Earlier today, a road junction in the center of the Turkish capital go Ankara was hit by two blasts. Turkey’s Interior Ministry reports that at least 86 people have died in the terror attacks; 186 people are reported wounded.
The attacks — probably carried out by suicide bombers — took place at a rally where all civil society was present: members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB), The Turkish Doctor’s Association (TTB) and — last but not least — the Kurdish HDP party. Many ethnic Turks and Kurds were present. They came to the rally to promote peace and to voice their opposition to the Turkish government’s bombing of PKK targets in Syria and the southeast of Turkey.
As the video above shows, the bombs exploded at the moment the protesters were singing and dancing. They joined hands and were trying to make it a day of celebration; a day of unity.
HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş rightfully said immediately after the attack that it reminded him of terror attacks in the cities of Diyarbakir and Suruç earlier this year. In those attacks, respectively, 2 and 32 people were killed.
Although nothing is known about the identity of the terrorists responsible for today’s attack many believe it’s likely that ISIS or another radical Islamic terrorist group is behind it. ISIS carried out the bombing of Suruç which targeted Kurdish protesters and activists — just like today’s attack.
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