Since the start of 2016, forty terrorist attacks have been perpetrated in Turkey. In total, these bomb attacks, suicide bombings, shootouts and shellings have resulted in the deaths of 209 people and the injuring of 862 others.
Turkish officials have blamed the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) terrrorist group and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the most part of these attacks. However, ISIS has hardly claimed repsonsibility for 10% of them.
The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party (DHKP-C) claimed responsibility for 1 attack, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (KFF) – for 3 attacks, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – for 20. ISIS has not claimed claim responsibility for attacks but taken part in 4 cross-border shellings and shootouts.
The recent developments have shown that the security situation is rapidly deteorating in Turkey and the civil war with the Kurdish population is expanding from the southeastern parts of the country. The complicated situation inside the country and in the region, in general, have pushed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change the rhetorics and made attempt to improve relations with Israel and Russia.
Now, it looks that the Russian authorities have decided to restore the relation with Ankara. Moscow believes that, If Turkey is destabilized, the Islamist threat will grow in the Caucasus.
Attacks timeline:
1. January 12, 2016 – A suicide bomber blew himself up near Istanbul’s grandest tourist attractions: the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Hippodrome of Constantinople. Ten people were killed, 15 people were wounded, most of whom were foreign tourists. No group claimed responsibility. The Turkish government blamed the Islamic state (IS).
Photo: Reuters
2. January 13, 2016 – A car bomb attack, followed by rocket fire and long-range gunfire, destroyed a police headquarters in the city of Cinar in the Diyarbakir province. Five people were killed and 39 were wounded. Eight terrorists were killed in clashes with police following the bombing. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was blamed for the blast.
VIDEO: Aftermath of Car Bomb Attack on Police Station in Diyarbakir
3. January 18, 2016 – A bomb attack in the province of Sirnak. Three policemen were killed, 4 people were wounded. Turkish authorities suspected PKK.
Photo: Reuters
4. February 17, 2016 – A bomb attack in Ankara. The attack targeted the army buses near the central square of Kizilay. Many ministries, the headquarters of the army and the Turkish parliament are situated in this neighborhood. Twenty eight people were killed, 61 people were wounded. It’s not clear who was behind this blast. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons group claimed the responsibility.
Firefighters prepare to extinguish fire after an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, February 17, 2016.
REUTERS/Ihlas News Agency
5. February 18, 2016 – A bomb attack in Diyarbakır a city in Diyarbakır Province. A handmade bomb detonated by remote control killed the soldiers while traveling in a military vehicle. Six soldiers were killed and one soldier was seriously wounded. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Photo: Reuters
6. February 19, 2016 – The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant attack in Diyarbakir. Two soldiers and one police officer were killed.
Photo: Reuters
7. March 3, 2016 – Two women opened fire on a police station in Bayrampasa, the suburbs of Istanbul. Police fired back and killed them both in a raid. Two police officers were wounded. The women were members of The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C).
Photo: AP Photo
8. March 4, 2016 – A car bomb and a rocket attack in the Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. The attack occurred in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border. Two police officers were killed and 35 people were wounded. Turkish authorities suspected PKK.
Photo: AP Photo / Emrah Gurel
9. March 13, 2016 – A car bomb attack in the Kizilay area of Ankara. The bombing caused several vehicles to catch on fire and gunfire was heard after the blast. Thirty four people were killed, 125 people were wounded. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Photo: Elif Sogut/Getty Images
10. March 19, 2016 – A suicide bomber hit a busy tourist area in central Istanbul. Five people were killed, 36 people were wounded. Both so-called IS and Kurdish militants were blamed.
Photo: AFP Photo
11. March 22, 2016 – A bomb attack in Nusaybin, a town near the Syrian border. One soldier was killed, 6 others were wounded by PKK militants.
12. March 24, 2016 – A bomb attack in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin. One specialized sergeant was killed and four soldiers were wounded. PKK claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Photo: DHA Photo
13. March 24, 2016 – A separate bomb attack in the Nusaybin district. Two soldiers were killed and 5 others were wounded when PKK militants detonated explosives placed on a road during the passage of soldiers.
14. March 24, 2016 – A bomb attack by PKK in the southeastern province of Şırnak. One police officer was killed.
15. March 24, 2016 – A car bomb attack in southeast Turkey, in Lice, when PKK were attacking the military post. Three soldiers were killed, 24 soldiers were wounded.
16. April 2, 2016 – A car bomb attack by PKK terrorists at a military station in the southeastern Mardin province. One building guard was killed and 11 others, including 3 children, were wounded.
