In the first quarter of the year Turkey experienced terrorist attacks by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and a call for disarmament from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Later in the second quarter, political parties readied for the June 7 general elections, after which political parties failed to form a coalition government. In mid-2015, the PKK announced that it ended the cease-fire and widened its terrorist attacks, killing dozens of civilians, police and military officers.
Many top Gülen Movement figures, including prosecutors who are accused of taking major parts in plots against the government and rival groups, fled the country to escape arrest. In the final quarter of the year, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) increased its votes by 9 percent and formed a new single party government for the 4th consecutive term after the Nov. 1 early elections. After Russian intervention in Syria, Turkmens in the north of the country came under heavy Russian attacks. Shortly after, Turkish fighter jets downed a Russian warplane after it violated Turkish airspace. The incident led Moscow to impose various sanctions on Turkey.
JANUARY
A suicide bomber blew herself up in the heart of Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet neighborhood, killing one security officer. Officials said the attack was conducted by Diana Ramazova, a Russian national, with possible links to DAESH.
FEBRUARY
Öcalan called on the PKK to lay down its arms. Öcalan's message was shared with the public by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at a press conference.
The Turkish military relocated the tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, and extracted 40 soldiers guarding the compound in Syria. The tomb had already been relocated twice before due to the threat of flooding
The Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) seized the Gülen Movement-affiliated bank, Bank Asya, and shares belonging to 122 real and judicial shareholders of the bank, including Kaynak Holding, Ortadoğu Tekstil and Forum İnşaat.
Öcalan called on the PKK to lay down its arms. Öcalan's message was shared with the public by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at a press conference.
The Turkish military relocated the tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, and extracted 40 soldiers guarding the compound in Syria. The tomb had already been relocated twice before due to the threat of flooding
The Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) seized the Gülen Movement-affiliated bank, Bank Asya, and shares belonging to 122 real and judicial shareholders of the bank, including Kaynak Holding, Ortadoğu Tekstil and Forum İnşaat.
MARCH
After being taken hostage by two DHKP-C terrorists in Istanbul's Çağlayan Courthouse, Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was shot in the head and died.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which will carry natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European market, took place in the eastern province of Kars with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in attendance.
APRIL
Parliament passed the Domestic Security Reform Package, which was prepared by the AK Party government in efforts to establish a balance between freedom and security for citizens while enhancing the civilian identity of the state, and prepared in line with EU standards of security, freedoms and security regulations.
Representatives from 73 countries attended to the Çanakkale Centennial Peace Summit. Presidents of 17 countries and five prime ministers were present at the commemoration ceremonies.
MAY
Turkey became an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Turkey approved the agreement with the organization in 2014, granting it associate membership. With this associate membership agreement, long-term partnership between the organization and the Turkish scientific community will become stronger. This membership status also gives a chance to Turkey to attend CERN Council meetings. In addition, the agreement allows Turkish scientists to become full-time members of CERN staff and participate in CERN's training and career development programs.
Kenan Evren, the leader of the 1980 coup, died on May 9 at the Gata Military Hospital in Ankara from multiple organ failure linked to old age. Evren, who was 97, had been undergoing treatment for chronic back pain since March 2012 at the hospital. He was born in Manisa in 1917 and graduated from the military academy in 1949. After serving as the land forces commander he was promoted to chief of general staff in 1978. He is principally known for leading the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup.
JUNE
l In the June 7 elections the AK Party came out on top as the first party, receiving 40.87 percent of the vote. The runner-up Republican People's Party (CHP) received 24.95 percent followed by 16.29 percent for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and 13.12 percent for the HDP. After three consecutive single party governments, the AK Party failed to receive a simple majority in Parliament.
Turkey's ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, passed away at 91 on June 17 in Ankara. The cause of death was announced as heart and respiratory failure. Serving 12 years as prime minister in five different terms, Demirel was one of the most influential figures in Turkish politics. He was known for his unique and swift responses to the press and his many nicknames, the most famous being "the father."
After HDP Co-Chair Demirtaş conveyed Öcalan's call for the PKK to lay down its arms, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) announced: "We own the will of disarmament. Demirtaş or Öcalan cannot urge us to lay down our arms."
JULY
The PKK announced on July 11 that the cease-fire which that declared in a message from Öcalan in 2013 had ended. The KCK, an umbrella organization that includes the PKK, threatened Ankara: "As of now, all the dams and the machines used in the construction of the dams will be the target of our guerilla forces."
A suicide bombing perpetrated by a DAESH militant killed 32 people and left more than 100 injured in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa on the Syrian border. The explosion targeted dozens of people from a pro-Kurdish group, Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), who gathered at a cultural center before a trip to Kobani to help in its rebuilding. Many analysts said the strongest motive behind the attack was Turkey's intensified efforts to fight DAESH with the U.S.-led coalition. After the attack in Suruç, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) positioned tanks and artillery batteries in Kilis province facing Syria.
Military officer Müsellim Ünal was killed in a clash between the PKK and security forces in Adıyaman. KCK Co-Chair Cemil Bayık called on people to take up arms, dig trenches and create tunnels in their homes.
Police officers Feyyaz Yumuşak and Okan Acar were shot dead while sleeping in their apartment in the Ceylanpınar district of Şanlıurfa. In Adana, Kalem-Der member Ethem Türkben was killed by the PKK in front of his pregnant wife and three children.
