PHOTO: A victim of Saturday’s attack in Ankara is covered with a rally banner


At least 95 people have been killed by a double bombing in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Saturday morning, ahead of a “peace rally”.

The opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP), whose supporters were targeted by the bombs, said the toll was even higher than the official figure:


The Interior Ministry said 246 people were wounded in the bombings on both side of the exit of the main train station in the city, where HDP supporters were gathering. HDP candidates and executives were among the dead.

As of Saturday night, 48 people were still in intensive care.

The Government has declared three days of mourning for victims of the attack, the deadliest in Turkish history.

The moment of the explosion:

Labor unions and NGOs had organized the rally to protest against the conflict between the State and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey. The meeting was cancelled after the bombing, with calls on participants from other cities to return and people to donate blood to Ankara hospitals. Police cleared the scene to avoid more casualties in any third attack.

Health Minister Mehmet Müezzionğlu refuted criticism of security forces for using water cannon to move people out of the area, saying that “health teams moved in dynamically”: “There might have been some disruptions, due to the extent of the attack and panic, which might have caused in rise in death toll.”

Interior Minister Selami Altınok also said he would not resign and that he hoped that a November 1 general election would be held under “healthy conditions”.

Bombing Comes a Day after PKK Ceasefire

On Friday, the PKK had declared a unilateral ceasefire to allow for calm in the election period. A deal with the Government to stop hostilities collapsed in late July, following the Islamic State’s suicide bombing that killed more than 30 young activists in Suruc in southeastern Turkey.

The PKK has been fighting for a separate Kurdish state for more than three decades. In late 2013, the party and the Government agreed a ceasefire amid negotiations between the Government and the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

On June 5, two days before general elections that brought the HDP — which strongly back the Kurdish peace process — into the Parliament, four people died in a twin bomb attack on a party rally in Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey.

HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said today’s bombings were similar to the attacks in Diyarbakir and Suruc in June and July. He challenged the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “Such a tyrannical government will never be able to make their mark on history — we will not allow it.”

Emergency Government Talks

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is meeting with with Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, Health Minister Mehmet Müezzionğlu, and Interior Minister Selami Altınok, police and intelligence chiefs, and the Mayor of Ankara.

The deputy leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Gürsel Tekin, said a number of lawmakers from the party had planned to attend the meeting to lend support for the call for peace.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaorğlu, saying his party has cancelled all events today, asserted that it is “ready with all its power” to back efforts to end terrorism.