Patterns of Global Terrorism 1996 - Turkey

The number of terrorist incidents committed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey in 1996 declined significantly due to the group's unilateral cease-fire from December 1995 until the fall of 1996. Nonetheless, the PKK was responsible for sporadic terrorist attacks during the cease-fire period, most notably, the 30 June suicide bombing against a Turkish military parade in Tunceli. The attack killed nine security forces personnel and wounded another 35. The suicide bombing marked the first time the PKK had used this tactic even though PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had threatened earlier in the year to use suicide bombings against Turkey's Western cities in an effort to drive away tourists.

Since the end of the cease-fire the PKK has stepped up its attacks against military and civilian targets in southeastern Turkey. The most noteworthy incidents include two more suicide bombings – in Adana and Sivas – in late October that killed two civilians in addition to eight security forces personnel. The suicide bombing in Sivas is of note because the city, well outside of the southeast, is in an area that the Turkish Government previously considered to be relatively secure. In two other incidents four schoolteachers were murdered outside of Diyarbakir in October and three tourists – including a US citizen – were kidnapped outside of Bingol in September. The US citizen and his Polish traveling companion were later released unharmed. There is no word on the status of the third hostage, reportedly an Iranian. The killing of schoolteachers and kidnapping of foreigners are traditional PKK terrorist acts but had not been seen in almost two years.

The number of violent PKK activities in Western Europe also was down in 1996, particularly after German Security Services Chief Klaus Gruenewald visited Ocalan in late 1995 to demand the cessation of PKK-instigated violence in Germany. PKK violence continued at a negligible level until early March when a PKK-affiliated demonstration in Bonn turned violent, injuring several German policemen. Ocalan later apologized for the incident and promised to suspend further PKK incidents on German soil.

The Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) – the successor group to Devrimci Sol – pulled off a spectacular terrorist act in January with the high-profile assassination of prominent Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanci in his high-security office building in Istanbul. Previously, DHKP/C had managed only a few low-level assassinations against unprotected Turkish targets. The group also conducted several drive-by shootings of policemen in Istanbul. Although the drive-by shootings are not characteristic of DHKP/C's usually intensive surveillance and planning, its successful murder of Sabanci suggests that it is acquiring greater capabilities and that it could once again become a real threat.