A Kurdish attack at the heart of Turkey

On 17th February 2016 explosives were detonated targeting a convoy transporting military personnel in the centre of Ankara, claiming the lives of 29 people and leaving 61 injured. The Turkish government blamed the Democratic Union Party (PYD) for the explosion; the party represents Syrian Kurds and Turkey sees it as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). As a consequence of this, the Bashar al-Assad regime was also charged with the bombing since Ankara believed it closely co-operated with Kurds. The PYD leadership and the PKK’s leaders in Turkey denied allegations that their organisations were behind the attack. A smaller Kurdish organisation Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) has claimed responsibility for the attack and announced that the perpetrator of the attack was a Turkish citizen (the government initially maintained that he was a Syrian Kurd) and threatened further attacks. The US supports the PYD in Syria, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his appeal for them to break this alliance and to stand by Turkey – which is a member of NATO – and the international anti-terrorist coalition. Washington took an ambivalent position on this issue.

ESO: Background information: Ankara terrorist attack prevents Davutoglu from attending Brussels mini-summit http://www.europeansources.info/record/ankara-terrorist-attack-prevents-davutoglu-from-attending-brussels-mini-summit/

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