2022 Istanbul Bombing

On 13 November 2022, at approximately 4:13 pm, an explosion occurred on İstiklal Avenue in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey — a popular pedestrian and tourist street leading to Taksim Square. The blast killed six people and injured at least 81 others. According to Turkish news portal OdaTV, the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device containing TNT. The area was more crowded than usual at the time due to a nearby football match. All six people killed were Turkish citizens: a man and his nine-year-old daughter, a woman and her teenage daughter, and a married couple.

Istanbul's Chief Public Prosecutors' Office opened an investigation, eventually assigning at least eight, and later twenty-nine, prosecutors to the case. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said a woman had been filmed sitting on a bench near the blast site for about 40 minutes before leaving shortly before the explosion. The day after the attack, authorities announced the arrest of the main suspect, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national who had been working in Istanbul's textile industry. Several co-workers were detained and questioned, and two suspected human traffickers believed to have been assisting her attempted flight to Bulgaria were also detained. By 18 November, arrest warrants had been issued for seventeen people, including Albashir. Turkish police stated that Albashir confirmed affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG), saying she had been trained as a special intelligence officer and had entered Turkey through the Afrin District before travelling to Istanbul with a man carrying a bomb, arriving on 27 July 2022.

The PKK, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the YPG denied any involvement in the bombing. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi stated the bomber had ties to Islamic State through relatives, and called for peace between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces while denying responsibility for the attack. Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu attributed the bombing to the PKK, framed as retaliation for Turkish military operations in northeastern Syria, and criticized U.S. support for the YPG.

Following the attack, Turkey imposed a broadcast ban on coverage of the incident and restricted access to several social media platforms. On 20 November 2022, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Sword, conducting airstrikes against roughly 500 targets in Syria and Iraq linked to Kurdish groups. On 24 February 2023, Turkish authorities reported killing a man they identified as the attack's alleged mastermind, PKK member Halil Menci, in a northern Syria operation. On 26 April 2024, a Turkish court convicted Ahlam Albashir and sentenced her to seven consecutive life sentences for her role in the bombing.

The attack drew condemnation from Turkish political figures across the spectrum, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and the HDP, as well as international condolences from Germany, France, NATO, and other governments and organizations.