Turkey hits PKK targets in Syria, Iraq following attack on state aviation site

Reuters

Turkey's Defence Ministry on Oct. 24 said that it launched fresh air strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Syria and Iraq overnight, killing 59 militants, in response to a gun attack that killed five people in the capital province of Ankara.

Two assailants - a man and a woman - carried out the Oct. 23 assault with automatic rifles and explosives on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) in Ankara. Twenty-two people were also wounded.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, during which both militants were killed. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the male attacker was confirmed to be a PKK member, while the female assailant had not yet been identified.

Turkish forces struck 29 PKK targets in northern Iraq and 18 in northern Syria, Defence Minister Yaşar Güler said. Later, his ministry said 59 militants, including two believed to be "high level", were "neutralised", a term usually used to mean killed.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Oct. 24 that the Turkish strikes in northern and eastern Syria had killed 12 civilians, including two children, and wounded 25 people.

Spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG and including Arab fighters, the SDF has been a major partner for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. It holds a quarter of Syria including oil fields and areas where some 900 U.S. troops are deployed.

Turkey says the YPG is a terrorist organization that is closely tied to the PKK. Turkey's defense ministry said every precaution had been taken to prevent harm to innocent civilians.

"No member of the treacherous terrorist organization will be able to escape the grasp of Turkish soldiers," Güler said in a memorial ceremony at a defense industry fair in Istanbul.

"It is not a coincidence that this site was targeted," he added, referring to TUSAŞ.

Turkey regularly targets the PKK in Iraq and Syria with fighter jets and drones and TUSAŞ is Turkey's largest aerospace manufacturer, producing drones, helicopters, training craft and developing the country's first indigenous fighter jet, KAAN.

Security was tightened at TUSAŞ headquarters on Oct. 24, with security forces searching vehicles and checking people's identities, the state-owned Anadolu news agency (AA) reported.

The alert level was raised to "orange" at Turkish airports as part of increased security measures, an aviation sector source told Reuters.

Eyes on PKK leader

President Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking alongside Russia's Vladimir Putin at a BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, condemned the attack, as did NATO, the United States, and the European Union, which all designate the PKK as a terrorist organization.

"This cowardly attack has further strengthened Turkey's determination to eliminate terrorism," Erdogan said at the Oct. 24 summit.

Wednesday's attack came a day after a key ally of Erdoğan said the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan may be allowed to speak in Turkey's parliament, if he announces an end to the group's insurgency, in exchange for the possibility of being released.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli made the surprise suggestion following media speculation in recent weeks about fresh efforts to end the PKK insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

The PKK took up arms 40 years ago with the initial aim of creating an independent Kurdish state. It subsequently moderated its goals to seek greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

It was not immediately clear whether Wednesday's attack would affect Bahçeli's offer or whether it was intended to derail any such move.

Öcalan's nephew said he visited the PKK leader on Oct. 23 in the island prison south of Istanbul where he has been held since his capture in 1999. It was the first such visit in around four years.

"If the conditions are right, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from a foundation of conflict and violence to legal and political ground," Ömer Öcalan quoted his uncle on X as saying.