PKK claims responsibility for Ankara aerospace firm attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on a Turkish aerospace facility in Ankara.

The assault “was carried out by an independent team of the Immortal Battalion. This historic act was carried out with high determination” read a statement from the PKK’s People’s Defense Center (NPG) released on Friday.

The Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TAI) facility in Ankara’s northern Kahramankazan district was attacked by two assailants on Wednesday. Five people were killed and 22 injured.

The NPG statement said that Mine Sevjin Alcicek, nicknamed Asya Ali, and Ali Orek, known by his nom de guerre Rojger Helin, carried out the attack, confirming earlier Turkish identification of the assailants.

Turkey’s interior ministry on Thursday said the assailants were “neutralized” and that they were PKK members.

The attack came amid a growing expectation that Turkey may restart peace talks with the PKK to bring an end to the 40-year conflict, but the PKK statement said the two are unrelated.

“This event, which was planned a long time ago and was successfully implemented, has nothing to do with the political agenda of the last month that is being discussed in Turkey,” the PKK said.

The aerospace firm designs and builds civilian and military aircraft, including drones. The PKK said that the “weapons manufactured by TUSAS [TAI] have killed thousands of our civilians in Kurdistan, including women and children.”

In response to the attack, Turkey launched strikes on alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region and Syria late on Wednesday, stating that 32 “targets belonging to terrorists” were “neutralized.” Twelve civilians have been killed as of Thursday, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Strikes have continued on Friday morning and there are reports of more casualties.

The PKK said their forces were unharmed.

“Attacks were made against civilian targets in western Kurdistan [Rojava] and Sinjar, which naturally have nothing to do with us and the action [aerospace attack],” the PKK said.

This week’s violence may scupper hopes for peace talks.

Reports of a renewed drive for peace began earlier this month with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who shook hands with members of the DEM Party in the legislature. Bahceli also proposed inviting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address the Turkish parliament and declare the dissolution of his armed group.

In a further step, the government decided to allow Ocalan to meet his family, ending more than four years of isolation. After the meeting, Ocalan's nephew and DEM Party lawmaker Omer Ocalan shared on X on Thursday morning a message from his uncle that he can transition the violence into a political process.

On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would continue to fight terrorism.

"Terrorists are puppets. Our goal is a Turkey without terrorism… We will not compromise on this," he told reporters on board his flight returning from the BRICS summit in Russia, Anadolu Agency reported.

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