Ankara Car Bombing Displays Violence and Unrest Still Plague Turkey

The attack occurred on Sunday evening at 6:45 PM in Kizilay Square, a central public transportation hub where a car bomb detonated beside a row of buses near a metro station Turkey’s President Recep Teyyip Erdogan vowed vengeance on the terrorists responsible for Sunday’s terrorist attack that killed 36 and injured 127.

It was discovered that one of the two terrorists was a female member of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). Authorities also detained four additional suspects in the southeastern city of Sanilufra when it was discovered the car used in the bombing came from a showroom in the area. Curfews were immediately enforced and military bombings of PKK camps in Iraq were conducted orchestrated.

Erdogan claims that the PKK is now targeting civilians because they are losing the battle against Turkish security forces. However, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Turkish correspondent  Enis Senerdem notes that Ankara, which is the capital of Turkey and being more frequently attacked shows the Erdogan establishment is under fire.

The Turkish courts immediately followed the advice of President Erdogan’s war on terror by shutting down all social media throughout Turkey to prevent photos of the bombing from being circulated.

Erdogan has openly stated, “I will never accept the term dolmabahce consensus.” The dolmabache consensus is a ten point plan on the resolution of conflict between the Justice and Department Party (AKP) and the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). He noted this after the HDP refused to allow Erdogan to revise the constitution and give himself more executive powers.

The HDP did share Erdogan’s sentiment in condoning the attacks and saying it only adds to further hostilities on both sides. Some claim the HDP is really the political wing of the PKK but the HDP has strongly denied those allegations.

Turkey’s government sees the unrest in southeast Turkey being closely related to the Syrian war, where Kurdish forces are gaining ground near the Turkish-Syrian border while fighting the Islamic State (IS) and rebel forces. The Kurdish gains are of great concern to Ankara, which fears an autonomous Kurdish region on the border where many Syrian Kurds share deep ideological and operational ties with the PKK.

The bombing was very similar to the February 17 attacks that killed 29 Turkish military personnel traveling in a convoy. The bombs were packed with pellets and nails to cause maximum harm to its victims.  The attack was conducted by another anti-Erdogan group known as the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the PKK.

The attack in Ankara is the third in five months, a government town dominated with embassies, ministries, parliaments, and military offices. Anakara has not just been a target by the PKK but also by the IS who conducted a double suicide bombing in October killing 100 and another bombing January of 2016 killing 10 German tourists. IS has targeted Turkey for its part in the U.S. Coalition forces attacking the IS in Iraq and Syria.

The PKK and other anti-Erdogan groups demand fair political representation and the establishment of a Kurdish state. Erdogan is convinced the only way to combat the PKK is through military and police force to crush PKK groups at home and abroad.