The attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) headquarters on 23 October, resulted in five deaths and over a dozen injuries. Within 48 hours, in a statement on 25 October, the PKK claimed responsibility for the operation, saying it was carried out by a man and a woman.
In response, Turkey intensified attacks on the PKK and affiliated targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq. This included a series of airstrikes on PKK positions in the Qandil Mountains and increased military and political pressure on the Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). In the latter context, Turkey called on the UN to designate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a terrorist organisation.
The timing of the attack on TUSAŞ was striking. It occurred just as the government, led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), was preparing to restart a drive for a negotiated solution to the long-standing Kurdish question. An indication of its serious intent is to be found in recent steps by Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP’s junior partner in the electoral coalition known as the People’s Alliance. During the opening of the Turkish parliament in early October, Bahçeli took the initiative to shake hands with Kurdish MPs. He also proposed a plan that included the possibility of releasing Kurdish political leaders from prison in exchange for dismantling the PKK. Foremost among those leaders would be Abdullah Öcalan, a founding member of the PKK who has been held in solitary confinement in Imralı Prison since 1999.
The MHP has long taken a hardline stance on the Kurdish question, so its leader’s recent actions signal a softening of its position. This was welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who backed Bahçeli’s proposal. “We hope that the historic opportunity window opened by the People’s Alliance will not be sacrificed to personal interests,” Erdogan said during a meeting with AKP’s provincial leaders.
In another hopeful sign of new efforts to restart the Turkish-Kurdish resolution process, Öcalan was allowed his first family visit in over four and a half years. The visitor was his nephew, Ömer Öcalan, an MP for the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party. Afterwards, he announced that PKK leader (75) was in good health and then said, “Mr. Öcalan assessed the political developments and asked for this message to be conveyed to the public: ‘The isolation continues. If the conditions are met, I have both the theoretical and practical capacity to move this process from a ground of conflict and violence to one of legal and political resolution’.”
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) cautiously welcomed the initiative, describing the first visit allowed to the PKK leader in over four and a half years as a “warm message that we must all take seriously and continually assess the situation as it develops.”
DEM co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları says the process should begin with the end of Öcalan’s isolation, stressing that the solution to the Kurdish question lies in political negotiations and an honourable peace. In remarks made during a recent DEM party parliamentary group session, she pointed out that Öcalan’s isolation was not just a personal matter but a broader societal concern as the practice violates international humanitarian law.
The former People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş also voiced support for efforts to resume the peace process. Communicating from his cell via X (formerly Twitter), he also condemned the recent attack outside Ankara and offered his condolences to the victims’ families and his wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.
“Anyone trying to use bloodshed to stop the search for solutions to our problems through talks, dialogue and politics should know that if Öcalan takes an initiative and wants to pave the way for a political solution, we will be behind him with all our might. We will never accept an approach that aims to cripple and discredit democratic politics and the search for peace… This time, we will never allow anyone, whoever they may be, to suppress the voices of those who desire peace.”
All other parties across the political spectrum have added their voice in support for a political solution which feeds into President Erdogan’s recent calls to “strengthen the domestic front” to protect Turkey from external threats which have grown as a consequence of “Israel’s expansionist policies in the region.”
While the foregoing enhances the prospects of a renewed push to revive the stalled Turkish-Kurdish peace process, the attack against TUSAŞ propels the situation in the opposite direction. It could harden anti-Kurdish stances among the hardliners in the ultranationalist MHP. If Turkish military strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq and northern Syria following the attack are to be expected, an intensification of such operations could obstruct peace-making efforts inside Turkey and lead to the resumption of the exclusively military approach.
Thirdly, divisions within the Kurdish movement could deepen in the aftermath of the attack which, itself, may signal that some quarters of the PKK leadership whether in Turkey or abroad do not like the current direction in domestic Turkish politics surrounding the Kurdish issue. As though to signal this possibility, a video clip from 2015 of Cemil Bayik, one of the five founders of the PKK, circulated in the Turkish media after the TUSAŞ attack. In the video, Bayik is telling his interlocutor, “we are responsible for operational implementation. Öcalan is not responsible for this. Öcalan cannot execute or lead any movement or make decisions regarding these matters. We are the ones who decide whether to withdraw forces. Neither the party nor Öcalan can make that decision. Even if that call is made, we decide, because it concerns us.”
Last week’s armed attack against TUSAŞ raises embarrassing questions for the Turkish security and intelligence apparatus, which evidently was caught off guard. That PKK operatives could infiltrate and stage an attack against a state-owned defence manufacturer that produces military and civilian aircraft, including military drones, shows that the organisation still poses a threat. Turkey’s security and intelligence agencies must therefore tighten the gaps in their security architecture and simultaneously take the necessary measures to cut off the PKK’s funding sources and prevent future attacks. Meanwhile, questions will continue to hover around hopes for a renewed Turkish-Kurdish peace process.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 31 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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