Hours after an attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters on Wednesday claimed five lives, Turkey struck Kurdish insurgents in Syria and Iraq. Turkey said the attack on the state-run defense business TUSAS outside Ankara was a terror strike that left at least 14 people hurt.
Turkey responded by conducting an aerial defensive and launching airstrikes on more than 30 of the militant group’s locations. According to the Turkish interior minister, suspected Kurdish terrorists set off explosives and started shooting during the assault on the defense company, resulting in a loud explosion and gunshots. According to the BBC, one victim was a cab driver, while the other four were firm employees.
According to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the event also claimed the lives of a civilian woman and two attackers. The minister stated that although they are now verifying the identity of the attackers, they thought the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, terrorists were responsible for the incident. Yasar Guler, the Turkish Defense Minister, also blamed the PKK.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party: What is it?
The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have designated the Kurdish rebel group PKK as a “terrorist” organization. Since 1999, Turkey has detained Abdullah Ocalan, the rebel group’s leader.
Forty years ago, Ocalan’s PKK began an armed struggle with Turkey. Since the battle began in 1984, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. The People’s Defense Units, also known as the YPG, are a Kurdish militia group with bases in Syria, whereas the PKK has bases in northern Iraq.
The group was founded in 1978 with the goal of establishing an autonomous Kurdish state in southeast Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Located along the boundaries of five countries—Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey—the Kurdish people are primarily Sunni Muslims.
Kurdish nationalism’s history began in the 1890s, when the Ottoman Empire was beginning to fall apart. The 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which redrawn Turkey’s borders following World War I, pledged independence to the Kurds.
But three years later, Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk shattered that agreement. Then, in 1924, the Treaty of Lausanne was passed, dividing the Kurds among the Middle Eastern nations. Approximately 20% of Turkey’s population is Kurdish.