The Turkish Ministry of Defence said the airstrikes by Turkish jets targeted Kurdish militant positions in Iraq and Syria, effective from October 23, in retaliation for an attack on the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries TUSAS. According to a report by the state-run Anadolu Agency, the ministry said, “Aerial assault successfully destroyed more than 30 targets.
“A total of 32 targets belonging to the terrorists were successfully destroyed,” said the confirmation statement.
The strikes came after an attack earlier on Wednesday when suspected Kurdish militants detonated explosives and opened fire at TUSAS, Turkey’s state-run aerospace and defense company. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said five people died, and more than a dozen were wounded in that attack.
Yerlikaya has blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, with investigations still ongoing to confirm the identities of the attackers. Defence Minister Yasar Guler also accused the PKK of being behind such an attack and added, “We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses. We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the incident as a “heinous terrorist act” in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a BRICS event in Russia. In equal measure, the United States Embassy in Turkey strongly condemned the attack.
TUSAŞ is one of the vital organizations for Turkey’s defense industry; it manufactures both civilian and military aircraft, including UAVs. The latter have been crucial to operations against Kurdish militants both within and beyond Turkey’s borders.
It comes a day after the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party – which is allied with Erdogan – hinted that parole for the jailed leader of the PKK might be possible, conditioned on his renouncing violence and dissolving the group.
Following the violence, the Iraqi embassy in Ankara released a statement condemning the assault and reaffirmed the commitment of Iraq to reject terrorism in all its forms. The embassy expressed its support for the Turkish government and people, showing that Iraq is very much against the PKK as it outlawed the organization at the beginning of the year.
