Erdogan speaks of terrorists
Attack on ministry in Ankara
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There is an explosion in the Turkish capital Ankara this morning. The Interior Ministry speaks of a bomb attack. Both attackers are killed. The incident occurred hours before the start of the new session of Parliament
A suicide bomber blew himself up in the center of the Turkish capital Ankara. According to the Interior Ministry, the perpetrator carried out the attack near parliament and a second perpetrator was shot. Two police officers were slightly injured. A few hours later, Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in parliament that the “terrorists” would never achieve their goals.
The attack targeted the police headquarters and the Interior Ministry, which are located in a complex of buildings near parliament. At first no one claimed responsibility for the crime. Two “terrorists” approached in a van around 9:30 a.m. local time (8:30 a.m. CEST), Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the online service
The Attorney General's Office in Ankara imposed a news blackout shortly after the attack. The Ministry of the Interior called for images from the site to be deleted from the internet. It opened an investigation into violations, Minister Yerlikaya announced.
“Suspicious packages”
Surveillance camera footage showed a gray car slowly parking in front of the police headquarters. You can then see one of the perpetrators jump out of the car with a gun in his hand and trigger the explosion in front of the guard post. A second man also advances, but can no longer be seen because of the clouds of smoke caused by the explosion. The Ankara police prefecture said it had subsequently detonated a few “suspicious packages” in a controlled manner because there were initially fears of further attacks.
The attack took place a few hours before the start of the new session of the Turkish parliament, at the opening of which Erdogan gave a speech. “Villains” threaten the peace and security of citizens, the Turkish president said. But the “terrorists” would “never achieve their goals.”
Ankara was the scene of a series of serious attacks in 2015 and 2016, for which the PKK and the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility. The most recent attack on Turkish soil until Sunday occurred on November 13, 2022 in Istanbul. Six people were killed and 81 others were injured. The Turkish authorities blamed the PKK for this.
The German embassy published a reaction to Sunday's attack via X in Turkish and German: “We are watching with horror the news of the terrorist attack this morning in the heart of Ankara,” it said. “We wish the injured a speedy recovery.” Ambassador Jürgen Schulz added that there could be “no reason for such violence.” Also on
