A Kurdish terrorist group says it is responsible for the attack on the headquarters of a government-owned security company near the Turkish capital, Ankara, in which five people were killed.
The PKK said it targeted Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) on Wednesday because the weapons it produces have killed “thousands” of Kurds, including women and children.
In a statement, the group said the attack, which also injured 22 people, was “planned long ago” – apparently rejecting allegations that the attack was an attempt to derail rumored reconciliation efforts between the PKK and the Turkish government.
TAI is a key supplier to the Turkish military, supplying its F-16 fighter jets.
The Turkish government had previously implicated the PKK in the attack, identifying the attackers as PKK members Ali Orek and Mine Sevjin Alcicek.
Then he presented dozens of airstrikes on what it described as PKK positions in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey says it has killed 59 “terrorists” in the strikes – although the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said 12 civilians were among the dead, including children.
The Ministry of Defense said that Turkish forces have killed more PKK terrorists.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is banned as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the US and the UK, and has been fighting the Turkish regime since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s key Kurdish minority.
The PKK’s armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), described Orek and Alcicek as an “independent group” of the “Immortals Battalion”. Describe them as “heroes”.
The HPG said TAI was a “military target” with a “legitimate right” to attack as it was where “killing weapons were produced”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack “horrific”.
He said “no terrorist organization, no evil intention targeting our security will be able to achieve its goals”.
TAI plays a major role in the Turkish aerospace industry, designing, developing and manufacturing various commercial and military aircraft.
As well as being the licensed manufacturer of the Nato member’s US-designed F-16 fighter jets, the company is also playing a role in modernizing Turkey’s aging military aircraft.
The HPG said it “does not always act as a policy”, but occasionally carried out “self-sacrificing actions” that served as “warnings and messages” to the Turkish government.
The victims were named by Turkey’s state-run news agency as TAI employees Cengiz Coskun, Zahide Guclu, Atakan Sahin Erdogan, Huseyin Canbaz, and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
The Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said the two attackers were “neutral”.
The HPG also said Wednesday’s attack “has nothing to do with the political agenda that was discussed in Turkey last month”.
Before it happened, there was speculation about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement between the PKK and the Turkish government – prompted by some seemingly conciliatory actions.
On Tuesday, a key Erdogan ally suggested that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan could be released from a Turkish prison if he publicly disbanded the organization – seen by some as the beginning of reconciliation.
The next day, Ocalan was allowed a visit by his niece – the family’s first visit in 43 months – according to Reuters news agency.
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