In a statement yesterday, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “strongly condemns the auto bomb attack in central Ankara”, adding that no Singaporean is known to be directly affected.
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The US backs the PYD in the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS).
Wednesday’s attack – blamed on a Syrian suicide vehicle bomber – struck at the heart of Ankara an an area where institutions including the army headquarters and parliament are concentrated.
Erdogan, Turkey’s president, said Wednesday’s attack demonstrated that there are strong links between the PKK and Syrian Kurd fighters.
Turkey fully joined the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State last July.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan rejected on Thursday the group’s denials of responsibility.
Earlier on Friday, Erdogan had said US-supplied weapons had been used against civilians by a Syrian Kurdish militia group that Ankara blames for the deadly suicide bombing this week.
Accusing Syrian Kurdish forces of responsibility for the Ankara bombing allows the Turkish government “to justify its strikes in Syria, especially amidst global pressure on Turkey to stop its bombardment”, Akram Saleh, a Kurdish journalist now embedded with the YPG in northeastern Al-Hasakah province told Syria Direct on Thursday.
Erdogan is growing increasingly exasperated over changes wrought by the war in Syria, where Kurdish rebels, whom he considers terrorists, have gained territory along the Turkish border in the chaos created by advancing Syrian forces backed by Russian airstrikes.
The attack was the second bombing in the capital in four months.
“We call on all the countries to take a clear stance against those terrorist organisations…either stand by the side of Turkey as a state or take side with terrorists”. Both groups are regarded as terrorist organisations by Ankara and the US.
The political arm of the YPG, denied involvement in the bombing, while a senior member of the PKK said he did not know who was responsible.
On Friday, Turkish authorities said they had detained three more suspects in connection with the bombing in Ankara, raising the number of people in custody to 17, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
As conflicts between the Turks and Kurds heat up, the United States risks bringing to Turkey, its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, the kind of chaos that prevails in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
“All those who intend to use terror pawns against Turkey must know that [playing] this game of terror will hit them like a boomerang”, he said.
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The group made reference to military operations against Kurdish rebels in south-east Turkey, and threatened more attacks.
