Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian member of the terrorist group PKK, was handed down seven instances of aggravated life imprisonment and another 1,794 years in prison for her role in a terror attack at Istanbul’s Istiklal Street on Nov. 13, 2022.
A court in Istanbul charged her with “disrupting state’s unity and integrity” and homicide for the attack which also injured 99 others. Six Turkish citizens, two members each of three families, were killed in the attack on the busy street packed with shoppers and tourists.
The prosecutor has asked for seven instances of aggravated life imprisonment and an additional prison term of up to 3,009 years for Albashir in an earlier hearing in February.
Albashir was among 15 defendants in custody while others were released earlier pending trial.
She was caught on security camera footage as she left the explosive device on Istiklal Street, shortly before a blast ripped through the street filled with locals and tourists. The prosecutor asked for separate sentences for Albashir on charges of membership in a terrorist group, attacking the country’s unity, the deliberate killing of a child and bombing, as well as illicit possession of dangerous materials. The prosecutor’s indictment said the bomb attack was ordered and orchestrated by senior leaders of the PKK, including Cemil Bayık, Sabri Ok and Ferhat Abdi Şahin, and asked for a separate trial involving those people. The indictment also called for the arrest of seven defendants who were released early pending trial and asked for a “Red Notice,” or international arrest warrant for a fugitive defendant.
Albashir, who was captured shortly after the terrorist attack, infiltrated into Türkiye from Syria where the PKK’s Syrian wing YPG is active. She was accommodated at a “safe house” of the terrorist group in Istanbul before running a reconnaissance mission before the attack.
The defendant said she regretted her actions and claimed that she was unaware that a bag she was asked to carry contained explosives. “They (other PKK-linked suspects) asked me to take photos on the street,” she said.
She also claimed some other defendants in the trial were innocent and they were “linked” to her just because she stayed in their homes.
“They have nothing to do with terrorism. You can punish me. I consent to any sentence you will give,” she told the court. “I am an orphan and did not want anybody to be left orphaned. I can’t sleep at night because people died that day,” she said.
In retort, the prosecutor said she should be "punished with the curse of the children she left orphaned" and any person with a conscience would not sleep anyway after carrying out such an attack.
At Friday's hearing, Albashir said she had nothing to say about the charges and accepted any punishment for the explosion and the deceased while saying Ammar Jarkas, another defendant, had nothing to do with the attack.
The court also sentenced 14 other defendants in the case accused of aiding and abetting Albashir to prison terms varying between four years to 1,035 years, while 12 defendants were acquitted. A separate trial will be held for 10 other defendants who remain at large.
One of the masterminds of the Istiklal attack, Halil Menci, was killed in a pinpoint National Intelligence Organization (MIT) operation in Qamishli in northern Syria on Feb. 22, 2023.
Sources said Menci had been in close contact with other PKK/YPG terrorists and was protected by the terrorist group in the region.
Qamishli is one of the places controlled by the terrorist group. Turkish intelligence personnel has been running surveillance for a while on Menci.
In her questioning, Albashir confirmed entering Türkiye illegally from Afrin and receiving intelligence training from the PKK/YPG.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
After the attack, Türkiye launched aerial operations against the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. At the same time, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan implied that a ground operation to clear Syria’s north of terrorist groups threatening Türkiye was also on the table. However, PKK/YPG terrorists have responded to Turkish operations by firing rockets at a Turkish town on the border with Syria, killing two people, including a young boy and a teacher.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq, including a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil.
Türkiye has, over the past 25 years, operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK, as well as the war against Daesh, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign.
Ankara launched Operation Claw-Lock in April 2022, the latest in the string of cross-border "Claw" offensives kicked off in 2019, to demolish terrorist lairs across Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara districts and prevent the formation of a terror corridor along Turkish borders.
The PKK carried out attacks, killing more than a dozen Turkish soldiers in the past two months in Metina. The high toll led to an increase in Turkish operations, which sometimes take place deep into Iraqi territory.
Ankara plans a new swoop in on the militants this spring and has sought Iraqi cooperation, in the form of a joint operations room, as well as recognition by Baghdad of the PKK threat. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently visited Iraq to cement the cooperation to that extent.
