It expressed “sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the Turkish government and the people” and wished for a the injured a speedy recovery.
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Most recently, the Kurds, along with Arab allies, ousted Islamic State from Minbij, a key city near the border with Turkey, helping to cut off the flow of foreign fighters joining the extremists.
Turkey’s president says the bomber was a young boy, 12-14 years old, and probably a member of the Islamic State.
He said there were a number of reasons the Sunni terror group – if it is responsible for the attack – could have been motivated to strike Kurdish targets.
Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said in a statement that “all of those killed were Kurds”.
The deadly attack also came amid ongoing struggles between the government and Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, and as the country is still reeling from the aftermath of last month’s failed coup attempt, which the government has blamed on US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.
The bombing late Saturday in Gaziantep was the deadliest attack in Turkey this year.
All 44 victims identified so far were laid to rest in harrowing ceremonies in Gazinantep on Sunday with relatives throwing themselves on the coffins in desperation, an AFP correspondent said. The groom was wounded during the attack while the bride was not touched.
Officials said a destroyed suicide vest was found at the scene of the attack in Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.
Kurdish militia played a central role in driving the group from the Syrian city of Manbij this month, cutting a main supply route from the Turkish border to its heartland in Raqqa.
“I can not recount what I saw”, he told Anadolu Agency.
Past attacks have been carried out by ISIS, which controls northern Syria across the border, and the PKK.
“I wish God’s mercy upon those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to those wounded in this inhumane incident where a child was mercilessly used as a suicide bomber”, Akinci said.
The BBC’s Seref Isler, who is from Gaziantep, says the city of 1.5 million was already on edge because of events in Syria, where IS has been battling Syrian Kurdish forces.
USA ambassador to Turkey John Bass condemned the “barbaric attack on innocent civilians”, adding that Washington would “continue to work to defeat the common threat of terrorism”.
Turkey started targeting ISIS through airstrikes in July 2015.
The United States condemned the attack, calling it a “barbaric act”.
The attack took place as the party was wrapping up in a mainly Kurdish neighborhood.
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Shortly before the Gaziantep bombing on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım made clear that his government is considering taking the unprecedented step of allowing Moscow to use Incirlik air base to bomb ISIS.
