|
Turkey: Kurds implicated in Ankara bomb attack
23.5.2007 |
|
|
|
May
23, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey ,-- At least six people were
killed and more than 80 injured when a bomb exploded
close to the entrance of a shopping mall
in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
The rush-hour attack, one of the worst in the city
for a decade and blamed by security sources on
Kurdish separatists, killed five Turks and a
Pakistani national, according to officials.
The front of the five-storey Anafartalar shopping
mall in the historic centre was badly damaged by the
explosion.
Unconfirmed reports last night suggested an
explosive device was left at a bus stop close to the
busy centre in the Ulus district.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility,
although police were holding seven people in
connection with the blast last night.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the scene
shortly after the bombing, said: "We have seen a
vicious, ruthless terror attack at Ankara's busiest
time. Is it a suicide bomber or a parcel bomb?
Technical teams are working on this. We have always
said terror can strike anyone, anywhere. Although we
have taken every precaution, we have experienced
this incident." Mayor Melih Gokcek said: "This is
the most horrific scene I have ever seen. It gives
me great grief."
Officials said four Turks and one Pakistani were
killed instantly by the explosion, while another
Turkish person died shortly after arriving at
hospital.
Recep Akdag, the health minister, said more than 80
people were injured, although it was not stated how
many were in a serious condition. Six other
Pakistanis, visiting a defence industry fair
organised by the Turkish armed forces, were also
wounded. Witnesses described seeing mutilated bodies
lying near the entrance of the mall.
"We were cleaning the windows when the pressure from
the blast pushed us to the ground. Everything was
covered in dust. I could only hear people
screaming," said Murat Coskun, who owns a nearby
mobile phone shop.
Another witness, Mehmet Yilmaz, said he saw someone
on fire and tried to put out the flames by covering
him with rugs.
Analysts said the attack was almost certain to raise
tensions ahead of a general election in July, a
contest fraught with strain between Turkey's
secularist elite, the ruling Islamist-rooted AK
party and Kurdish factions who accuse the government
of sidelining their candidates.
Police officers at the scene were reported to have
said that plastic explosives, the type favoured by
separatist Kurdish rebels, were used to make the
bomb. A security source said the bombing bore the
hallmarks of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
which is waging an armed struggle for Kurdish
rights.
The PKK ended a unilateral ceasefire on 18 May and
security experts had expected attacks to escalate as
a result.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and PKK guerrillas
have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
independent co.uk
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 