by Miceál O’Hurley
ANKARA — 5-persons were killed and another 22-injured when armed assailants mounted an armed assault on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) headquarters in Ankara. The victims included 4-TUSAS employees and the taxi driver who drove the assailants to the facility according to Türkiye’s Vice President, Cevdet Yilma, himself a Kurdish politician. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the military-style assault on the aerospace facility. Two persons identified as attackers, one male and one female, were killed during the attack.
Deemed a “terrorist attack” by the Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, no organisation has yet to claim responsibility for the attack. Yerlikaya told reporters, “As soon as it is confirmed, which terror group it is, it will be announced. But I will say this, we also heard the defense minister’s comments. From the start, the way the attack was carried out, the video we saw, points to the PKK having carried out the attack. That is our assessment,” Yerlikaya told journalists in Ankara outside the hospital where some of the injured were being treated.
Yasar Guler, Türkiye’s Defense Minister, suggested the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were behind the attack. According to Guler, “We [Türkiye] punish the dishonorable PKK members as they deserve over and over again, but they never seem to learn.” Türkiye, the European Union, and the United States have all designated the PKK a terrorist organisation.
Verified, Open Source, geolocated videos show a large explosion quickly following what appears to have been the initial breach of the building by rifle assault. Videos depict 2-armed persons rushing towards the aerospace facility, each wearing backpacks and civilian clothing.
Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) is a state-owned aerospace developer and manufacturer. Aside from aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance, TUSAS is a producer of some of the world’s most advanced, battlefield tested unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). TUSAS drones were reportedly used in the Nagorno-Karabakh war in which Azerbaijan claimed victory over neighbouring Armenia. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have deployed Türkish drones in defending against Russia’s ongoing invasion and illegal attempts at annexation. TUSAS remains at the forefront of international, cutting-edge developments in helicopters including the HAAN jet which implements next-generation technology for replacing the aging F-16 fleet maintained by Türkiye and the HÜRJET which replaces the T-38 trainers, the ANKA and ANKA-III high-payload UAVs and the latest generation of GÖKTÜRK observation and reconnaissance satellites.
Monday, during a session of Türkiye’s parliament the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Action Party) leader Devlet Bahçeli raised Kurdish relations, where he suggested offering to release the PKK’s jailed leader if he disbanded the organisation, saying, “If his confinement is lifted, the terrorist leader should come to Parliament and address the parliamentary group meeting of the DEM Party. Let them declare that the terrorism is over, and the PKK is dissolved. If he consents to do so, there should be legal amendments for the right to hope,” he said according to the official transcript of proceedings. Halkların Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi (DEM – People’s Equality and Democracy Party) is a pro-Kurdish parliamentary party in Türkiye. DEM immediately condemned the attacks.
Bahçeli had previously called for the death penalty to be carried-out and the shift to “the right to hope” was immediately considered a breakthrough. Over the decades, Türkiye has pursued a policy of strong defense against PKK attacks while repeatedly extending offers of peace and reconciliation. Invariably, the PKK has continued their armed aggression, indiscriminately killing hundreds.
Following Bahçeli’s remarks in Parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the AK Party’s provincial chairs. In his remarks, Erdoğan touted efforts to maintain national unity, citing the wisdom of the 13th century Sufi mystic Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli to “keep the doors open for everyone based on love and respect”. Erdoğan continued, “The opposition has to abandon the ugly language it resorted to and turn a new page in politics“.
It remains uncertain if the PKK may have been responding to Türkiye continuing to provide them an off-ramp from their some 40-year old campaign of violence that strikes at the heart of Türkiye’s democratic principles. It is possible that hardline PKK members wished to discourage a peaceful resolution of their decades-long struggle and continue to wage war on Türkiye’s government and people. PKK adherents claim they are fighting for an independent and self-governing Kurdish homeland. The European Union has designated the PKK a terrorist organisation along with Türkiye and the United States.
Notwithstanding the absence of claims of responsibility, the PKK remains the likely candidate for staging the attack. Türkiye’s extreme-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) is also under the microscope given their history of anti-government/anti-democracy activity. It is a less-likely suspect in the attacks as it remains unlikely they had the capacity to mount such an effective, planned-attack despite it being seemingly limited to 2-assailants. ISIS also continues to appear on Türkiye’s radar of malicious actors, however, as one of the armed assailants was a female it would represent a significant departure from their known method of operation, despite women having been suicide bombers in the past. While Russia holds great umbrage against Türkiye for assisting Ukraine with UAV technology and drones, it is unlikely that President Vladamir Putin would authorise an attack on Türkiye’s aerospace industry given their otherwise good relations and President Erdoğan’s presence at the BRICS summit.
Note, the author engaged with TUSAS leadership and engineers during and after the 2024 Antalya Diplomacy Forum including observing demonstrations of in-development vehicles and technology.
