Turkish aerospace firm hit in deadly 'terrorist attack'

Ambulance and armored car near Turkish aerospace firm TUSAS after terrorist attack

An ambulance and armored car near Turkish aerospace firm TUSAS following a suspected terrorist attack

(Image credit: Adem Altan / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

A pair of armed assailants stormed the headquarters of Turkey's state-run aviation and defense company Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) on Wednesday, killing five people and wounding at least 22 others. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the "terrorist attack" near Ankara, the capital, was "most likely carried out" by the outlawed militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Who said what

Footage of the attack, broadcast before the government "limited local news coverage to official statements," showed a man and a woman "rushing into a building with backpacks and assault rifles," The New York Times said. Yerlikaya said both of the attackers were killed. "We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Defense Minister Yasar Guler said. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated."

Turkey's air force "struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria" after yesterday's attack, in "apparent retaliation," The Associated Press said. TUSAS designs and builds "civilian and military aircraft," including combat drones that "have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants." The PKK's decades-long fight for autonomy in southeast Turkey has cost tens of thousands of lives.

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What next?

Turkey's main Kurdish political party "condemned the attack and suggested that it could have been launched by people seeking to prevent" nascent proposed peace talks between Ankara and the PKK, the Times said.

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.