PHOTO: Covered victims of Monday’s Islamic State bombing in Suruc in southeastern Turkey (AP)


Turkey is beset by anger and political conflict on Tuesday, following the Islamic State bombing that killed at least 32 people and wounded hundreds in a southeastern town near the Syrian border.

Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, gave the death toll as he told reporters, “This pain is huge. But frankly, statements after the attack and offense against our party are as painful as the massacre.”

Demirtaş said pro-government media outlets were attacking the pro-Kurdish HDP over the decision to take their own security measures.

Monday’s attack in Suruc, about 10 km (6 miles) from the Syrian Kurdish center of Kobane, was outside a cultural center. About 300 people from the Federation of Socialist Youths had gathered, planning to help with the reconstruction of Kobane, which withstood a four-month Islamic State offensive at the start of the year.

Turkish police said they were seeking a female bomber who crossed into Turkey last month with two other women from the Islamic State.

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) said it had twice informed security forces in the last month about possible attacks by the Islamic State. The shared intelligence included the names of seven ISIL militants, including the three women who had crossed into Turkey.

Speaking later in the day in Sanliurfa Province, where Suruc is located, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on all parties to sign a declaration condemning terrorism. He denied that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had ever given any support to the Islamic State: “Turkey and AKP governments have never had any direct or indirect links with any terrorist group and have never showed tolerance to any terrorist group.”

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) said it would sign, but HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ rejected the invitation:

Whoever collaborated with the Islamic State should make the declaration. These 30 young people would not have been massacred if they had guns with them. They were massacred because they called for a fraternal joining of hands.

Nationalist Movement (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli also dismissed the Prime Minister’s statement:

The call to sign a joint declaration by four political party leaders, almost like playing into the hands of those who want to carry the conflict between ISIL and the PYD [Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party] to Turkey, is far from being sincere and realistic.

In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannon late Monday at protesters chanting “Murderer Islamic State, collaborator [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, and AKP.” At a demonstrator in the southern port city of Mersin an attacker opened fire, wounding two people.