ASSESSMENTS
In Turkey, an Attack Underlines Militant Risks
Feb 1, 2013 | 14:30 GMT
Forensics experts and rescuers assess the blast site outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara
ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images
Summary
The Feb. 1 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara comes as Turkey is struggling to manage increasing instability in its periphery and in the region. Due to security systems in place at the compound, the damage caused by the attack was limited, and security inside the embassy's outer perimeter was not breached.
The Turkish Interior Ministry has identified the bomber as a member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, a splinter group of Devrimci Sol. While the group's involvement remains unconfirmed, the decision to strike a Western target is more in keeping with the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front than it is with Turkey's more prolific militant group, the the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK.
Ankara has been actively pursuing negotiations with the PKK, and there is an incentive for some PKK elements to derail the peace process. But such an attack on a Western target would not fit the group's profile, and there are other elements in Syria, Iran and al Qaeda that would be interested in sending a message to Ankara.
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