After years of calm, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organization, resumed targeting areas in Turkish territory with suicide bombers, and this time the Ministry of Interior was the targeting point.
Political analysts believe that the aim of this attack is an attempt to prove the presence of the organization, which is receiving strong blows in its strongholds in the Qandil Mountains on the border with Iraq.
On Monday, the Ministry of Interior announced that it had identified one of the perpetrators of the Ankara attack through DNA analysis.
The Turkish Ministry of Interior stated that one of the perpetrators of the Ankara attack was Hasan Oguz, nicknamed Kanivar Erdal, a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and the identity of the other terrorist is being identified.
The Turkish army responded
In response to the attack, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced, on Sunday evening, the implementation of air strikes in northern Iraq, resulting in the destruction of 20 PKK targets.
The statement issued by the Ministry of Defense explained that the Turkish army intensified its air strikes on the PKK bases in Jarra, Hakurk, Matina and Qandil in northern Iraq.
Three weeks ago, a Turkish army attack targeted the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. In early September, an Iraqi Kurdish security official in the city of Erbil said that Turkish drones launched separate raids on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the Qandil Mountains, which led to the outbreak of fires and the sounds of secondary explosions.
The Qandil Mountains are located 150 kilometers north of Erbil, and they house the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which opposes Ankara, and which uses Iraqi border towns adjacent to Turkish territory as its main stronghold.
Why did the PKK attacks return?
Turkish political analyst, Jawad Gok, says that this attack comes as part of a policy of proving the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is listed on the terrorist lists, after the strong strikes it is receiving from the Turkish army in northern Syria, and its locations in Iraq.
Gok added to Sky News Arabia that the party is trying to convey a message that they are strong and capable of carrying out strikes deep into the capital, Ankara, and targeting the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior.
He revealed that this attack may be a sign of the party’s return to carrying out terrorist attacks after failing to infiltrate Turkish territory across the Syrian and Iraqi borders.
In turn, Turkish political analyst Hisham Gunay says that these terrorist organizations have an agenda to carry out these attacks as a form of propaganda to recruit new youth into their ranks, and that they remain strong despite the strikes they are exposed to, and are capable, despite the security difficulties, of carrying out attacks in the heart of the capital.
Gunay added to Sky News Arabia that the choice of the location of the terrorist incident and its proximity to Parliament and the Ministry of Interior has connotations and messages that the organization is trying to pass on to its supporters. There is another reason, which is the response to the military operations carried out by the Turkish army, which are causing great damage to it.
What happened in Ankara?
- A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of the capital, Ankara, on Sunday, hours before Parliament returned to session after the summer recess, and a second attacker was killed in an exchange of fire with the police.
- Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerli Kaya said on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter), that two policemen were slightly injured during the attack that occurred near the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior.
- Kaya indicated that the two attackers arrived at the scene on board a light commercial vehicle.
- The bombing occurred in a neighborhood that includes the headquarters of a number of ministries, in addition to Parliament.
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