New Delhi: One of the main centres of Turkey’s defence industry, state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS), was hit by a deadly terrorist attack on Wednesday afternoon. The attack resulted in the death of at least five people. Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed the attack in a post on X, saying, “A terrorist attack was carried out against the Turkish Aerospace Industries Ankara Kahramankazan facilities”.
The attack came a day after an unlikely statement from a Turkish nationalist leader about the possibility of a renewed peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Kurdish militants are being accused of the attack by Turkey. In retaliation Turkey’s air force hit Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria. According to a brief from Turkey’s defence ministry, more than 30 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive.
Unending conflict
The conflict between the Kurds, a small ethnic group in the region, and Turkey’s political and military establishment has been going on for a long time now. Originating with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state, the conflict endures.
Kurds do not comprise a majority in any country and are thus effectively stateless. Their history has been one of multiple conflicts and endless strife, through which the Kurds have heroically endured. After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, while Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state, an official treaty was never ratified. Kurds since then have lived as a minority in the countries of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.
Kurdish ethnic revival though has been strong and in the 1970s Turkey saw many clashes between different political groups and with the demand of forming an independent Kurdish state, the Marxist PKK was formed. While attempts at reconciliation between Turkey’s political establishment and the PKK have been several, they often have been short lasting.
The last peace process between the two broke down in 2015. Following this there were several attacks by Kurdish militant groups on Turkey. Turkey too retaliated against Kurdish strongholds in their own country, Syria and Iraq, other places where Kurds are present in significant numbers.
The present attack comes at the backdrop of an unprecedented statement by Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli on Tuesday. He suggested that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who has been imprisoned since 1999 can be allowed to speak at the parliament if he disbands his organisation, signalling the possibility of reactivation of the peace process.
The attack on Turkey by Kurdish forces after this statement of Wednesday is proof enough that the Kurds are in not in the mood for peace at the moment and the age-old strife will only continue. The Kurds are expected to go along with their old proverb “there are no friends but the mountains”. They have battled ISIS, Iraq, Syria and Turkey in their recent history, despite the small size of their population. Kurdish resilience is now known all over the world, and the manner in which they maintained their positions at the peak of ISIS terror is proof enough of this. A history of endless conflict without a home, the Kurdish story is far from finished and the aspiration of the Kurdish people to find a home remains elusive but highly desired.
