Two armed militants attacked the headquarters of Turkey’s state-run aerospace company on Wednesday, killing five people and injuring 22 others in what the government called a terrorist attack. The attackers were killed.
The government pointed the finger at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a militant group that has been fighting the Turkish state for decades, and bombed sites it said belonged to the group and its affiliates in neighboring Iraq and Syria. One of those groups said strikes in Syria hit infrastructure and the security forces, killing 12 people, including two children.
Here’s a closer look at the developments and how they could affect any efforts to revive long-dormant peace talks with the militant group.
What happened?
The attackers, a man and a woman, set off an explosion Wednesday afternoon near the entrance to the industrial complex of Turkish Aerospace Industries near the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Wearing backpacks and wielding assault rifles, they entered a building, according to surveillance camera images shared on social media, which also showed a motionless body on the ground behind them.
The Turkish authorities cordoned off the area, imposed limits on what the Turkish news media could report and sent in special forces. Late Wednesday, Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said the two attackers had been killed, without elaborating on the circumstances.
The mayor of the district where the attack took place initially told Turkish news media that hostages had been taken inside the complex. The Turkish Interior Ministry later said that was incorrect, again without further details.
Those killed in the attack were a taxi driver, a security guard, an engineer and two other employees of the aerospace company, the Turkish news media reported. Their funerals were being held in Ankara on Thursday.
Who was behind the attack?
Mr. Yerlikaya said on Thursday that both attackers were P.K.K. members.
The P.K.K. is an underground militant organization that has been fighting an insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s, saying that it seeks autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the group’s attacks and in Turkish military operations in the communities where it operates. Turkey, the United States and other countries consider the P.K.K. a terrorist organization.
No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.
What does it mean for Turkey?
The Turkish government has previously engaged in peace talks aimed at ending the insurgency, but progress has been scant in recent years.
This week, however, one of Mr. Erdogan’s most important political allies suggested that the P.K.K.’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, could be released from prison and address the Turkish Parliament if he renounced the insurgency and disbanded the group.
On Thursday, Mr. Ocalan’s nephew, Omer Ocalan, who is a member of Turkey’s Parliament, said that he had been allowed to visit his uncle on Wednesday, the imprisoned leader’s first visit in 43 months.
Those moves suggest that the Turkish government, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are interested in at least preliminary steps toward ending the conflict, although it remains unclear whether any formal peace talks will follow or what effect Wednesday’s attack could have.
How could it affect the region?
New talks between Turkey and the militant group could echo in neighboring countries where it also has operations.
Washington backs the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group with roots in the P.K.K. that allied with the United States years ago to fight the jihadists of the Islamic State. That alliance has been an irritant in U.S. relations with Turkey, which accuses the United States of supporting a terrorist group.
The P.K.K.’s leadership has long been based in northern Iraq. Turkey frequently bombs sites it says are linked to the group there and has been lobbying the Iraqi government to restrict its activities.
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