Shortly after the deadly attack in Istanbul, Interior Minister Soylu blamed the Syrian branch of the PKK. Turkish security forces are less secure there. German experts also have doubts about the presentation. An attack on a Kurdish stronghold could be prepared.
After the deadly attack in the center of Istanbul, German Turkey experts have expressed doubts about the Turkish government’s account of the background to the attack. “While Turkish security forces do not rule out the Islamic State (IS) as a possible perpetrator, the Interior Minister speaks immediately and exclusively of the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD,” said Günter, Turkey expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Seufert, the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND).
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu also said that the order for the attack came from the northern Syrian Kurdish stronghold of Kobane. Seufert said: “The Turkish government has been announcing for months that it will soon march into Kobane, which is held by the PYD, and so far it has only refrained from doing so because of resistance from Russia and the USA.”
From the SWP expert’s point of view, an attack in Turkey would be illogical, especially from the point of view of the PYD and its militia YPG: “The attack makes it easier for the government to justify another intervention in Syria internationally. That’s why such an attack is bad for the Kurds in Syria pointless,” says Seufert. It remains unclear who is behind the crime. “One can only speculate.”
The office manager of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Turkey, Kristian Brakel, also expressed skepticism about the government’s portrayal. In an earlier series of attacks in 2015 and 2016, the PKK had a clear motivation to escalate the situation, Brakel told RND. “The peace process with the Turkish government had collapsed, people saw themselves on the winning track in Syria and Iraq, where the PKK had gained a great reputation in the USA and Europe through the fight against IS, so there was hope for international support for the fight in Turkey,” said Brakel. “In the current situation, I find it difficult to understand why the PKK should operate.”
