TAK Terror Group Carries Out a Series of Bombings in Turkey

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Aftermath of the Antalya bombing.

Over the past few days, Turkey has been hit by a string of bombings. On Sunday night and Monday morning, four separate blasts injured at least twenty people. The first blast, which came around 11:00 p.m. Sunday in the garden of an Istanbul school, wounded at least six. Then, just after midnight, the Aegean Sea resort town of Marmaris experienced three blasts. According to the Turkish Daily News, the first of these bombs "ripped through a shuttle bus ferrying tourists along one of the resort's main streets" after being placed under one of its seats. Subsequently, two other bombs stashed in garbage bins exploded, causing no injuries, "though some reports suggested those had not detonated properly."

Later on Monday, a bomb exploded in the coastal resort city of Antalya. Two people were killed in the explosion, and a third died later in the hospital. And another blast in the port city of Mersin injured a twenty-year-old woman.

Although the PKK has been the main perpetrator of recent attacks against Turkey, these blasts have been claimed by another group, the Teyrbazen Azadiya Kurdistan (TAK), also known as the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks or Kurdistan Freedom Falcons. This group, which first appeared in 2004, is shrouded in secrecy -- as shown by the Terrorism Knowledge Base's discussion of the group. For one thing, the group's origin, composition and affiliations are the subject of debate:

Some analysts believe that the group is either a small splinter of or an alias for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the most active Kurdish militant group. Others, however, suggest that the group may be totally independent of the PKK, or only loosely connected to it. PKK leaders deny having any control over the TAK.

Moreover, the TAK's precise goals are unclear. Although it is clearly part of the wider Kurdish nationalist movement, it's unclear if the TAK seeks an independent Kurdish state or if its goals are more limited in scope (or if it solely focused on revenge for Turkish misdeeds).

While the TAK's earliest attacks were small and non-lethal "warning actions" in public places, it has become increasingly violent since then. It claimed responsibility for a summer 2005 explosion in the coastal resort town of Cesme that injured at least twenty people, as well as another attack less than a week later that killed five people in another seaside town. Bombings against tourist targets are now TAK's signature: the tourist industry is a strategic target becuase of its economic importance. According to the Terrorism Knowledge Base, "The TAK claims to have no desire to kill foreigners, only that it wishes to cut off a key source of revenue for the Turkish government."

The recent rash of bombings will likely make investigation of the TAK a top priority for Turkish intelligence. Given the attention Turkey has devoted to the PKK lately (see my blog entries here and here, for example), one focus of this investigation will likely be the TAK/PKK relationship. If Turkey comes to believe that there is a strong connection between the two groups, that will almost certainly lead to an escalation of Turkish military activities in northern Iraq.

Kyle Dabruzzi contributed research to this analysis.

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