Two Turkish police officers were slightly injured when one of two terrorists blew himself up in front of the Turkish government building in Ankara on Sunday morning (October 1). The other terrorist was killed by the police.
Authorities called it the first terrorist attack in the capital in years.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that a terrorist blew himself up and another was “neutralized” in the ensuing shootout with police as the attackers targeted the headquarters of the Turkish National Police in the capital Ankara. The term “neutralized” is used by Turkish authorities to describe terrorists captured dead or alive.
“Our heroic police officers, through their intuition, resisted the terrorists as soon as they got out of the vehicle,” Yerlikaya told reporters. “One of them blew himself up, while the other one was shot in the head before he had a chance to blow himself up.”
Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the terrorist attack.
Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan has condemned the suicide bombing in Ankara, calling it a “treacherous terrorist attack”.
“I wish a speedy recovery to our heroic police officers who were injured in this vile attack … We will continue our fight against terrorism with determination at home and abroad,” he said on social media platform X.
PKK claims responsibility
The Turkish interior ministry did not say who was behind the attack. However, ANF News, a news agency close to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (or PKK) reported that the PKK group had claimed responsibility for the blast.
The statement described the bombing as a ‘suicide attack’ planned to coincide with the opening of parliament and carried out by ‘a team of ours linked to our Immortals Battalion”.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The goal of the PKK has been to create an independent socialist Kurdish state in a territory that it claims as Kurdistan – an area that includes parts of southeast Turkey.
Erdogan says ‘Terrorists will never succeed in destroying Turkiye’s peace’
In his remarks following the terror attack, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that “terrorists trying to destroy peace and security in Türkiye will never succeed.”
In his opening speech to the new legislative year of the Parliament, Erdogan said that the terrorist act, in which two terrorists were neutralized by the police, was a “final flutters of terrorism.”He added that the burden of instilling morale in terror groups with political calculations will be very heavy.
Stressing the need for solidarity in the fight against terrorism, Erdogan said: “We have largely solved the separatist terrorism issue, which has made our country pay heavy human and economic costs for 40 years, within our borders.”
Last year, a bomb blast in the famous pedestrian street in Istanbul left six people dead, including two children. More than 80 others were wounded. Turkey blamed the attack on the PKK and the YPG.
Condemnations pour in
World leaders expressed solidarity with Türkiye and condemned the terror attack foiled by Turkish security forces in Ankara.
The European Union (RU) has condemned the terrorist attack and expressed solidarity with Türkiye. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wished the injured speedy recovery.
“We support Türkiye in its fight against terrorism,” noted Oliver Varhelyi, EU commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, wishing a quick recovery for the injured officers.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the terror attack, stating that “NATO stands in solidarity with #Türkiye in the fight against terrorism.”
United States Secretary of State Blinken said that the U.S “reject terrorism in all its forms” and stand by NATO ally Turkiye.
Sweden, which has pledged long-term cooperation with Türkiye in combatting terrorism and particularly PKK extremists, also expressed solidarity with Ankara against the terrorist attack.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “We reaffirm our commitment to long-term cooperation with Türkiye in combatting terrorism and wish for quick and full recovery of the ones injured.”