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Interview: What Does the Terrorist Attack against the U.S. Embassy Mean? |
1 February 2013JTW
Today, a terrorist attack against the U.S. Embassy in Ankara was carried out. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the entrance of the Embassy where the visa process has been held. At least 2 people including the suicide bomber were died and a journalist, namely Didem Tuncay, was heavily injured.
Interior Minister Muammer Güler explained the name of bomber as Ecevit Şanlı, a member of the terrorist group acting in Turkey, namely Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C). According to the initial reports, Şanlı had been implicated in a terrorist attack in 1997.
JTW team has made an interview with USAK Expert Hasan Selim Özertem and asked for the details and the reasons of the attack.
Today a bomb was blasted in the US Embassy of Ankara. It is said that the bomb was blasted by a terrorist suicide bomber. Following this event, Minister of Interior Affairs made a statement and said that the suicide bomber is Ecevit Şanlı who is a member of Marxist Leninist terrorist organization DHKP/C. This organization was established in 1970s. Blaming in use of hard force to change the system in Turkey to bring a regime based on their ideologies. However, this organization is a sub-contractor terrorist organization working for different actors in their attacks.
In this regard mainly two explanations can be made regarding to the blast. The most likely reason seems to be a reaction against recent arrests made by Turkish security forces a couple of weeks ago to the members of DHKP/C. After a follow up for a long period, Turkish police took under custody 85 people linked with this terrorist organization and 38 of them were arrested. Among these people 10 of them are lawyers.
Looking at their attacks, this group mainly acts as small groups or individuals. In this sense, suicide bombings are one of the common attack strategies of this organization. They mainly target policy officers or some state personel but also in 1995, they attacked a private enterprise, Koç Holding.
During the First Gulf War War also they killed a US military employee and attempted several attacks to US and NATO facilities. Considering the secondary possibility of certain links with regional actors cannot be underestimated among these latest developments in Syria, negotiation process with PKK, and deployment of patriots in Turkey can be other factors of this attack.
By Reyhan Güner
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1 February 2013
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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