One day after a auto bomb targeting military vehicles killed at least 28 people in Ankara, Turkey’s leaders say the attacker was a Syrian man with links to Kurdish militants in both Turkey and Syria.
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Davutoglu said the attack was the result of a collaboration between “the PKK together with a person (Necar) who sneaked into Turkey from Syria”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded Friday that America declare the Kurdish group a terrorist organization.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said the attack was revenge for operations by the Turkish military in the southeast of the country and warned foreign tourists not to visit Turkey. Erdogan said US-supplied weapons had been used against civilians by a Syrian Kurdish militia group that Ankara blames for a deadly suicide bombing.
Washington, which does not consider the YPG a terrorist organization, has said it is not in a position to confirm or deny Ankara’s charge the militia was behind the bombing.
“The Turkish population, regardless of how polarised it is on domestic issues, on the Kurdish issue they are united…that the Kurdish groups fighting Turkey should be dealt with [using] force”, Elshayyal said.
“The YPG groups that we’re supporting, there are various parts of the YPG on the ground in Syria”.
Mr. Erdogan said 14 people had been detained in nationwide raids across Turkey and that the number was likely to rise.
Turkish fighter jets on Thursday pounded Syrian Kurdish rebel positions across the border in northern Iraq in retaliation for an attack in Ankara on Wednesday that killed at least 28 people.
Turkish authorities have identified the suicide bomber behind the blast as a Syrian national.
This morning, Turkish media claimed that the Syrian Kurds were preparing a “massive attack” in northern Syria.
The YPG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), deny being PKK branches and argue that they have no interest in attacking Turkey.
The official account, provided by the Turkish government, blamed the attacks on the YPG, a different Kurdish group based in Syria. Maintaining this line, Davutoglu said, “Those who directly or indirectly support a group hostile to Turkey will risk losing their status as a friend”.
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“The global community was making some calls to stop this shelling and I really hope that they are seeing right now why we were doing this”, Sert said.
