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Speculations After Ankara Bomb Attack in Turkey
25.5.2007 |
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A man
has been identified through DNA and fingerprints as
the suicide bomber in the Ankara bombing. As the
initial shock over the attack in Ankara on 22 May
dies down, there is increasing debate over the
perpetrators and repercussions of the attack.
May
25, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- On Wednesday afternoon,
the governor of Ankara, Kemal Önal, announced that
the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber
called Güven Akkus. Based on DNA and fingerprints,
the police identified the 28-year-old man from Sivas,
in Central Anatolia.
A PKK attack?
While Önal declared that both the type of explosive
and the manner of attack were typical of the PKK,
the BBC Turkish Service quoted the pro-Kurdish Firat
News Agency as
saying that the PKK was not responsible for the
attack, and indeed condemned it.
Meanwhile, people interviewed in the streets of
Istanbul Wednesday were confused. In turn, Islamic
groups supporting the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP), Kurds who want to punish Turkey for
getting involved in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq), and
the "deep state" (i.e. an extra-judiciary militia)
were blamed for the attacks. Some people
acknowledged that the attack would gain the right
parties votes.
Or a communist attack?
The website of the national "Milliyet" newspaper
claimed Wednesday that the bomber was a member of
Turkey's Union of Revolutionary Communists (TIKB).
While a TIKB member confirmed for bianet that Akkus
was briefly connected to the movement from 1995-97,
the Union has not been in contact with him since.
Furthermore, TIKB sent an email statement to bianet,
emphasising that TIKP denounced this kind of
terrorist act and could not give countenance to any
kind of activity that targeted innocent and
defenseless civilians.
Milliyet claimed that Akkus may have moved from the
TIKB to the PKK when he was in prison for "hanging
up illegal posters" and "resisting the police".
Büyükanit's comments
Chief of General Staff Büyükanit was one of the
first to survey the site of the bombing. He
predicted that the Ankara bombing may be followed by
bombings in big cities all over Turkey. He also
called for an investigation of "institutions behind
the terror".
This is seen by some as an allusion to pro-Kurdish
politicians who are trying to solve the Kurdish
issue by entering parliament. Is this all an attempt
to sway people to vote for a "party of security"
rather than a "party of freedom"?
Some people question why the head of the army is
concerning himself thus with domestic security
matters, and, given his interest, why he is then
frightening the public by predicting more attacks.
Source: Bianet org
** 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
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