Witnesses to Saturday’s attacks said the protestors were performing a traditional dance, hands locked, when the blasts went off. Family members searching for their loved ones clashed with police at the scene, complaining about slow response. “They have the most to benefit from a full-blown war between Turkey and the PKK”, he said.
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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was hosting a meeting of top officials, including powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan, in the early afternoon to discuss the attack. Turkey has been engaged in a heavy-bombing campaign against the PKK-a marxist Kurdish faction in northern Syria-and has killed hundreds of its militants over the past few months. The attack, which left another 246 wounded, many seriously, was the deadliest in recent Turkish history.
A victim is carried from the site of the blasts near Ankara’s main train station. Police used water cannons and pepper spray to disperse protesters armed with firecrackers and stones, according to the Haberturk newspaper.
Interior Minister Selami Altinok said he would not resign, denying there was a “security vacuum” in policing at the rally. Fighting on Turkey’s border is pitting Kurds that Turkey views as terrorists against Islamic radicals it also views as enemies.
In July, a Turkish court ordered a ban on publishing images of a deadly suicide bombing near the border with Syria on all print, visual and online media, including Twitter.
Bodies of the slain activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with the banners they had been holding for the “Work, Peace and Democracy” rally lying next to them. “It’s feared there could have been a similar motivation this time, before an electoral rerun next month”.
“Daesh struck at the PKK in Ankara before a Kurdish offensive on Raqqa”, Ozcan said by phone, using an alternative name for Islamic State.
“No matter what its origin, aim or name, we are against any form of terrorist act or terrorist organisation”. Electoral gains by the country’s pro-Kurdish party caused the AKP, founded by Erdogan, to lose its parliamentary majority in a June election after a decade of single-party rule.
Singapore condemned the bomb blasts in Ankara, Turkey through comments made by a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson to the media on Saturday night at around 10pm.
The PKK announced after the bombings Saturday that it is ordering its fighters to curb militants activities in Turkey and only respond when they come under attack from Turkish forces. It quoted Obama as saying the US “shared Turkey’s grief”. He has cancelled a planned visit to Turkmenistan.
HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, whose party has faced numerous attacks in the run-up to the June 7 poll as well as the upcoming snap elections, lashed out at the Turkish government in the aftermath of Saturday’s carnage. Following the Suruc attack, Sarkisian sent a letter to Erdogan, expressing his condolences and condemning the violence.
The PKK resumed its attacks against Turkish security targets in July, renouncing a 2013 ceasefire.
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“I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the attack in Ankara yesterday which resulted in the deaths of so many innocent civilians exercising their democratic rights”, he said in a statement. “I invite everyone to act with responsibility and to take their side against terror, not with it”.
