said TAI was a “military target” that it had a “legal right” to attack because it was a “production site for weapons of massacre.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack “heinous.”
“No terrorist group, no evil focus on our security can achieve their goals,” he said.
TAI is a major player in the Turkish aerospace industry, designing, developing and manufacturing a wide range of commercial and military aircraft.
The company is not only an authorized manufacturer of U.S.-designed F-16 fighter jets for NATO members, but also plays an important role in modernizing older aircraft for the Turkish military.
HPG stated that it “takes infrequent actions as a principle” but occasionally carries out “self-sacrificial” acts to send “warnings and messages” to the Turkish government.
Turkey’s state-run news agency named the victims as TAI employees Cengiz Coskun, Zahide Guclu, Atakan Sahin Erdogan, Huseyin Canbaz and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
Interior Minister Ali Yelikaya said the two attackers had been “subdued”.
HPG also said Wednesday’s attack “had nothing to do with the political agenda discussed in Türkiye last month”.
Prior to this, there was speculation about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement between the PKK and the Turkish government, and some seemingly conciliatory actions have only intensified this speculation.
A key Erdogan ally said on Tuesday that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan could be freed from his life sentence in a Turkish prison if he publicly disbands the group – which some believe could It is the starting point of reconciliation.
According to Reuters, the next day, Ocalan’s nephew was allowed to visit, the first family visit in 43 months.
