A large explosion on Monday that rocked the city of Van in Turkey’s restive southeast targeted the provincial offices of the ruling AK Party and wounded 11 people, an AKP lawmaker told broadcaster CNN Turk. Of the 19 wounded, two were police officers, the governor’s office said.
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MORE than 50 people have been injured in a vehicle bomb attack outside the ruling party’s municipal headquarters in Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the suspension of 28 mayors, saying it was a long-overdue.
Van province’s population is mostly Kurdish.
The US embassy said on Sunday that while it supported Turkey’s right to combat terrorism, it hoped the appointment of government administrators would be temporary and that local citizens could soon choose new representatives.
The Interior Ministry said the decision to remove the mayors was in line with a governmental decree enacted in the wake of a failed military coup.
Assad made a rare public appearance on Monday, attending prayers for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at a mosque in the suburb of Daraya, which surrendered last month after four years of government siege.
European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who visited Ankara on Friday (16 September) for talks with Turkish leaders, said she expected steps would be taken in compliance with rule of law.
Following the launching of a guerilla war with the Turkish state costing more than 40,000 lives, he was captured in Kenya in 1999 by Turkish intelligence in a joint operation with the CIA.
“They are carrying TNT (explosives)”.
Twelve of the mayors have been arrested, its statement said. “You don’t have such an authority”, he said. “We are hearing that the same thing will happen to our people who are working at the health care industry”.
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Earlier, Turkey’s Minister for the EU Affairs Omer Celik said that reinstating the death penalty in Turkey wasn’t put up for consideration by the country’s parliament.
