The Turkish Government has confirmed that the two people who attacked the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara this Sunday morning were suicide bombers of whom one blew himself up and the other was killed before they could do so.
“One of the two terrorists, prepared as a human bomb, blew himself up at the door of the Ministry and the other was neutralized with a shot to the head before having the opportunity to do the same,” said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. in an appearance before the press.
He added that the two injured police officers are under treatment but there is no fear for their lives.
The minister did not attribute the attack to any specific group, and only promised that the Government would continue to fight decisively against “all types of terrorism and organized crime.”
Moments earlier, Yerlikaya had promised on the drug trafficking.
In his appearance, the minister warned that images of the attack should not be disseminated on social networks and that a judicial investigation is being initiated against those who do it.
Several Turkish journalists have distributed on the position to shoot in front of the vehicle at the moment when a huge explosion occurs.
According to the Turkish newspaper Sabah, the car has already been identified as belonging to a veterinarian from the province of Kayseri, about 300 kilometers southeast of Ankara.
The man was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head last night in the town of Avlaga in a mountainous area in the south of the province and it is assumed that the perpetrators of the attack killed him to steal his vehicle, the aforementioned newspaper notes. .
Erdogan evokes possible operation against Kurds in Syria
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, characterized this Sunday the attack in front of the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara, which cost the lives of the two assailants, as the “last blow” of a terrorism against which Turkey has been fighting for 40 years.
Although this is a veiled reference to the Turkish Kurdish guerrilla PKK, the president also hinted at possible Turkish military operations against Kurdish militias in Syria.
“We have largely managed to resolve separatist terrorism in our territory, for which our country has paid a very high human and economic price for 40 years,” said Erdogan in clear reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Kurdish guerrilla active since 1984.
He made these statements, broadcast live on NTV, in the opening speech of the session of the Turkish Parliament after the summer recess.
“We will also eradicate existing terrorist organizations outside our borders, a disaster imposed on the local population by the imperialists, until they are no longer a threat to our country,” Erdogan said, referring to Syria’s Kurdish militias.
“The action of the two criminals, who were neutralized this morning thanks to the rapid intervention of our security units, is the last blow of terrorism,” the president stressed.
“Our strategy of having a security strip of at least 30 kilometers on our southern border, and also keeping activities beyond it under control, is permanent,” Erdogan added, alluding to Turkish military dominance over part of northern Syria.
“The new steps we will take are just a matter of preparation, timing and circumstances. Never forget our phrase that ‘we can arrive one night suddenly,’” he warned, citing an expression he himself had used before launching a military operation in 2019 in northern Syria.
The Turkish Government has also attributed the latest terrorist attack perpetrated last November in Istanbul, with six dead, to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militias, although they have denied any involvement.
The Kurdish PKK claims responsibility for the attack
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkey’s Kurdish guerrilla, claimed responsibility for the attack against the Turkish Ministry of the Interior in Ankara, which cost the lives of the two attackers this Sunday.
“Today at 9:30 local time (6:30 GMT) a team from our Immortal Battalion carried out an action against the Turkish Ministry of the Interior,” says a statement attributed to the PKK and published by the Firat news agency (ANF), which He usually functions as a spokesperson for the Kurdish guerrilla.
The note assures that the action was a “success” and accuses the Turkish Government of “blatantly hiding” the losses suffered in the attack in which, according to the official version, only the assailants died, causing only minor injuries to two police officers.
The statement emphasizes that the attack was committed on the day of the opening of Parliament (after the summer recess) and that, had the militants wanted it that way, choosing a different time, it could have had “very different results.”
However, the organization preferred only to “send a message and a serious warning” about the “war against the people of Kurdistan” promoted by the “fascist regime of the AKP-MHP”, the coalition of the two parties that support the Turkish president. , Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The statement identifies the two perpetrators of the attack by name and surname and assures that they committed the attack to commemorate Hülya Demirel, also known as Axin Mus, a PKK commander who was killed, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry, two weeks ago along three other militants in the province of Diyarbakir.
The PKK, considered terrorist by both Turkey and the European Union (EU), fought between 1984 and 2013 for the independence of the Kurdish regions of southeastern Turkey, but renounced this objective in 2013, starting a peace process, broken two years later.
In recent years, almost all fighting between the Turkish Army and guerrilla members has taken place in northern Iraq, where the PKK has its rearguard.
NATO condemns terrorist attack
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the attack that occurred this Sunday near the Ministry of the Interior in Turkey and underlined the Alliance’s support for Ankara in the fight against terrorism.
“I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack against the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara and wish a speedy and complete recovery to the police officers injured in the line of duty,” Stoltenberg said through his account on the network formerly called Twitter and now X.
“NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism,” said the head of the Atlantic Alliance.
At least one suspected terrorist died this Sunday in a bomb attack at the entrance to the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara, near the Turkish Parliament, and another died in a shootout with police.
“At 9:30 a.m. (local, 6:30 GMT), two terrorists, who arrived in a van, carried out a bomb attack at the entrance door of the Ministry of the Interior. One of the terrorists blew himself up, the other was neutralized. Two security officers were slightly injured in the shooting,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote in X.
The EU condemns the terrorist attack
The European Union (EU) condemned the terrorist attack that occurred in Ankara this Sunday in the vicinity of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior and expressed its solidarity with Turkey.
“The EU condemns the terrorist attack against the Turkish Ministry of the Interior in Ankara in which several police officers were injured,” European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said on behalf of the EU in a statement.
“We express solidarity with Turkey and wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Borrell added.
The European Commission also condemned the attack that occurred this Sunday.
“I condemn the brutal terrorist attack against the Turkish Interior Ministry in Ankara. The EU stands in solidarity with the families of the injured and with the entire Turkish people on this dark day,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, via the X network.
For his part, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, declared himself “shocked” by the terrorist attack in Ankara that occurred this morning.
“Let us strongly condemn this cowardly attempt to inflict harm and death on the Turkish people. My thoughts and solidarity are with the victims and their families and with Turkey,” he also said through a message on X.
BY NADEEM FAISAL BAIGA