Photo: AA Photo
17. April 9, 2016 – A bomb attack near a bus stop in the district of Mecidiyekoy, the European part of Istanbul. Three people were wounded. No group claimed responsibility, but Turkish authorities suspected PKK.
Photo: DHA photo
18. April 9, 2016 – A car bomb attack by PKK militants in the Derik of the southeastern province of Mardin. One police officer and one civilian were killed.
Photo: Hurriyet Daily News
19. April 11, 2016 – A car bomb attack on a Turkish gendarmerie in the town of Hani. Two people were killed, 47 others, including eight civilians, were wounded. PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.
Photo: DHA photo
20. April 12, 2016 – A rocket attack – rockets were fired from an area in Syria controlled by Islamic State jihadists and crashed into the centre of Kilis. Two people were killed, 6 people were wounded.
Photo: AA Photo
21. April 12, 2016 – A bomb hit a military vehicle traveling in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin. Four soldiers were killed, two others were wounded. PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.
Photo: AA Photo
22. April 17, 2016 – PKK militants detonated an improvised explosive device during the passage of policemen in Nusaybin, in southeastern Mardin province. One police officer was killed while four others were wounded.
23. April 18, 2016 – A cross-border rocket attack from Syria hits the southern town of Kilis. Four people, including three children, were killed, 6 others were wounded. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
24. April 19, 2016 – Militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party detonated a homemade bomb in the Bahçelievler neighborhood of the southeastern Şırnak Province. A sergeant and a specialized sergeant were killed, six others were wounded.
25. April 22, 2016 – A car bomb attack by PKK in the eastern province of Tunceli. Three soldiers were killed.
26. April 25, 2016 – An explosive was detonated by PKK members in southeastern Turkey, in Mardin province. One soldier was killed.
27. April 25, 2016 – An explosion in the heart of the Nusaybin district. Six soldiers were wounded. An explosive was detonated by PKK.
28. April 27, 2016 – A suicide bomber blew herself up in the 14th century Grand Mosque, in the Turkish city of Bursa. Thirteen people were wounded. No group claimed responsibility, but Turkish authorities suspected the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Photo: Onur Yurtsever/AFP/Getty Images
29. April 28, 2016 – A bomb attack in the Varto district. PKK militants detonated an explosive placed on the road during the passing of an armored police vehicle. One police officer was killed and two others were wounded.
Photo: AA photo
30. May 1, 2016 – A car bomb exploded out a police headquarters in Gaziantep. Two policemen were killed and 22 others, including 3 civilians, were wounded. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was blamed for the blast.
Photo: AFP photo
31. May 1, 2016 – A rocket attack from an area in Syria controlled by Islamic State jihadists. Three rockets crashed into the centre of Kilis. Seven people were wounded.
Photo: CNN Turk
33. May 2, 2016 – A suicide car bomb against the security forces in Diyarbakır. One soldier was killed and 23 people were wounded. PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.
33. May 5, 2016 – A car bombing in Turkey’s Mardin. PKK used a car laden with explosives to attack a gendarmerie station. One person was killed, 10 others were wounded.
34. May 5, 2016 – Rockets fired from the Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria hit the south-central Turkish Kilis province. One child was killed and 8 people were wounded.
Photo: DHA photo
35. May 10, 2016 – A car bombing targeting a Turkish police vehicle in Diyarbakır. Three people were killed, 45 people were wounded. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was blamed for the blast.
36. May 24, 2016 – A PKK terror attack in the district of Çaldıran in eastern Van province. The attack was carried out with explosives planted on the highway. Six Turkish soldiers were killed and four others were wounded.
Photo: DHA photo
37. May 30, 2016 – A roadside bomb was placed in a street sewer and detonated when a police car pasted in the Turkish town of Silopi. Four civilians were killed and 19 others were wounded. PKK was blamed for the attack.
38. May 30, 2016 – A roadside bomb was detonated in the city of Van as an armored vehicle passed. Two policemen were killed and a third was wounded. PKK was suspected for the attack.
39. June 7, 2016 – A car bomb attack targeting a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul. Eleven people were killed, 36 others were wounded. No group has claimed it, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed to the involvement of Kurdish militants.
SNS
40. June 28, 2016 – A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Three suicide attackers opened fire on and blew themselves up. Forty three people were killed, including 13 foreigners, and more than 239 people were wounded. No group claimed responsibility, but Turkish PM Binali Yildirim suspected the Islamic state (IS).
Photo: Getty Images