One of many most important drivers of Turkey’s defence trade turned the goal of a lethal assault on Wednesday afternoon.
The assault on state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) has killed at the very least 5 and injured 22. It got here a day after an unprecedented assertion from a Turkish nationalist chief about the potential of a renewed peace course of with the nation’s outlawed Kurdistan Staff’ Get together (PKK).
The group – thought of a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the USA and the European Union – has been combating a 40-year-long rebel towards the Turkish state. The timing of Wednesday’s assault has led observers to consider the PKK could also be sending a message that they aren’t prepared to put down arms.
Here’s what to know concerning the incident and who is perhaps concerned.
What occurred in Turkey and when?
Near 4pm (13:00 GMT) on Wednesday, gunshots and explosions had been reported on the headquarters of state-run TUSAS.
Footage from the scene broadcast by native media initially confirmed large clouds of smoke and a big hearth, whereas emergency companies rushed to the location.
Turkey’s Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed the assault in a put up on X. “A terrorist assault was carried out towards the Turkish Aerospace Industries Ankara Kahramankazan services,” he wrote.
Safety footage exhibits three individuals in a yellow cab arrive at one of many entrances of the compound. One of many attackers infiltrates the constructing whereas firing pictures. Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ankara, stated a blast befell subsequent to a safety sales space and will have injured safety personnel.
Witnesses stated the attackers had been accustomed to the constructing structure and the blasts might have occurred at totally different exits as staff had been leaving work for the day. They added that authorities took staff contained in the constructing to shelters and nobody was permitted to go away for a couple of hours.
“Most of the specialists now counsel that this was a strategically deliberate terrorist assault”, stated Koseoglu. Some media reviews claimed that it was a suicide assault.
The place did it occur?
The assault befell on the headquarters of TUSAS in Kahramankazan.
Kahramankazan an space to the north of Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
Who was behind it?
Safety digicam photographs from the incident, aired on tv, confirmed a person in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle, in addition to a lady who was additionally carrying an assault rifle. Yerlikaya, the Turkish inside minister, confirmed that one of many assailants was a lady.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Turkish Nationwide Defence Minister Yasar Guler alleged the PKK had carried out the assault. No group has claimed accountability to date.
Turkey’s extreme-left Revolutionary Individuals’s Liberation Get together-Entrance (DHKP-C) can be on the radar, in line with Koseoglu.
A peace course of between Turkey and the PKK broke down in 2015, and the group and its associates carried out various assaults within the years that adopted, because the Turkish army and safety forces carried out operations towards the PKK in southeast Turkey, in addition to in Iraq and Syria.
The variety of assaults in main Turkish cities has dropped sharply since 2017.
And in an unprecedented assertion on Tuesday, Nationalist Motion Get together chief and ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Devlet Bahceli, recommended that jailed PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan – imprisoned since 1999 – could possibly be allowed to talk on the parliament if he calls off the rebel and disbands his organisation – an indication of a doable resurrection of the peace course of.
However Wednesday’s assault could also be a message that the PKK is reluctant to place down arms and normalise ties with the federal government, in line with specialists.
“That is extra of a message that the Turkish defence trade will be focused and harmed”, stated Omer Ozkizilcik, non-resident fellow on the Atlantic Council’s Center East Packages. “Turkish drones are a significant sport changer within the Turkish counterterrorism effort. Subsequently, focusing on it has an enormous symbolic that means.”
What do we all know concerning the victims?
- No less than 5 individuals have been killed and at the very least 22 injured.
- These killed had been named as Cengiz Coskun, a high quality management officer on the firm, mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu, TUSAS worker Hasan Huseyin Canbaz, safety guard Atakan Sahin Erdogan, and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
- Guclu had been on her method to the doorway of the compound to obtain flowers despatched by her husband when the assault befell.
- Arslan was killed by the attackers after they bought into his automobile at a taxi station. They then hid his physique within the trunk of his taxi.
Is the realm now protected?
Yerlikaya stated that “two terrorists had been neutralised” in a put up on X on Wednesday.
Particular forces have been deployed to the realm whereas drones have been scouring the premises.
What’s the newest on the bottom?
Within the hours after the assault, individuals lined up outdoors the location to get extra details about kinfolk working inside. Some 7,500 staff had been on-site through the assault, in line with Koseoglu.
All safety models within the nation are on alert and Turkey’s chief public prosecutor workplace has launched a judicial investigation into the assault.
What can we find out about TUSAS?
Based in 1973, TUSAS developed the nation’s first indigenous fighter jet, Kaan, in addition to a spread of drones, satellites, and helicopters for each civilian and army functions.
Moreover, the Turkish intelligence and army have been conducting cross-border operations focusing on PKK members in northern Syria and Iraq with TUSAS-produced drones, in line with Al Jazeera’s Koseoglu.
The corporate is owned collectively by the Turkish Armed Forces Basis and the federal government and employs roughly 15,000 individuals.
A world defence, aviation and house trade expo was additionally happening in Istanbul, which was attended this week by Ukraine’s high diplomat and Turkish army officers. Simply hours earlier than the assault, Yerlikaya posted photographs from his go to to the commerce truthful.
What has the response been?
Erdogan, who’s at the moment attending the BRICS convention within the Russian metropolis of Kazan, known as the incident a “heinous terrorist assault”.
NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte condemned the assault and stated he spoke to Erodgan whereas pledging that the army alliance would stand with its ally, Turkey. The European Union delegation in Turkey additionally condemned the assault, whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences.
And the US Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson John Kirby “strongly” condemned the assault, including “our prayers are with all of these affected and their households, and naturally, additionally the individuals of Turkey at this very tough time”.
