Bloodstains, body parts and corpses covered by flags, including those of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), littered the area, as peace marchers tended to the wounded, and hundreds of stunned people wandered around the streets.
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“There was a massacre in the middle of Ankara”, said Lami Ozgen, head of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK.
Turkey’s government late Saturday raised the death toll in the twin bomb blasts to 95 people killed, 248 wounded. “A few of our friends are in serious condition”. Two suspected suicide bombings occurred seconds apart, and health officials fear the death toll could rise.
In a live television broadcast, Turkish Interior Minister Selami Altinok said in response to a reporter’s question that he would not resign because there had been no security breach.
“Daesh struck at the PKK in Ankara before a Kurdish offensive on Raqqa”, Ozcan said by phone, using an alternative name for Islamic State.
Mr Erdogan strongly denies the accusations.
The Foreign Ministry stressed “the need for solidarity to denounce violence and reject terrorism in all its forms and manifestations regardless of its motives and causes”.
Hours after the attacks, a ban was imposed in Turkey on broadcasting images which directly showed the bomb blasts.
He warned media organizations they could face a “full blackout” if they did not comply.
Many Twitter users in Turkey meanwhile were unable to access the social media network on Saturday. Ugurcan Taspinar, a news editor at Turkish tech site Techno Today, told The Verge that access to email is limited and that Facebook, as well as Twitter, are down at his location. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called an emergency security meeting to discuss the attack and suspended his election campaign for three days. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
One of the bombers had been identified as a male aged 25-30 after analysing bodies at the scene and taking fingerprints, the pro-government Yeni Safak said.
In return, hostilities between Kurds and the Turkish government, which have killed tens of thousands of people since 1984, have been renewed.
“I will say that when we’ve seen ISIS attacks, they have tended to be in the border region along the Turkish/Syrian border”.
Airstrikes have also been targeting the bases of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq. The HDP tweeted that police “attacked” people carrying the injured away.
“We will tear down that palace”, said a 21-year-old university student, Tarik, who had been less than 50 metres from one of yesterday’s blasts.
President Barack Obama offered condolences to Erdogan in a phone call Saturday. Quite the contrary: Critics accuse Erdogan of having intentionally incited the conflict between the state and PKK since the summer in order to win over the conservative electorate for the Justice and Development Party.
The leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP party has blamed the state for the attack, and cancelled all election rallies. “A barbaric attack has been committed”, he said.
During the call, HH the Emir expressed his condolences and sympathy on the victims of the blasts in Ankara, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
In Syria, Kurds have carved out an autonomous enclave, and in Turkey they have gained more political influence by appealing to liberals and other minorities disenchanted with the government.
“This is not an attack against the state, against the nation, but rather by the state against the people”, the Kurdish leader said. A cruel and barbarian attack was carried out.
The government has previously dismissed any possible Kurdish cease-fire plans, saying the rebels must lay down their arms and leave the Turkish territory. Concerns over security in the run up to those elections had already been high before Saturday’s attack.
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The government has said there would be no letup in its fight against the Kurdish rebels.
