The Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism in Türkiye

Since the 1990s, there have been a number of suicide attacks in Türkiye carried out by various extremist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, al‐Qa‘ida, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Yet, despite the increasing tactical use of and growing scholarly attention to the subject of suicide terrorism, scholars have paid scant attention to its causes within Türkiye. Our analysis thus demonstrates that, despite differing expectations, all groups have generally employed suicide terrorism to pressure the Turkish governments to accept their demands, discourage state military operations, exploit public frustration with the government, increase their own influence, recruit new members, and display coordination with other terrorist organizations

Exploit · Islam · Root (linguistics · Root cause · State (computer science · Terrorism · Turkish · Islamic Thought and Society Studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Turkey's Politics and Society