Terrorism in Turkey

Picture dramatizing the Yıldız assassination attempt.

Several nationalist groups used violence against an Ottoman Empire in apparent decline. One was the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (in Armenian Dashnaktsuthium, or "The Federation"), a revolutionary movement founded in Tiflis (Russian Transcaucasia) in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian. Many members had been part of Narodnaya Volya or the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party.[4] The group published newsletters, smuggled arms, and hijacked buildings as it sought to bring in European intervention that would force the Ottoman Empire to surrender control of its Armenian territories.[5] On 24 August 1896, 17-year-old Babken Suni led twenty-six members in capturing the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. The group backed down on a threat to blow up the bank.[6] On 21 July 1905, a bombing perpetrated by the same group targeting Sultan Abdul Hamid II failed to kill the Sultan, while killing 26 and injuring 58 others.

Terrorism in Turkey in the 1970s stemmed from the student protest movement in the 1960s. Leftist radicals first attempted to challenge the political regime by use of sit-ins, street demonstrations, and the establishment of a new political party, the Turkish Labor Party (TLP). After only receiving 3% of the popular vote in the 1965 election, and 2.7% four years later, leftist radicals began to turn to a more militant approach. Knowledge on the use of explosives and weapons was provided by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).[7]

Left-wing terrorism began in 1969 when the Proletarian Revolutionaries and Proletarian Socialists formed the Federation of Revolutionary Youth of Turkey (Dev-Genç). Terror activities included bank robberies, bombings and kidnappings (for ransom). In 1971, the military declared martial law to arrest revolutionaries. By 1973, these incidents had stopped.[8]^:15

Two Armenian groups conducted a number of terror attacks aimed at Turkish diplomats, ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) and JCAG (Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide). These attacks spawned a period of ten years from 1975 to 1985. Their efforts were mostly based overseas, but some attacks occurred in Turkey such as the May 1977 bombing of the Istanbul airport and railway and Ankara Esenboğa airport attack.[8]^:10–12

Between 1976 and 1980, more than 5,000 people were killed in hundreds of terrorist incidents.[7]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Jihadist terrorism in Turkey was an isolated phenomenon represented by the Turkish Hezbollah and the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front.[9] Since the 2000s, there has been a rise in attacks from Islamist groups, some with links to Al-Qaeda.[10] One group that has been studied by researchers is the Turkish Hezbollah.[11]

In the 1990s, Islamic terrorist organizations were active in Turkey. Their objective was to bring down the secular democratic regime in Turkey and to establish an Islamic Sharia‐based state (similar to Iran). In July 1993, an arson attack took place where extremists set fire to a hotel where a cultural festival was taking place. Islamic groups attacked and threatened Jewish personalities and the Jewish community in Turkey.[12]

In the course of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present) there were an estimated 30,000-35,000 deaths between 1984 and 2000, mainly in Eastern and Southeastern Turkey.[13] While the Turkish government position has been to classify the deaths in the conflict as terror related, other dispute this claim and allege human right violations by the Turkish authorities.[14][15]

The 2016 Atatürk Airport attack, consisting of shootings and suicide bombings, occurred on 28 June 2016 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Three ISIL-linked terrorists murdered forty-five people and injured 230.

The Dokumacılar is an Islamic terrorist group composed of about 60 Turkish militants who joined ISIL. The group is responsible for the 2015 Suruç bombing which resulted in 32 deaths.

Other attacks, including the 2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting, were perpetrated by ISIL.[16]

In February 2020, an Istanbul court acquitted novelist Aslı Erdoğan of charges of terrorist group membership and "undermining national unity". She was one of several staff members of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem accused of having ties to Kurdish militants.[17]