The brother of a mother of two killed in the weekend bombings in Ankara cries over her coffin during her funeral in Istanbul. Source: AP
Anger towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over Turkey’s worst terror attack has intensified as authorities raced to identify two male suicide bombers blamed for the bloodshed.
The streets of Ankara filled yesterday with anti-government and pro-Kurdish protesters accusing the government of responsibility for the blast that ripped through a peace rally on Saturday night (AEDT). Several shouted “Erdogan murderer” and “government resign”. In Istanbul, a 10,000-strong crowd accused the government of failing to protect citizens by providing security for the event, carrying placards reading “the state is a killer” and “we know the murderers”.
As tributes poured in from world leaders, Peoples’ Democratic Party leader Selahattin Demirtas was cited as saying “State attacked the people. Condolences recipient should be the people not Erdogan” on the party’s Twitter account.
In an emotional address to mourners in Ankara, Mr Demirtas said citizens should aim to end Mr Erdogan’s rule, starting with November 1 legislative elections.
“We are not going to act out of revenge and hatred. But we are going to ask for (people to be held to) account,” he added, saying the vote would be part of a process to “topple the dictator”.
The party believed the death toll stood at 128, higher than the 97 people the Prime Minister’s office said were killed when the bombs exploded as leftist and pro-Kurdish activists assembled by the city’s main train station.
The official toll said 507 people were wounded and that 160 were still in hospital and 65 in intensive care in 19 hospitals. The government, which has denied any responsibility, was attempting to identify the two male suicide bombers it blamed for the bloodshed, but the strike had yet to be claimed by any group.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said groups including Islamic State, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front were capable of carrying out such an attack. “Work is continuing to identify the corpses of the … terrorists who carried out the suicide bombings,” his office said.
The scene of the blasts was littered with ball bearings, indicating the explosions were intended to cause maximum damage.
With the country on edge, Mr Erdogan issued a statement condemning the “heinous” bombings and cancelled a planned visit to Turkmenistan, but he had yet to speak in public since the attack that shocked the nation.
Even before the attacks, the President was under immense political pressure after his Justice and Development Party lost its overall majority in June 7 polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002. Coalition talks failed and Mr Erdogan called new polls. But opinion polls show the outcome may be little different to the previous ballot.
The Ankara death toll surpasses that of the May 2013 twin bombings in Reyhanli on the Syrian border, which killed more than 50 people, making the attack the deadliest in the history of the Turkish Republic.
NTV television said the Suruc and Ankara attacks were similar both in style and the type of bombs used. The same forensic experts sent to Suruc were working in Ankara. The Hurriyet and Haberturk dailies said the elder brother of Abdurrahman Alagoz, who carried out the Suruc suicide bombing, could be implicated in the Ankara blasts.
The Suruc bombing caused one of the most serious flare-ups in Turkey in recent times as the PKK accused the government of collaborating with Islamic State and resumed attacks on the security forces after a truce of more than two years. The military hit back, launching a “war on terror” against the Kurdish militants.
The PKK announced at the weekend it would suspend attacks — except in self defence — ahead of the polls. But the Turkish army kept up its campaign.
AFP
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