Share

Turkish people protest, mourn victims

Hurriyet Daily News quoted heads of the outlawed KCK, the PKK’s umbrella group, as saying the order was issued based on calls from inside and outside Turkey for an end to attacks that could compromise a “fair and just election” on November. 1. Hundreds have died in the fighting since July.

Advertisement

The death toll surpassed that of the May 2013 twin bombings in Reyhanli on the Syrian border that killed over 50 people.

“I, along with people across the world, have been shocked and saddened by Saturday’s attack in Ankara and my thoughts are with all those affected by these awful events”, Elizabeth said. The Interior Minister Selami Altınok announced that there was no security failure on the state’s part for the deadliest terror attack in contemporary Turkish history.

In Strasbourg in northeastern France, another 400 people demonstrated according to police, and several hundred came out in solidarity in the southern city of Marseille, with a few holding signs reading “Murderer Erdogan”. Paris has a large and active Kurdish population.

“This could well be Turkey’s 9/11”, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Programme at The Washington Institute.

The outspoken HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas questioned how the government was unable to prevent the attacks despite the fact that the government knows all about what happens in Turkish capital through vast intelligence network.

U.S. President Barack Obama offeredTurkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu official USA condolences.

Mr Demirtas said government officials should apologise to the people and resign. But local politicians said the remains of 120 victims had been identified.

The party held the Turkish government accountable for the Ankara bombings, which was worsening tensions between the two sides in an already hard period.

According to Demirtas, the Erdogan government has made no attempt to find the perpetrators of those two previous terror attacks.

Scuffles broke out with the police after a few mourners tried to lay flowers at the sites where the bombs went off on Saturday. A few protesters clashed with the police, eventually pushing them back to allow ambulances to reach the ones in need of urgent care.

Pope Francis led a silent prayer at the Vatican for the victims Sunday.

The pope paused for 30 seconds of silent prayer for “that dear country” during his traditional Angelus blessing Sunday.

Crowds gathered in Ankara chanting and praying- at the site of Saturdays double bombing, that killed almost 100 people and wounded many others.

A two-year peace process between the Turkish state and the P.K.K. collapsed, as the militants increased their attacks and Mr. Erdogan ordered the military to resume bombing the group.

A statement from the government’s crisis coordination center also said Sunday that 160 people hurt in Saturday’s blasts were still hospitalized, with 65 in serious condition.

Turkey is mourning the deaths of at least 95 people.

Security sources say they suspect Islamic State (IS) bombed the rally.

Another person outside the morgue, Havva, said: “Those who do not believe in brotherhood, those who don’t believe in equality of the people of this country, are the ones who provoked what we saw yesterday in Ankara”.

The HDP said the party was the main target of the bombings, claiming that the explosives targeted its members as they marched by. No group has claimed responsibility.

Advertisement

Outside Ankara’s forensic morgue, families and friends of victims waited grief-struck for the bodies of their loved ones.

Relatives mourn near the coffin of a victim of the twin bombings in Ankara during the funeral in Istanbul