Turkey strikes PKK targets in Iraq and Syria after terror attack hits factory.

 

Police and military near the scene of the attack. AP. 

Turkey has sent airstrikes against PKK targets in Iraq and Syria after a terror attack hit a factory near Ankara. AP. The attack involved two terrorists, one male and one female. The attackers set off bombs and fired shots at the factory, killing five people and wounding 22 more before being eliminated. The target was a state-owned weapons factory, TUSAS. Though no group has taken credit for the attack, Turkey believes it was done by PKK, the Kurdistan Worker's Party, a far left independence movement responsible for many terror attacks. In response Turkey launched airstrikes and destroyed 30 targets, claiming they worked to avoid civilian casualties. 

My Comment:

Fairly major terror attack in Ankara. And I do consider this at terror attack. You could argue that a weapons factory is a legitimate military target but these attackers also murdered an entirely innocent taxi driver. The terrorists could have tried to reduce civilian casualties but they did not. So even though  I am critical of Turkey and their government, I do feel that this was a terrorist attack and I have no problem with the Turks bombing PKK bases in response. 

The PKK are far left terrorists and despite being communists they often engage in terror attacks that are pretty indistinguishable from Islamic terrorism. They use bombings, mass shootings and even suicide bombings to kill folks that don't deserve it. They are terrorists regardless of their ideology. 

It is also not surprising that one of the terrorists was a woman. As far leftists the PKK often employs women as fighters, and the Kurds generally use women as combatants in their wars. They generally believe in equal rights so it's not really surprising that they would be using a woman as a suicide attacker.

The conflict between the Kurds and the Turks is a long running one and one where both sides have done terrible things. Turkey certainly has some portion of the blame. They don't exactly treat the Kurds well and Turkey has gone all in on ethnic nationalism. But the Kurds have been just as bad, launching multiple terror attacks like this one. I don't particularly like either side given that the Turks are racist and the Kurds are full of communists. 

As for the airstrikes, I doubt they did much. Airstrikes have a lot of uses but they aren't enough to destroy a terror group as embedded as the PKK. The Kurds have proven extremely resilient and in order to root them out you would need a large number of boots on the ground. And Turkey has had that in Northern Syria for a long time and it hasn't helped that much either. 

The article mentioned that there was an effort to try and end the PKK with the leader being offered parole if he renounces the organization and disbands it. It's very possible that this attack was planned by someone that didn't want that to happen. There is a real possibility that offer has now been rescinded so the war can continue...