Ankara launched a large-scale of military operation against terrorist organizations threatening Turkey's national security at home and abroad. Dozens of fighter jets launched airstrikes on DAESH positions and targets in Syria and the PKK in Northern Iraq. At the same time, the National Police Department conducted comprehensive raids to arrest hundreds of people with suspected ties to DAESH, the PKK or the DHKP-C.
AUGUST
Turkish Land Forces Commander Hulusi Akar was appointed the new chief of General Staff. Akar played a significant role in the operation to relocate the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, which allowed the government to minimize the risk of unplanned involvement in regional clashes. In efforts to prevent and minimize the flow of foreign terrorists as well as to prevent the flow of PKK fighters and DAESH terrorists into Turkey by making use of Ankara's open-door policy for refugees, Akar established comprehensive strategies and informed government officials at all National Security Council (MGK) meetings. According to the Land Forces website, Akar graduated from the Military Academy as an infantry officer in 1972. He served as a commander in Bosnia in 1997 and 1998, for which he was awarded the U.S. Order of Merit, before returning to Turkey to command the Internal Security Brigade.
Gülenist ex-prosecutors Zekeriya Öz, Celal Kara, for whom warrants were issued for allegedly orchestrating the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 operations in an apparent attempt to oust the elected government, fled abroad to escape arrest.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that early elections were to take place on Nov. 1 following the failure of coalition talks between political parties. Since July 13, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with both CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli for coalition talks that in the end proved fruitless.
SEPTEMBER
Fourteen police officers were killed in eastern Iğdır and Tunceli provinces in two separate PKK attacks while terrorists targeted Turkish soldiers in a roadside bomb attack in the town of Dağlıca of eastern province of Hakkari, killing 16 soldiers and wounding six others. "At this point the only solution is for the PKK to lay down its arms; nothing else can be discussed," Erdoğan had said, and vowed that Turkey will not be abandoned to terrorists.
Thousands of Syrian refugees at the Grand Istanbul Bus Station, the main inter-city transportation hub in the city, and Edirne, which has a land border with Greece, tried to hold on with the help of the Turkish Red Crescent, Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the İHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and local nongovernmental organizations.
Turkish authorities lifted a week-long curfew in the southeastern district of Cizre that had been in place as the military fought the PKK. Cizre, in the pre-dominantly Kurdish province of Şırnak, had been one of the few towns where the PKK committed its deadliest attacks on security forces and civilians.
OCTOBER
Ankara was the scene of a twin suicide bombing by DAESH terrorists. The bombings were the deadliest terrorist attack in modern Turkish history and were set off by two suspected suicide attackers in a crowd of leftist, pro-Kurdish and union activists at a peace rally. The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed in a statement on Oct. 19 that one of the suicide bombers was identified as a DAESH-linked terrorist named Yunus Emre Alagöz, the brother of the Suruç suicide bomber.
NOVEMBER
The AK Party clinched victory after securing 49.46 percent of the vote in Turkey's 26th general elections on Nov. 1. The party's votes were higher than the other three parties represented in Parliament combined. The AK Party received 316 parliamentary seats, followed by the CHP with 25.27 percent and 133 seats, the MHP with 11.97 percent votes and 42 seats and the HDP with 10.34 percent and 59 seats, just above the 10 percent national election threshold. The vote was conducted under the closed list proportional representation system and was overseen by observers from civil society groups and political parties as well as international monitors. "This victory is not ours [AK Party], but that of our nation and our citizens," Davutoğlu said hours after preliminary results put the AK Party ahead of the other parties.
At the request of the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office, the Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace decided to assign trustees to administer Kaynak Holding, which is accused of being affiliated with the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ). The decision covered 19 subsidiaries, one foundation and one association connected to the holding company.
The Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian fighter jet as part of the rules of engagement and violation of airspace over the Kızıldağ region near Hatay province close to the Syrian border. The downed fighter jet was warned 10 times in five minutes, according to a statement released by the TSK. After the fighter jet failed to comply, two Turkish F-16s were deployed to shoot down the aircraft. The incident came after Russian warplanes conducted heavy strikes on Syrian Turkmens in Latakia province. Moscow immediately imposed economic sanctions on Turkey.
Diyarbakır Bar Association Chairman Tahir Elçi and two police officers were killed in an attack by PKK terrorists. Elçi, along with other lawyers, was in the area to give a press release against the ongoing clashes between security forces and the PKK in the area. Following the press statement given next to the historic Dört Ayaklı Minaret in a district harmed during the clashes, the group, including Elçi, and accompanying security forces were attacked by PKK terrorists with automatic rifles and rockets.
DECEMBER
Professor Aziz Sancar was awarded for his scientific achievements with a Nobel Prize, which was given to him, Swedish scientist Tomas Lindahl and American scientist Paul Modrich by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf for their research on the repair of damaged DNA by cells in the body. Sancar was born in 1946 in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin. After he completed his M.D. at Istanbul University he received his Ph.D. on the photoreactivating enzyme of E. coli in 1977 at the University of Texas. Currently a professor at the University of North Carolina, Sancar is an honorary member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Russian officials have announced their failure to retrieve any information from the black box of the fighter plane downed by Turkey. However experts in cryptology discounted Russian remarks as unconvincing.
The General Staff announced on Dec. 26 that 214 PKK terrorists had been killed in counterterrorism operations in southeastern Turkey since security officials started comprehensive operations against the PKK's urban and rural wings on Dec. 15. Most of the casualties took place in the Cizre and Silopi districts of Şırnak and in Diyarbakır's Sur district where operations continue amid curfews. Out of the 214 terrorists killed, 155 were killed in Cizre and 17 others in Silopi while 42 more were killed in Sur.
